Standing here, gazing

This is, again, the beginning of a series of my favorite poems. The twenty past the hour series has long stood out in my mind!

Standing here, gazing
In this clouded room
Making music in the mischief
As the fire hits the spoon
"It's time for the next level"
Said the junkie to the saint
As the acid hits my system
Finding faces in the paint
The Starry Nights entrance me
As I turn the prophets page
Feeling waves of ecstasy
Reading familiar words of rage
I look up for inspiration
From the Shadow on the wall
"Take a xanax and a Valium
With a shot of alcohol!"

Laying here, dazing
In this clouded room
Wading in the temptations
Left behind by the spoon
"It's time for the next level"
Said the saint to the damned
Feeding off a couple lines
Cut from a fat quarter gram
Dali's Memory persisting
As my thoughts race to the page
Handed down from the dark stranger
Speaking with the voice of a sage
"Smoke two joints" for inspiration
Begging Mr. Marley's grace
Recounting memories that father time
Hasn't been able to erase.

It's twenty past the hour
Still awake at four a.m.
I don't think I possess the power
To gather strength and start again
I'm the ninety's starving artist
In the new millennium
I'm the sinner and the saint
Living and dying here as one!

Layed out, stone blunted
In this clouded room
Making music for the mischief
Opium burning on the spoon
"This is the final level"
Said the damned to himself
Overdosing on the priveleges
Taken by everybody else
Yes, "It's good to be king"
Mr. Petty said it all
But I've read of all that's coming
Every good king must fall
I've touched my inner demon
And I've come to know him well
Inspiration was his virtue
But his path, it's led to hell!

It's twenty past the hour
Still awake at four a.m.
I don't think I possess the power
To gather strength and start again
I'm the ninety's starving artist
In the new millennium
I'm the sinner and the saint
Living and dying here as one!

It's twenty past the hour
Still awake at four a.m.
I'm the sinner and the saint
Dying with two lost souls within
I'm the ninety's starving artist
In the new millennium
I don't think I possess the power
To face what I have now become!

2/22/01

Reviews

[Ashes]

The imagery is really great, especially with how you use repetition and almost blasphemous portals of the characters you're writing about. You also really draw the reader in with the cadence you have, as well as the semi-quirky attitude of the poem.