A Hare’s Breath
He drank what he drew
From metaphor
He went out on a journey
Disrobed a stripe
And the stripe
Was broken
There was not one straight
Line to stand on
So he sprinted up a monolith
Back flipped onto a monomyth
He thought am I trying
To understand
Or am I trying to go around
Or go against it?
He wanted to break
The monomyth
But every time he struck it
The more uncreative and
More un-understandable
It would get
It occurred to him
That he might have missed
By a hare’s breath
It also occurred to him
He was fragmented
His journey became
An un-narrative
clburdett, 2016
exposition
may the shit i say
make its way into the books,
fuck up history so much it rocks the world off its axis and topples atlas onto his goddamned head,
causes zeus to choke before he devours his children.
poetry is longevity in its gristliest form
and these lines are some enduring motherfuckers plucked fresh off the bone—
hard to swallow,
tough to chew.
some sons of bitches claim words these days ain't shit compared to whitman,
i tell them jesus was a bastard, just like me and you
and his word is gospel.
so i'll celebrate my goddamn self
and make this life a classic,
strip my soul and sell its pieces until there's so much of me exposed that it's pornographic
and my sobs need to be censored
with dial tones.
heart on sleeve, xxx.
i want to be a sell-out for the feeling,
claim i'm a poet but keep my heart open for the stealing,
say i'm a heathen but love my love like religion.
god,
i hope he hears me.
i pray one day my mouth will give more air than what it takes from my suffocating brothers and kindle more fires than the flames it smothers.
i pray that if all my flaws and fortes are placed on a balance,
i will weigh more than my limits—
i will be too fat for the wind to carry,
too colossal to be anything insignificant,
too big to be small.
i pray that one day i will melt the degrees of separation between who i am and who i want to be
so i can be the first beast to say
i didn't save myself for slaughter,
so i can declare my findings to the demons i've expelled and the fellow waning souls i've culled like ships to a lighthouse,
"i made it to the end, and it's beautiful."
Living Hell
Alone
In a dark room I cry
Wishing
That I would soon die
I cannot take this anymore
What is it I am living for?
Loneliness
Consumes my soul
Emptiness
Shakes and breaks what's whole
Sadness
Overwhelms my brain
Anger
Turning me insane
Is there anyone out there
That would truly care?
Understand
The real me
Love
The things no one else can see?
I search and search, but I cannot find
Aceeptance, love, and peace of mind
Alone I cry and alone I break
The sickness seems to take and take
'Till I'm nothing more than an empty shell
Trapped in my own living Hell
ᗰOᗪEᖇᑎ ᗰᗩᑎ
Here today, and gone tomorrow
He's just a flash in the pan
Beg, steal; but never borrow
He doesn't want to be an also-ran
From the bottom to the top spot
He is a modern disease
Got a nose job to keep the girls hot
But really he's living on his knees
Modern man - full of confusion
Modern man - with no solution
Modern man - tripping over his feet
Modern man you're almost obsolete
He's the latest and the very last
Seen and done it before
Likes to think he's an iconoclast
Would be too, but he's a maddening bore
'Give me your name, and give me your number
I'll call you later today'
Sometimes I sit and wonder
Am I too just another cliche
You're a modern man - with no direction
Modern man - a wireless connection
Modern man - such a head for heights
Modern man and his lonely nights
He's the one who'll be on your side
Only if he's in the chair
Even hammers couldn't dent his pride
It's sharper than the parting in his hair
You may come and you may go now
Having taken your chances
Stop, look; and you will see how
He's alone when he dances
He's a modern man - it's his calling
Modern man - now he's falling
Modern man - like a Beaujolais
Modern man only good for the day
Modern man - for your perusal
Modern man - expect refusal
Modern man - one last crescendo
Modern man? I don't think so...
About 40% is 'Moderne Man' by M
About 60% is mine.
15 Reader Problems You Probably Relate To
If you read, which we assume you do, then you are bound to have come across at least one of these 15 reader problems at some point during your life. Can you relate to any of these? We certainly can!
#1 Book Sniffing
Yes, this is a very real condition. It’s the way us book nerds get high. Nothing is better than the smell of a good book. The only downside? Never getting around to reading it for sniffing it, and never being able to pass a bookshelf without sniffing the books as inconspicuously as possible.
#2 Addictive Book Buying
Despite having a pile of books unread, the inability to stop buying more, you just have to buy the book you just sniffed on the shelf of an indie bookstore.
#3 Book OCD
We don’t know about you, but once we have made that impulse purchase, we don’t want anyone’s mitts on our brand-spanking-new book until we have read it. But, once we have read it, we will literally force our books on you.
#4 The Curse Of Finishing A Book
After living and breathing every single word within a good book, once you’re finished, you go into a state of mourning. A state of “what the hell am I going to do now,” whereby you almost don’t want to read another book ever again. But, that feeling never lasts long, and you get back on the book train. After all, there’s plenty more books on the shelf.
#5 The Waiting Game
Reading an absofrickinlutely amazing book, for it to be left on a cliffhanger, and the next book of the series hasn’t been written yet. Impatient much?
#6 Life Getting in the way
Finishing that last chapter has never been harder when life just wont let you.
#7 Recommending Authors
When you recommend an author to a friend or colleague, and they choose to read that authors’ worst book.
#8 Health And Safety Hazards
Not able to put your book down? Watch out for trip hazards!
#9 No Power
Not being able to read your eReader, because you forgot your charger.
#10 No Wifi
Not having wifi to download the latest book purchase really sucks.
#11 Mucky Pup
Getting grease and filth on your screen, or even lint, that as you try and remove you flick forward several pages, sometimes even chapters.
#12 Reading Sleepy
Falling asleep with the device above your head and dropping it on your face. It hurts. A lot.
#13 So Many Books, So Little Space
Houses not having libraries to house all of your books. They should come as standard.
#14 ’Nuff Said
Spine damage.
#15 To Fold Or Not To Fold?
Never having a bookmark to hand but not wanting to fold the corner of the page. Such a predicament.
Do you have any to add to the list? Comment with yours!
**Posted today at blog.theprose.com, come and check out the many blog articles on our digital shelves.