He closed his eyes tight
and held a straight face
Mouth a door
Eyes like windows
I wanted to ask him what it’s like
to live in that body-house
Shades drawn
Braced and braced and braced
Against
And, and, I wanted to ask him, 

Who will tend the gardens?

Desperate was the Hand,
To the Fist,
To the Door of Introspection,
To the Mind, to the Darkness.

Pounding, pounding away,
The broken bones,
To the dust of flesh.

A moment before forfeit,
The Great Gate collapses.
Bursting into a torrential tide of Madness,
This scornful swell swam deep into the Heart.
Its suffocating chill, mirroring the growing Dissent,
Resonating all of discord in a living Thought.

Hope's last stand sends deceit fleeing.
Rushing waves, shuttering away,
From the pathetic kindle.
Such a sad flicker, this bastion of salvation.

As with All Things, this too falls.
The Darkness, the Madness,
The Door to all Doors,
Consumes the Light.

The skeletons aren't in my closet;
They’re in my bed,
They're in every word I’ve ever said.
You know my past and what I’ve seen
Because being hidden is something I’ve never been.
They'll wash your blood right off the pavement,
The summer rains crashing through your window.
It's the harshest hit you've ever felt on the cement.
All the cracks in my mental rifts fill the room.
It's a flood that'll drown us soon.
I always forget just who I am
And what I want from this storm ahead.
My words are an anagram;
The story behind is a fresh color red.
What I meant is something not even I know
Because someday soon my mind will turn.
The words I wrote will have begun to show
Then I’ll see the white of the bones,
The ribcage I remembered seeing.
In our lake we've been casting stones
Talking up stories about the world we wish would be so freeing.
In my closet wasn't a world I’d been hiding.
In my closet was the pavement you'd been riding.

Forty years in this old house
It’s filled with treasures lacking worth
To anyone expecting gold,
But priceless in the life recalled.

The warnings came a week ago-
A cataclysmic storm they said
Stock up water and food to eat
That won’t require electricity.

I laid in water and granola bars
And put some things in plastic bags
I wrote my ID on my forearm
Feeling silly as I did.

I moved things to the second floor
Assuring them of some protection
I wish I could have carried more
But the rain was knocking on the door.

It came seeping underneath
And as I watched, it soaked the rug.
Not satisfied with ruined carpet
It crept up the sofa’s skirt.

What am I still doing here
They said do not evacuate
So I am forced to watch the death
Of all I worked so hard to own.

I’s almost knee deep in the kitchen
Where’s my hammer and crow bar
Dang! they’re both out in the shed
I should have thought to bring them in.

It’s lucky I don’t have a pet
No dog or cat or bird or fish
Another life to fret about
When I can barely save my own.

The water’s nearly hip deep now
And rising at a hellish rate
The walls are shaking from the pressure
It’s time for me to move upstairs.

The rain’s a wall I can’t see through
I don’t know how my neighbors fare.
The power’s out - the house is silent
Except for the drumming of the rain.

My lantern is the only light -
How long will the batteries last.
Oh Lord, I’m starting to get frightened
Water’s coming up the stairs, silent as a burglar.

They said don’t go into the attic
Get up on the roof instead.
They didn’t tell us how to do that
How to break ceiling and shingles.

I’m old - I’ve lost the strength of youth
I don’t think I can get up there.
If the water keeps on rising
I must prepare to meet my maker

All I love live far away
Are they as frantic now as me
Will a neighbor come and find me
My cel phone battery just died

Still the ugly, ***** water
Inches further up the stairs.
The old house shudders in the windy gusts
And I can’t keep my fingers steady

I just wrote something on the wall-
A farewell to my family
They should know I thought of them
As water seeps across this floor.

I’ve broken out a window
Over the submerged porch
There’s no point in going out it
I’d only just be swept away.

The water’s almost knee deep here too
I know it’s never going to stop
It’s foolish to stand up on a chair
I’ll say my prayers and go to bed

I’m sure that only God can save me
Neighbors have their problems too.
I’ve lived for eighty happy years
It’s time to shake the hand of fate.

I wonder what it’s like, this drowning
They say you see your life again.
That almost makes it worth the going
Except the sadness left behind.

The bed clothes now are wet and sopping
I never knew I could feel so cold
There’s a rumble in the distance
Like a giant waterfall.

Growing closer like a jet plane
What do you suppose it is
Now the house is really shaking
And I can

ljm

This storm came back..
This time it flooded over..
But I open the flood gates..
I got it off my chest..
I simply talked about it..
Instead of acting like I was stronger than it..
The flood waters dropped a few feet..
And they continue to drop..
Soon it will be just a river of thoughts..
Then a steady stream of them..
It will storm again soon..
And it will flood..
But don't fight the current..
Just let it pass..
Hold on to something with someone else..
Believe me, It really does help..