1. On Payday She Comes 'Round

It was the fall that saved me
When I was reaching far
For the line ahead.
I remember the splash.

Now tethered to the anchor,
I fall quickly away
From the open faces peering
Over the slick banister.

The comfort of the depth
Is cool and forgiving
And there floods a relief,
A silencing of the beast.

This is where I've been,
Unable to breathe
Or make any sense
Of the life around me.

When I hit bottom
I am already nodding out.
My last thought is a wish
For a cigarette.


2. The Odyssey

So this is Hell,
Bare white walls and a line for meds.
Plastic-lined mattresses.

Multifaced heads as spinning tops,
Each mouth promising something
Different, better from the last.

I am charged with a mission
To search for and disarm an enemy,
one cunning, baffling, powerful.

They tell me to chart the dunes
As the wind whips them around.
I would sooner breathe fire.


3. Rancor

I stand halved in a writhing den.
One asleep, the other a fury.

A livid cry for the anchor depths
Puts flesh into the fleeting mast.

Soberly spoken in dualities,
My death has become rebirth.

08/18/2011

Posted on 08/18/2011
Copyright © 2024 Meghan Helmich