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Bridget Cassidy Jun 2010
tonight the streetlights shall guide my way
as i scramble up and out of the lonely street
there's a man walking vigourously behind me
it occurs to me i should pick up my feet
he starts to get faster picking up pace
i swipe the twigs and leaves infront of my chin
all of a sudden it seems it's errupted into a race
and i was so set on never letting that man win
i hid in a bush and waited for him to pass by
as he asked another member of the public a question
he said 'have you seen a girl with chestnut hair about this high?'
as he added on more with a humble expression
"she dropped her bow on the ground infront of my feet
i wouldn't want her to lose something that makes her eyes so bright"
they replied "i'm really sorry i haven't, but that is very sweet"
he replied a simple, 'thankyou anyway and that is quite alright'
i emerged from the bush, he turned around with me at his glance
he held out his hand and smiled gently to give me the bow
he said ' i would have given you this earlier but you didn't give me the chance'
i said "thankyou, i am greatful more than you will ever know"
he stood there for a while and then said "well i guess i'll be on my way"
as he walked off i noticed he dropped a piece of paper from his sleeve
i picked it up off the ground and held it in my hand
i was running after him faster than you could ever believe
Tom McCone Dec 2012
say something or just
keep on makin' ghost-patterned, intervening silences,
                    singing
or half-murmuring
                                 verses, those ones from slow songs under low light,
the same refrain that runs between all the others,
through the passage of weeks, stained tobacco sweet by eleven-thirty iterations;

                       [post-meridian or particulate matters only,
                                                                           of course,
                                                                        it's hard to wake before noon anymore.]


with the way these rhythms keep us down
                                                          and out,
counting the methods-
the summations of potential miseries,
and the probabilities that all would or could turn around, before the end of the week.
                                                                                        or the next one.

                            and,
outside the door, the one after that,
                                       over the acres of concrete and pale shade,
streetlit likenesses hushing air through melting neighbourhoods,
                                                            I make imaginary footprints,
wondering which, of the field of household starlit comforts,
                           is the blade of grass you cast seeds from
to inadvertently germinate and sprout a well of aspiration, the wind in a stranger's ribcage,
                                                                      continually growing, hiccoughing leaf litter,
                 with every last breath.
I couldn't think of a title, which ended up in lawn research
my sister said "I think I'm here", as I embraced another goodbye and I was already opening the door
[this was unnecessary, but I liked the line]
I am tired,
too tired for my own good. and, still, awake.
It has been another day.
Like any other.
SG Holter Oct 2014
I'm a man of lucid
Nightmares; this time
Lost in a world of snow

With nothing to keep me warm
But the piece of unlikely driftwood
I held on to for its familiarity alone,

Sobbing into it; tears softening its
Brittle texture until it transformed,
Became flesh and skin and pulse,

And whispered, as its twigs moved
Against my chest, my name with
Slight concern; either for me or

Her own lack of sleep.
I kissed her elbow, released her arm
And left the bedroom to watch the

Rain dance on the stage of the
Streetlit pavement outside the window,
And thus celebrate reality, where I can

Sit and listen to something breathe that
Loves me so intensely that my absence
Would be a world of

Snow, without a single piece
Of driftwood to
Cling to.
Kyle Kulseth Mar 2017
The night will corrode
Our smiles will erode.
It's been a long time coming down the track I s'pose.
The weather's finally warming
but I'm cold, ya know.
          And I know--
     the season's gonna change.

So peel back
          the streetlit sky of a Sunday night.
Reveals black.
          One empty gut, one clouded mind.
Got a fistful of pocket lining says I'm right.
Wrong way. Left turn. I'll be alright
          without you.
     I know my way home.

One talk at a time,
I finally know.
Out of words. Out of time. A frown growing slow.
The temperatures are turning,
turn my back and go
          'cuz I know
     that you already have.

I've always known
I would walk out alone.
Had to come out swinging for the quick K.O.
I hate the ******* heat;
you're sick of the snow.
          And you know--
     My reasons. Your excuse.

So peel back
          the ******* smiles of a Winter night.
Reveals black.
          Your toothless mouth, this empty fight.
Got a fistful of pocket lining, walk all night.
Wrong way. Left turn. I guess I was right
          about you.
     I know my way home.

          Without you
     I know my way home.
          Without you.
This one was kinda spat and shoved out there. I dunno, I'm not super stoked on it.

2024 update: I'm actually WAY stoked on this one!
Flesh of a lonely man
Needs make up
Wreaths on this list coming

Crossing out and ticking the boxes
We’re still holding the dust of souls
And ashen glances look like desultory glances

****** on the nursed streets
The streetlit howling winds can fly out of educated lives
We are only left educated minds changing their ways and stealing cigarettes

Feigining for the father figure
I hope we have had a good time
The night’s brighter with the vivid growth of the undernelly

Knell bells tolling, killing the bleeding
Sojourn the dress, and adjourn th court
Red crimson tresses sense the mallet of sentences marking forever

Those worst worshipping travelers of trafficking
Altruist, my forefathers are looking at us like it’s now or never
The darkeness is inevitable, but, the tunnel runs out with indomitable spirit stealing glances from the Gods of religions so decrepit
I had my luck in my pocket from these corrupt politicians, and reiterated that I’d run and reign and then run
Like the apoplectic season of the monsoons, teaming up either way
I’m glad the worker is dead
I wanna govern it all to
Elative and error in my loveless ways
I can’t get anything out of my horse and wine

— The End —