poetry and art by Shaun A. Lawton
Wanted to write
a new poem
but couldn't think
about what
until I remembered
your way
to try to use
anything but
Could there be
another referral
to the sentient fruits
in the trees
or could yet
another reversal
bring new bad
luck and disease
A spinning carousel
a lunatic tune
descending in a spiral
of madness
Just wanted to compose
something neat
like my dungeon
of cruelty and badness
To bring about
whatever change
I'm doing at the time
of the scripting
but every time I try
there's a pain in my eye
stabbing as if through
a voodoo doll's head
over and over
again and again
A nightmare that's never
quite ending until
its managed to link
up like before to the place
where I started pretending
without meaning to
do it no more
The sorry tale
of a loser
who lost his way
when spat out
from society
as so happens
every so often
to one and another
among us today
it could be your neighbor
or may be your
own family
member left
out on the shelf
of the moment
marked in time
like the spikes on
an electrocardiogram
We're tenants
in the custody
of the heart all buried
in the darkest similar holes
Married to the muscle
of the moment
lost in time
like entombed
little moles
Carried on the turbulence
the rivers of nuance
It's the same torrent
churning who wants
to keep burning
and passing the banks
of this river's befouled
crescent . . . no thanks
The custodians of the heart
all caught up along
the current
of the universe
unfolding
The ultimate
fertile basin
just out of reach
fading like a series
of photo-negative imprints
Serving as fallen glittering
rain that lingers
from a prima donna's
dismissive fingers
sunk into the blurring
murk of the earth
drowning in this ink
for all that it's worth
