Someone once said that we all have a crow
Perched on our shoulders
Cawing incessantly in our ears
Failure, worthless, your words are stupid
No one will like them
GIVE UP

Someone once said that the crow needs to be shoved off
Pushed away
But I feared it would only return
So I grabbed it by its bony neck
Stared into its beady black eyes
Where a rapid, ravaged face reflected back
No more, I snarled at the little *******
NO MORE

So I murdered that crow
Ripped it limb from limb from limb
Felt its plume grow sticky and brittle
Took great pleasure in it, quite honestly
Basked in the gore and glory of it all

Now I rise
With my blood speckled, feather encrusted fingernails
Obsidian fluff dancing in my wake

No ******* more.

My words are like smoke
Tendrils of murk branching out
Disintegrating at my touch
I try to grasp them, each and every one
Forge them into weapons to slay the world
Carving truths into skin, deforming souls
But they slink away and leave me hollow
Like wild beasts, they can't be tamed
Shoved into little boxes of rhythms and rhymes
They fear me as much as I fear them

Maybe the trick is to sit and wait,
Let the fog consume me
Use me, forge me, I beg you
Make a weapon out of me
Scar me with your truths, warp my soul
Dig your claws in and pull my strings
Rip me apart, if you must

Whatever it takes
I surrender.

Eyes like mirrors like truths
I saw your demons in the fissures
Their chains rattling a soundless roar
Masked by plastic smiles and razor words
A cage of flesh and bone
Growing old and feeble with time
As the demons ****** you dry
I saw the claws under your skin
Itching to consume you,
Itching to destroy

Until one day your pool of strength depleted
The shackles shattered
Smiles, now frozen memories
Words, forever silent echoes
Flesh and bone obliterated
As the bullet hit true