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]

And to bring the poetry up to date as well (as up-to-date as it can be anyway, as I haven't actually written any since 2021...)

So, previously I was experimenting with some rhyming poems, and I started listening heavily to some rap music back then (not my usual genre of music if I'm honest, but I was really impressed by Kendrick Lamar, and it got me seeing if I could create a rap/poetry fusiony type thing - technical term ™. The following were the results from this.

The Venom of Doubt

This was inspired by the prompt: "We drink the poison our minds pour for us, and wonder why we feel so sick."


The poison enters my blood
Unnoticed
Unstoppable
My resistance fades
And soon I wonder
Why try to resist at all?

On a logical level, I know I should fight it
Not permit it to confuse me and tempt me to quit
I should strike like a viper and refuse to submit
Not open the door and ask, where would you like to sit?
But that would mean finally showing some grit
I'm afraid to admit I'm scared and unfit.

Too unworthy, too lazy
Too needy, too crazy
Too much just wanting things to be easy.

The negative things I say about myself I'm willing to believe
Would be difficult for anyone on the outside to conceive.

Every part of my brain is screaming you'll lose
That little voice inside me, designed to confuse
That voice I far too often choose to excuse.

These overly complicated constraints that I've created
Outdated circuits that make me so incredibly frustrated
I couldn't even tell you what date they originated
Let alone where the hell the damn things can be located
Humiliated at allowing myself to be so easily manipulated
After all of these years, you'd think I'd be better educated.

If I could just

Retrain my brain so it can learn to self-sustain
Find a way to maintain without going insane
What I do to myself that causes so much mental strain
If it was prescribed by a doctor
I would be the first to complain it was inhumane
But a prescription would at least help explain the pain
Of feeling like I remain bound in a chain once again.

I know I can resist this poison in my blood
I know I can keep on and persist
I know I can allow people to assist
Maybe the warring elements inside can learn to coexist
I know this life is a gift
I know that it's over so swift
I know it's time to admit it to myself
That if I dismiss
It's opportunities

Then I might as well just give up, submit and obey
Not bother to delay the inevitable decay
Keep doing the exact same things in exactly the same way

Then just fade away.

JPG, April, 2021


*****


Baptized by Sin

This was inspired by the prompt, "Write a poem entitled Baptized by Sin, about the Deadly Sins."


When I want, I must feed
I need, I need, I need.
I have no shame, I'll plead and mislead
If I was pleased it meant what I received
Managed to exceed what I dreamed.
My eyes became congealed
Could no longer be healed
Trained to conceive the yield that was unrevealed
But now they bleed, the eyelids sealed.
I can no longer be redeemed
I now worship greed
Having been baptized in sin
To appease the beast that lies within.

My ego could not be denied
My comments would be snide, intending to deride
The beast inside could not abide to be defied.
I would conquer and divide
Manipulate people to collide
My insinuations would provide
Enough smoke
To let it seem like the truth was implied
My victims, beside themselves replied
Denied and cried
But everyone thought they lied
And a part of them died inside.
Sadly, all this effort I described
So carefully designed but misapplied
Meant my spirit rapidly declined
Too compromised to be realigned
Having been inclined to pride
And baptized in sin
To appease the beast within.

I trust you'll not be crushed
Or too repulsed with disgust
If I now confront those times
That I've been flushed with lust.
But in essence, if I deconstruct my conduct
I'm a little nonplussed
At all those times I'd strut on the hunt
How willing I was to rush to corrupt
Or bluntly disrupt others happiness
Leaving feelings roughly brushed aside
And crushed.
Looking back it was unjust.
But my conscience I cussed and shushed
And chucked into a corner
Where now I lie
Viewed with disgust
An affront that's revulsed
As I adjust to my new reality
Having been baptized in sin
To appease the beast within.

There are seven deadly sins
I won't bore you with all my wins
How many a story begins
Over the years I've done things
That I regret
Followed whims I knew were wrong
It appears I was willing to ignore fears
And tears, and upsetting my peers
Savoured the cheers and dismissed the sneers
And I could have been different
Listened to violin's strings
And heartily sang hymns
But you'll be astonished
To discover that would have been dishonest
And I'd rather be immodest than lie.

When sin is all you've known
All you've ever been shown
It seems pointless to bemoan
That sin is what you've sown.

JPG, April, 2021


*****


Impact

The floodgates were opened
The dam was running free
I can almost guarantee
She wanted to see
Tears flowing over me
And it shouldn't have taken a genius
With a degree
To foresee
That once they were opened
That action could not be reversed
When words are spoken
They can cause corrosion of emotion
And spirits can be broken
When those words are set in motion
You should have known they were a weapon
A bomb to be blown
A stone to be thrown
And I'm afraid it's too late now
To attempt to atone.

JPG, April, 2021