"quieting" poems
A clock ticks time by tirelessly
Gears winding like twines of string
With quaint clicking quickly quieting
Until finally time stands still
Broken glass of a smooth clock face
Gears halting in deformity
Glistening shards like the sands of time
Ceasing in their downward flight
A once beating ticking heart of life
Now is lost within a sleepless night
Once a momentum to continued light
Now falls to the ringing silence's might
Time broken into shattered deaths
Until there is simply nothing left
Sep 1, 2015
Sep 1, 2015 at 8:44 PM UTC
sometimes,
i like to dance
with the devil
burning eyes upon me
in hypnotic dazzle
my toes easily
sweep away inhibitions
quieting my angelic
voice's suspicions
as whispered words
brush thine ear
my entranced ego
has no fear
endangering
as it may be
our bodies entanglement
appears free
with soaring thoughts
of ecstasy
we ebb and flow
in ****** mystery
seduced in music
playing rhythmically
ecstatically,
i dance willingly
Nov 9, 2016
Nov 9, 2016 at 12:08 PM UTC
Art, unborn,
aches to find form;
to manifest itself.
Within me it screams,
while those around
remain deaf to its cry.
It claws to free itself
from mortal chains,
restless to share its vision
with the world;
to tell its story
in verse and beauty.
This art within,
impatient, cannot wait.
It struggles to find
its voice
within my finite days
and world.
Until at last,
like a volcano,
unable to restrain that voice,
it erupts,
and my art flows out,
spilling onto paper.
The words and images
become solid,
taking form,
giving birth to the art within.
Thus, completing me,
quieting the cry inside.
Aug 9, 2018
Aug 9, 2018 at 9:00 AM UTC
within the solitude of the dreadful span
of the blackened and bowed sky
the deep withered grass bends in the moonless dark
quieting the cold and murmuring earth
hushing her into fitful sleep
the air is hard
and the wind lacerates the night
razor incisions left behind
in the icy flesh of obsidian hours
open wounds howl like wolves
on the trail of prey in flight
I hunger for you
under the restless stars
Feb 4, 2025
Feb 4, 2025 at 11:29 PM UTC
Running and laughing
As if
A fearless schoolgirl
Climbing through my mind
A playground for her games
My heart
Wet leaves below her feet
The veins bleed crimson into muddy puddles
As my feelings bubble to the surface
Unnoticed by the towering eyes above
The bell rings and she leaves me again
Nothing but lonely echoes of laughter
Shadowed smiles hidden behind a darkened stage
Waiting for the curtains to rise once more
One more show
As the actors take their places
The bell bites into awaiting eardrums
Feet pound and patter the ground
Jump ropes and monkey bars
Bouncing ***** and frisbees scraping gravel
Laughter fills my head like an aquarium
Tiny fish swim by oblivious
Completely unaware of my sponge-like brain
Retaining water
Slowly quieting
Drowning inside the water-filled glass cage
At last
Thoughtless
Bubbles rise from deep below
As my heart pumps air and blood to my lifeless brain
All the while she climbs
And laughs
Playing so innocently
Yet intently
Absolutely ignorant to her power
Not realizing as she stares across the chess board
That her opponent’s brain has stopped
And he is now playing with his heart
Now easy prey
Young, injured, or old
Take your pick
He is the scent of blood to a hungry shark
In her child-like mind she continues to play
Still not sure as to the extent of the challenge
A blaring bell sounds off in the distance
One more day’s reprieve
The footsteps and the laughter subside
The curtains fall together
The stage again grows dark
The aquarium is quiet
My heart beats double time
Waiting until tomorrow
Waiting for her hands to begin the climb
Staring at my pieces on the board
Knowing I’m in check
Just waiting for
The mate
Oct 14, 2011
Oct 14, 2011 at 3:47 PM UTC
Thoughts form in my head
Perfected
Neat
Unscathed
Until . . .
My mouth opens
My tongue flip-flops
Words reform
Tilting inside each other
Melting
Into a demented figure
Then a volcano erupts
From my inner
I scream
I cry
I shout
But the pen touches my fingertips
Quieting the beast in me
“Bleed me”
It whispers
I did
The pen bled my pain
It bled my deepest thoughts
Seemingly only ink cures
My dyslexia
~
Sep 16, 2014
Sep 16, 2014 at 11:46 PM UTC
My head tilted back like I was
Tasting raindrops
But what fell to my mouth was you
Cradling my jaw in your hands
Steady
As if I were a porcelain doll you might drop
It felt like goodbye
Because it was
And now I am afraid to turn corners
Locked in a haunted house
What will drop from the ceiling
Grab my leg
What will scare me back into submission
Besides you mounting someone outside
Which is perhaps
The most disturbing of all
How you wanted me until suddenly
You didn't
And how I didn't believe you
And how you fed me excuses like pacifiers
Quieting. Comforting. Soothing.
But I spit those out
Realizing their purpose was to
Quiet me into letting you go without a fight
But I took out my fists and fought like hell
You held them and pleaded with me to put my guns away
Surrender my weapons
And let you go in peace
This was all for you.
It was easier
For you
And only you
But what about me.
Grabbing at every part of myself
Pulling hair from my head and scratching flesh from my bones
Slowly and painfully pulling myself apart
Abandoning parts of me in gutters and streams
out windows and in ditches
I can't be myself anymore
Every inch of my flesh has your name written on it
Scratched in a pen using your own blood as ink
You sacrificed for me
And I for you
And we sat on a rock and smelled ocean and let the water spray our faces until we were sticky and wet and still we sung.
We had songs
Some silent, but I could hear the music when there was none.
I still do.
I can't look up down left or right without some yellow light telling me to
Slow down to a stop and take caution,
for a reminder is coming hard and fast your way.
Airbags go
Bitch-slapping me in the face for being stupid
For having been smart and throwing my morals to the wind
I'd like to regret you
But I don't
I'd like to hate you
But I can't
This makes me weak yes I know this
But
I gave you all the parts of me that were strong
And mere visions of you take the wind from my lungs and you use them to set your sails
You're a deep sea diver. Swimming. Living. Lying.
And I drown here.
You told me once that when I jump from a plane
The moment my parachute refuses to open
You'd be there carrying me to the ground
I won't let you fall, you said.
Jan 23, 2013
Jan 23, 2013 at 8:52 PM UTC
Writhing, the screeching leviathan demands
And I cave to save the aching from tricky time slopes
Pained craving
Wavering but
Hit and
It’s all loosey goosey goodness
Sensing silent magma pulse, whoosh the tummy tingles
Droopy ears gape-face giggle no more nowadays
A stern turn in old age the silly phase of
Too bright, neon common numb tongue rambles
Secedes into introspective
Crowded walks, broken talks strung into threats clustered and
Flung like monkey **** at many-stabbed ego, Brutus?
Strangers will eat you
The professor thinks I’m funny because
I know the answers in class
The other day Dingus
And Whoseewhatsee tried to alley mug and hurt and end
And money!
No, rocked nose ran dude! Fine
Trying not to fear the outdoors, though
The arthropods and phantoms tell me ***** jokes
And not to eat my candy
Books melt into soupy mercurial elixir
I slurp them and belch
Educating myself in a barn ******* knowledge
On loud faces; empty meat
Where you can hear the jingly metal
Thing when you shake it, it’s dead no flower
They don’t always like me
But
I’ve got the jeepers creepers behind my peepers
And a million lightyears to burn
Truth is worth dying
Four **** sow
Izzeny thing these daze
Maybe it was a bust from the start but there’s
Always art
Quieting the plague that revealed
Not so good after all
Tiny thorns and all-consuming
Waves of red-get-out wrenching, gutted like a fish
Overcome, that never went away or found
A place to sit
Memories arthritic grind a grim gray whetting stone
Reduce with juice-cloud, grape teeth cough will never find a home
Dec 23, 2012
Dec 23, 2012 at 4:51 PM UTC
The time must come when
we put aside recipes untried,
socks unmended, old fabrics
too pretty to be used -when
the bottled nuts and bolts
-the springs, the locks
unused -waiting,
wait unused
-the memorabilia of hope,
the rusty steel of life.
The time must come when
cease to lie -lotions,
Elixirs de Leon -when we
fail our bite to the night-soak
and think not -care not, of that
breath that does not count anyhow
-when reason mirrors wrinkles
-undreams romance.
-hooked rugs of might-have-done,
school albums, what not become,
leather bottles, convalescing sun
-and the quieting ice.
When I read the Sports/
Society page, I ask myself -them,
'How will you go down?
-willingly? -with,
if not a Bang, a Whimper?
-if not with, without
the Apotheosis of Drug?
(-from http://www.condition.org/ )
Jun 9, 2010
Jun 9, 2010 at 5:05 PM UTC
I laid nose-to-nose, in tall, old grasses, with a spirited coyote, some nights ago.
He said to me, with lips unparted and low, shiny eyes - to listen.
Hesitantly, I inched forward and nudged that coyote with my face, prodding him for something more.
But, nothing came.
He simply stared back at me, unblinkingly.
“I listen!”
I shouted with a heart on fire.
“I listen more than anyone I know!”
The coyote continued his staring game, quieting my bosomed flames.
Stubborn - they erupted, something ugly, from the valley, into the mountaintop.
Spilling from eyes, in the mountainside, I screamed back into his so loud,
The mountain ached from its shut in echo.
Patient " the coyote waited.
So, I stopped.
Somehow surprised, I found that, after the flames subsided into greys of ashes, in silence, I had begun to listen.
That coyote’s eyes were urging eyes, unmoving " unrelenting.
Obedient, I drew forth my worn, careful bag out and placed it, gently, in the dirt between us.
The coyote snatched it, in the grain between our breaths, and held it between clenched teeth.
I glared at him with challenging eyes " he stared back at me, just the same.
I reached out to grab it, but halfway there, I heard the coyote command me,
“Stop.”
The coyote lay there, my ashes raging about loudly " still silent, my bag between his teeth.
As the ashes settled, his glaring eyes mellowed, and I watched as he gobbled it up.
--
A crow cawed somewhere.
The full moon shone down approvingly.
My soul sighed once.
My body followed.
The coyote slept -
I bowed my head in silence.
Jul 27, 2011
Jul 27, 2011 at 2:09 PM UTC
I have been sailing
through the somewhat dangerous
sea of life,
seeking the new world
where there
is peace, love, happiness, wisdom, and compassion.
I sought it inside
the mind and body.
So, I found crazy mantras
and incomprehensible chants
and ways to sit
that once broke my ankle,
and a practice
of quieting the mind
that nearly killed me.
So this morning,
on Christopher Columbus Day,
I found
the true mantra
for me
and the true chant
for me,
the true words
which will bring
love, peace, happiness, wisdom and compassion,
and they are
love, peace, happiness, wisdom and compassion.
So now
I have found
my new world.
Happy Christopher Everson Day!
Oct 8, 2012
Oct 8, 2012 at 8:20 AM UTC
Standing in the river today
Bits of me still longed to go.
Float down stream.
Leave.
There was a slight voice, a murmur now,
This feeling that now feels foreign,
Thoughts of disappearing with the currents movement.
Following my natural inclination to
Move.
This voice was once a constant,
My response to the things that got hard.
Move on.
Be contained by the Shores edge and
Flow. Change, allow the wind to push
You along.
Race with the fishes.
My fish friends, never understood why
People eat them.
They are founding members of us.
Hold within them things we've long lost.
They race with me though,
Dipping and diving around the soft rounded river rocks.
I love how they feel along my skin,
My watery core capable of all dimension.
My malleable soul.
No one knows how comfortable it is
With change.
I was broken in,
Made to embrace it.
Though today , I didn't feel so
Impatient.
The longing to reunite with the oceans
Oneness, it's collection of me.
My call is quieting.
Softening, healing is being felt.
Infection is spreading,
Stretched out over Her body.
My feet graze over the Shores pebbles,
Feeling lazy.
Swimming isn't necessary.
Today we must stay standing,
At the edge of the river.
Holding each other up.
Coaxing a belief we can make something
We all can trust...
This faith in me is what I really have to offer to us, to our collective rising...
I believe in humanity.
I believe in me. And you, that WE
Have the ability to create anew.
That our hearts, together, see the steps
Begin within.
And as friends on this
Journey of US,
We meld hands, fingers wrapping
Around knuckles and rings.
Hold tight darling,
This river can be strong.
Your hand slides on my softened skin,
I hear the connection, I breath.
Thank God you're home.
Jul 14, 2017
Jul 14, 2017 at 2:48 AM UTC
Its Tuesday,
You turn off your movie,
Ready to get to bed.
You wonder what time it way be,
And suddenly, you regret your movie watching spree.
Five minutes to midnight.
You panic,
Remembering that gigantic,
Test you have the next morning.
You scramble to put your laptop away,
Trying not to crumble your essay,
Into your book bag with the rest of your school things.
You lie under your cover,
Only to discover,
It is 4 minutes till midnight.
You close your eyes,
Only seeing the lies,
You told about going to sleep hours before.
You toss and turn.
Realizing you may never be able to adjourn,
You movie night brain.
Your eyes wonder off,
What they see makes you cough.
3 more minutes till midnight.
You gasp,
Just wishing you would just clasp,
a sweet visit to dream land.
You then hear the loud thunder,
And start to wonder. . .
Is it giants?
Stomping angrily from the heavens?
Or dancing with glee in groups of sevens?
And then, as you think,
You suddenly need a drink!
You get out bed,
accidentally hitting your head!
You grab a drink from the kitchen,
Scooping up your kitten,
As you go back upstairs.
You spot the clock,
You feel as if you need to knock,
on wood as it is
1 minute to midnight.
You crawl back into bed,
listening to you kittens purring,
You feel the fur ball stirring,
trying to get comfortable.
The giants above quieting down,
You see no reason to frown.
You close your eyes,
and take a deep breath.
You did not get a visit from death,
But you did get to sleep,
Just as your clock hit,
Midnight.
Nov 20, 2014
Nov 20, 2014 at 10:23 PM UTC
through the silence of the dawn of light,
through the silence of the sun set at night,
through the silence all through the halls,
through the silence befalls peace to settle temporary brawls,
silence everywhere, quieting all
through the silence comes peace of mind,
through the silence we rest as one of mankind,
through the silence comes great inventions,
through the silence we release past tensions,
silence everywhere, quieting all
through the silence leaves not one voice to be heard,
through the silence blurred between the lines of the absolutely absurd,
through the silence one's thoughts might go wild,
through the silence past deviance's can be reconciled,
silence everywhere, quieting all
Dec 24, 2014
Dec 24, 2014 at 3:20 PM UTC
All these whiskey loving gentlemen,
Just trying to find some peace again.
They're fighting off questions,
Of their intentions and their existance.
They run the night with wild women,
And they always walk with rhythm.
And it's quieting their demons,
But they're screaming for a reason.
May 29, 2017
May 29, 2017 at 10:16 PM UTC
Nights caress me with softer subtleties,
to lull insecurities into restless sleep.
Tossing and turning is bad for the soul,
bed sheets, twisting around legs, creep
into nightmares of suffocating solitude.
Darkness surrounds me with quieting conscience,
thoughts seeping through deafened ears,
from days of listening, onto blacketed pillows,
which only wanted shelter from countless tears
cried through years of reddened eyes and bleeding
hearts.
Sparks fly like rocket ships to remind me that
second chances only come to those in love,
showered in towers of rose buds and daffodils,
be them weeds or strange symbols of white dove
affection, raining on all stuck unguarded, sans
protection.
May 5, 2012
May 5, 2012 at 2:14 PM UTC
Why do I try with you?
I can never win.
It's like building up the biggest sandcastle so far away from the ocean,
Yet you bring a bucket full of water and pour it out until it's just mush.
It's like fixing up a heart that is barely beating almost to full recovery,
Yet you grab it once again and dig your nails into it until it withers.
It's like bringing my head up from the tides to breathe for air,
Yet you grab my head and push me back down into the water.
It's like being worn out from a long day walking drenched by my rain cloud,
Yet you barge into my safe home with words as loud and hurtful as thunder.
It's like quieting the sad blue baby to sleep after hours of constant crying,
Yet you wake it back up once again with your own terrifying screaming.
Only I am the one crying until I awaken with puffy red eyes.
...
It just feels unfair and frustrating,
to feel so high and crash back down in a matter of seconds.
It's always the times where I feel alive, where I feel like I can walk.
And then I feel your hands push me back onto the ground,
As I listen to you blame me for not standing strong enough.
How doing this will leave me permanently scraped on the knees.
How my weak knees will force me to become a failure.
...
Sometimes I wonder how life would be without you.
Would I be happy? Probably, but my mom wouldn't.
It's the lesser of the two.
The latter of who is most important.
It's either the one you fell in love first while the other was forced.
It's abandoning the one that has less to lose.
The potential gain you receive from the kisses my mom gives you.
and I am the opportunity cost of your relationship with her, it seems.
You chose this life, yet you act like you despise it.
It makes me fear growing up, if growing up means to become cold and erratic.
...
Everyone wonders why it all affects me so much.
Very rarely do I get a break from the endless vast that holds me in its arms.
But when its tired arms puts me down, I'm able to walk freely.
I can breathe again, I can feel again, I can smile again, I can be me again.
Until you command the vast to hold me much tighter than before.
And I drink in the vast and let it soak into my brain as it leaks out my eyes.
And I can't help but do what I'm conditioned to do: blame myself.
I'm just the loss from the gain.
the chaos from the calm.
the bad from the good.
the pain from the pleasure.
the black from the white.
the second from the first
and let me tell you...
2nd *****
But you wouldn't care.
Mar 5, 2018
Mar 5, 2018 at 2:15 PM UTC
In solitude I sit
quieting my mind
with peace and stillness all around
my inner self I find
A tranquility so beautiful
A silenced deafening roar
of normal life that carries on
beyond this temple door
Colours vivid, vibrant hues
a clarity unmatched
shattered like glass the moment that
the door became unlatched
Try as I might the moment lost
at least for now it seems
My meditation gave just a hint
a taste of the serene.
Mar 17, 2010
Mar 17, 2010 at 5:41 PM UTC
*I am sorry darling
our paths part here
a bell's loud toll
encourages pace
it sets me free
It's been a long day
the suns set
finally
my eyes can rest
in light embraced
hold on to my fragments
without lament
for the night is generous
quieting the rain
I am sorry darling
we must part ways
remember eternally:
you are part of me
it's til I see you
that goodnight I bid
my heart stays whole
and with you remains*
Apr 8, 2016
Apr 8, 2016 at 2:50 AM UTC
The air whispers in my ear every day, but I don’t hear it.
Musical notes turn into background pollution that only my body listens to- not me.
A fleeting flock of images roars past my eyes, in a rapid swerve, lost without a destination.
I don’t see them anymore.
My friends offer me pleasantries of company and laughter, and still I become petrified, quieting further, into my conscience.
Smell has lost its scent.
Colors have lost their brightness.
Time has lost its speed.
Touching has lost all sensitivity.
Suddenly, restraints around my wrists have receded their pressure- the occasional aching of the heart has not returned for a visit and a tall cuppa Joe in a while.
The city lights run quickly past my perception in their usual mute chattering, but this time, I am withdrawn from inclusion.
I have arrived on the monolith that is my spirit.
Look! I can open and close my hand. This is fascinating!
What is that?! It’s like a coating behind all things. I wonder if I can touch it…
I had never realized just how ALIVE I really am. It feels funny.
I can actually feel myself existing…! How weird is that?
I can’t help but smile as I quietly dissolve.
And yet…
…I can actually feel myself existing!
Nov 12, 2011
Nov 12, 2011 at 1:39 AM UTC
I am having trouble writing.
It is as if there is a wall of bulletproof glass separating me from the words that are dying to escape the metal cage they are kept in. I am the only one with a key sitting comfortably in the pockets of my jeans, but no matter how hard I pound my fists against the wall, I do not get any closer to quieting the agonizing screams emerging from the trap. They get louder, aching for liberation, tethering their syllables around the bars as they sit, confined within a reality I am desperate to free them from.
They are starving to live. I can see the outlines of their bones through the transparent letters that blanket their elastic limbs, each day growing more tired, forgetting the taste of hope every minute that passes. I can feel them collecting dust, shrinking down to fragile skeletons that have begun to lose meaning. What if one day I will no longer be able to see them? What if one day I have nothing left to save?
I am starving to live. I cannot feel love without a knife stuck wedged in the back of my throat reminding me that I have nothing to describe it with. I can give all of myself to the one who thankfully accepts it but my teeth chatter at the thought of having to apologize for stealing joy from the cookie jar. I am sorry for having no words to say sorry. They told me to tell you that they are sorry for their absence, but I do not know how to say this without them.
For now, I am waiting. The same way I do for Fridays, for your call, for my heartbeat to obey the speed limit, for time to run dry.
I will continue to wait
patiently, tiredly, averting my eyes to the hopes that maybe tomorrow, they will be small enough to squeeze through the bars and set me free.
Apr 15, 2016
Apr 15, 2016 at 4:12 PM UTC
words like bullets.
i don't want them to hit me.
i don't want to bleed.
i don't want you to hurt me.
i don't want you to shoot.
i don't want
you to
wake up/
get out of bed/
get dressed/
look at me like that/
close your eyes/
turn around/
turn back/
speak/
turn around/
leave.
but your tongue's on
the trigger,
and my heart's beating fast.
and i'm closing my eyes,
counting seconds,
counting sheep
because you can't hurt me
when i'm asleep.
i won't feel a thing.
you're pulling the trigger
and my mouth is quieting the racing bullets,
but although they're muffled they still hit my ears,
the pain travelling to my heart.
i bite your tongue too hard
and you bleed into my mouth
and i try to forget that you said
"i'm sorry."
and i watch you,
everything in me
still.
everything in me
is
lifeless.
Dec 4, 2016
Dec 4, 2016 at 4:44 PM UTC
on a starless, moonless evening
a fissure quakes open
as time stands still
stench gasses hiss
a fissure quakes open
the earth moans hauntingly, eerily
stench gasses hiss
an unmarked corner of the cemetery
the earth moans hauntingly, eerily
an unspeakable evil imprisoned
an unmarked corner of the cemetery
hidden from the vaults of hell
an unspeakable evil imprisoned
stone angels stand their ground
hidden from the vaults of hell
great is their power
stone angels stand their ground
an aura of authority
great is their power
without words the trembling ceases
an aura of authority
quieting the yawning earth
without words the trembling ceases
closing its lips tight
quieting the yawning earth
silent sentinels prove their worth
closing its lips tight
no evil will escape tonight
silent sentinels prove their worth
on a starless, moonless evening
no evil will escape tonight
as time stands still
Oct 15, 2010
Oct 15, 2010 at 10:34 AM UTC
The dying gaul,
in my mind,
saw three days of mad war.
Empire had come to batter,
the forests that stood the doors of home.
Swords were run through the woodland gulleys,
making way for culture's end,
for yet more roads to lead to Rome.
And the sculpture speaks,
upon a shield,
of limbs for quieting dreams to rely on.
A veined marble hand kisses lightly to the knee,
saying in some wild, dead tongue:
"Sleep.
So long have you carried me."
Aug 21, 2013
Aug 21, 2013 at 6:35 PM UTC
I can hear you smiling
and picture your embrace
your words so beguiling
a gentle touch, upon my face
Every time and every way
soothing, as you go
removing angst, and anger
your voice, affects me so
Melody and musically
to calm my savage breast
eloquent and beautifully
my mind and heart, at rest
A song I hear, and see
every time, you're near
removing my anxiety
quieting my fears
Aug 23, 2017
Aug 23, 2017 at 9:44 AM UTC