Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
rantipole Jan 2015
I've been sleeping all day
and all night lately.
dreaming of fire escapes,
to save myself
from a burning reality.
my waking consciousness
is a box on your doorstep
marked
"fragile"
but clearly the label
has been overlooked,
the box under-appreciated.
damaged and dilapidated,
I am reminded of something
my mother used to say.
"what doesn't **** you
makes you stronger"
but in these
painful
waking
hours

what doesn't **** me,
simply makes me wish
it had.
  Dec 2014 rantipole
Bad Luck
You led me down the mountain just like a raging river
My soul had no path, no less a nomad than a drifter.
You carried me as if there were no other way
No slow pace down the mountain – in your current, I will stay.
We’ve built an interdependency, your water begets life
But be gentle, my dear— water cuts just like a knife.
You maintain and sustain, bringing life within the rain.
Carving rivers into rock, your blood pumps through my veins.
Body to blood, and earth unto water
Propelling each other, we’ll make us stronger.
"Bad Luck: In a Wakeful Contradiction" is now available on Amazon in paperback!

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1691941182
rantipole Dec 2014
the moon rises slowly,
and it makes my heart sink.
because the darkness knows all of
the thoughts that I think.
I fall 'sleep blaring music,
to get them out of my head.
but they've already crept through,
the sheets of my bed.

they torture my mind,
every night, every week,
when they whisper to me,
fantasies that I seek.
they chuckle a laugh while
I awake with a shriek.
now you know why at night,
I try hard not to sleep.
rantipole Dec 2014
reeking of cigarettes
another shameful night.
"I don't even smoke"
I tell myself.
"everything's fine"
I tell myself.
yes I do,
and no it's not.

energy running low,
I shake off the rust
and pick bullet fragments
from my words.
these wounded lips
have said so much.
this wounded heart
now an empty coffin -
hollow
rantipole Dec 2014
dirt and grime
line the bottom panels.

worn down,
worn out, but
war ready.

an orange-tan tint
on old suede.

an elegant design with
thick rubber soles.

the cushion of leather
around the brim.

thin,
yellow-amber laces.

sleek and comfortable
yet
tough and durable.
rantipole Dec 2014
I’ve danced with your photographs
and set myself ablaze
so you could keep warm
by the fire in my heart.

I’ve spoken with the scent of your skin
and fantasized about the passion
that lays buried in the garden
of your soul.

I’ve climbed to the peak of
the mountain that is
every "I love you" we’ve ever shared
and valiantly planted my flag.

and in the process
I have become
the happiest man
alive.
rantipole Nov 2014
d
desperate to diverge
from this desolate domain.
dazing,
dreaming of my damsel
in dainty dress.
dozing,
dreading the days
of imminent duress.
tomorrow we depart.
tomorrow I deteriorate.
the drugs,
the drinks;
debauchery turns to
doubting & deriding these desires.
death;
the only deliverance
from my displeasure.
Next page