Guest Poet Candice James
BLEAK HOUSE ALLEY
© 2012 Candice James
On the East side of Vancouver
In Bleak House Alley
Peppered with cardboard creatures,
A crude Cinderella,
Drooping wax figurine,
Cracked and creased with age,
Candling the night
Weaves phantom dreams
In the pale twilight.
Breathing in fetid foggy remnants
Of second hand wishes,
She churns them and burns them
Into hot buttered streetlights.
Drinking in the horizon,
Gulping it like wine
On this hot thirsty night
Of no reprisals,
She sways in drunken repose.
Skin, weather beaten
Hangs in pockets of leather
Chafing the edge of night.
She doesn’t remember
When the rain started
But she’s certain
It shows no sign of letting up soon,
Each random drop relentlessly
Pursuing the razor’s edge
Of the one in front of it.
This Cinderella broke her mirror years ago,
Lives in a fantasy world,
Thinks she’s still beautiful.
Her torn mouth twitches,
Groans into a grin,
Yellowed cracked teeth
Semi glinting
In the broken bits of moonlight
Decorating the one shoe she wears.
The other foot bleeding,
Weeping like a blind eye.
She limps along
This highway of tears
Searching for her prince
Knowing full well he will not come.
Busted bicycle wheel dreams,
Wasted chants and wishes,
Unanswered prayers and rituals,
Lost Cinderellas,
Broken bowling pins
Littering the alleyways
On the East side of Vancouver,
A BROKEN WIND CHIME
© 2011 Candice James
A snow cast heart frozen in time,
Unrecognizable, beating no more,
Hanging beside a broken wind chime.
Silent creature in pantomime,
In unfinished symphony, no music, no score,
A snow cast heart frozen in time.
Robbed of it’s rhythm, robbed of it’s rhyme,
Locked in steel cage, no window, no door,
Hanging beside a broken wind chime.
Inside this prismatic paradigm,
With teardrops refracting deep in its core,
A snow cast heart frozen in time;
In a bed of dampened dreams and burnt lime,
A remnant of what it was before,
Hanging beside a broken wind chime.
Love leaves behind a most grievous crime;
In the wake of her careless sway,
A snow cast heart frozen in time
Hanging beside a broken wind chime.
EAST OF EDEN, WEST OF LOVE
© 2012 Candice James
Recalling the sweet taste of wine
As your lips melted into mine
Taking us to love then past the brink
We bore love’s stain upon our soul
Like sea moss clinging to a shoal.
Water everywhere but none to drink
We watched love creep away on feet
That hobbled down a dusty street
Crippled by the vows we couldn’t keep
We lost the tender hush of touch
The look of love that meant so much
Love bowed her weary head and fell asleep
We walked away with empty hearts
That held the scars of our false starts
And all the while the beating there within
Echoed the pain of tragedy,
Sad circumstance and malady;
That hearts must suffer so is such a sin.
A burnished sky bereft of stars
Brandished its sword of wounds and scars
Sparks flew from ghostly moments burning out
We lost the words, forgot the rhyme
Two poets dancing out of time
While silent yearning struggled with a shout
Up above a scarlet moon
A melody played out of tune
As we swayed past the point of no return
East of Eden, West of Love
Our hearts strayed when push came to shove
The fire extinguished never more to burn
Here lies a heart at its last gasp
Hear death’s rattle, rale and rasp
Stripped at last of masks and all disguise
Somewhere below a tombstone lies
Somewhere above an angel cries
Bears witness to a lonely heart’s demise
No more to wander or to chase
Reflections of tears on its face
Love’s truly lost and oh the bitter cost
A weary heart gives up the ghost
That was a most unwelcome host
The words have turned to dust, music to frost
Crippled by the vows we didn’t keep
Love bowed her weary head and fell asleep
As angels sighed and tears fell from above
Somewhere East of Eden, West of Love.
ECHOING SPLENDOURS
© 2011 Candice James
The sea and spume now dried on the mast
A salty brine lashed with smiles and tears
Echoing splendours of moments past
Tall ships in full sail ‘neath skies overcast
Docking in harbours to welcoming cheers
The sea and spume now dried on the mast
Oak framed paned windows stained and glassed
The Spanish Galleons and buccaneers
Echoing splendours of moments past
Pirates and sailors, amid cannon blast
Wearing brave faces to cover their fears
The sea and spume now dried on the mast
A Captain’s journal from first page to last
Ink stains, worn pages, smudges and smears
Echoing splendours of moments past
The glory of tall ships faded too fast
Armada of ghosts in yesterday’s mirrors
The sea and spume now dried on the mast
Echoing splendours of moments past
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