Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween














This is from a couple of years back. It's not strictly about the holiday, though it was written around that time period, and elements of it color the scenery of the backstory, forever under lock and key.


Apocalypse rise, bathe in phantom hue,
illuminate ways for the unseen.
Look past autumn’s artistry and witness
no ghost descend.
Marbled thought stands watch,
whispers a prophecy in shame: the silhouette
will disappear before first sight,
melt in the summer of the underworld.

Light in league with the dark –
a libation beneath the heavens to beseech the season,
all for the tongue of whom is on the throne of blood,
all for the mouth of the one.
To clean the foulness in my heart,
barren chambers pump away to the dirt –
a dirge echoes over an earth
emptied of flesh and hope.

Lonely blades radiate through panes,
patterns roam temples of dust
where I recite tempered fables, where cold breezes blow
shadows outside, my bed.
Solitary flights fancy the stars,
Cassiopeia where I wished you’d be.
But I only see dreaming trees, moss in slumber,
Faustian pleas humble at the feet of the deaf –

equilibrium crash on broken masonry,
rubble feeding dew-haunted thistles.
Vaulted harmonies are buried,
soon to be joined by vain recollections
as you travel to cities in new lands,
peopled by thieves, a village fête, the hangèd man
and a coward who clings to forgeries read in the leaves –
the living dead.

15 comments:

Ubermilf said...

Are poets the mimes of the literary world?

Utah Savage said...

This made me think of the last costume I wore that suited me--Persephone. It is very apt for the season. You are a real romantic.

susan said...

I know you despise compliments but that's a very beautiful poem. I hope it's a side of yourself you enjoy and not just something one of your alter egos springs on you in moments of weakness.

Now I'll read it again before getting dinner ready.

The Cunning Runt said...

Holy Cow.

La Belette Rouge said...

As scary and great as that was, I think my poem from today was scarier( as I totally lack talent) and you are deeply and profoundly talented. If you laugh off my compliment I will email you a pair of shoes each day until you finally write my shoe post.


Poe ain't got nothing on you---well, there was that little alcohol addiction problem.

Anonymous said...

Well done, Randal. A remarkable piece. It's almost as if you were inspired by some of Max Ernst's paintings.

Bruce Anderson said...

lovely and moving. did you take the picture?

Randal Graves said...

übermilf, if they are, I better get some face paint and a beret.

utah, I think there was a little bit of that mixed in the mishmash of emotions.

susan, thanks and no, despite the exterior, this is pretty much the default setting.

TCR, thanks, I think?

LBR, yours was certainly scarier with the world-devouring red giant and all that. This was more about longing.

Under that threat, I wouldn't dare laugh. But Poe? He was The Man.

SWA, thank you sir. I hadn't thought of Ernst, but I could see that. Not sure how successful I'd be trying to get anything surreal into words though.

OJL, merci. No, I'm the last person without a digital camera. Everything on here is stolen from The Google.

pissed off patricia said...

All things considered, you can't be all bad if you like peanut butter cups. Happy Halloween! :)

I would say Trick or Treat, but I got an idea, I might regret that question. ;)

susan said...

Bien sur, I'm pleased :-)

Randal Graves said...

POP, thanks for the backhanded compliment. And have I ever played a trick before? ;-)

susan, just don't tell anyone I'm a big sap. Totally ruin my rep.

anon, I would love to, but I'm far too busy hanging out with Pinochet and McCain today. We've got a lot of torturing to supervise.

DivaJood said...

Randal, I was going to give you another salary increase because of your birthday thought to me, but now I will REALLY give you a raise for that and a pretty decent pome. Seven times nuthin. You deserve it!

Really, I like this - you write well.

Utah Savage said...

You're so much better than Poe. No shit. I'm not kidding.

Anonymous said...

I love the imagery, but I especially like the line
a dirge echoes over an earth
emptied of flesh and hope

Randal Graves said...

diva, seven times nuthin? I'm not sure what I'll do with all that loot! Et merci.

utah, you might wanna go back and reread his stuff.

dcup, I like the happy stuff.