I am the messenger, the chosen one
Every day perfect people make me unwind all I know now
(The truth promised quiet)
We were liars once
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Poetry
Captain Of The Night
Love the Words competition:
- Download the opening paragraphs of Dylan Thomas’ “Under Milk Wood” (click here), print them out and cut up the words
- Re-arrange the words to create your own poem in either English or Welsh
- Take a photo and share your poem on Twitter, using the hashtags #DylanDay and #LovetheWords
- The competition is open to anyone aged 7-25 from anywhere in the world, and it closes on 5th May 2017 (for more information, see The Poetry Library website)
Waltz in a Starlit Swamp
Oblivious to sparklers bright and fairy lights he stood
Whilst staggering sirens waltzed in a wave around him
The music drowned it its own pretentious beats and he downed
a couple more shots to compete
with friends whose names had long been repressed in a corner
of his brain where dusk and dawn –
they felt the same
These girls –
they twirled glossy hair around their fingers
to catch attention of boys who stared
and lingered
Sweaty palms to hips and sour mouths collided
nonchalantly in this garden’s starlit swamp th’s’been
hidden in the heavy hanging mist of lust
And lost hearts –
they meandered through the sickly smoke –
for what? and just when he’d forgot
where he was and who he had to be
to live young and free
on that night
an Angel fair
and
faultless
appeared in his sight
And She was the sweetest shade of summer
And how he yearned to be Her lover!
For seconds like minutes like hours
his tired eyes devoured
every
inch
of Her being:
the fluttering of innocent eyes to the skies,
two blushing cheeks, a sleek nose,
a glow to Her skin as if
caressing the moon in
Her delicate hands could illuminate
Her face, neck, wrists and legs…
Could he risk a step to Her tranquil spot
only to stumble
on his words or own feet
because meeting Her gaze so dear
made him fear losing
himself?
As if choosing to stamp out his fantasised fate
he plucked up his courage a little too late
for into the crowd She was shoved by some lad
who’d had ‘nough drink to breathe out
a shroud of stale air
And much as he tried to follow Her light
swallowed whole was She
by the rhythm of the night
And She was the sweetest shade of summer
And how he yearned to be Her lover!
October
How thou hast deceiveth me with sunbeam
Smiles and a golden moment of youth
When thou shalt in turn strip bare of this dream
This whimsical facade masking a truth
So grey in grace as in crippling tears
Of thunder queens by kings’ charcoal clouds choked
Thy blustering temper invokes a fear
Whence darker days soon will smother with smoked
Quilts frenzied urbanscapes of trembling souls
None sweeter than mulch does your name to my
Taste buds delight, whilst pond’ring upon foul
Omens summoned to cast the world awry
O when will spring bound rejuvenation
Reap its distant blessing of salvation
Writing101 Day #4: The Serial Killer
I am like a tree.
Spring: my moss-stained branches sprouted emerald leaves and fresh, fluttering petals.
Summer: my sweet aroma drifts into the atomosphere and I sway blissfully in the sunlight.
Autumn: my golden-baked foliage will shrivel up and whip away in crispy furls.
Winter: my naked body will wither and tremble as gnarly twigs snap off and leave me to decay.
My childhood has been snagged in the stealthy switch of a season.
So now I sit Summer, then Autumn, then
Oblivion.
Star-Crossed Lovers
The stars remind me of the twinkle in your eyes
When you smile
I imagine that I can pluck one from the sky
To cherish as my own
Because it’s an undisclosed desire
(That iridescent glow between you and I
That blazing aura illuminating your skin
That simmering halo of moonbeams above your head)
The stars remind me of the tears that scratch your face
When you cry
I imagine that I can hurl a cluster from the diamond-studded swathes of obscurity
To shatter the barricade which cages us in our distinct perpetuities
Because it’s a necessity
(That luminous haze of emotion incarcerated in the symphony of my every waking thought
That palpitating rhythm like shivers of cosmic dust flaring through my veins
That kaleidoscope of spiralling dark matter chasing you into the vacant black hole that is my heart)
The stars remind me of the infinities between us
Of the excruciating eternity hailing our dreams to decease
Oh gravity! Pull me to my sanity
And let the hushed galaxies grieve for its star-crossed lovers
