cleaverchris

Category: Literature

Fool

What am I but a speck
of dirt in your speckled eye?

What am I but pink grimy gum
clinging to your pristine shoe?

What am I but a hapless fly
drowning in your three-bean soup?

What am I but a filthy dog
[...]

Dancing Man

He lounges on a New York bench,
a worn hat covering his eyes.
But he’s not sleeping.
His foot is tapping to a beat I can’t hear.
Slowly at first.
Then the rhythm picks up
and both feet are tapping,
tapping like the drip-drop patter patter
of rain splashing down.
It’s more intense now
as his hands slap his knees—a downpour.
Then I see what he [...]

Either Way

Sometimes on my daily drive to school
I would imagine what places I would find
if I just kept driving, driving, driving.
Would there be a serene country covered
in rolling, green hills, slightly stylized
like the ones you see in paintings?
Would the sky always be a pleasant blue,
openly accepting my clouds of worry?
I think I’d plant myself on a [...]

House

house
abandoned, gutted
crumbling, moaning, rotting
memories litter the floor
tomb

Red Cedar

He sees her then, his lonely victim Jane,
As heavy, black clouds crack and rupture.
Words struggle to breathe under the falling rain.
She’s lost after she steps off the train,
Venturing to find a distant, unknown lover.
He sees her then, his lonely victim Jane.
He encircles her, rough like a rusted chain,
And repeats the charade, saying he loves her.
Words [...]

Frankenstein’s Ghazal

Frantic, sweaty. Death settled in around him,
thick and constricting. He was afraid of the end.
A memory is unearthed; a dead flower blooms.
All things buried in thought are without end.
She cries out for her lost love, her #2 companion,
a well-worn pencil with love bites on one end.
I think I’ll wear a white shirt today, but it [...]

I Love to See You Die

Lately, you’ve been breaking so beautifully:

with your shattered-soul starlets
illuminating my lonely,
aphotic nights;
with your vivid splashes of red
adding magnificence to my
achromatic days;
with your sweet-burning dreams
radiating warmth to my
apathetic heart;
with your melodious, agonized cries
infusing life into my so
anemic self.

(I love to see you die.)

7 Days to Die

Day One: The Deconstruction of Your Mind
Hold still while they take an axe to your head.
Day Two: Rape of Innocence
And steal what made you good.
Day Three: Half-Truths and Absolute Lies
They fill the deep emptiness with nothing.
Day Four: A Blacker World
And they leave you hating.
Day Five: Coping with Insanity
You learn to [...]

Violinist Traveling to Versailles, 1624

The woman shrouded in a thousand eyes
whispered in what was almost a voice,
“To you, good sir, I do strongly advise:
Reconsider your unfortunate choice.”
“Take back your gold if you can, puny one!”
replied the filthy brute clutching her purse.
Then she struck with a glimmer in the sun,
her bow of metal, the Musician’s Curse.
The blade sang beautifully across [...]