Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts

Monday, October 18, 2010

Wallflower *

Sixty-eight steps
From solitude to terror;
Always anonymous.

Another lifetime
- Coffee beans, moccasins, sweet jasmine -
Like fading photos.

Interview room.
Scalding lights and searing sound.
Not one question.

Cradle of the night.
Heavy boots kick down unlocked doors,
Stamp out liberty.

Shock away thought.
Fists punctuate propaganda:
Two and two is five.

Infinity.
Forgotten sunshine or steel-capped boots:
Which hurts more?

Broken man.
Long limp down a cold, bright corridor.
Eight-nine steps.


[* Title and inspiration taken from the Peter Gabriel song of the same name.]

Saturday, October 9, 2010

An Idea Is...

An idea is...
A roller-coaster at the top of a rise.

Clouds are...
Impossible beasts,
Waiting to escape.

Dawn is...
The cauldron from beyond the horizon.

The heart is...
A blown-glass curiosity.

Fear is...
A rancid taste in the mouth.

Fish live...
From moment to moment to moment to moment.

Bitterness is...
A mite nibbling,
Nibbing away.

Only truth...
Makes lies worth believing.

An idea is...
A break in the fog.

Clouds are...
The lace between the stars.

Dawn is...
The end of solitude.

The heart is...
Best left to the valiant.

Fear is...
A cleansing of the senses.

Fish live...
Twixt currents and predators.

Bitterness is...
The lemon rind of memory.

Only truth...
Can emancipate the ignorant.

[First lines from each stanza borrowed from "Some Beliefs of Mine" by Peter Bakowski (The Heart at 3 a.m., Hale & Iremonger, 1998).]