Spring 2016

Haunted

The attic is haunted.

It sits dark, clouded in dust, forgotten,

Awaiting the day some body comes to shake the cobwebs from its crevices,

open the windows,

and let in a bit of light

that might otherwise touch the farthest reaches.

Nobody visits except to quickly retrieve a stored item,

then scurrying rapidly to safety beneath the floorboards -

back inside the heart of the house

where life moves freely.

Unlike here.

The attic is haunted

and a ghost hangs eagerly waiting for some visitor,

some glimpse of light.

But it remains stagnant, cold, lifeless

like the attic itself.

Behind the Curtain

Reality bends, I shrink away

my nightmare melts to a delicious fantasy

where you and I are together in bliss.

One incredible night after another I share with you,

secret inside my mind.

I do not know you in life, nor you me,

but within my bubble we are connected,

kismet, destined, eternal.

I hold tight to this little daydream to escape the hurt I've kept secret too.

I ask that you don't go poking around and let it loose.

The results would mean catastrophe and reality would soon seep in.

I don't want to let go of this dreamland,

but if I don't I fear it will become my reality.

Then where would I have to escape to?

Detached

I found a dead body today.

It was mine.

Crumpled

The pain I feel

is why I'd stuffed my chest with cotton

like a defective teddy bear

missing its eyes and nose,

the yarn composing its mouth

frayed and draped to one side.

You can try and reset the strand

to lie where it once did,

but everybody will know.

Everyone will see

it is going to come off again.

Then the smile will resemble something else entirely,

something nobody wants to deal with.

So the bear gets tossed away to the back of the closet and is forgotten -

fading away under layers of dust

until it is indistinguishable from the floor that lies beneath it.

That is where it rests,

crumpled and used,

but never loved.

Season

My tears don't taste the same

as they did before.

Like a thousand vacant memories

I had guarded from overpowered me

and my eyes were tainted,

infected with the hopelessness,

poisonous heartache,

and unseen enemies that exist within me.

How can you suffer a broken heart

when you were never able to love first?