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Jack Piatt Oct 2011
These days pass
         at Zeppelin pace
         I wonder about the sea
         what's down deep beneath
          have you ever looked at a tree
         an old, almost ancient tree
         and thought of roots ...
         followed the roots down
         until you are above ground
        somewhere far more foreign
         than anywhere here
         and what blossoms
        opposite the roots
         confounds you
         you wake up sweaty
         a hundred years older
         but not a day
         shows on your face
         not a single trace
         of travel
         yet you know
         you've gone
         Moving on is hard
         at first
         cause you cling
         cling, to the dream
         or what you surrender
         to your mind is a dream
         and you're back
         back to the task
          whatever it may be
         but 20 leagues below
        the sea of your soul
        you remain confounded
        at what blossoms
         below the roots we
         see as trees
         and for a second
         here where we
         capture time
         and make it march
        we see ourselves
        scattered like atoms
        on a cosmic beach
        winking at stars
        who watch us shine
         below

       By: Jack Piatt
Jack Piatt Oct 2011
Running and laughing
  As if
A fearless schoolgirl
Climbing through my mind
A playground for her games
My heart
  Wet leaves below her feet
  The veins bleed crimson into muddy puddles
As my feelings bubble to the surface
Unnoticed by the towering eyes above
The bell rings and she leaves me again
Nothing but lonely echoes of laughter
Shadowed smiles hidden behind a darkened stage
Waiting for the curtains to rise once more
One more show
As the actors take their places
The bell bites into awaiting eardrums
Feet pound and patter the ground
Jump ropes and monkey bars
Bouncing ***** and frisbees scraping gravel
Laughter fills my head like an aquarium
Tiny fish swim by oblivious
Completely unaware of my sponge-like brain
Retaining water
Slowly quieting
Drowning inside the water-filled glass cage
At last
        Thoughtless
Bubbles rise from deep below
As my heart pumps air and blood to my lifeless brain
All the while she climbs
And laughs
Playing so innocently
Yet intently
Absolutely ignorant to her power
Not realizing as she stares across the chess board
That her opponent’s brain has stopped
And he is now playing with his heart
Now easy prey
Young, injured, or old
Take your pick
He is the scent of blood to a hungry shark
In her child-like mind she continues to play
Still not sure as to the extent of the challenge
A blaring bell sounds off in the distance
One more day’s reprieve
The footsteps and the laughter subside
The curtains fall together
The stage again grows dark
The aquarium is quiet
My heart beats double time
Waiting until tomorrow
Waiting for her hands to begin the climb
Staring at my pieces on the board
Knowing I’m in check
Just waiting for
The mate
(c)
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Lamplight bleeds
           through
       my tired eyelids
                                  I beg it stop
Jack Piatt Oct 2011
I don’t deal with probably
Only certainty
I roll deep with clarity
Vision inspires me
A full scope
I carry knot-free rope
Soft undertones
Whispered into wanting ears
Come here
Let’s get near and dear
Eject fear
From this plane
Flying through a mountain-less range
Strange
But sane is in
So we pretend
To recommend
This life
Curiously prescribed
Time after time
Subconscious suicide
Don’t **** on my passion
I’m vice versatile
Naked is the only fashion
True to itself
Time and again
Retrosexual
Easy to fit in skin
One size fits all
Short or tall
Spring or fall
Tis the season
To be happy
Don’t need a reason
If I did then slap me
Look around
One million reasons why
Staring us right in the eye
Every morning
Afternoon
And night
Calmly declaring
Everything is right
Everything is right
Jack Piatt Dec 2013
Everything that falls inside the autumn canopy of my inner body
Fills the inside bottoms of my feet with dead leaves by the thousands
Falling as slow as a blade of grass grows all the way to my inner toes
Down where they’ll never be raked away
Just piling on till they reach my throat
Till one day I can’t speak
As I choke on all the emotions that have fell inside me
A renegade Fall
Starting early and going late
Slight the sun and hide from the snow
These leaves are now all I know
Filling me up till I’m full of tree parts
Now chop me down
So I may finally rest
(c) 2013
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Mountains
       loom through my
                    bedroom window ...
                                  in a dream anyway
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Driving away ... leaving miles of broken pavement behind
Thoughts and rearview mirror collide as my mind ventures
You are constant ... waves of gray rolling ahead of me
Your eyes were the beginning and will be the end for me
Memories melt together as time tears on through eternity
Two years become two centuries in this empire of emotion
The pilots of fall fly their orange and browns to the ground
As my heart in turn falls from every tree
This love suffers the seasons along with everything earth
My heart finds summer as my body sweats for you
Your body dances in my mind as we danced
Face to face, eyes locked ... bodies soaking into each other
Autumn brings your smell and a solemn reminder of change
Longer looks ... the sanctuary of embrace
Everything is open ... honesty kisses our foreheads
Life is raining down upon us as we dance between the leaves
The stars seem to polish their shine when the snow lies quietly beneath
Everything stiffens ... silence reigns supreme over the night
Rivers fight desperately to continue on course
As love fights the ominous freeze that threatens the life of the flame
Just as a depressing wind falls upon my soul
The birds of spring send a hopeful note to my ears
Even as the world seemed to pass below
My eyes adjust to the life overcoming the frigid grip of winter
With one exchange ... our eyes beckon the suns arrival
One embrace gives life to loves gasping flame
When all seemed lost ... my ship tattered by the tide
The light of love reflected off your sails in the horizon
Jack Piatt Jun 2013
It’s the holes in your heart that **** you
Not the heart in your body
But the one in your soul
The one that makes you drive all night never knowing why
Searching for something you can never find
Maybe little pieces left in a life behind
Pieces that can fill those holes
And make you whole
But there’s a smile somewhere
In the back of your mind
That will always shine
Through the darkest of memories
Black and white photographs
Strewn across the floor of your head
She lies there laughing beautiful in bed
Naked as the truth that pinches the tip of your nose
In the frozen intersection of winter
Now expressionless
Wondering why the love ran out
But you know it never did
It just moved away
And forgot to write
Time is terrible
It loses track of itself
As do all great birds in flight
The wind becomes their clock
Hands broken
Only wings
It leaves only flying and landing
Even she
In all her broken loveliness
Understands this
(C) 2013
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
I wear my heart up my sleeve
Where most can’t see
Just far enough away
To give it some reprieve
From the beatings it takes
beyond the beats
it makes
and those hands that
just want to take
instead of give
**** instead of let live
so I hide it away
from the unsuited
hearts so convoluted
reaching and grabbing
poking and stabbing
leaving scars
instead of love
in their passing
piles of pain
amassing
an ache left
everlasting
waiting for the one
who brings peace
instead of taking
a piece
so up my sleeve
the waiting
and the wanting
hide beneath clothes
both daunting
and haunting
for that one
soft and lovely
boundless sweetness
floating above me
patiently anticipating
the kiss that brings
an end to this
waiting
for my wish
to grow into
fruition
my soul’s mission
accomplished
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
When in doubt,
I turn to me,
the rest -
history
Jack Piatt Nov 2011
We are surrounded by silliness.
Don't make it obvious, but look over your left shoulder.
Slowly.
There, not feet from your face sits silliness.
Something silly breeding and FedExing its brood
to the best and brightest corners of the earth,
ensuring equal part shadow for every ray of shine.
If you find yourself disbelieving, please turn on your Television set
and flip (at your own risk) through the charmless channels
hovering enigmatically inside Mr. Pixel the “Babysitter.”
“Reality” shows, as if we weren't neck deep in enough reality
for a thousand years worth of open bars,
lamenting on how seriously, serious this soiree of sorts seems to be,
neighbored by celebrity rehab shows,
housewives from all over the country
desperately seeking attention
and augmentation
or attention to their various augmentations,
  divorce courts with quirky judges,
pawn shops in the ghetto with true grit, or is it true **** …
hard to say but they have attitude!
The endless scripts pour into HollyWeird from somewhere far, far away
from anything vaguely resembling reality …
a little place called – the Jersey Shore.
(Wait did he say scripts?) But ...

Ah, hell, it needs no description or justification,
in the land of the Super Silly,
it is the trophy wife of King Silly Bo Billy himself.
And no more time to waste on silliness wrapped neatly in a magic tube.
No, no, silliness is loose, running amok through the streets,
jumping with it's eyes closed on your neighbor Ricky's industrial size trampoline.
(Ricky only lost one of his nine children  last year to “roof to trampoline” diving)
tragic, yet the other eight get a little more tuna casserole on Wednesdays.
Silliness is fearless. It charges helmet-less into oncoming traffic
singing Christmas jingles in Latin,  
mid-February with no regard to Lincoln
or the people he is said to have helped liberate.
It defies logic, gravity, good intention or worst (best) of all – common sense.
You will find it in every church no matter the dogma.
Every court room, police station, financial institution, school, university,
tall building with more glass than steel …
yes, silliness grows there like mold in a dingy basement
overpopulated with sprickets.

Silliness is a disease.

Not to be confused with silly smiles and clowns at the circus.
This is not the silliness of your youth, but the silliness of adults
who have sold their love of the moment
and lust for life for the deadly elixir of conformity.
Conditioned by an unrelenting tidal wave of negative energy
and condemnation, they sign their death certificates long before they die.
Dreams and happiness are replaced with life insurance policies,
401k's and 403b's. In this lies the silliness.
As the masses line up one by one at the top of the cliff
and follow in suit as the jumping begins.
Into the abyss they leap, medical and dental plan in one hand
and neatly mowed lawn in the other.
As the happy children play to their parents dismay,
the merry-go-round spins blissfully around
as daddy slowly drowns.
Jack Piatt Oct 2011
I'm not a product
I'm an abduct
E
To not be
or be
It's not a question
it's a statement
get the ****
out of the basement
become your own
replacement
don't run
face it
learn to embrace it
there's no wrong
or right
there's just tonight
if you don't fight
for the moment
then you're a prisoner
to the past

or you live too fast
on fast forward
to the future
then you have
no culture
no identity
just a picture
in an album
from the 80's
you know it's crazy
so stop the madness
eject the sadness
open the door
to a new
consciousness
and in this
lies bliss
like an ******
incense stick
left burning
in your brain
one step closer
to sane
runaway
if you want
but you'll be back
this life is a circle
like a High School track
one day you'll
realize to stop
running around
and just sit down
on the bleachers
and soak it all in
that's the only way
to win
stop playing
start saying
goodbye to the lies
then blink blink
open your eyes
to finally
realize
it's all
a disguise
for how simple
it all
really is
Jack Piatt Apr 2012
Spring sneaks up behind
  Winter's back as it finds sleep
      Love's honey croons me
Jack Piatt Feb 2012
There were times when just to touch you
Would bring tears staring through
The windows of my eyes
Wanting to come out and play
Thinking better of it
Those days held power
Traces of passion left to be swept from the floor
My heart beat differently
Music held me close to its chest
Nurturing me throughout the day
And though I was pained
I was alive
Thriving with love’s essence dripping from my chin
Nothing could reach me then
The island of my being cleverly hidden
By walls of sea on every side
And I walked through your sand
Smiling in the sun
The script of love in my hand
Forbidden fruit would come to be my poison
No antidote to carry us through
Not this lifetime my sugarplum
Not this one
(c) 2010
Jack Piatt Feb 2012
I am supposed to be writing something

Because I am a writer

I’m supposed to be feeling something

Because I’m a feeler

A bad mood healer

A sunshine dealer

So wash your face and stare at the sun

And run, run run

A do run, run

It’s so much fun

Do what you want

Do what you want

Feel it erupt around you

Like a clown with a frown won’t do

Same with you

Not smiling baby

Light it up

Little darling

Live it up

Come on now

Stir the ***

Footsteps carry feet outside

And a body catching a ride

Don’t look now but there’s

A person inside

Walking that line

So many

Strangers in the night

Exchanging disregard

Invisibility works best

For some I guess

But I’d rather fly

Or would I?

- insert sigh -

Lay my head down

Close one eye

Keep one open

In case you try

To marry me in my sleep

Courting me in my dreams

Or so it seems

Do the work

While I’m awake

Look me in my whole face

You can’t replace

Or fake

Love
(c)
Jack Piatt Nov 2011
Lifetimes
She was mine
Lost and devine
Unearthing sublime
Inside
All the time
Our love was nuclear
And is
Lovers, foes and friends
My student
My pride
My weakness
My place to hide
The inevitable slide
Every time
I won’t sign to realize
It’s not mine
To decide
I cannot get her
To the other side
Despite my pride
And plans I devise
She rides out
On the morning tide
Everyday
Without me
Jack Piatt May 2012
It burns, rather than rips
Heat caused by friction
Not flame

It turns
You over as you sleep
Again and again
Sobering your slumber

This is the ramification
Of love undone
Or love never won

When one wakes
To an otherwise
Typical Tuesday
To find love
No longer lingers

No trace of its
Once seemingly
Everlasting hum
Kissing your inner ear

The evidence points
To no way back
Hard to believe
It is really gone

The dream of love
Squandered
Nights and days
Dreamed away

Love
Love?
The very word
Closing in on
Unfamiliar


But **** it!
There were times …
Days spent holding heaven
Painting wings on angel’s backs

Rolling in the hay with Aphrodite
Scratching memories
Into my shoulder blades

Epic – Ballad
Take your pick
This was better!
It had the taste
Of blood stained hope

It set the drill bit deep
With no off switch
It dug to the bottom of me
Oceans below my surface

It killed me
Therefore I LIVED!

This dream of love
No more to be dreamed
(C) 2012
Jack Piatt Jan 2012
Why seek
an elusive cure
when love lives
      inside you?
Jack Piatt Mar 2014
You’d do well to keep in mind
The lines falling short inside
And all the people standing outside
Looking in
Feeling the sin
Sink down their arms
Into their shoes
And out of brain range
This is it
The reckoning
Of sorts anyway
The lost keys found
The square peg round
The light at the end of the tunnel
On an extra long chord
Finally being pulled
Nighty night
Let all that ails you tuck you down tight
Bring back the child of let’s say 10
That version of you
And start explaining
As you have much to do
He might look up and say
“Who are you?”
And that’s a valid ******* question you know
Valid ******* question
Cause he won’t know
And neither will you
The disconnect is growing moss
Off the side of Highway 2
And memories are like old VHS tapes
That nobody watches anymore
Don’t have time for that
Too much going on
With all the nothing to move and stack
Rearrange
Sifting for change
Like it’s in your pocket
And you’re at the soda machine
After walking back into town mid-June
Cause your car breaks down
In the middle of the Middle(est) West
And you are thirsty
But the machine is all out
And the clock is broken
Along with your need for concern
It just doesn’t matter now
And you are more than well aware
You are ****** scope
From 300 yards up and away aware
There’s no move (even the slightest) getting past you
You guard that tower
Like an insecure guy guards his bestest (crush) girl –friend
You know the one that takes him shopping
And tells him secrets
That should be dropped in a volcano
– but regardless
He will never see the color of her *******
Unless she has him do her laundry
Jack Piatt Jan 2012
There is no denying it
Love has us
It won’t let go
Two things stand guard at the gate
Preventing this entwinement from blossoming

      You
&
    Me

You can’t give up your security
I can’t give up my freedom
      It is that simple
No need for Dr. Phil
Oprah can’t intervene
This one was already written
We are a storybook
Unfolding
      Page after page
      Line upon line
   Each chapter takes us further
Into uncharted lands
We are a mystery to one another
Like Japanese brail to an English blind man
We fumble through each other
Foolishly – carelessly
Intent on discovering the ending
Never minding the here and now
Wanting a relationship insurance policy
Full coverage
With an anti-heart breakage warranty
And a heart breaking liability
It’s a win win
Yet no one really wins
No grand prize
No parting gifts
Just good byes
    And watering eyes
A sharp pain in the chest
Followed by nights without rest
These are the symptoms of un-groomed love
When tender love and care
Turns into a nightmare
And two adults find themselves
Taking a night course
In third grade flirting
No means yes
And being mean
Is the synonym for
“I really like you”

Confusing **** ...

I know
But it sure beats settling
   For just any
           John or Jane Doe
Jack Piatt Oct 2011
Robbing me of holidays
Time shares left in the bottom drawer
Hiding behind confusion
lives colliding
Head on in the present
Riding the fence
Occasionally climbing down
To my side
To play for awhile
Trade a few smiles
Until you are beckoned back
How it kills me when you disappear
Somewhere over there
In another world
It seems like years
Yet then you appear
A reluctant wave
To let me know you’re still there
Overpowering any semblance of restraint
In a treasonous act
My hand gestures back
Then I look at my grass
And start to question its green
Your eyes catch mine
With a soft, subtle charm
You whisper with the wind
You mean me no harm
Despite all my confusion and doubt
I believe everything
That never leaves your mouth
and I lay back in my grass
hands behind my head
stars winking at me
soothing my soul
waiting patiently
if only you would
climb down from that fence
but this time for good
Jack Piatt Oct 2011
Don’t soon forget
the rest of it
the beginning
and end
of you
the through
and through
of Timbuktu
out there
in the view
the horizontal
stew
the west
of here
the left of fear
beating the
drum of your ear
louder
and louder
near and dear
to your heart
of hearts
the dart
that missed
the eye
of the bull
full of everything
but soul
and now …
a mess
left
festering
feverish
and fit
to tie
released
to die
on it’s
own accord
fall on the
sword
of irony
spitting venom
at tyranny
till the stars
consume
what’s left
of the black
mighty night
goodnight
my love
… goodnight
Jack Piatt Jul 2013
The “in” soon to meet the “evitable”
A conclusion infallible
Because
Tis true, tis true
It’s front page news
In the “Obvious Times”
Your failure to realize
Doesn’t minimize
The obvious
So let’s stretch that word
To
Oblivious
Cause that makes more sense
At least it’s a defense
Weak kneed as it may be
It certainly falls under
The Ex
Cuses
Category
So humor me
Do you see
Now
Do you see
Not yet
Okie Dokie
Annie Oakley
Let’s take another shot
How bout
A Story
Why not?
There once was a town
Where a man came around
Selling all kinds of
Potions and lotions
Devotions and notions
Despite his seemingly
Lack of emotion
They made him Mayor
Not long after the layers
Of Lies and greed began to grow
And wouldn’t you know
Though it rarely showed
The town grew tired
And wanted him fired
Longing for days of old
A stronger mold
Simpler times
Merrier rhymes
(less parking fines)
Smog free days
Guiltless lays
And poison free food
Put them all
In a better mood
Boy oh boy
Were those the days
Back before the smoggy haze
So we’re back to the beginning
Of this story I’m spinning
The “in” meeting
The
You know

“evitable”

Well
That is what happened
To that Colonial Captain
Who brought mischief
And what if’s
To that poor little town
He lost his crown
Among other jewels
He suffered fools
Then suffered
At their hands
So this story
Is a caution
to all distant lands
(and close ones)
The conclusion
Is always
Inevitable
When toying
With the table
Of Universal design
So don’t mess with nature
And all
Will be fine
(c) 2013
Jack Piatt Feb 2012
The jury
nooses around their necks
deliberate
which is more pernicious?
my volatile explosions of anger
pent up frustration
boiling over with haste
delivering painful words
to her ears and heart
or
the child that is my heart
left unkempt
embarrassed in its neglect
for so long
anger came calling
an unwanted nanny
resentment in her bag
two spoonfuls a day
heaping
till love and hate
fornicate
producing a passive-
aggressive
"Beast of Burden"
one you can't nurture
or let go
... regret
4-11-08
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
The lake shines
Lying on the dock
Clouds illuminated above
A splash below
A faint echo
Of a bark
Or bird
How peaceful
The wind
Tastes my face
I kiss back
With a small
Laugh
Smiling
With eyes closed
The day’s events
Forgotten
As one foot
Rubs the other’s toes
All is right
On this night
As the moon
Stretches out
Across the water
I believe again
Jack Piatt Feb 2012
Somehow it is now
no need for the wow
or vow
to do better
next time
breathing
slower
would
be
fine
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Not to neglect the one above
But the one just south has me
No reference to the man upstairs
Or his foe below
It’s evident the bottom
Was made in heaven
But tempts like the devil
Even though your lips are a pair
I find myself lingering down there
That bottom lip has its own heartbeat
A mind of its own if you will
And I will ... kiss it again
And again
Nibble a bit ... **** and peck
Lick my lips in retrospect
Lying in bed at night
Thinking of twenty different ways
That lip takes shape
And shows emotion
Almost upstaging your face
That gorgeous face
Sometimes lost in the background
For this soft and often pouty lip
Begs for attention
Almost screams for it
And I listen ... do I ever
I can’t help but fall victim
To that oh, so clever
Part of your face
That would make an angel
Leap from grace
And never look back
Not once ... I’d swear on this
For I know the power
Behind that kiss
Jack Piatt Mar 2012
There's a curve at the end of the drive
   where decisions must be made
  culture walks away from the table
  and the antagonist of our lives pulls
   up a chair and let's down the hair
   that distracts you as it falls
    in that moment you lose it all
    every word you wanted to say
    finds its way down an endless drain
    then the eternal stare
    the fiery glare
    that singes the very hair
    above your eyes
    and then and only then
    do you realize
    how deep you're in
    below the stare grows
    an evil grin
    shouting non-verbally
    "you'll never win"
      
     and then ...
    
   The alarm goes off
   your eyes find the ceiling
   your legs and arms
   regain feeling
   sweat drip-dropping
   onto a pillow now sopping
   long, labored breaths
   turn into a sigh
   shake your head
   a time or two
   look around
    to ensure it's true
   it was just a dream
   a lucid night trip
   jump in the shower
  and get a grip
   off to work
  with purpose
   and coffee
  as the antagonist
grins
  a grim
effigy
Jack Piatt Feb 2012
These scars
Are my bars
   My brains
   are chains
   My heart

    broken
Jack Piatt Feb 2012
A wintry wedding with pain
Till happiness do us part
Lifeless sentence without bail
Future repossessed
Heart for sale
Chance of rain
And it did

Every day

Of every summer
The sun landed a better gig
Left without notice
Days of grey
Sad
Cold
Wet
Nothing left

But retrospect

My hindsight is blind
A bat would do better to find
A way out of here
a place without fear
a mirror
without angry eyes
glaring back
wanting answers
reasons for lack
of luster
or failure to muster
a real charge
a shot at least
a stab
at even a glimpse
of glory
a different ending
story
a sky that doesn’t
look so stormy
just a brand new
life
waiting for me
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
What is that burn?
Crawling all over me
Wanting out
Needing distance
Release
Cell mates with fear
Born in the same well
My name
An image floating in the mirror
Keeping me from the three things I seek
Love
Moderation
Humility
Jack Piatt Jun 2013
It's the reality
you're sipping
when you should be
gripping
the unknown
the universal
telephone
the wind me up
and go home
toy
they employ
the nights
staring out a window
into the void
that's not choice
it's called life
and if you don't
like it
leave it
but where to go
who would know
anyway
where would you go
what would you say
where to stay
a needle in the hay
and they'd never look
one second
of one day
because
the **** they give
is all one way
there's no round trip
tickets at this station
it's the amalgamation
of frustration
and surrender
there's no tender
way to say this
but the dream
you bought a ticket to
was overbooked
you overlooked
the irony of this
till now
standing with your
hand out
acid rain
melting the matinee
away
your dismay
is your parting gift
the only lift
you're getting
is the one that will
promptly drop you
further away
from where you wanted
to be
so you see
forget the thumb
just turn the other way
and walk
till the lights
make lemonade
with the sun
leave the myth
of fun
for the young
and find
a ladder
to another world
cause this one's
dying
the airplanes
stopped flying
the birds are dinosaurs
in a plastic museum
a cosmic trash can
in a rest stop in space
the stars know more about you
than you were ever shown
it's written in the ...
well,
you know
(C) 2013  (Spoken word poem)
Jack Piatt May 2012
I look at that clock with a loathing
  growing
  climbing my ribs like a ladder
to my brain
right past my heart
aggressively approaching
the place where it
will inevitably explode
killing the notion of time
and with it
the need for a clock
Jack Piatt Oct 2011
Answers already inside me
Guess I’ve been digging in the wrong place
Fortunes lost and the years have forgot them
A tiny place somehow still breathing on the inside
No more nights alone …
No … this time we’ll add the day
All this walking with no purpose
Seems I’m dragging the feet of my youth
And all I wanted was some truth
A place to call my own
A world that left me alone
A pair of eyes I could hide in from time to time
And maybe there I could find
Something I’ve left behind
Something I can’t seem to re-create
A feeling surpassing all feeling
A longing to dance with this life
To be bold and even take the lead
This is where I want to be
These are the things I need

- Jack Piatt
Jack Piatt Jul 2013
Beautiful
Is a colorless flower
If I am to use it
Describing you
The wordsmiths
Must work well
Into the night
Smithing away
Until morning light
To find a word
Suiting your definition

Unearthing
Is a waterless brook
If used to convey the look
Radiating from your enchanting eyes
The same that left my heart wounded today
When you used them to drill to the core of me
No doubt making a profound discovery

Love*
Is overused and clichéd to ruin
Much too pedestrian to capture what you found
When drilling deep into my underground
Without a sound it happened
That word we can’t use
Due to its short and burnt up fuse
Turned on its light this afternoon
And in a magic moment we both knew

That beautiful, unearthing, love
Built a bridge between us
Founded in truth
Always open and fireproof

Today around 2 o’clock
(c) June 8th, 2013
(Tonight around 10 o'clock)
Jack Piatt Jun 2013
I went toe to toe
With Love
No gloves
I don’t remember
How many rounds
Been in a coma
Since the knock down
Just waking up from the out
I’m looking around
Don’t know anybody
I’m lost
Soft
Too new
To be lonely
If only
To remember
Why even climb in the ring
Hopefully it was for something
Planet moving
As all I have now are lumps on my head
And a lump in my throat
I’m out to sea without a sail
In a one man boat
I look out to see my gloves
Floating next to me
As if Love wanted
To make absolutely sure
I knew who put me here
A deep breath
Eyes closed
Soaking in the sun
I slide on those soggy gloves
One by one
Then paddle
Back to shore
To climb in that ring
Once more
If for nothing else
To make absolutely sure
Love knows
I don’t care about titles
Wins or losses
Or what the odds are tonight
I came back
To ******* fight
(C) 2013
Jack Piatt Jan 2012
What is to be
            done
          when the fun
              runs dry?
Jack Piatt Jul 2013
I don’t have the kind of time
It takes to iron out the blanket
Covering the world
Captured inside this tenuous dream
The light slides through too easily
As the sun does to a white summer dress
That’s been weakened
By too many turns in the dryer
Trying to discover you
Is parallel to discovering
The soft side of a rabid bear
That’s lost its taste for honey
The world sighs deeply
From time to time
If you take the time
To lay your ear on its chest
Feel it coughing inside
Like a skeleton water slide
If only you knew
The world has the oldest
(Largest) broken heart
Ever recorded in the measurable universe
It cries backwards
Outside in
Yeah, you guessed it …
The rain
Nothing but liquid pain
Being coughed out as clouds
Then pulled back in
By the gravity of aching
Pulsating at the core
A myopic glare back at the stars
Tip toeing around up there
Trying not to wake the broken one below
If only they had known
There is no sleep
For the truly burdened of heart
Only daydreaming
*(even at night)
(c) July 2013
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Only in memory
Does your smile
Beat back darker times
For my grandmother the poet.

(c)
Jack Piatt Aug 2012
the singing
(sing ing)
the laughing
(laugh ing)

the life
(c) 2012
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Such a great weekend
spoiled by the end
aching
like a little boy
who doesn't
want to leave
the fair
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Mine is barbed with honey covered tips
imploring bees to visit frequently
A laugh you can see
Made completely of cotton candy
Eyes that shine green in the morning
like the meeting place for social frogs
on a moss covered pond
It is tall, taller than most
handsome, but not dark
no, it is full of light
bursting into comets
burning off to uncharted planets
It dances in the rain out of spite
not for the rain, but for haters of rain
The Universe signs rain checks
over to it in cash
It wears moxie on its sleeve
needing no reprieve
from anything
             Standing naked at the North Pole
begging for more snow
and when it sleeps
                         it dreams in black and white
so it smiles bigger when it wakes up
There are no obstacles
  just road construction with one lane open
  and it speeds in that lane
  It doesn't measure in inches or feet
  it measures in happiness
  always picking sweet over un-sweet
  when drinking tea
  It is a wonder
  it chooses to live inside me
with everything human
hanging from me like a windless kite
but man, when it takes the wheel
there's no describing the energy I feel
It's a diving catch in the big game “crazy”
I'm a paper airplane with an engine
that never wants to land
Jack Piatt Mar 2014
Turquoise blues guitars
Laughing baby elephants (that paint)
Melodies singing lullabies to sleepy baby elephants
(tired from painting all day)
Blank canvases full of blackberries on the inside
The antidote to love
All the dotes that didn't get doted
And all the ones that did
Playing badminton in the backyard of Cupid's summer home in Manarola
The ruby that died to make Dorothy's slippers
And the shortest hair from the Lion's tail
Wine filled grapes
Water balloons filled from hot springs and melted mountain snow
Two spokes from Steve McQueen's "Great Escape" motorcycle
Three kisses from Ilsa Lund
And a smile from Sabrina Fairchild
Tom Robbins' typewriter (it's magic)
A flying dragon
A dragonfly (grounded for not doing her homework)
Jenny's phone number
The pillow that hit the floor at Cecilia's that afternoon
The third stair from the top of the Stairway to Heaven (best view)
One of the lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
And a grain of salt from the sea the other is swimming in
An olympic size pool full of melted crayons
A vile of sweat from the ever fleeing muse
A refrigerator the size of Rhode Island
Full of magnificent lines of magnetic poetry
Poetry (all of it)
The monster under the monster's bed
Every foul ball ever caught by any kid
Hammocks (any and every)
The cardboard boat that never stopped sailing down the gutter of the world
The secret to everything
(kept securely under the bed of the monster, under the monster's bed)
Santa's real address (you won't believe this)
The blue ink from the blueprints of Atlantis
Golf carts with no maximum speed
The energy dust left from dancing, hugging and smiling
Freshly climbed trees
A warehouse the size of Antarctica completely filled
Wall to wall with raw, unfiltered laughter
Beer
Everything that was left on the field
Passionate embraces and embracing a passion
Apology free, but full of forgiveness
The wild of the wilderness
The tame of the un-tame
Language
Intuition
Conception
First kisses, waves and winks
Goodbye hugs and thrown in kitchen sinks
Art
Music
Pain
Puddles that have been danced in under pouring rain
Empty film cans
Films on screens
All of these ingredients
Are what makes up
*Dreams
(c) Jack Piatt 2014
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
In that meadow
   we built a snowman
           summer couldn't melt
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
White blanket covers the earth
Silence reigns over the night
Purity persists as dreams exist
Fall has fallen
Ice claims dominion
Breath captured in air
The stage is set
Places ... places
Begin the slumber
Quiet ... mysterious sleep
Patient fires await the spring
As winter claims its sovereignty
Still in this lies peace
Past and present
Welcoming eternity
Life and death ...
Spiritual rebirth
Fragility and finality combine
To find
Each season’s infinity
Tomorrow holds nothing
It is buried in the field with yesterday
Today is where we find our destiny
Jack Piatt Dec 2011
Exploratory dives into yestertime,
rare finds, ancient wines soaking revery
Yestertime - (yes, I made it up)
Jack Piatt Mar 2012
Milk pouring slowly into my lap,
Helpless, with peculiar invitation
My hands begin the charge,
Breaking your ranks, combining armies

Happiness was gone from me like the grandmother I never knew
The ceiling at night taunted me with loneliness
I kept you close in my dreams, alive, shining
An angel glowing light into my gray lit world

Bitterness bullies me, but my heart holds for you
Your body as if a mound of sugar and I am the spoon
How your eyes speak! Oh, the fire inside my lungs!
My God I am shaken! My soul is a tornado, twisting

          Twisted

My hands find home on your warming body
My lips find sustenance in your kiss
The darkest dreams still find you, shining
Though I wake and feel as though I haven’t eaten in weeks

Deep in the caverns of my polluted mind,
Shadows cover thoughts that linger, waiting
My desire is immeasurable, it bleeds in me
I have nothing but rocks in my belly,
Stones strewn across an old battlefield

A field of flesh and insides where feelings were slain
The heart sustained several attacks, but bears scars of war
I am tired, beaten, without the strength to raise my flag
I will lay upon this ground, close my eyes and submit to die,

              Inside
This is an older piece I wrote as a tribute to Pablo Neruda's poetry. (My favorite poet)
I think I will write a new tribute to him soon.

— The End —