Hello Poetry
Submit your work and get some sparkles! Create free account
"trapdoors" poems
In the sky there is nobody asleep. Nobody, nobody. Nobody is asleep. The creatures of the moon sniff and prowl about their cabins. The living iguanas will come and bite the men who do not dream, and the man who rushes out with his spirit broken will meet on the street corner the unbelievable alligator quiet beneath the tender protest of the stars. Nobody is asleep on earth. Nobody, nobody. Nobody is asleep. In the graveyard far off there is a corpse who has moaned for three years because of a dry countryside on his knee; and that boy they buried this morning cried so much it was necessary to call out the dogs to keep him quiet. Life is not a dream. Careful! Careful! Careful! We fall down the stairs in order to eat the moist earth or we climb to the knife edge of the snow with the voices of the dead dahlias. But forgetfulness does not exist, dreams to not exist; flesh exists. Kisses tie our mouths in a thicket of new veins, and whoever his pain pains will feel that pain forever and whoever is afraid of death will carry it on his shoulers. On day the horses will live in the saloons and the enraged ants will throw themselves on the yellow skies that take refuge in the eyes of cows. Another day we will watch the preserved butterflies rise from the dead and still walking through a country of gray sponges and silent boats we will watch our ring flash and roses spring from our tongue. Careful! Be careful! Be careful! The men who still have marks of the claw and the thunderstorm, and that boy who cries because he has never heard of the invention of the bridge, or that dead man who possess now only his head and a shoe, we must carry them to the wall where the iguanas and the snakes are waiting, where the bear's teeth are waiting, where the mummified hand of the boy is waiting, and the hair of the camel stands on end with a violent blue shudder. Nobody is sleeping in the sky. Nobody, nobody. Nobody is sleeping. If someone does close his eyes, a whip, boys, a whip! Let there be a landscape of open eyes and bitter wounds on fire. No one is sleeping in this world. No one, no one. I have said it before. No one is sleeping. But if someone grows too much moss on his temples during the night, open the stage trapdoors so he can see in the moonlight the lying goblets, and the poison, and the skull of the theatres.
0
9.3k
City That Does Not Sleep
In the sky there is nobody asleep. Nobody, nobody. Nobody is asleep. The creatures of the moon sniff and prowl about their cabins. The living iguanas will come and bite the men who do not dream, and the man who rushes out with his spirit broken will meet on the street corner the unbelievable alligator quiet beneath the tender protest of the stars. Nobody is asleep on earth. Nobody, nobody. Nobody is asleep. In the graveyard far off there is a corpse who has moaned for three years because of a dry countryside on his knee; and that boy they buried this morning cried so much it was necessary to call out the dogs to keep him quiet. Life is not a dream. Careful! Careful! Careful! We fall down the stairs in order to eat the moist earth or we climb to the knife edge of the snow with the voices of the dead dahlias. But forgetfulness does not exist, dreams to not exist; flesh exists. Kisses tie our mouths in a thicket of new veins, and whoever his pain pains will feel that pain forever and whoever is afraid of death will carry it on his shoulers. On day the horses will live in the saloons and the enraged ants will throw themselves on the yellow skies that take refuge in the eyes of cows. Another day we will watch the preserved butterflies rise from the dead and still walking through a country of gray sponges and silent boats we will watch our ring flash and roses spring from our tongue. Careful! Be careful! Be careful! The men who still have marks of the claw and the thunderstorm, and that boy who cries because he has never heard of the invention of the bridge, or that dead man who possess now only his head and a shoe, we must carry them to the wall where the iguanas and the snakes are waiting, where the bear's teeth are waiting, where the mummified hand of the boy is waiting, and the hair of the camel stands on end with a violent blue shudder. Nobody is sleeping in the sky. Nobody, nobody. Nobody is sleeping. If someone does close his eyes, a whip, boys, a whip! Let there be a landscape of open eyes and bitter wounds on fire. No one is sleeping in this world. No one, no one. I have said it before. No one is sleeping. But if someone grows too much moss on his temples during the night, open the stage trapdoors so he can see in the moonlight the lying goblets, and the poison, and the skull of the theatres.
Continue reading...
49
time governs you and me treat it not irreverently chance the unknown while you can sands of time pause for no woman nor man one and all quick sticks the time piece it ticks it ticks dithers and dawdlers hear the alarm wasted days do each of us irreversible harm of the calendar year we are sure but moments in time are pending trapdoors make every venture your stock in trade lest time render us uncertain and afraid in reality rosters and agendas do vary devilish time oft wickedly contrary speed up Jack and Jill sundials are on a roll time is indiscriminate exacting a costly toll governor time is carefully deliberating our pendulums remonstrating
0
Jan 11, 2014
Jan 11, 2014 at 9:08 PM UTC
Time
Silhouettes in moonlit mazes your tears are complex superstructures. Superclusters wrinkle I, negative energy, tunneling through chasms forbidden; you and I float. Comes  a sound, depth charged sleeper cell, a bloop, a mystery, an unsweep, a whistle, a Julia, a train, a slow down. Heard by 350,000 zombies. You and I sleep. A child derails a train, safe to say, that the world has its trapdoors. Its a mystery, they say, but what do they know? About us and our death. You and I disorient. Your two ******* hide a heart, A mother board center of circulation. Your body’s iterative delusion Graces mine. And dissolves me. You and I disintegrate. We need to hack the heart, With absurdity and farce and slipstream: Into subspecies, we, simians, We are grateful, gratified. You and I evaporate
0
Oct 4, 2012
Oct 4, 2012 at 12:22 AM UTC
The Future
After reading my first love poem And misunderstanding my first love story Romanticizing your bleak hope I knew I was ****** And in trying to explain this I am left feeling like a schizophrenic Walt Whitman Scrawling poems about your beauty As if love is something you can actually seek outside yourself While inside you there are walls Mine fields Trapdoors leading to deadfalls All to keep you from it I want to stand at the entrance to myself And be baptized in my own sweat From the work of this deconstruction There is heaven and peace in the rubble Blueprints for a home without safeguards A simple place you can rest your head at night This chest Love is not something you seek But you tell that to these hands This pen This mouth Tell these eyes without losing my gaze That it is not hiding somewhere behind you It is not I know this now I know that love is this Your heart is this Your body is this A spare room in a small house You had intented on living alone in And everytime someone comes to your door Know it is always nicer inside And be grateful that someone came to it Let them in with your smile say "I have been expecting you" Then let them leave if that is what they must do They might Just remember to be grateful for their presence Everyone who sought your door Sought it because there is something good there There is always you
0
Apr 22, 2013
Apr 22, 2013 at 5:07 PM UTC
Drunk Love Poem #I've Lost Count
How do you measure the once-was?  The invisible?  The void?                                    *The ache in my heart is not physiological,                                    although it may feel like it sometimes is.*   I can measure the words I write,                        the words that get stuck in my throat.   The boxes of belongings left over.  (You can narrow down a person’s                                                                physical life by how many trips it                                                                                           takes to Goodwill.) How many songs can I now not stand?   How many scents are now trigger trapdoors?   Shall I count the number of times I’ve thought of you today?   No ******* thank you.                                             Measuring is for the birds.                                                                                               The doctors and                                                                                                 the scientists.   I keep reaching inside and pulling out my still beating,                                           but rotting and decaying heart                                         only to be told it’s perfectly fine.   I refuse to be gaslit on my grief anymore.
0
Feb 23, 2022
Feb 23, 2022 at 10:00 PM UTC
If You Need A Description of What Grief Looks Like, Feels Like, Sounds Like, You Have a Privilege I Wish I Had
How do you measure the once-was?  The invisible?  The void?                                    *The ache in my heart is not physiological,                                    although it may feel like it sometimes is.*   I can measure the words I write,                        the words that get stuck in my throat.   The boxes of belongings left over.  (You can narrow down a person’s                                                                physical life by how many trips it                                                                                           takes to Goodwill.) How many songs can I now not stand?   How many scents are now trigger trapdoors?   Shall I count the number of times I’ve thought of you today?   No ******* thank you.                                             Measuring is for the birds.                                                                                               The doctors and                                                                                                 the scientists.   I keep reaching inside and pulling out my still beating,                                           but rotting and decaying heart                                         only to be told it’s perfectly fine.   I refuse to be gaslit on my grief anymore.
Continue reading...
19
Who are these men and women that move as the ends of earth-- raving stiff, sweet, bitter serums of truth? From their common manner a prodigal bleeding has begun-- all the elements that eternally knotted them now drain. Their full significance squints at its rise and shine, as meaning is placed and trapdoors open.
0
Jan 26, 2017
Jan 26, 2017 at 11:46 AM UTC
Trapdoors Open
Perhaps you aren’t as faceless as you think you are: your skin not green, your face not plastered with wide-eared grins, your house neither yellow nor full of garish trampolines, trapdoors and springs. This static, this stillness, this is you: Quiet, loud, alone in your room screaming in whatever tongue you speak best at, staring back at reflections in mirrors that don’t recognise you. You smile, measure the gaps between your teeth and find that they are a little bit smaller, check their slant and find that they lean a little more to the left, feel your skin and find that the green tinge comes off with a light scratch of a nail, and that beneath the coverings, you still are flesh and blood.
0
Aug 29, 2015
Aug 29, 2015 at 11:59 AM UTC
The Mask
She let herself in through dilated pupils to find a labyrinth of magic mirrors waiting with tricky trapdoors and trip wires designed to make her fall and forget herself
0
May 7, 2013
May 7, 2013 at 2:59 PM UTC
Labyrinth
Lost in a Labyrinth of feelings can't get back to where I was trapdoors and danger around every corner and door can't go back can't return not now I have to wait for time to heal my pain.
0
Apr 19, 2010
Apr 19, 2010 at 2:58 PM UTC
Labyrinth of feelings
There's a backdoor Always a backdoor A trapdoor To let me out Or let you in Let me in Or trap me In your trap Of doors Revolving doors Revolving And mirrors Mirroring Trapdoors And me Trapped In endless Mirrors And doors To traps set By you To entrap Me
0
Feb 24, 2013
Feb 24, 2013 at 10:46 AM UTC
Trapdoors
time governs you and me treat it not irreverently chance the unknown while you can sands of time pause for no woman nor man one and all quick sticks the time piece it ticks it ticks ditherers and dawdlers hear the alarm wasted days do each of us irreversible harm of the calendar year we are sure though moments in time are pending trapdoors make every venture your stock in trade lest time render us uncertain and afraid in reality agendas and rosters do vary devilish time oft wickedly contrary speed up Jack Jill sundials are on a roll time is indiscriminate in exacting a costly toll governor time is carefully deliberating our pendulums remonstrating
0
Sep 13, 2014
Sep 13, 2014 at 7:12 PM UTC
Time
I'm friends with everyone We all have loads of fun I'm so happy with how it's all run Until FOUR THREE TWO ONE Shattered hopes, broken dreams Busting my whole perfect life at the seams I can hear the cries and screams Arguments and nightmares Terrifies and scares Haunts and horrors Locks and trapdoors Fires and pits Demons and misfits My broken memory Was suddenly replaced by reality Not everyone cares for me Breaking my delusional stupidity I thought I was the king of lies But it turns out that they were my world, my demise I weep over my torn and murdered world Leaving my innocence in a pile of blood and lies unfurled
0
Feb 28, 2016
Feb 28, 2016 at 10:22 PM UTC
Delusion
time governs you and me treat it not irreverently chance the unknown will you can sands of time pause for no woman nor man one and all quick sticks the time piece it ticks it ticks ditherers and dawdlers hear the alarm wasted days do each of us irreversible harm of the calendar year we are sure though moments in time are pending trapdoors make every venture your stock in trade lest time render us uncertain and afraid in reality rosters and agendas do vary devilish time oft wickedly contrary speed up Jack and Jill sundials are on a roll time is indiscriminate in exacting a costly toll governor time is carefully deliberating our pendulums remonstrating
0
Nov 23, 2014
Nov 23, 2014 at 5:10 PM UTC
Time
I don’t lie,
 I simply camouflage my words,
 My mind has been put on stand-by,
 All these clever rhymes and verbs
 That I use, they’re all hidden
 Some you won’t understand you are forbidden
 To fully comprehend what it is I’m trying to say
 I realize that some of you may 
Not relate, retaliate, by saying this is fake,
 Not true, my neck aches 
From carrying these words in the back of my head 
So now I scribble them down, no lies,
 Just truth, and other
 Because I want you for yourself to discover 
The same as I do 
You’ll thank me- no thank yourself, when there’s eventually a
breakthrough
 Because lying is the easy way, right?
 but the path is filled with trapdoors,
 You’ll walk through and discover that it’ll break you, it even might
Leave you wheezing on all fours.

 I’m not hiding anything, I wear it on my sleeve,
 Why would I ever tell you, what would I achieve?
 You’ll never understand, all you’d do is find me odd, 
All because I’d choose to tell you that my mind is flawed?
 No I’ll simply wait for the light to turn green, 
I’ve been standing still, waiting here since I was a teen
 Maybe the light’s broken, could someone come and fix it? 
No, I’m just gonna wait, how could I ever admit
 That I’ve been waiting right here for years,
 Without trying to move forward, back, maybe it’s my gears 
Gears of my car, gears in my head
 Are they working, I think my engine's dead 
Are you there, are you still with me?
 Of course I am, I’m fine, but my mind is on a killing spree
 Killing my flow, killing my name,
 Stomping on my heart am I going insane?
 I don’t see myself in the mirror,
 This puddle of darkness- I’ll drown in it
 Death’s getting nearer.

 We’re all diseased,
Our minds aren’t free 
Everything put out is believed
 We’ve stopped thinking, or is it just me?
 Me that is ill, me that screams until,
 I can’t anymore and now my vocal chords are torn 
The screaming for real, it’s turned into a squeal, 
But the sounds have become deafening, they’re sounds of defeat
 Now I sit in silence as I continually and desperately plead 

Help me, please see through the false truth,
 My second face, this mask of mine, 
It’s starting to show cracks, please have a glance and talk,
 Don’t just stand there from the sideline 
I finally throw the mask away and then I see it hit you, 
Right in your face, it sticks, and still only half is true.
 I’ll only transfer the truth, the lies, the problem’s still alive
 Maybe there’s no cure, solution, 
 just to fire lead through my hard drive.
0
Jan 24, 2018
Jan 24, 2018 at 8:26 AM UTC
Lies
I don’t lie,
 I simply camouflage my words,
 My mind has been put on stand-by,
 All these clever rhymes and verbs
 That I use, they’re all hidden
 Some you won’t understand you are forbidden
 To fully comprehend what it is I’m trying to say
 I realize that some of you may 
Not relate, retaliate, by saying this is fake,
 Not true, my neck aches 
From carrying these words in the back of my head 
So now I scribble them down, no lies,
 Just truth, and other
 Because I want you for yourself to discover 
The same as I do 
You’ll thank me- no thank yourself, when there’s eventually a
breakthrough
 Because lying is the easy way, right?
 but the path is filled with trapdoors,
 You’ll walk through and discover that it’ll break you, it even might
Leave you wheezing on all fours.

 I’m not hiding anything, I wear it on my sleeve,
 Why would I ever tell you, what would I achieve?
 You’ll never understand, all you’d do is find me odd, 
All because I’d choose to tell you that my mind is flawed?
 No I’ll simply wait for the light to turn green, 
I’ve been standing still, waiting here since I was a teen
 Maybe the light’s broken, could someone come and fix it? 
No, I’m just gonna wait, how could I ever admit
 That I’ve been waiting right here for years,
 Without trying to move forward, back, maybe it’s my gears 
Gears of my car, gears in my head
 Are they working, I think my engine's dead 
Are you there, are you still with me?
 Of course I am, I’m fine, but my mind is on a killing spree
 Killing my flow, killing my name,
 Stomping on my heart am I going insane?
 I don’t see myself in the mirror,
 This puddle of darkness- I’ll drown in it
 Death’s getting nearer.

 We’re all diseased,
Our minds aren’t free 
Everything put out is believed
 We’ve stopped thinking, or is it just me?
 Me that is ill, me that screams until,
 I can’t anymore and now my vocal chords are torn 
The screaming for real, it’s turned into a squeal, 
But the sounds have become deafening, they’re sounds of defeat
 Now I sit in silence as I continually and desperately plead 

Help me, please see through the false truth,
 My second face, this mask of mine, 
It’s starting to show cracks, please have a glance and talk,
 Don’t just stand there from the sideline 
I finally throw the mask away and then I see it hit you, 
Right in your face, it sticks, and still only half is true.
 I’ll only transfer the truth, the lies, the problem’s still alive
 Maybe there’s no cure, solution, 
 just to fire lead through my hard drive.
Continue reading...
55
TRAPDOORS IN OUR LIFE Casually as we stroll to find a new view on that knoll, if the vision is blocked we won't see all the potholes Was it truly the intention to reach a holy grail, is not achieving it a sign we may be frail Many steps to take through overgrown fields with hidden paths,is about finding stepping stone not the pitfalls Fun and frolic necessary parts of the play,often casually we develop habits covering our minds like a black veil Freedom was much easier without the knowledge of blind spots, how the breezes easily turn into windstorms How often have we overcome what could have been a block but when simply taken in stride we prevail Peering out over perpetual pastures with unknown ditches and glitches ,beauty or beast to greet us as we crisscross Unheard disclaimers were given for protection brushed aside nothing to break our stride blind to being frail Once again to face a day never considering a loss, just a need to play,often staying in motion comes with a higher cost Knowledge of others ahead keeps us from our bed,playing on our own path to find new pleasure,unknown fears would make us stale Will we take lessons from past discretion's or become feeble as we fall remain strong because this life testing can only be lived not taught. R.C.
0
Jul 5, 2018
Jul 5, 2018 at 7:12 AM UTC
TRAPDOORS IN OUR LIFE
you came you left  and yet the trees still sway      and summer still comes all that remains is a strange longing,  memori­es that rose like cyclops in the night                        the trapdoors of desire,  the black-holes of our sharpened        souls if you could be god, and                come back - if only for a moment, to tell me I was right,  then I would make your words my epitaph) my purpled lover, like  a bulbous flower protruding from it's  stem, you have eaten all the breadcrumbs, so how will I find you again? ­ even if you had disappeared like   an evening ghost,       our souls had touched,   and for the first time   I could see the stars in other  peoples' eyes
0
Oct 4, 2018
Oct 4, 2018 at 12:29 PM UTC
Disappear and Reappear
today its vast, leadlike heaviness, caught in a web for years, a river of tears, knowing not to touch mercury, never to touch lead, but all this lumpen, toxic, metal, here now, the painful, real circumstances, a life unravels horrific, watch the watchmen,   politicians reliant on  crazy logic, journeying headlong with coboclos, and shaman bundled and secreted, in rabbit warren, their pronouncements, She amazed the vastness of the labyrinth, like tendrils that surmounted her, all her lonely long life, her mother, her father, her brothers, her sisters, baby Jesus, God the Father, church, other parents of schoolfriends, the watchmen, hippies, engineers, pretend girlfriend trapdoors, pretend boyfriend trapdoors,watchmen, irish, americans, english, russians, coboblos, shaman, germans, dutch, irish, english, americans, chinese, spanish, portuguese, italians. worldwideweb one woman  an island, allegedly.   her strenght from the biggest Daddy the one above, He sent her his Son , He filled her with Love, she hopes for his return, others  burn and condemn themselves in the safety of numbers, they are numbered.... right now, she cannot find hope or love for them , she did love when it counted, all that too is from God.
0
Oct 25, 2020
Oct 25, 2020 at 6:05 AM UTC
Is love once felt lost?
When you asked me to name What I valued most My head tilted To the canvas sky And I failed to suppress The thought of your eyes Which shone brighter than all the stars combined I couldn't understand I failed to comprehend How no one else saw How no one else realised His eyes All colours in one Which Despite all matters All falls and pits, All trapdoors and declines Constantly shone With radiance that never faltered But he faded Slowly, Slowly, but surely So I clung harder And yet he managed to slip Through the cracks between my frail fingers And from him I learned Beautiful things aren’t meant to last nearly long enough Beauty is best kept for memories To hide the cruelty Rotting the wondrous Stealing the beautiful When you told me to describe the ugliest sight had observed The first thing that came to mind was the way your hand would wrap itself around the bottle And how your eyes would roll back in undisturbed bliss As you emptied it down your throat When you told me to express the worst feeling in the world The problem was, I had no word to describe the rush of hurt and pain that would choke my lungs When the sound of the slamming door That would resound within the place we had once called home When you told me to name my favourite thing in the world I looked up to the sky and couldn’t help but notice That as bright as the stars were The flicker, the pulse in your eyes would transcend them every time When you told me to describe the prettiest sight could ever witness The first thing that came to mind was the way you would throw your head back and laugh And how your eyes would light up Better than the midnight stars That would gleam in the midnight sky When you told me to express the greatest feeling in the world The problem was, There was no word to describe the overwhelming feeling that would seep into my veins When the sound of your melodious laugh would ring in my ears, echoing and echoing When you told me to name the worst thing in the world I looked up at the sky and couldn’t help but notice That the darkness of the sky Would rival the emptiness in your eyes Even gone, the stars could never transcend his eyes And I doubt that anything would glow with the same radiance As he did.
0
Dec 29, 2016
Dec 29, 2016 at 11:30 PM UTC
Light of the Stars
When you asked me to name What I valued most My head tilted To the canvas sky And I failed to suppress The thought of your eyes Which shone brighter than all the stars combined I couldn't understand I failed to comprehend How no one else saw How no one else realised His eyes All colours in one Which Despite all matters All falls and pits, All trapdoors and declines Constantly shone With radiance that never faltered But he faded Slowly, Slowly, but surely So I clung harder And yet he managed to slip Through the cracks between my frail fingers And from him I learned Beautiful things aren’t meant to last nearly long enough Beauty is best kept for memories To hide the cruelty Rotting the wondrous Stealing the beautiful When you told me to describe the ugliest sight had observed The first thing that came to mind was the way your hand would wrap itself around the bottle And how your eyes would roll back in undisturbed bliss As you emptied it down your throat When you told me to express the worst feeling in the world The problem was, I had no word to describe the rush of hurt and pain that would choke my lungs When the sound of the slamming door That would resound within the place we had once called home When you told me to name my favourite thing in the world I looked up to the sky and couldn’t help but notice That as bright as the stars were The flicker, the pulse in your eyes would transcend them every time When you told me to describe the prettiest sight could ever witness The first thing that came to mind was the way you would throw your head back and laugh And how your eyes would light up Better than the midnight stars That would gleam in the midnight sky When you told me to express the greatest feeling in the world The problem was, There was no word to describe the overwhelming feeling that would seep into my veins When the sound of your melodious laugh would ring in my ears, echoing and echoing When you told me to name the worst thing in the world I looked up at the sky and couldn’t help but notice That the darkness of the sky Would rival the emptiness in your eyes Even gone, the stars could never transcend his eyes And I doubt that anything would glow with the same radiance As he did.
Continue reading...
84