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Open Poetry #47
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California

0 posted 2012-01-19 03:09 PM



Emptiness


I'm not sure I was ever born,
As I look to my palm, full of thorns;
Recalling each flower, how they wilted
In the presence of something so jilted.

No, it seems I always have been,
(That insatiable hunger within);
Watching each infernal second slip by me,
Knowing not even Death will satisfy me.

I am a darkness that soaks up light,
Leaving all lost to eternal night.
I am the shadow that falls on each face
Before it disappears without a trace.

Yeah, something inside me is broken.
You feel it, without a word spoken...
And yet try to appease me, still,
As I slowly bleed you of your will.

Oh, many a life I have felled,
For it is I cannot be quelled.
Yet in the search for true loving bliss,
You hold out your hand for me to kiss.

And the lightning strikes in the sky,
As thunder swallows the cries of "why?"
And the rain turn to an incessant sorrow
That never releases tomorrow.

Nothing about me is deception,
For I, myself, cast no reflection.
All you see, if you cannot see through me,
Are the wishes that have been cast to me.

So, quietly, I tread the disdain
Of an existence that only brings pain.
Ah, look, another hand to kiss...
"So pleased to meet you, I am Emptiness."


Michael Anderson

1/19/2012


I strike! It quivers in that heart
Which drives me to this end;
I draw and kiss the bloody dart,
My last-my only friend!

~Abraham Lincoln

[This message has been edited by Michael (01-20-2012 12:54 AM).]

© Copyright 2012 Michael Anderson - All Rights Reserved
suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
1 posted 2012-01-19 03:30 PM


I will surely come back to this... it caused such a visceral response I need a sweater against the chill. But in this powerful write of pain one line reverberates in me

"Nothing about me is deception,"

Truer words were never written... You ARE truth, honesty without sugarcoating. And I'll keep casting wishes your way until the day your life overflows with happiness. *S*

... And you are one brilliant poet... *shiver* *S*

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
2 posted 2012-01-19 03:31 PM


Ah, Michael, I have been there. And been there. And . . . A horrible place to be. However, in your case some damn good poetry comes from that darkness.

~*~ If they give you lined paper, write sideways ~*~

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

3 posted 2012-01-19 04:07 PM


Chilling depiction and metaphor for one of our most malign downfalls....great stuff!

             

Nicole
Senior Member
since 1999-06-23
Posts 1835
Florida
4 posted 2012-01-19 04:26 PM


There can be no light without the dark, and you shine with both - I've seen it.  
JL
Member Ascendant
since 2004-04-01
Posts 6128
Texas, USA
5 posted 2012-01-19 05:12 PM


"Nothing about me is deception,
For I, myself, cast no reflection.
All you see, if you cannot see through me,
Are the wishes that have been cast to me.

So quietly I tread the disdain
Of an existence that only brings pain.
Ah, look, another hand to kiss...
"So pleased to meet you, I am Emptiness.""


Yes, you have made the word
emptiness comes alive in this write.
That, your "Emptiness" I can understand.
I went to visit a friend of mine
in a VA hospital in Houston a few years ago.
There, I saw what you have displayed here.


JL

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Maranatha!

Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
6 posted 2012-01-19 05:52 PM


Ruth, yeah, if nothing else I am that I suppose.  /Sigh

JP, lol, an honorable consolation prize... At least my muses find appreciation.

Bel1e, metaphor?  Heck, I was just looking in the mirror.  

Nicole, I might shine in both, but it's what's left when I walk away that I worry about... That ever broadening path of destruction I leave in my wake, also known as my life.  :/

JL, as a child I saw a Vietnam vet sitting against a brick wall at the Third St. Promenade in Santa Monica, and he was just like that... Eyes staring off into nothingness... A tangible emptiness if ever there was such a thing.  I will never forget that.  It was a sad, disturbing thing to witness.
  
Thank you all,

Michael

Honeybunch
Member Rara Avis
since 2001-12-29
Posts 7115
South Africa
7 posted 2012-01-19 08:47 PM


I'm sure many of us can relate to the emptiness you speak of but perhaps not many can describe it so well.  Excellent poem!  
tracie66
Member Elite
since 2000-01-18
Posts 4713
Australia
8 posted 2012-01-20 03:34 AM


wow! an exceptional write Michael

Love is the life of the soul...
It is the harmony of the universe
                        — W. E. Channing

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
9 posted 2012-01-20 11:12 AM


Things on my bucket list:
      write a duet with Michael.





You had me from the beginning, all the way to the end, my friend.


Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
10 posted 2012-01-20 02:30 PM


Honeybunch & Tracie, thanks you both, so much.

K., lol... I'm not laughing at your request, (I would be honored to write a duet with you), but I had to giggle a bit thinking this is the endearing poem that prompted it.     and hush that "bucket list" talk... you're not going anwhere for a long, long time.  Not without my permission anyhow.     Thanks love, you know my email.

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
11 posted 2012-01-23 09:48 AM


(told you I'd be back... though that doesn't mean I brought with me the kind of response this poem deserves. *G*)

The first verse makes me think of my "Thistles"... and I wonder... do we ever really get past the bleed when our earliest bouquets (literal or not) are rejected? When we're programmed from the get-go to believe something is missing... do we embrace the emptiness because expecting nothing leads to less disappointment? I don't expect answers (if anyone has them, they could replace Dr. Oz on TV and make millions. LOL)... just consider these incoherent ramblings as evidence that your words have touched me deeply... even though some of the ponderings are painful. *S*

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