Guest Poet Candice James
THE ROOM
Inside this sinister paradigm of doom
Surrounding me with unholy noises,
The walls vibrate with the dirge of the undead
And crack under the high pitched screech of rabid bats.
Eerie, ghostly vapours
Trickle in under the warped petrified doors
Of this floating room of secrets I’m locked in.
It’s one shade blacker than the darkest
Remnants of a sordid midnight
That still lives and breathes down my neck
With relentless abandon.
Over in the east corner of fear and fright
A butterball, mutated light snakes in,
Slithering, eel-like on murky chunks of phantom water.
Safety is being eaten up
By this gluttonous, monstrous imitation of light
Creak! Thud! The clunk of a stale wooden door,
Opening and closing. Too close for comfort.
When it shuts, it shuts out the light.
When it opens, the nightmarish neon glow
Slides and writhes in nondescript patterns
Across the wet cement floor of my cell,
Almost touching my feet.
I edge backward, but each time it crawls even closer,
Savoring the feast at hand.
It edges forward seeking the sweet smell of fear I emit
Through my dank and dampened flesh.
I rattle my keys to keep it at bay
I am the prisoner and the guard
Answering only to my overwhelming guilt.
I am my own jailer. I am the warden
And I shall never commute my sentence.
I shall remain on the slippery tongue of doom
Locked safely inside my dangerous room.
TO THE BLACK OF NIGHT
To the black of night
I whisper soft melodies
That crack on the edge of a star
And break into a charade of stilettos
That pierce the sky with a feeling
Reminiscent of heartache unhealed.
Shining upon a crumbling castle
Of barb wire wishes,
Tangles in the strings of a distant dream,
a smoky essence at best,
Wisping into obscurity,
Becoming the vanquished,
The vanished
Fading into the voidless void.
A dark mahogany door creaks open.
The brass handles turn to burnished orange,
Then gold, turning, unlocking
The womb of time,
Birthing a darker net
To catch my whispers
And crack my heart open wide
To the black of night.
WOUNDED ELEGY
Candice James © 2011
Balancing on a jagged pinnacle,
Torn footprints,
Frail body,
Shadow smudged
Against a gun metal sky.
A wounded elegy,
In decaying prosody,
Grasping at the blunt needles of
A dissipating cloud
Too far.
Comes an angel’s lament:
Ghostly dark sonata;
Melting in peppered snow;
Exuding the aftermath
Of an icy kiss,
Vapid and vaporless;
Invisible to starlight.
Drifting aimlessly
On a forbidden wind,
Colorless, passionless,
A copper moon
Haloes the black.
Wrists shackled,
Heart stabbed,
By dried ink and blood
The shadow teeters
Stumbles,
Falls,
And finally,
Embraces the abyss.
CRUMBLING PRISON
Candice James | Copyright 2010
The skeletons I incarcerated so long ago,
In the cellular structures of my soul,
Claw incessantly, with long bony fingers,
At this moment of truth and a memory that lingers
In the crumbling prison locked in my mind
Where time and tide start to unwind.
Creeping out through cracked crevice lines,
Quite unaware of buried land mines,
A ghost from the past whispers and calls
Through gaps in these cold gray concrete walls.
I can hear the distant rattle and clunk
Of bones clamouring from a rusted out trunk
Growing much louder as they draw near
My guarded large castle, my fortress of fear;
The large burned out building I keep my dreams in.
Where there’s nowhere to end, nowhere to begin.
Each skeleton was part of a dream that died
A wish that ran away but couldn’t hide
These skeletons walk heavy through my days.
Late at night they still linger inside the haze.
Silver leaves falling from a tarnished tree;
The promise of golden days never to be;
These skeletons fight tooth and nail to be free,
But if I should lose them what would I be?
An empty skin shell with nothing inside?
They’ve been trying to escape on a wing and a prayer
But if I don’t cut them loose there going nowhere
But free them I must. They won’t be denied
So I draw out my pistol and ready my sword
To sever, at last, the umbilical cord,
And force these skeletons to take their leave.
God is my witness. Their blood’s on my sleeve.
The skeletons I incarcerated so long ago,
In the cellular structures of my soul,
Have finally escaped like a thief in the night.
They’ve fashioned their bones into wings, taken flight;
Flying far, far away from the weak, frail and blind,
And the crumbling prison locked in my mind.
THE DEPTH OF HER FALL (for Janet Kvammen)
© 2011 Candice James
White time cracked
Building to black
Raindrops unstacked
Clouds come untacked
From weakened sky
In secretive lie
The lure of the lonely
Touching one only
In gossamer nightgown
Without throne or crown
Becoming a satin doll
In the crest of her fall
Barely alive
But she will survive
Atmospheres, alters
Horses, thrown halters
Saddled up for the ride
Through eternal tide
Tears polished to shine.
Breath flavoured with wine
Sweet inebriation
Seeking expiation
This deep black chasm
Tick tocking spasm
Holds court every night
Squeezes the light
Into lost works of art
Painted for her dark heart
Torn dreams on parade
In dull masquerade
Winter wind of the soul
From unblessed hell hole
Chasing her to the ledge
On precarious edge
Now back to the wall
Soon she will recall
The depth of her fall.
Wraith Demons
A ghostly hawk perched high on boulder ledge,
With feathers proudly preened against blue sky,
His talons gripped a beating severed heart.
He stumbled losing balance at the edge.
Then flew this bird of prey to hunt my soul
And I to gather up my pistol whip.
This grisly demon, eyes as black as coal
Had not a beak but wore a human lip.
Decision broke the tumult in my mind.
I did not flee I chose to stand my ground.
Shunned cowardice was never of my kind.
My bullet found its mark with deaf’ning sound.
The hawk and severed heart from overhead
Fell bloodied at my feet. Wraith demons dead,
Death’s Shadow
He’s always on guard, ever vigilant.
He watches edges of night closing in.
He searches shadows cold and indigent.
Unshackled in Pandora’s box of sin,
He hears the rattle of skeletal bones.
They clamour, and echo incessantly.
In atmosphere filled with horrific moans
They beg, claw, tooth and nail to be set free.
Inside this prison born of misplaced trust
Harsh deeds and sins too monstrous to deny.
The skin and bone of ghost crumbled to dust
With jangling keychain counting tears gone by.
His eyelids flutter shut. Keys fall to floor.
Defying life, Death’s shadow locks the door.
Giggle Damned Moment
The blood licked sacrilege of dark torn night
Feasts on my sleeping demon much maligned.
Red blood and black lace resurrection’s plight,
A shady fingerprint where devils dined.
Now as this quicksand mire grabs at my feet,
I’m sucked down through the depths of dark despair.
A flame smacks at my soul; exceeding heat.
Fire’s holocaust, eyes fixed in hollow stare
As sanity’s paired with insanity.
They two step on disaster`s floor as one.
They wink at me and scream profanity.
They watch my life unravel, come undone.
In this backhanded giggle damned moment,
I`m wrapped in chains of eternal torment.
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