Here’s my latest entry into the dVerse Open Link – why not take a look at all of the other wonderful responses?
Please don’t panic – despite the tone of the poem, it isn’t a reflection of how I feel. Offline, I am writing dystopian fiction, so I was pondering how a particular set of characters might feel in this world that I have created for them. This piece came from there, nowhere else.
Let me know what you think…
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– Rubicon –
Render me empty, Sackclothed and dull Darker than ditchwater Coated in oil, rainbow-hued surface Hidden depths that boil, As I blunder, lamed, from crisis to fall Render me empty Sackclothed and dull
Render me hollow, Empty my skull Vacuous, ransacked Littered with spoil, nutrients stolen My still waters roil As I falter, blinded, beleaguered, I fall Render me hollow, Empty my skull
Render me soulless, Eviscerated, null Grey, empty, mourning Exhausted with toil, eyes bloodshot red From life, I recoil As I stumble, burdened and buried, I fall Render me soulless Eviscerated, null
This week’s dVerse prompt was too good to miss – beat poetry fascinates me, although I’ve never tried to write any, until now!
I hope you enjoy this – it was written on the fly!
– Stand –
To the best of my ability Is not the same as theirs or yours We are not measuring sticks By which to compare each other’s achievements Or to shame another into thinking – “I’m no good”. Who has given you, him, her or me The right to decide, to sit as judge, jury and executioner of another’s soul? On what pedestal do the rest of us have the right to sit, point a finger and proclaim – “You’re no good”?
I stand and stare at you in the moments after you stop living; there are no more words to say to you, under my breath. I can no longer pretend or hope or believe or pray that you can hear me, that you can smile somewhere deep inside at the sound of my voice, and be glad that I’m with you at the end. I resent you for it; for not saying goodbye, for cutting free so unilaterally.
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So, for me, an unsurprising choice this week, when we are invited to write about the difficult or spicy subjects that we tend to swerve, given half the chance. Death yet again is my theme. The death of my dad. Today in particular has been pretty bad. There’s no rhyme, no reason for it. That’s grief, I guess. Tomorrow will be different, I know.
You can read and discover many more slices of life right here.
