cleaverchris » free verse

Dancing Man

Chris — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:04:59 +0000

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 really is.

He is a tornado powerfully twisting and leaping,
sucking up the gazes of passers-by.

He is lightning lightly dancing,
burning intricate poses into my eyes.

He is thunder. His passionate cries reverberate
through the crowd that has gathered.

I want to shout and dance and leap with him,
but instead I toss a couple dollars in his hat
that he’s placed at his now motionless feet.

Gathering clouds are glowering at me from above,
and I decide it’s time to head home.

Don’t want to get caught in the rain.

Either Way

Chris — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:41:04 +0000

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 fertile knoll
and watch my woes billow out of my ears,
and my head would become sunny again.
After that I would drive to the open sea
and there would be an old, ornate boat
waiting to take me away to the Undying Lands
with Gandalf and Frodo and Bilbo Baggins.
They would say goodbye to their hobbit friends
as I stood alone.
“You are not like Frodo.” Gandalf would say,
grasping my shoulder with his aged hand,
looking at me with hopeful blue eyes.
But what does Gandalf know anyway?

Other times I imagined with intricate detail
the shattering windshield and cacophony of
crushing metal and my breaking body
as my car smashed into an oncoming semi.

I Love to See You Die

Chris — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:13:09 +0000

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

Chris — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:05:40 +0000

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 live with what they’ve done.

Day Six: False Hope
But they trick you again.

Day Seven: Self-Inflicted End
And you finally say to them,
“Enough.”