Tag: melancholy

Snowmen

Chris Theo

Every city, a constellation of sufferers,
As if some artist in the sky
Flicked a paint-soaked brush across the map marking each spot damned.

Down every alley and up and through every high rise
The sound of stomachs grumbling,
Rationed voices croak: Not today, I’m saving that tin of something.

Well, winter’s gonna be a cold one this year, or so they say
And pure white snowmen,
Shaped gleefully by mittened hands,
Dotted around house-fronts,
Will stare from dead-coal eyes into empty insides,
Passed dreamless trails of ketones.

 

Image “Snowman” courtesy of Javlr on Flickr in accordance with Creative Commons

Boy in Blue

Chris Theo

One brief moment was all it took,
Unburdened abandon in this brown boy’s look.
He and his friend crossing the road,
First left then right and over they go.
A skip in their step on this Friday afternoon,
They wear baggy t-shirts both shades of blue.

But my stare stays fixed on the boy to the right,
The sun in his eyes a measure too bright
But he won’t bat an eye, no, he won’t look away
‘Cos the world has no hold on him this glorious day.

Then a spark, brief and pure and connected
To some memory the world’s since tested.
A recollection of a boyhood hope,
Before the knots, before the rope.

And just like a spark that sears behind the eyes
This briefest moment lingers and I’m made to realise
That I once was this boy, young, sun-drenched and free
But I lost my way to the weight of all that’s unseen.

Schizm

Chris Theo

This is an old poem I wrote in 2002. It was posted on DeviantArt, my old haunt back in the day, and won an award called a “Daily Deviation”. This is what was said about it:

“Schizm is the perfect title for a poem about the division in a person’s self between the person they feel they were and the person they know they are today. Incredibly heartfelt and emotional, this poem hits hard, and is a definite recommendation for anyone that wants to read a truly honest poem.”

 

Schizm

My distorted vision of beauty is realised in you,
The grace that I perceived to be yours
Thundered down upon my gaze,
Gleeful, radiant and elegant
But now,
I choke.

Ill advised was I to ignore your calls,
Bitter and wanton in the cascaded moonbeams.
I still hear them now
Like swelling vibrato in my head.
And I may just cut them out.

So your frivolous nature and promiscuity get the better of you,
I see you how I imagine the countless souls you’ve left behind
Wasting and rotting in their own remorse
Tasting regret, like your tongue bleeding in their mouths.
In mine.

My own face has begun to feel like someone else’s
And in the mirror tears I cry.
Feelings that were once absent reappear
And for a brief and stunning moment I think I want to die.
Life however carries on
And tears stream deeper. Further.

A part of me now missing
But I’m better off this way,
For one day there’ll be nothing left
And my indifference will ensure
These tears are never shed again…

 

* Image: creativeoverflow.net/wp-conten… – Smashed Glass by Ryan Cooley | www.cooleystudio.com/