sherbet thoughts

There I stood
in a graveyard tinged with nectarine
breathing carnation hued clouds
as the sky lit up like a watercolor in love
with a box of matches
I’m nylon delicate and spandex stretched, 
snagged on a gnarled branch
whisper pops of elastic fibers splitting
the tooth wrapped in a noose
the slamming door trying to drown
the noise of separation
all blood and tissue
clogging up leaky noses and running eyes
pale yellow crepe paper
suspended over a canyon,
damp with salt-water sweat and tears 
and everyone placing their marbles, 
perfect orbs of clarity 
with threads of green and gold
disguising such collective weight
with bright shiny distraction,
but, my, what treasures they seem to be
until they shred a hole straight through
and fall so far there is no
impact to echo back
-don’t break the ice
you’ll never find a more terrifying 
sensation as that of placing your hands
against a window pane 
watching the world continue on
as lavender exhalations
cloud against lack of better judgement
loss of self-preservation
how can I help
how can’t I help
how do I survive this
it can’t be you or me
pull tighter on the string
taut as a drumskin
pounding of the mallet
rips in the fabric of time
and plunge on down
trapped under a glacier
that sank ships named ‘destiny’
global warming exists
but not at a convenient pace.

Reviews

[John Alexander McFadyen]

This is an impassioned expression of how we struggle to make any sense whatever of life in this modern world is like and how we might survive it. Wonderful pathos ingrained into the wood of this poem!