Smoke Before a Light

To watch the smoke before a light,

To watch a human life.

Do the fumes make me think

Or do they merely reveal?

 

I sit and cry, a foetus,

I stretch and wake, a plant.

A daisy chain in spring

Binds us until winter when it wilts,

And then we’re bound by love alone.

 

A fire in my heart,

A fire in a public house,

I’m eaten by the orange scented air.

 

You sit and mourn, a new born lamb

Drowning in his warm and slaughtered blood.

You froth upon my tongue,

My lips

And you leave me tasting metal.

Bleach clean gloves.

The scent of ageing detol.

 

You stare through my plastic lens

And quote my favourite line

‘They look and they look

And they know they may never look again.’

 

The moth I have become,

Hovering in the radiance of your halo.

You switch off,

And in the dense air I am washed upon a beach

Of starving children.

 

My dust is washed away

And my wings like two used condoms.

 

I float upon the tide

Breathing faint and few

As the children skim their stones to push me down.

Reviews

[Luther]

hahahah. thank you missymaroo. you're awful kind. you seem taken by the end. does the start ruin it? if so, i'll make them two seperate poems! :) xxx

[Kate]

my god.
the last kinda half of this poem, is so insanely beautiful.
i really, really like it.
i thinks its probably one of the more contemporary, real things you've written, y'know? like a lot of things you write are kind of whimsical and lyrical and poetical and dont necessarily scream sense. but the language in this is more real, basic. and it suits it.
i started copying and pasting the bits i liked, but it ended up with pretty much the whole end half of the poem, from the lamb bit.
honestly, i like this the best out of everything. the bit about the lamb and the moth and the condoms. insane.
x