"volt" poems
This terribleness. The blur of traffic lights and puddles paints Los Angeles on my face at night. It's so hard to know who will doze in my blind spots. Sunflower seeds and ******* lining the carpet. I sat on the front porch for five hours gutting the wolves from my appendices. Usually the headaches go away with the squashing of the lights. Fluorescents are the worst, halogens second, and 60-watt 120-volt light bulb the bane of my existence. I look at my phone but I cannot summon a quirky 120 character quip. I need excedrin but all I have to grape flavored children's aspirin. I should have asked for the water. How many unfinished glasses of water have I left around this world?
Maybe Bruce and I will squash after work. I can hear his weekly catalog of two night stands with those married transient women who drive from Santa B. I hate golf, I could have made carried a career in this resentment. Maybe rolling down the window will alleviate some of this pressure. Maybe it's barometric pressure, The Baby is here in time to drag the houses out to sea. It feels like Michelangelo is carving The David in my head and it's the chiseling I've never wanted. It's Tuesday and the drugs were horrible. They killed five of them today. We wrapped their heads in blankets from the Thrifty, and had to have the interns find clothes that would fit for the Christian caskets. Two days until Giving Thanks Day.
I am wrapped in copper and stuck in amber. I am acquitted by nonsense and stipulation, sick with nausea and pushing my forehead into the steering wheel. This is all terrible. The lying I've never told myself. The people that don't even know it's lying. Her and I always seem to escape with our happiness and pleasure in tow. The odds are slim, but our clothes have never fit too tightly.
Nov 25, 2014
Nov 25, 2014 at 2:54 AM UTC
§
If I possessed all the riches of the earth
I would lay them at your feet,
just to see you smile.
When your lips part,
revealing your resplendent mirth,
all else fades into darkness
in comparison to your luminosity.
Like a ten thousand volt electromagnet
this iron body is dragged unresisting to you.
It is almost a sin,
no it is a sin to block that smile
with my own light consuming lips.
So I sin
again and again,
I cannot stop.
So total and absolute
is the power of your smile.
Your lips are the closest thing
to heaven
that this blackhearted sinner can ever hope to experience.
As our mouths connect
I can feel the bold white radiance fill my body.
It is impossible to believe
that life holds a purer pleasure than this.
If it does I don't need it.
All the riches of the earth cannot compare
to your lips.
Jun 13, 2012
Jun 13, 2012 at 5:12 PM UTC
The thing is, I always forget what it was I had realized after I realized it.
That sentence is how it feels.
Like my mind doesn't really want an answer.
Like it gave up on looking for one so long ago, at least consciously.
There always remains a passive creep towards...
Something.
It's just YOU.
Well then, who might You be?
I'm YOU.
Three letter words with Special Capitalization Patterns remind You of God.
Fill Your head with GOD.
GOD.
For those who believe in God, they say, GOD exists.
What then of Me, rendered slowly and inevitably Fat With Disbelief?
I am the milk in a bottle in a small town in Texas.
I am the taste of nine-volt batteries.
Watch ME shadow the Sun.
Jan 3, 2014
Jan 3, 2014 at 3:03 AM UTC
Dear Human (at first I wrote narrow minded *******
This is not a hate poem, although it started out as one
it's something finished before my time
a game already won
My tendons would love to stretch 15 minutes before beginning the race but I wake up every morning to a piercing toast, a celebratory guffaw
of an after party having been exploited and raw
there is no point for me to stretch
metaphorically that is
for if i don't stretch before I start my day
I tweak like a bike in need of WD40
I can't speak because everything I saw deserves an explanation
scratch that
I can't speak because I'm afraid of judgement like
heavy wet cement, I'll drown in my unspoken words though
so I write these down
back to the point
Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a *****
if I don't stretch my aching quaking body can't **** right
and if I can't **** right
every other stressor strangles my already mangled mind and body
Depression is wet cement dripping from my air vent
molding my notches and bolts stone solid
yet, I have to get up and stretch to walk amid, among, noodles
Falling asleep is difficult because I want to get the night over with
and Waking up is difficult because I want to get the day over with
Not a study session waiting for snacks more
my socks are stuffed with thumbtacks
and I forgot everyone finished their after party
so I'm pounding my feet sprinting
for a finish line
I'll never cross
Like when I woke up in the hospital,
banging my head against the wall believing I could smash my way outside on this day, three years ago
My mania surged lightning bolt electric jolt a thousand watt volt
I would never be released until normalcy increased
so I spent every waking moment stretching
desperately trying to release the
desperate stress molded
in my body
Depression is wet cement, I have learned to slip through it's cracks
by releasing the firey strength
I hold inside my bones
I hold inside my soul
Oh human, please hear me with your open ears
yet if you can't, I have no fear
your judgement cannot touch me
I am on fire, all victims of depression
you, we, are not weak
merely misunderstood by false desire
we are misunderstood
Blazing wet cement on fire
Mar 13, 2014
Mar 13, 2014 at 2:30 AM UTC
#I'm as lonely as a station at night.
The december mist and the moon
peaking high over the iron fence
dulled the low volt into weird halo.
But like bats I reap the rewards of night.
The buzz of the crickets rose in crescendo
from the undergrowths around the track
sounding as unreal as the silent platform
abruptly cropping up on nowhere land
doubtful if ever a train would notice it.
*Days are dull actings dancing to strings
yielding nothing to let you know you.
I'm in full vision before the lightless mirror
opening up alone but with the many faces
the dreary day ruthlessly hid from me.*
The mist was engulfing the iron railings
and when a distant engine whistled
there was no track or platform
but only the lone flyer hung on the moon
like a bat glued to the scent of night.
May 9, 2018
May 9, 2018 at 10:39 AM UTC
Seeing the volcano from below
just another mountain
but this mountain
speaks of the earth disgorging
its molten guts
of lightning arcing
in ten zillion volt flashes
of God's terrifying grace
of geologic upheaval
that happened before anyone knew
anything about God
that happened before anyone knew anything
We were kids on a
long weekend
decrepit jeep pickup
camper shell over the bed
we stopped for an old Indian woman
and her son
hitchhiking
I remember the strange musky smell
of her
sitting by me
on the truck's bench seat
like food I'd never eaten
or a hand-me-down blanket
from the last century
We camped at Green Lake
and green it was
set out the next day
fully unprepared for our climb
But our young limbs
carried us to a precarious summit
the South Sister
nothing but sky all around
and dreams
distant peaks
the sleeping volcanoes
of the Cascade Range
stretching into the vastness
of north and south
Such peace
And here
now
I drown in
a deep web of tangled memories
Vistas I once surveyed
live and breathe in my mind
people I once knew
still whisper in my ear
though they are long dead
How do they live on?
Who tends these grass-grown graves?
Who speaks for these dead?
And where do these memories go
when we die?
Jun 3, 2016
Jun 3, 2016 at 8:19 PM UTC
I am not an outlaw, but I'm a gambler.
Loaded my ole Colt, then closed my Henry's bolt.
I'll rescue Sally and roam as a rambler.
First, I'll shoot the sheriff and rob his bank volt.
Ride into town, guns blazin', deputies die!
Blow the safe, grab the girl, get shot in the thigh.
Sally starts shootin', kills the corrupt sheriff.
Posse's chasin', a cowboy's love life if rough.
Mar 23, 2013
Mar 23, 2013 at 7:06 PM UTC
i've had a flu for the last week and a half i can't sleep at nights anymore because i can't breathe but i haven't taken any medicine because i want to fight it myself i want to fight this myself i am stronger than these pills and i will fight with my own body my own strength i will go down fighting i cannot rely on external substances i cannot rely on something or someone to save me i have to save myself i HAVE to save myself i have to save myself save myself save myself it's my mantra: I HAVE TO SAVE MYSELF and i'm thinking of the time my luggage was wrecked and my purple lamp was in there and that lamp was a memory because i remember you turned it on while you lay on top of me so that you could see me just a little better (i wanted it dark so that i didn't have to see myself) you wanted to see the curves on my body because you loved me and i can see you infront of me right now while i type this there in those black jeans with your broad shoulders and your mouth just a little softer than my own and just like that lamp my love was wrecked and it came back in more than two pieces the ocean just wasn't kind enough wasn't soft enough it didn't care enough to transport my love with the care it needed and tell me do you remember the time i screamed save me no wait get away from me save me love me get away from me and you touched me then moved back because you didn't know what i needed you didn't know how to save me but you knew how to love me. that was enough. it was enough. you were enough. enough. enough.
and just like the pills i refuse to take you were that drug i was too scared to need and that dependency broke me and that fear is breaking me and i love you enough for the both of us but like that purple lamp i'm just a little broken and i'm fighting to light up the room and see things just a little clearer and on my way back from school today i saw the electric boxes with warning signs and i opened the car door and walked to them and i tried pulling the 440 volt wires to touch them and fry myself; maybe i'd light up then but someone saw me and i ran and i ran to my house and my mom doesn't know that i'm suicidal but that's okay because i don't have the guts to **** myself anyway (but i tried today).
Jan 11, 2017
Jan 11, 2017 at 10:22 AM UTC
Mother Earth and Father Sky
Sitting closely as I sing
Flying gracefully in the night
As I drift upon their wings
Slow and sweet, lovely tunes
Frolic through the sounds
Looking upon the blissful moon
As I float safely to the ground
Losing moments in the heat
As the night comes to a holt
And the moon turns to defeat
So the sun can spark a volt
Shining softly through the sounds
That the chorus makes
Of defenseless little clouds
Feeling pain they cannot take
The trees will slowly turn to ash
As the grass becomes a blaze
Melting into the dusty hash
So the world becomes a haze
Mother Earth and Father Sky
Protect me for I am trapped
In between these pins and burns
Slipping from your grasp
Mother you cannot save me
Now that the world is cold and still
Father can't come hold me
I am the one that makes him shrill
I know you're busy with this world
I'll be a part of it one day
But inside my body's swirled
For these words are brash, dare I say
That now I'm floating in your air
The breeze linked to my heart
Close you're eyes, no need to stare
For now I am a part
Of this world you know so well
Quiet and serene
Nature turns and dare i tell
It was no home for me
Alysia Marie 2015 ©
Apr 9, 2015
Apr 9, 2015 at 9:30 AM UTC
Szertelen, szédült vadhajtások
övezik zarándoklatom hajnalát
volt egyszer egy képtelen álom
azon hajtja be vágyam zálogát
Érdekes, ahogy a köveket fújja
kell, hogy legyen ebben szenvedély
Otromba képzelgések szövik alakosra
Azt, mit elhordott a pázsitos éj
Sokan félik e száguldó vonatot
Pillanatkép a mozgó vásznon
Hisz létezésünk nem több a nyárnál,
mely jégbe fúl a halálos ágyán
Majd virágot küld énnekem s neked
Rákulcsoljuk ujjunk, s együtt féljük a közelgő telet.
Aug 27, 2015
Aug 27, 2015 at 6:39 AM UTC
నీ ముఖ చిత్రం చూసి పడిపోయా
చలనచిత్రం hero లా వెంటే ఉండిపోయా
నీ focus కోసం ఎన్నో trick లే వేస్తుంటా
నీ చూపే shift అయితే నిరుత్సాహాపడిపోతా
నీ చిన్ని నవ్వైన వెయ్యి volt bulb లా వెలుగుతుందే
నువ్వు ఉంటే నిమిషమైన యుగమంతా సంతోషమిస్తుందే
World Cup Win కన్నా నీ ప్రేమ గెలుపే నాకు మిన్నా
ఆశ్చర్యం కాదా నువ్వు చూసే చూపు
ఏ పక్కకు చూసినా నాకోసం అనుకోనా..
Arvind Swamy నీ కానే నేను Alexander అంతటి వాణ్ణి కనే చెలి
ఓ మోస్తరు చూపులో ఉంటానే నేను అమితంగా ప్రేమిస్తానే నిన్ను
ఆటంకం ఎదురైనా ఆవేదన కలిగిన నిన్ను మర్చిపోనే మరీ
వెయ్యేళ్ళ వరమల్లె నా తోడుండిపోవే సఖి
Dec 6, 2012
Dec 6, 2012 at 3:21 AM UTC
I put all your physical words in a box-
"you are ADORABLE" scribbled on a receipt
the book with the pictures of
New York City and the one with
the history of Christmas
the map from the pumpkin patch
your band's cds
a 9 volt battery
a button from the trails west
festival
a ticket to the show your band played at your dream venue
my ticket stub from This Is the
End
directions to Kim's house
the journal you gave me for
Christmas with a letter from you
on the first two pages
a napkin I kept hidden in my wallet with "you are very cute" written in your smallest print
a Virgil's Rootbeer bottle cap
from our second first date
(god did you know I had kept all those things)-
but I can't figure out how to package all the sentences you left swimming around in my head
Mar 14, 2014
Mar 14, 2014 at 10:30 PM UTC
NZ
lightning strikes
but once never
again
shall not the rod
conduct the heat
and weld us both
transfixed
in light
immortality
seconds per volt per death
a pain
releasing
joy to the wind itself
throwing up shade
on the universe
unified with the skylark
ground to the hedges
hogged by Z
N by 3
south by northwest
too true
to hold calimity
cola
amity
CALAMITY JANE!
sharps rife
with ills
shot down by the freedom
to lie
to marry never
and die twice
once every day
and
then at 87
said promised
oriental accidents
of falling loads
to those who claim others
are ant
hinge
thing but WHYS
whi
wi
why?
we no
death
Jan 6, 2016
Jan 6, 2016 at 3:24 PM UTC
My God, my God, my God.
Thrice said,
As I lie here.
My heart racing,
My muscles aching,
My body buzzing
Like a tongue pressed to a nine-volt battery.
Why am I here, when my mind takes me elsewhere—
To places so fantastic,
So alive,
That to write them into existence would take ten-fold genius
And the ink of ten-thousand pens.
Landscapes spread across my vision.
Innuendos play in my brain.
Though, when I return to the moment,
All I see are my stubby toes
Wiggling from under black sheets,
In a nearly-black room
Coated in drab paint,
Hardly come alive by some utterly generic wall ornaments.
I wash in the same bathroom,
I spray the same perfume,
I dress in the same clothes,
And I thus transform myself—
Again—
Into a copy of the man that lived a day before…
Having created nothing,
Only holding the vastness of a universe
In his dazed, beleaguered mind.
Thrice said, a phrase becomes magical—
At least, that is what I’ve seen...
So, I say three times:
My God,
My God,
My God.
Mar 4, 2017
Mar 4, 2017 at 8:44 PM UTC
Sat on a train
and I gaze along
face after face
of strangers
that all share
this same moment
in time and space
and yet they're
all so vacant,
staring into space
and time bears
no relevance,
cause its the same thing
day in day out,
all of us sat there,
headphones intact
listening to our
own soundtracks
as we make our way
through tunnels
unaware of the tracks sound
as we're shuttled around
and I'm dumbfounded
by how wisdom
is found in the loss of interaction,
sat across a
man in a suit
clocking up percentages
and in a fraction,
I've took stock
and mocked up
a story for him
through his action ,
this one man
of many in this
age of distraction
Until this traction
created by volt-age
comes to a halt
as this train stops
at the station,
my station in sight,
this stationary moment
of insight interrupted
as doors open,
my form plateaus
as I step onto
the platform,
leaving this
train of thought
for another one,
adjourned as
I Journey on.
Mar 7, 2015
Mar 7, 2015 at 4:13 PM UTC
Move as though on castors
Swept in to subdued void
Pierrot lacking puppet master
Shrunken waxwork melting
I rivet in two eyes black blue
For a scrap of validation
Mirrored tunnel dark chute
Deep abysmal contemplation
Blether. Prattle. Jabber on
Deaf ears nescient; inattentive
Blithely callous their indifference
Never yet shall be emotive
A flashlight glare. A glint?
Volt? Amp; electric neuron
No never see; pulse, or breathe
Frigid flesh left life extinct.
©pofacedpoetry (Billy Reynard-Bowness 2018 – All rights reserved)
Aug 24, 2018
Aug 24, 2018 at 8:20 AM UTC
If I appear to you as happy
Then I've put on another successful show
I have mastered the art of masking
Masking all of my weaknesses and flaws
If you can confide in me your secrets
Then I've gained the security of your heart
I've mastered the art of trusting
Trusting in myself, in you to understand
I hope you will understand
The reason I can't always talk at night
The reason I wear long clothing in the summer
The reason I can't always be touched in certain places
No! It's not you baby , It's me
My skin is just sensitive right now
Wait for me to heal please
Then I'll be ready for the show again.
Then you can once again confide in me
I'll be back to service you once more.
Sometimes I forget that I'm needed.
I forget that I'm a part time therapist
I forget that I have people dependent on me
I even forget there is a me, until night fall
When everyone goes to sleep
When the messages stop
When there's no more people
When there's only…
me
That's when the world breaks down
My skeletons come out to play
The voices rush through my mind
My Hell is unleashed and I am alone.
Just me and the weapon of my choice
Sharp and ready
Ready to conquer my demons
Even if just for a night
My therapist is my scars
My performer is my blade
My volt is the blood shed
And no one knows them but me.
They don't know what I been feeling
What I'm still feeling
They are not aware of my trials and tribulations
They don't know I need help too
Jan 20, 2016
Jan 20, 2016 at 8:16 AM UTC
When the time comes
For the reconcilliation of the Hermit
I will be there
Sixty-nine guns
And one more, please, makes seventy
...and I've got what I need
7-0 for the Hermit
When the rhymes slow
And yer listeners don't know or care 'bout the Hermit
I shall believe
Sixty-nine suns
...Eleven more makes eighty, see?
...and I've got what I need
8-0 for the Hermit
If the Hermit sees the reconcilliation coming
He'll turn the other way and start to running
They don't call him the Hermit for nothing
And I got a double-ought nine volt battery,
I'm gonna stick it on his tongue
If your mind's numb
And you're as rum-dumb as the Hermit
I'll shed a tear
Ninety nine nuns
...one gave birth and that makes a hundred
Sixty nine to the Hermit
Sunshine to the Hermit
I bless the life of the Hermit
I put the knife to the Hermit
Jan 6, 2012
Jan 6, 2012 at 10:36 AM UTC
On the edge of the balcony,
The world teaches my head to rotate,
My spine surrenders its balance,
My hopeless body waits.
Fed up with human-crafted idealism,
Along with all human functions,
I bottle up all emotions,
And set this dim night to action.
The volt is raised,
The time, a haze,
The night, a home,
The cold, so warm.
The picture is now ruined,
Each shred its own standalone story,
All I feel is coursing adrenaline,
As I dig a deep hole to bury all my glory.
Standing in line with hollow light bulbs,
I wait like an addict for the dose,
Every last memory not convincing enough,
As the switch is finally being closed.
The volt is raised,
The time, a haze,
The night, a home,
The cold, so warm
And the metaphor become reality,
As I become addicted to the echoes,
The world shut out like an outage,
So the only thing alive is my voice.
Speed limits, all but a dream,
No remorse nor guilt to hit the breaks,
I'm alone with no ties,
Don't believe in friends or family's sakes.
I find more and more like me,
Vanity and selfishness put in a mixer,
Dim mutant stars living an eternity,
With only thirsty desires to be watered.
Birth date and place, the advocate night,
It spreads its arms till we prevail,
Humanity switch is now a temptation,
To more animals with 4 limbs and tails.
Now that scene on the balcony,
Such a long walk from there,
Comparing that volcano,
To this new software.
I am now a blank canvas,
With no pressure to spill colors,
I just exist to be,
Haven't got a nerve to suffer.
I see them pure people in my memories,
Now drinking the virulent night,
Two worlds being carbon-copied,
Death suits being worn alive.
The smoke colors the universe,
A place no longer suitable for life,
Who would abide to the rules?
When we've all lost humanity signs.
Hearts, now glazed,
Time, no longer a grace,
The cold, a curse,
A search for another earth.
Sep 17, 2015
Sep 17, 2015 at 1:08 PM UTC
It all looked clean, crisp, picturesque postcard promise
The river reflecting skyblue shimmers
Mists rising wisps of secrets
Trees and plants glossy, full bellied, nutritious happy
The birds practising new song and twitching wings
of fancy in the bright 440 volt sunshine
Filtering through
the senses to settle softly.
All was really not that clean and crisp.
The photographer could not zoom in
On a dead kea choked on a 1080 trap
Dropping from the sky like a manna treat
Four fish gobbling pellets pulled upstream
Mouth agape as poison shut the fluttering gills
Two other magpies lost their raucous tone
Deprived by early morning bait
Possums slept softly high up in the tress
With last nights buds bursting in their full bellies
The photographer could not see beauty and ugliness
Together.
The lens could not question the crystalline view
The click was not from gun
digital film rolled irrespective
And his dream of a pristine forest
with no pustules told one side of the story.
The other side
Balanced the books
And tore the heart of the very creatures
That spoke beauty with being there.
The picture was captioned;
Clean and Green.
Was it?
A picture speaks a thousand words
Sprinkled with three hundred lies and lives.
Author Notes
This poem accompanied a lush photograph of forest with a little stream flowing through. In the same area where the photograph was taken, helicopters bombed the forest with 1080 poison pellets to knock off the possums which were eating through the fresh shoots and leaves.
The end result was more than the possums going to thy kingdom come.
There are serious environmental undertones in this poem.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid;=11260667
© Marshall Gass. All rights reserved, 18 days ago
Jun 9, 2014
Jun 9, 2014 at 4:30 PM UTC
A volt or amperage an ampule injected not grounded
a spasm or epiphany a reckoning
encompasses
I melt voltaically into
warmth and jolt
concurrently metered
by hair standing on ends
legs arms nethers
convulsing
like two phased
polarity
not grounded!
I short out,
positively!
Dec 6, 2014
Dec 6, 2014 at 10:47 PM UTC
And the zephyr teases,
Tossing to-and-fro saplings fresh'
Which tantalise the Currawong, cowering its call,
And glistening crystalline on dewy morn's.
---------
You *****
You moan'
You complain,
And you whinge.
---------
Hello,
Can I help you?
Or, better still, can you help me?!?
I've lost my mind,
Though I'm never sure I possessed it;
And if I did - I regret its escape.
---------
The pretentious poverty of money -
They think they look good, but what's really funny
Is the narcissistic approach that they tackle life -
Like everything is owed and nothing earnt;
Lucky to live amid so few excursions into reality.
---------
240 volt vac, attached to one's ********
Jaw slack until the power is racked -
Up goes your nuts and voice pitches
To new dimensions, shrill and pre-pubescent.
Tears that masculinity denies appear in the corner
Of eyes steeled, and vacantly appreciative.
---------
You, my friend, can kiss my ****
The **** you speak is but a farce -
Unrelated to the life we realise, experience;
Alien to any who maintain their conscience.
Mar 9, 2014
Mar 9, 2014 at 2:11 PM UTC