Misery earned
Merriment learned
Hiding behind blame
Feigning the game
Projection of fault
Squalor the result
Guilt will consume
Every empty room
Fill the house
With faking about
Putrid memories
That no one else sees
And in that place
Lurks death’s face
With rancid breath
And a face of meth
Still the sweetest kiss
To release what’s amiss
And spare the rest
Of such burdensome mess
Didn’t make it
Through the winter
Still can’t
Remove the splinter
Just seen
Beneath the surface
Unreachable
Abyss
Shone brightly
In the summer
Teeth reveal
The number
Of times
The faces smiled
Beside
Her open fire
Then voices
Became whispers
No sight
Of either dipper
On clouded
Starless nights
Forgetting
The best advice
Palsied seeds
Of despair
Stale petals
Once purple flare
But now forget
For she is gone
No revival
Just in a song
2014 January 14
Today, I walked along the river and saw the vast amount of debris washed ashore from recent rising waters. Plastic abounds and no one is in a rush to clean it up–standard Portsmouth practice.
In many countries, people live off, worship, and fear their rivers. Here, they’re just something else we become so good at destroying.
It’ll be like a dream
Always falling
Through the seam
To an endless reality
We’ll wake up
When we hit the bottom
Filled with regret
In a place that’s rotten
People will be there
But they’re not friends
Taking pictures
Of how we came to our ends
The sign will mark
How we met our fate
At Natural Bridge Park
On our last date
A peg in the heart
Driven further and further
Deeper over time
Tap, tap, tap
A drip in the faucet
A creak in the floor
Louder over time
Tap, tap, tap
A tear in the wallpaper
A leak in the sink
Angrier over time
Tap, tap, tap
A dog in a cage
A man on the run
Harder over time
Tap, tap, tap
A dimming light
A waning moon
Darker over time
Tap, tap, tap
Spun deep
Like yarn
On a spindle
Textile feeling
The rough
Of the wool
Fibers connecting
All that is left
And wheels driving
Out the last breath
Empty becomes
Shoddy resolutions
Fervent scrambling
To find
What’s not lost
Under the bed
In a messy apartment
Hide all the butts,
Gin Dizzy,
Cover the holes
Off the floor
A stingray
Clinging
To the bottom
Battling hours
Afraid of light
Leave me
Here to rest
I used to know
But forgot
On purpose
Anticipated
But unplanned
Plumes of poignant airs
Billowing up from calloused soles
Hiding the unknown
Tucked sadly underneath
Glass crushed by bare feet
Patterns still worth mending
Sometimes the only need
A little understanding
But don’t lock it in a bottle
To set out in murky water
Only to be intercepted
By those who are not indebted
Follow the signs but not the grain
Exhausted by the paddling
The destination still the same
No matter what we tame
Time keeps running away,
And it looks like the snow
Is here to stay.
Will we ever see the grass again?
Holed up for too many days,
Through the window
All that’s seen is grey.
But how long can the sun stay away?
All of the days are getting shorter,
And every one
Feels closer to the border.
At the darkest time of year, who’s in your corner?
Although there’s much less light,
Still fighting the bite
Of sleep every night.
Is there anything left that is right?
Some days I don’t bathe
And really that’s okay.
Why should I waste
This precious water away?
Though on other days,
From under the sun’s rays,
Crud fills my face
No matter where I play.
But mud pies do not taste,
And soap will not erase
This fast-pasted head case
Of life that is not a race.
Casey's Shadow Cat Imaginarium 