Burnt Sierra's Poetry, Abandon all hope, ye who enter here... Options

[Burnt Sierra]

Resurrection Dream - Part 1

Paris Texas taken to technological extremes
Communication without pain.
As we type
We watch you
Your movements
Your smiles
We hear your voice from our speakers
We can say
Whatever we want
No fear of reprisals
You don’t know who we are.
Are we in search of a life
Or just passing the time
One thing I know
You will live forever
Deep in my hard drive
This is my Resurrection Dream.

I like to turn off the volume
Listen to music instead
Playing along to your disembodied dance
Aimee Mann telling me I have no choice
Softly in the background
At times like this
It’s easy to believe
Your words appear on my screen
Giving me connection
You answer what I type
Who needs reality?
I can smoke without complaint
Let’s face it
You can’t smell it
My window’s wide open
The trees blocking the graveyard
Letting the spirits listen to Aimee
Whilst I feel full again.
It’s not a life
Maybe just existing
But it help’s to pass the time
Whilst we wait to be reborn
My Resurrection Dream.

[Burnt Sierra]

Observation

When I first started to write
One of the first lessons I learned was to observe.
Detached. Uninvolved.
Purely recording the details.
I’ve been trying again recently, although I struggle.
Observing your legs failing.
Your balance losing the battle against gravity.
Seeing your mind, which used to be so, so sharp.
Too sharp.
Like your tongue when you thought I’d done something wrong.
Slowly give in to confusion.
Then rage.
Then rage at the confusion.
As I try to watch detached.
Figuring out which part I’m playing today.
Son? Husband? Brother?
I seem to have been cast in all those roles these last few weeks.
Who knows who I’ll be tomorrow?
As I watch.
Record the details.
Try like hell to remain detached.
Try like hell to remain calm.

JPG 2019


The Guardian Of Saint Petersburg

I’m up here with the spires
Heart holding a thousand tiny fires
Looking down on the city lights
Never speaking the last rites.

Cars move like motion blur
My compassion starts to stir
Everyone desperately seeking
But inside they’re shrieking.

Twilight surrounds me
But I can clearly see
Here I am free
The holder of the key
The guardian and protector

The air is clearer here
Muffled sounds all I hear
My only company the statues
But this solitude I choose.
It’s rare that I can breathe.

Down there on the streets
Battling a life full of defeats
Walking In the gloom of the gutter
Their heads down as they mutter
From up here it sparkles and glitters.

Twilight surrounds me
But I can clearly see
Here I am free
The holder of the key
The guardian and protector
In the never-ending quicksand
I hold their world in my hand.

JPG 2019


Disappear Here

Lost on the road between hope and despair
Feels like I’m losing my mind.

Searching all around for the light in the dark
Anything to show me the way.

Long lost faces loom out of the shadows
Closer and closer
They’re coming for me.

I’ll beg and I’ll plead
I’ll fall to my knees
My pride was the first thing to go.

There’s too much going on
More than I can cope with
No sign of escape anywhere.
All that I want is to disappear here.

JPG 2019


Play The Hand Fate Dealt

I wonder if you only knew
If I was to stand here and tell you true
Would it help you to pull through
Help your belief to renew.

It’s time to start this fight
Even in the depths of midnight
Time to head towards the light
For a future you will rewrite.

Fight like you know Kung-Fu
Don’t let your mind play tricks on you
Focus on the goal to pursue
Remember the symbolism of the tattoo.

This is the moment of truth
This is where you find out what living really means
This is where you find out who you truly are
This is where you play the hand fate dealt.
The hell with the dealer, just let it ride.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done” – Nelson Mandela

JPG 2019