it’s all in your head

it’s all in your head

Here’s my second rehash/prompt image from my photo blog after last week’s failure to inspire 😅

If inspired, just add a link in the comments.

Enjoy

(Let me in! Let me out!)

Would that places and time
have belongings,
I would be wherever I long
But only people draw lines
to define in or out
With a verb to invert
roles and blame
In belonging, we transfer
the subject to the object
and turn choice
to a passive plea

Response to Free Verse Revolution Issue III pre-prompt

rounding the bend

This time
something’s different
the rhyme won’t rise
to make its way
to the end of the line
to compress the space
or impress minds
more inclined to look
towards what’s on hand
than bind to a rhythm
yet undefined
and let time unwind
into a line
to be crossed
or crossed out

Something’s gone wrong
This beat is not strong
enough to leap into song
or turn the lulling trance
into a dance
that leaves room
for chance stomping
of malign acts
and distorted facts
birthing belief
that relief
lies down the line
and if we would all
clap our hands
just right
something different
may happen
this time

#godoggocafe prompt

contrast

I fanned through the colours
of my mind
Just to find that hue
I could myself imbue
To stand next to you
Without receding into
a backdrop of blues

#godoggocafe

meantime

Five little words
could hardly impress
with any duress
but I must confess
like a chess master
preparing for disaster
I’m already five exchanges ahead
and all the digressions
you’ll make instead
of coming clean

And though my head is full
it’s my body that aches
to make up for mistakes
and time lost
in planning petty crimes
and their atonement
the moment we are done

So take your time
and borrow mine
I’ll burrow down
and tow some lines
that I’ll retrace and erase
in case my resolve dissolves
and I fill in the spaces wrong
all over again

threadbare

Back before
you let the rope
around my heart go slack
there was always something
to pull me forward
no matter the distance
or effort

Now it lies limp and frayed
as my intentions
I loop its weight
around my arm
and pick at loose threads
I carry their shapeless form
with no destination
And wonder at the strength
they once had united
and their frailty
in the absence of tension

lost heart

they say
where the mind goes
is where the heart is
then tether my mind
so it won’t wander
finding all the places
you are not
drown it, then wring it
of your ghost
thrash it
until every tendril growing
only to reach you
is dust
until my mind
is stripped
of all it knows of you
perhaps then my heart
may find its way back home

denial

She nimbly swerved around each oncoming body, eyes wan, scarf trailing from the worn handbag. Loose boots flopped a half step ahead. Her ribbon body flowed into them. She beat the crowd to the median, pausing to drag on a cigarette stub and turning to blow invisible smoke to one side. The red light was for those constrained by conformity, and her will was her own. Without yielding her earned momentum she lunged into her next stride. Then it hit her.

mantra

It was just a witty line
Be prudent if not wise
So we took it to heart
As a mantra to guide us
Keeping our eyes squinted
Our hands by our sides
Touching only those places
That would leave no traces
Saying only those words
That would not be heard
Without a hint of disdain
For those who would feign
Believe there was meaning
Beyond filling a need
To spite fate

that lie that binds

I know what you did.
I know that unspoken line,
that you lovingly wove
and crossed and wound around me
to bind me forever to you.
We never speak of it
though it screams at us
from the corner of our hearts.
Yet all you ever wanted
is for me to stay
without bond or reason,
if not in spite of them.
It’s all I ever wanted too.
Never saw two people
willing the same thing
so strongly, yet unable
to conjure enough magic
to make it so.