dannyboy

HIDING


Flesh stretched tight,
hormones weep, pity
the child with no contact.

Smoke rising;
inside the chest -
something is burning.
Slowly though; not a warning
more a signal of defeat;
the smouldering of canons
circling a battlefield
littered with bodies
and the compost stench
of mislaid dreams.

A hand reaches for the glass
drowning in bourbon,
steady now the hand
where before
it shook like an old dancer
moving forever
to the violin-strained tunes
of accumulated loss.

Eyes stare -
fifty eyes staring
into the nicotine space,
into atoms and planets
and space wrecks
after promising landings -
between acts,
light a cigarette, suck,
stare, blow out,
suck, stare, blow out…

Words drift
much like the smoke,
utterances , lost dogs
fearful of the net;
nothing stirs -
not enough oxygen.

Outside it’s 3pm
inside it’s 3 am;
it blackest night and forlorn dawn
and dead end dusk
rolled into another cigarette,
washed down with another swig;
weird how time
is relative to the heart
and the bourbon
and cigarette.

Distantly
pool balls collide, striped atoms,
hearts in love, penis
and dry mouthed vagina,
swift kisses
then destruction
or worse
trapped in the pocket
of empty conversation
awaiting resurrection.

A hundred stools are empty;
wait hungrily for regulars –
losers and grinners
and all the shades within.
A few stools feast
on arses resting between
trips to the toilet;
nothing is washed away,
it lingers like the stench
of an open cesspit.

The door opens
and everyone’s eyes turn
openly; locust desire,
a savage green hunger,
a lust for fresh news,
and to touch nipples and pearls
and sheets on someone else’s bed.
The blank eyes return to reality -
it’s not her, it never is
not any more, never was.

journyman161

Wow, desolation!

__________________
*He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)
*Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)
*Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it - Moses Hadas
*He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know - Abraham Lincoln

journyman161

I posted that alone because it was such a strong feeling. So many great phrases here, I can only admire.

I hope your spelling of 'canons' was deliberate; it works so well that way I'd hate to think you meant 'cannons.'

I also fervently hope this is not an indication of how you're feeling; the thought of someone going through this is painful to the touch.

Very, very impressed.

__________________
*He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)
*Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)
*Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it - Moses Hadas
*He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know - Abraham Lincoln

dannyboy

hey J - firstly no not how I'm feeling, rather it was an attempt to describe a time about 18 years ago when I worked in the Punters Club in Fitzroy then I'd go drinking in the lounge til 9am, weird time, weird as hell.

secondly canons - when I was writing the piece I originally thought of canons because (I think) I was listening to some Gregorian chants (and the mind makes links as is its wont) but canons led me to battlefields and I tossed and turned over cannons and canons - in once version I tried using both but settled for canons (mainly 'cos it was first) so I am really glad you liked it because I like a word that can somehow conjure two meanings. You may have seen a similar query over my use of distaining and disdaining. Its something I like to do though I am not sure it works all the time.

thanks again.

danny

dannyboy

bump just wondering is all?