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Travis Dixon Jul 2010
Like this.
Like that.
Like this
likes that
that likes
these & those.
Liken this
to that
lichen which
grows
so slow
over corpse & stone,
the likes of which
so few know
or like, let alone
love, like
we know
we should.
Travis Dixon Jul 2010
of unseen motion:
the sweat-filled top-hats
poured over children’s eyes
in hopes of trees to sprout;
we take a fall & pick ourselves up
in a carnival game of shoot the ducks:
a miss here, a hit there—
the tally grows higher,
moving ever faster
consuming ever after
the tempo of olden lore
churning at a hellish pace,
the teachers must race instead of teach
students, prodded sheep, toward
a finish line engraved in stone
strung out for all to flee
stories of life’s deafening lessons
a million hear & a million don’t,
the numbers grow & time all but slows
for countless tries & bitter cries
against death’s beautiful gaze,
eyes a-glaze of cloudy white,
never again to drink the splendor of night
through the tarp of forever & never
a spine of consciousness cracked & severed,
fed to the dogs of lessening love;
for his friends, his kin—
his heart aches of sin,
like a coyote howling under the harvest moon,
a sanctified orb hung in the sky,
the ashes of explorers & lovers
upon its battered surface
exposed soft for the child’s glee
to find the reasons why, never answered
before the next question’s cry
from the ruins of thought,
built with the measure
our ancients wrought.
Travis Dixon Jul 2010
Yesterday circles above me,
waiting for my strength to drain.
this god awful desert tortures me;
this heat, this pressure, this smell—
i can’t taste anymore, just breathe.
my feet trudge wherever they must;
the next mirage, mere sand & dust.
my burnt ember skin peels off in layers
& my knees hit the crust.
how can i deserve this? i cry out.
& Yesterday’s shriek pierces the air,
my ears can’t stop ringing, it’s all they hear.
on my back now, i force my eyes shut.
give me blackness, i cry.
but the sun bleeds through no matter
how hard i try,
& the night has been absent
for what seems like months.
Yesterday circles closer, closer,
just right above, wings fanning my face.
i hear it now, it’s finally landed;
but i dare not move as it claws near.
a rush of cool air kisses my face,
i breathe deep, breathe long,
& dare not let it go.
i can smell it now, just inches away-
a most foul stench of pure decay.
but as it draws closer, closer,
i hear a whisper, from where?
i don’t know, but it says:

Fear nothing.

i peel my eyes slowly, lash by lash.
the everblue sky never looked so nice,
and how the sun radiates such glowing warmth.
i can’t help stare at it, feeling its rays,
brighter and brighter and brighter and—
Yesterday’s a thousand miles away.

— The End —