To stand still

And watch

Helpless

This is

The greatest

Horror

Like being

Paralyzed

While sitting

On the beach

As the tide

Slowly takes you

And chokes

The life

From you

As the

People around

You

Watch

look
the air warms
as the sun strengthens
and draws bud from branch
there is life
and beloved lives
that surround you
i see a star
settled in the east
that will draw near
at the break of each day
and cast your shadows away
in silver threads of light
to carry you through the night

things are better
than i imagine
when i cast my gaze
beyond my surrounding haze
and haul in hope
like fish from the sea

Fear kills art

And i am woven of it

Every fibre pulses with it

Like a billion chains

Pulling tight against the skin

I am the boxed god

Stashed safely in a vault

Dropped to the ocean’s bottom

While the people pray

The prison holds

There are two kinds of volcanoes

The kind that slowly, regularly

Releases the pressure beneath

And the kind that resists

Refusing to allow the lava out

Until one day, the dome explodes

Killing everything that happens to be near

Burying them like Pompeii in hot ash

Victims of an unstoppable fury

Splinter hides

Under the skin

Where no one can see

But it makes a person angry

And there’s not a mouse

To be found

When you need one

The morning is dark

Quiet permeates

Like water into dry wood

And of you close your eyes

You can imagine

That only the air exists

And there is nothing else

There was never

Anything else

I am planted

Like a fence post

In the middle of a cafe

Listening

Watching

Words abound in voice

And wireless thought

News is spread

Friends, lovers

And the isolated few

Commune together

And separately

Like elephants at the water hole

I am hearing everything

And nothing at all

Hiding in plain sight

We no longer write

On ruled pages

With blue lines

And a soft red border

The ink smudging

Because of my dragging

Left hand

We are advanced now

As our words are tapped

Or swiped into existence

On screens and laptop keyboards

No need for poetry filled pages

Or even a sense of existence anymore

Let the letters fly away

Never to be held or touched

As if they were only a dream

Here it comes

Hold your breath

Close your eyes

Count to 10

Hope it passes

And maybe

If you’re lucky

It will never come again

The prairie is cold today

Brown with the white of snow

Filling in the gaps between dead grass

And falling from the grey skies

As large flakes dancing in the wind

As if to whisper in your ear

“You can be alone here in this place

The last person left peaceful on earth”

And you will not be mourned

When finally you have gone

For this is the way of all things

That have roamed across this flat earth

Near the end of icy winter

When life prepares to wake one more