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Dennis Rowling Jul 2016
changeling
evolving
journeying
from
pre-conception
mis-conception
immaculate conception
to post-partum
afterlife

travellers
engaging with pilgrims
seeking direction
trying to understand
nuances of relationship
between themselves and humankind

spiralling through vortices
and
mirrored portals to
a life of
clouded memory moments

lions salivating
blooded claws
eager to rip the straightjacketed soul
open
to explosions of truth
and invert the inverted drawer
exposing the convenient
lies that protect us
from the self-accusing soul
knowing we are born of choice
and sin
inevitably our bodies betray
the creator's design
through his eye of perceived benign benevolance.

empty dreams and visions
of moments
before time made us grow old
dimming vision of past joy
indulged, saved, in a treasure chest

with
baubles , bangles
beads of sweat
dripping relentlessly through
our hourglass
puddling in our slowing wake
up and know that love is tainted
before it begins.
before it started
after the dream of you
was the single star
beside the morning moon
that we shared
even when apart
was lost
in the tattered vision
of
perceived beauty
love died
reduced to triviality.
history killed it.
buried it, beneath a mountain
of hallmark cards
and internet memes.

this is the stuff of nightsweat  dreams
tethered dependent mental patients
and we've made a showroom
out of the waiting room
for distraction hacks trafficking ills
bought with souls sold off
straightjacketed addicts
aching to take the sting
out of this taut
existence
Brian Rihlmann Sep 2018
grow thicker skin
like us
they say

also...
calm down
snap out of it
and let it go

advice
from friends
who seem to think
I'm someone else

they love him
this someone else
they've painted
this potential me
created in their image

while the flesh me
fails to explain
the experience
of this pulsing
straightjacketed
brain

the drop of errant blood
that pollutes the rest

what it's like
treading water with
concrete shoes

and how I tiptoe
like a cat burglar
around double helix
spiral staircases
trying to avoid
the mischievous child
who hides in dark corners
lobbing sticks of dynamite
in my path

I explain all this
but they are not appeased

they trumpet laughter
through their scaly trunks

I turn and walk
out the door into
my daily hailstorm
unprotected
Yenson Dec 2021
Now
I would be intelligent enough
to know and take on board
that enough is known about him
to know conclusively
that such is not susceptible to doubts
or woolly headedness
or the petty insecurities of superficials'
its not like he a thief who robs his neighbours
or some gang-member betrothed to the dictates
of some Mob dons
or some useful idiots not confident enough to know better
or some weak characters easily coerced
or those with secrets straightjacketed into compliance
or the simple followers who go just follow or go with crowds
or the narcissists and psychos in constant needs of narc fixes
or the pathetic haters who hate to live
or the underachievers riddled with self-loathing
so the intelligent observers
will surely know that some people
are centred balanced and assured enough to know their own mind
and trust their own judgements and convictions
it appears though that there are these people
who cannot comprehend this
but then
how can the insecures' riddled with doubts and insecurities
even begin to contemplate this
they only have their own yardsticks to go by
its the way their cookie crumbles

— The End —