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 Dec 2015 Mike Essig
Bunhead17
It won't be in vain
to swallow all your pain
and learn to love what burns
and gather courage to return.
Faces in the crowd,
faces in the crowd will smile again
and the devil may cry,
the devil may cry
at the end of the night.
The light will shine through the rain
and heaven will hear them call your name.
The Weeknd.
 Dec 2015 Mike Essig
Lucy Ryan
waking
newly human
strange and soft;
pinpricks, feelings -
the crawlings around inside you
shiver as your skin becomes real

a nightlight for daytime sleeplessness
carry the seas inside yourself
like people:
walking barefoot
drinking sunstreams
and braving the dark red nights

hark, choir voices, still
slurring miss you discrepancies
howls in empty skies
wolves die

a misunderstanding of your insides
bones
more sand than rock
crumble at a press too hard

on this,
last day of your first life
hung on a boy’s fingers
the edge of a cliff
taste the water in your nerve endings dragging you home
you splinter,
and you rise -

when the bruise blooms, you shine
 Dec 2015 Mike Essig
Morgan
i was a graveyard,
especially between four & six
in the morning
and at night

a graveyard,
awakened

empty water bottles
and half smoked cigarettes
like tomb stones
marking the places
where my veins broke off
and flooded my bedroom floor

the labels
printed on them
read like the names
of all the ghosts
that like to dance
at the foot of my bed
when sleep is
the end to a 90s
hip-hop song,
fading out,
slowly
slowly
quietly
quietly

three out
of seven
nights,
the dancers
are ex-lovers
with my flesh
still stuck between
their razor sharp teeth
& they smile at me
but there's this manipulation
hidden in their pupils,
screaming warning calls
about track marks
and bruised knees,
not from me,
not from me,
they're ghosts of infidelity

four out
of seven
nights,
the dancers
are friends
who met
tragic ends;
blonde hair
decorated in
dried blood
from smashed glass,
by a telephone pole
on a rainy night,
and pulsing veins,
if i focus in close enough
i can see the liquid
chemicals coursing through
beneath that electric blue,
just a little more
& he's passed out on
some ******'s basement floor

i've been a graveyard
since i was 14

but now things are changing,
dirt is kicking up,
dragging those ghosts
back under the soil

i think
your green eyes,
your pale skin,
your flourescent teeth,
and the way your voice
travels from the kitchen
on gentle waves
to your bedroom
is the storm
that's burying
the dancers
again

please don't leave me,
wandering around
with dying flowers
in my palms

i like the way the tip
of your nose
is cold
and soft

i like the way your sheets
feel around my
boney ankles

i've gotten used to
the rhythm of your
upstairs neighbor's
spanish rock,
it lulls me now

i've gotten used to
the rhythm of your
roommate's
snoring,
even in the afternoon,
it lulls me now

i've gotten used to
the creaky floors,
the dripping water,
the hum of the radiator

i've gotten used
to your breath on my ear,
your lips on my neck,
the way your voice
melts down into
a puddle on the floor
when you talk about
your sadness,
i don't even
step over it anymore,
i cup it in my hands,
and let it slowly
drain through
my shaking fingers

please don't leave me,
i'm not safe yet,
but i'm getting there,
i'm safer here
than anywhere
 Dec 2015 Mike Essig
Antonio
Sometimes i wish i could forget you. but i know, that's not what i want. I think really deep down, i wish for bliss, i wish for ignorance. A child like mind, closed up and tied, containing only good thoughts of you. I wish to be blind to the world surrounding.
A straightforward life, but i'm scared of the truth. For all i really want, is me and you.
I saw life through his eyes,
people through his eyes.
Red.Grey.And.All.******.Up.
This sent flashes of fear though my pulse but
not without curiosity.
And as the years passed, these visions no longer rattled my bones,
Blood soaked dreams rather enticed me.
The fear in my veins turned to adrenaline
seeping onto the surface, much like sea water soaks the coast
during a storm leading a Tsunami.
It became apparent to me only when
it was far too late;
That the only monster I had to fear
Was **myself.
UDO**
(means 'peace' in Nigeria)

What is in a name?
Sometimes it is a story.
Sometimes it is just a dream.
~~~~~
Your story began,
as many stories do these days,
"The men came and they...
     burned my village-
     ***** my girls-
     killed my husband-
     cut off my *******.
     I ran away-
     through the bush-
     found a ship-
     crossed the sea-
     and then they put me in here..."
~~~~~
I read your story,
then had to put the book down-
especially when I could see
the woman with no name,
a woman who had no papers
to prove she was real,
dangling from the rafters,
chain gripping her neck
in a breathless embrace;
her feet swaying
showing her nakedness,
her paperless demise.
You told how she peed herself at the end.
Her once life a liquid puddle on the floor.
And I couldn't read anymore,
her image burned too brightly.
Even tears could not ease the realization
the cold-chained grip
was more loving
than living her life,
than being forced to return home,
facing the way every story began-
"the men came and they..."
~~~~~
Your story didn't stop there,
it refused to be quiet
and held me close,
as page after page
revealed more of your life;
made me question my humanity.
~~~~~
You gave me your secret,
whispered it in my ear
and asked,
"would you cut off your finger
for the likes of me"?
"Would you dowse the flames of oppression
with the redness of your blood?"
"Would you fall on the enemies sword,
let it rip out your beating heart"?
"Would you give your all to change the world"?
"Would you, would you?"
~~~~~
You gave me your secret,
whispered it in my ear...
You gave me your name.
You gave me your story
and more, you gave me
a dream, a reason to live.

~~redzone (Aztec Warrior)1.18.2011
(as you can see, wrote this poem a few years ago
using a different pen name)
written after read the book "Little Bee" by Chris Cleve.
It's a very good bookand I think they were going to
make it into a movie. I recommend reading it, though I think his
ending is simplistic and doesn't get at the root of the problem he is
writing about....
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