Jade

thank you.

Asphalt lays in chunks, Forlorn stumps of trees Creating a warped jungle. Scattered blotches of: White on gray. Gray on black. Black on white. Streams of fuel, Reflect absent color Fresh water a distant dream. The poignancy destroyed by: White on gray. Gray on black. Black on white. Color stolen from a mindless utopia, Perfection etched in a forgotten history. What used to be clings now Only to distant memory. A stale breeze, Long lost the taste of dew Now a reminder of the industrialization Pulls and beckons the only trace of life. Dirty and fatigued, Its name now a myth Lost in a world that it created: Black on white.

I love the last stanza, but I get lost somewhere in the middle of the poem. I follow it, but you lose some of your flavor. It almost feels like you are speaking in generalities, and you never really focus in. 'Then the world had no meaning. Then those golden days were gone forever.' I like the repition in 'That the mewling of the weakest kitten can have more force than eight hurricanes...' but the phrase 'She taught me many things' does not fit well. And despite that, I keep going back to the last stanza. The idea of holding the earth with your feet and shaping loneliness with your tongue...wow.

Mail Error! Could not send the email Failed at 'mail' command It still posted. Thanks for the quick and tidy move.

I lie in bed tonight, Thoughts crashing like waves Against a broken shore. I imagine the ‘pain’ That you must feel For having made me angry. I laugh at you For your dishonesty, For your blatant truth. And I shudder At the idea that I care Enough to be awake. So I try to force tears To run like the currents From my soul. My eyes itch with dryness. I stay awake wondering How I could let this happen? Then I laugh.

I like that. A lot. And everyone, of us men Soon becomes - that which has been. Very evocative, and ties back to the beginning well. I do not like the phrase 'crystal clear' it's too much of a cliche.

My aunt had lines on her faces That ran like deep valleys Gorges through which tears flowed When parts hurt that most people Aren’t even conscious of My aunt was stooped from age Time and radiation vying for her strength Like children, fighting over Who gets the larger morsel She saved nothing for herself My aunt’s hair was the color of a sunset Painted by a mis-led artist Believing a sunset should look A certain way The wig often shifted My aunt suffered Every one of her last days The pain that she felt in her body She reflected in her soul And in her love for us My aunt offered herself Her candies Her inspiration Her anger Her loss The first time I ever prayed I prayed to a god I could not know I told him that I hated my aunt And begged for Him To take her away Dear God, My aunt does not love me She made me sad I hate her I want her to die. I don’t know how long My prayer sat in Heaven Unopened and unanswered I pray that God did not know And that he refused to answer My aunt died. Concept of time so blurred It could have been days Months, years After my first prayer The Death certificate said Cause of Death: Complications of Cancer I fear now, I feared then That what the certificate Should have said If only they had known Cause of Death: My prayer.

A whimsical carousel Basic colors intertwine in a seasick dance Each step a cumbersome cadence Magnificent life rising and falling A perfect rhythm Never Changing Contained in a perpetual paradise Slaves to the cycle A single glimmer An enduring hope Freedom to be captive To our own desires A treacherous fruit To end the cycle A single taste to free us both Death would bring no remorse That simple fruit held no power It held no knowledge No truth for life The fruit tasted as all others No wisdom was gained in the taste No knowledge was lost Defiance did not bring us death Death brought us life