They scream at me,
From my side.
Their voices embedded,
In my flesh.
The lives that life forgot.
Pain with nowhere to go,
Turned inward,
Exploding organs.
Numbed sensitivity.
Infected callous.
Pierce the skin,
Let the sorrow ooze.
Their deaths are overlooked.
Their stories, rewritten.
I’ll live to spite you.
I’ll make it for myself.
We need you, soldier.
The war rages on.
Your experiences, our artillery.
Your agony, our weaponry.
Rhythms clashing,
Cacophony of sounds.
Unnatural activity,
Sound waves close in.
Escape the noise,
Return to nature.
Push out your heart,
Embrace the expanse.
Chilling voids,
Cruel apathy.
Human behavior,
Inconsequential.
Eliminate yourself,
Join the nothing.
Connect your soul,
To all of existence.
Winter’s death.
Violent beginnings.
Bare earth hides life.
Frozen in slumber.
Break through numbness.
Nervous needles.
Lay down roots.
Buried security.
Cautious sprouts.
Unraveling leaves.
Test the light.
Trust vitality.
A tiny bud, unraveling leaves,
A sprout bursts from the earth.
You stretch your petals, seeking light,
The nourishment of warmth.
But time drags on, your head droops heavy,
Your flower, all closed up.
***
A sunflower born in an eclipse.
Blankly stare,
No meows escape,
Inoffensive in her beauty.
Doll her up,
Dress her down,
Feline chameleon changing.
Girl or cat?
She’ll never tell,
But greet her if you must.
Acknowledge her name,
Voice what she cannot,
I see you, hello there, Kitty.
Ghastly forms,
Shadow figures,
Flitting at the edge of my eyes.
Dimensional portal,
Unknown world,
Divorced from this reality.
Don’t look up.
Don’t look behind you.
Mirrors hold the true self.
Hold my gaze,
Dry those eyes,
Pretend like it never happened.
Reflecting back,
The evil done,
Is it living inside of me?
Mirror, mirror,
Tell me.
What do you see when you look at me?
Hooded and protected,
Safe in a cocoon.
Wrapped in a baggy jacket,
Soaked with feminine blood.
Mixed in with sweat,
Dripping under summer’s sun.
No form under the folds,
Faceless in the dark.
Where are the wolves you fear?
They can smell you through your cloak.
Ride away, Little Red,
You’re not safe here.
An echo of a human being.
Divorced from body,
Floating mind,
Destructive force.
Vengeful will,
Cross-dimensional justice.
Violent spirit,
With a lingering agenda.
Malevolent energy,
Tortured in life.
Powerful in death,
Exploding through timelines.
No peace in my heart,
Finality unsettled.
The sentence of forever,
You will pay.
The horrors of war,
Destruction and death.
Steady marching armies,
Bootsteps pound your heart.
The fear never leaves,
A perpetual urge to flee.
Yet the innocence of a child,
Pure and untainted for the moment.
Don’t you know this world,
With your wide naive eyes?
Can’t you feel the danger,
That threatens me daily?
I’ll tarnish you,
So you’ll never know,
The beauty that could have existed,
In a child’s soul.
As long as you had respite for the night,
You were willing to destroy
The rest of my life.
Whirlwind romance,
Elopement in Vegas.
Married too young,
Knocked up within the year.
The kids just keep coming.
Promises deferred.
Sell them out.
What’s the harm?
You can’t go back to the womb,
But you can create a Garden of Eden
Wherever you go.
Chiu on This 