Heart on My Sleeve?
I wanted to put my heart
On the cuff of my sleeve,
But there wasn’t one.
I’ve no shirt today,
No sleeves to be found
How will you read me plain?
Here take my heart
I’ll let you keep it
Please hold it true.
Cherish it with joy
Keep it safe,
Put it in your pocket.
And if you say
“I’ve no pocket,
Or even pants to speak of.”
Then hold it in your mind,
As naked both of us,
Are already one.
– Vagabond Prophet
Tag: creativity
Mirage
Like a mirage
Shimmering into view
Taking shape
Kaleidoscope slowly unraveling
All its own delusions.
Much better than anything
I could have imagined.
– Vagabond Prophet
Twilight
Passing cafes and shops
In morning twilight,
Rooftops laden with snow
Flowers don’t yet grow.
Almost there though
Icicles go drip drip drip
Spring knows how to entice
Seducing all the ice.
– Vagabond Prophet
Solitary Refinement Chapter 29
Dear Joshua April 26th 2018
It’s official I’m the worst father ever. Alister’s birthday was two months ago and I forgot! I was so busy looking over my shoulder and worried about hidden intentions from every face I pass I forgot my own sons birthday! Can you believe that? I have so much credit from work now I could have gotten him a whole stack of books, if Liz would let him have it of course. I feel like such shit that I did that, I’ve been sweating every minute of every day on account of the fear I feel, like it’s in my blood, or in my eyes. That cave entrance again, every mirror I look at. Everything I’ve been going through, all the weight I’ve lost and how scrawny and pale and bloodshot I’ve become doesn’t excuse this. What can I do now though, hope Alister forgives me? I don’t doubt he will, he knows by now I’m not reachable to him. As far as hoping Liz forgives me for forgetting it, I guess I can just add it to the damn pile of things I hope she one day forgives me for.
At least I’m still alive, I haven’t slept a wink since the night he first came at me. Every day at breakfast lunch and dinner he sits across from me now. If I get up to move he just follows. He looks me straight in the eyes as he eats his food. He ends every such time with a single word, “Tonight.”
Tonight?! Tonight what? Like I don’t know. He’s been doing this for a week, knowing I’m not sleeping. Sadistic bastard just wants to see me squirm. The things I’ve been brainstorming are insane, different ways to kill someone with a knife. I swiped another one from the kitchen. I didn’t bother with a broken one but rather a nice big sharp one. I just grabbed it when the instructor wasn’t looking. I keep it under my pillow now in case Kal takes the first knife, the one he met the other night.
Trevor too, shit Trevor. Yesterday he told me he won’t be able to babysit me anymore. I ignored the offense of the statement and simply asked him why.
“I don’t want to, I just don’t want to. Protect yourself you wimp.”
And when I pleaded him to keep me safe from Kal and told him what had happened he just backhanded me hard. I’ve got a real nice bruise on my right cheek now.
Can you come visit me? I’ve noticed the weather is crazy but could you try? I saw from the yard that some trees out by the road had fallen over by the wind and that the clouds looked pretty sinister. It might be the last chance you get I have no idea what the future holds but I know the face of a friend would be a welcome site.
A.N. So close! Leave me some words please!
Birds
Chitter chatter
Pitter patter,
Birds alight on trees.
You smile and prance
A playful dance
All for things like these.
– Vagabond Prophet
Ode
If I could beat a drum
By just thinking
I’d be marching to a different beat.
And if I could sound off a riff
Just by skipping a step
I’d solo down the street.
If I could hum
And have cellos sing
I’d waltz everywhere.
Then I met you,
Like instruments unknown
Your sound and presence baffling.
Beyond imagination
Or composition of will,
Ode to Heaven itself.
– Vagabond Prophet
Model Cars
Monday nights were for building model cars
Showing me how paint thinner
Thins even skin
Effortlessly.
My favourite number, yours
My favourite music, yours
My favourite colour, yours
So much that is me was you.
Then you left,
So I guess that’s what family does
First our father
Then my brothers.
Now I’m here,
Leaky gutters
And a leaky mind
And a sister and a mom.
I didn’t know how
To knit any of it
Back together,
All my teachers vanished.
– Vagabond Prophet
When Kids are in Trouble and Dad is a Writer
You have disobeyed
And this is what you’ve wrought
You shall feel
The full weight of my wrath.
I have sojourned here
At speeds illegal
I am pregnant with displeasure
At your little mutiny.
Thought to stage a coup?
How cute.
Your maliciousness inherited
Diluted, inexperienced.
I’ve reduced men to tears
With naught but words,
Now they’re pointing at you
What say you!?
I’ve shattered souls
With a lonely syllable.
This little rebellion of yours,
Adorable.
In me that blood
Is at full strength
Seething, writhing, searching,
I reign it in always.
But not today
For you have incurred
The full arsenal
Of my fury.
When you’re older
We’ll rebel together
Against forces unjust,
But today thou shalt suffer.
You will scrub and sweep
You will repent
You miscreant you,
You will beg for rest before days end.
I love you so
And this is how
I show it today,
To insure tomorrow is different.
– Vagabond Prophet
Cotton Parades
The way that roots intertwine
Gripping everything together
Clawing through the dirt
To get every bit of moisture.
The way the sky supports clouds
Those dewy cotton parades
Gently pushing them along
For everyone to see.
The way that feathers
In their elevated splendour,
Carry the weight
Of the creature they carry.
Will you support me
Or carry
Or push me along
Similarly?
If a crutch can push against
The ground to help a man
Move his broken body
To and fro.
If a paddle
Can direct the eb and flow
To choose its course
In that vastness of wet.
If I can collect vapour
In little rivulets
And sustain my spirit
With its freshness.
Then surely you so great
Can support me so weak,
A fool puddle jumping
In gasoline.
Could you make me porous
To absorb your spirit
As it soaks into
Every crag and fissure.
Like a tall and ancient mountain
That’s watched every single sunrise,
Would you keep me from crumbling
To just witness you longer.
I’ll happily borrow strength
I have none of my own,
I just want to know you better
To love you more fully.
– Vagabond Prophet
Frigid
The wind bites my face
And I know that’s your embrace
But it hurts,
Must you be so cold?
I make a hot cup of something
See I’ve got an answer for everything,
As usual I’m either too smart
Or too dumb.
I don’t even know which
It changes like a switch,
So let the wind bite my face
And make my legs go numb.
Let me stay stranded in the cold
No choice but to be bold,
When I’m captured by your might
Captivated by frightful beauty.
Make your frosty tongue
Climb every rung
And run piercing
Through every passageway.
Don’t give me a way out
Don’t make it a fair bout,
Call me to yourself
Grip me firmly.
Take me in your hand
Put on me your brand
Enchant me with
Your frigid brilliance.
– Vagabond Prophet