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Open Poetry #41
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icebox
Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383
in the shadows

0 posted 2008-01-20 02:07 PM





Oh Mama
I've been drinkin'
and I have no mercy in my soul;
I am tired,
yes
sick and tired
of making s'cuses for this world,
they don't need me
won't let them feed me
if someone's stupid
then by gods they're stupid
and I ain't going to carry them no more.

Eating gas station food
not wanting to go home,
there is no suffrage in my heart
for another mirror that can't shoot back,
chicken scratches on my arm,
my skin grabs images
shorthand supplications
like parchment sucking ink,
tiny tracks around the tracks of thought
to save this brilliance
this pale stupidity this cold clarity
this pile of dreck and quips
I will have to know tomorrow
to wake claiming as my own,
social slips and chips
Wheat Thins and Cheese Nips,
I passed on Slim Jim's ya know
a man has to accept his limitations,
gargling hope
drinking wine opened like a pro
two taps on the curb,
I think it had a cork until the neck broke
and I wisely let the glass chips flow,
guess I forgot about screw caps.

Am I this creature
this drunken wraith?
Holes in my clothes
still look new to me,
silly world sailing by
like oil tankers leaking pride
no prayers are gonna save those boats
on these streets.

Oh well
no faith I've known keeps me afloat;
I note I am beside myself,
schizophrenic replicants
joined at the casual righteous flip
of a single joyous bird
moving in reflections
on the hard plate of my soul,
choreographic madness
like Rockettes at Christmastime....

I'm eating deep fried bacon rinds,
sharing with a mongrel dog
just wandered by,
and getting set to vomit,
not sure if that's allowed,
this is not my best face
turned most pale and bleary
frozen
awkward in self-embrace
waving to the white po'leece,
can't remember
are they're friends or relatives,
but they waive back and smile
and all the while I keep
gurning to the crowd,
hell all of life is relative
I think someone taught me that....

Why did no one ever cut their lips on bottles
in movies I watched when I was still a kid?
How did I land here?
I know this isn't Roswell.

I should not buy wine by the case
and expect to get away in one piece,
I always end up in trouble darlin'
and I have no place safe to go.

It is too easy
for me,
to slip into the wastrel life I crave so much,
gentle touch of madness,
teasing muse of last remaining refuge
that offers me such bargains,
a world of sullen terms,
a bag of buttons,
Devil's barter
washed in welcome waters
of numbing wasted wantonness....

©2008 by icebox

© Copyright 2008 icebox - All Rights Reserved
simon
Member
since 2008-01-14
Posts 440
London, England
1 posted 2008-01-20 04:43 PM


Enjoyed very much. Very powerful, poetic blues...
Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
2 posted 2008-01-20 05:47 PM


Charly

Heartbreaking

Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
3 posted 2008-01-20 06:02 PM


Oh well
no faith I've known keeps me afloat;
I note I am beside myself,
schizophrenic replicants
joined at the casual righteous flip
of a single joyous bird
moving in reflections
on the hard plate of my soul,
choreographic madness
like Rockettes at Christmastime....


Whenever I will see a drunk in the future, I will be reminded of this extraordinary poem and I will think "he is a relative too".

It is mind-boggling and devastatingly sad.

love,
Margherita

Magnus
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Laureate
since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135
South Carolina, USA
4 posted 2008-01-20 06:04 PM


Yes, poetic blues,  very nicely written and
so common to so many...

LindsayP
Member Elite
since 2007-07-28
Posts 3410
Australia, Victoria
5 posted 2008-01-20 08:42 PM



Icebox, I can't help but feel a great sense of sadness when I read your poem. I can only wish you well and hope that your future is kinder than your past. Keep your chin up old mate and I'll be thinking of you.

Lindsay

XOx Uriah xOX
Senior Member
since 2006-02-11
Posts 1403
Virginia
6 posted 2008-01-21 04:36 PM


Oh my !   How I love this!   It felt like...
like...
coming home.   (((icebox)))   I love you, man.
::smiles::

Artic Wind
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 8080
Realm of Supernatural
7 posted 2008-01-21 07:05 PM


Very Much Enjoyed

ARCTIC WIND

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
8 posted 2008-01-23 07:01 PM


"How did I land here? I know this isn't Roswell." love it. When I was a very small child I lived in Roswell and still remember all the excitement among the locals over the "flying saucer" and my father attempting to drive out to the sight. of course the military was all over the place and wouldn't let us anywhere near it. Your poem made me think of it again.
                                   Ida

icequeen
Senior Member
since 2001-12-09
Posts 633
FL USA
9 posted 2008-01-23 08:38 PM



Oh Mama
I've been drinkin'
and I have no mercy in my soul;
I am tired,
yes
sick and tired
of making s'cuses for this world,
they don't need me
won't let them feed me
if someone's stupid
then by gods they're stupid
and I ain't going to carry them no more."


How could one read this brilliant opening and not continue to follow the brilliance through the rest? Powerful, deep, thought-provoking, wondrous - this is all of those. It pulls one in and makes you want to know what is next.

You get that Standing O from me, sir.

~Caroline~



tonyV
Junior Member
since 2008-01-14
Posts 36

10 posted 2008-01-23 08:47 PM


Wow, just wow. I couldn't stop reading and didn't want it to end.
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