Khaos poems on Hello Poetry

Kate Sims Jun 2011

I met an old woman on Leander Avenue
who told me, “Don’t breathe or the earth
will swallow you whole.” I
stayed very still and didn’t move.
A butterfly could have landed on my nose
but I sneezed so I may never know for sure.
After that I remembered that my generation
doesn’t have to follow their elders, so I
walked to the corner store.
I bought three candy bars that I would
never eat and tied my shoelaces on the front porch.

My neighbor watches old films. He calls them
Lumières, and sometimes invites me over.
I watch the hand-cranked film flicker
black and white over his screen.
A troupe of acrobats flip about and wave
the French flag, large women kneel and scrub
endless linens in the still river, the gardener
punishes the mischeivious boy. I smile every time
they look at the camera.

The slats in the blinds yawn widely
and seeing them, the melatonin strikes.
Flowing, forcing, endocrinal.
The wind whispers Greek words in my ear.
Helios, zoetrope, khaos.
The trees outside of my window
spell out foreign letters.
They only make sense one at a time.
I can’t spell a word but I speak and
realize I can still make a sound.
I fall asleep.

I never wake but dream
of exquisite lavender pillows doused
in holy water from the lips of a
spouting statue. A Carnevale clown waves
at me in the corner and takes off mask after
mask. Confetti rains softly from his eyelashes and he
quietly laughs into his palm. I want to hold your
hand but remember that I am just
a raindrop streaking down your car
window in a mountain spring storm. I
open my eyes.

Nicole Potter Dec 2013

Khaos

Why is
             'Good'
So hard
              Fought for?
Fighting,
                Struggling.
To feel at ease,
                         Comfortable.
Easy reaction.
             Instead of Calculated
                         Responses.
None of it has ever been easy.
                      Fumbling,
                                        Stumbling,
                    Mumbling
                                        Around.
Pretending to know all.
                                  Faulty Inflation.
So many things left unsaid
                Not told.
  Seems all things fabricated.
                Easy to distract
                          Complicated Mins.
Should know,
                        be Taught,
                                           Guided
On how to
                  Allow
       Self
               Flourishment.
'Alone'
           is a state
You.
           Decided
To Enter.
                  You.
Were not forced.
                              You.
Eliminated Love,
                    Care,
                    Friendship,
                    Happiness.
                                                                 You.
Have lost control of your
                                           Mind.
It's Essence
                    Has more
                                      Power
Than known to
                           Thy Self.
Do not forget that
                                You.
        Own it.
                      Can Take Back
                                Control.
Simply
             Step Back.
Physically if need be...
                         Remove yourself mentally.
Take a Look.
                        Notice the careful
                                                        Steps.
Change.
                           You.

**Dec 2, 2013

MRQUIPTY Jul 2016

khaos

nothingness from Khaos:
us.
far-reaching apes
throwing complex
machines
at rocks.
Kosmos laughs.

C J Baxter Feb 2015

From, and for, Khaos

Another broken bottom of a bottle
to slip through, cutting myself as I do.
It takes a lot of effort, full throttle
I kick and squeeze myself down the neck,
just to plummet to the bottom and through,
again and again until my body is wreck.

I am the wrecks of the sea & the blood of the land.
I am the bottomless bottom & the outstretched hand.

And this- this drenched, drab mess of language -
is the product of my mind and a waste of your time.

What it is is this, and only this it truly is:

Nothing again, that's the start and that is the end.

Bobby Copeland Apr 2020

Harrowing

Put coin in mouth, not on my eyes,
That I may see the underworld
As I arrive, and hear the cries,
In Charon's bark, uniquely burled,
Fierce brilliance, goddess of the night
Released from khaos, sails unfurled,
Anchor weighed from the morning light,
Old sailors bent and fetal curled.
Come back as J.C., looking close,
Surviving cocksure helmsmanship--
Dismissive of the lethal dose--
Chests pilfered long before the trip.
If this prove false , and I the liar,
No mangod soul shall quench this fire.

— The End —