TEMPTATION

I’ve kissed the darkness

more than once, but never had

what it takes to move in,

to live without the sun

on my shoulders,

to wallow in the mud,

join the waking dead.

The taste of cold lips is

television sweet and at times

a temptation to swim in dark

water, but I fear I would drown

in that muddy, shallow pool.

Reviews

[Lorry]

I've never had it in me to live without the sun either Vol, but then again I am Scottish and consider it a mythical creature we sometimes hear tell of, but know it is nothing more than a tiny pill from a bottle called something like Vitallitis dee! 😃
Oh how we laugh at the believers.
Don't they know its just a vast conspiracy, like the moon landings and is caused by what they put in our water!
😃

[Vol]

Lorry,
Sometimes I want to run naked into a mudpuddle and wallow around a while, wrestle with some similarly attired chicks, get drunk and do drugs...
but I'd probably get caught and arrested, I never think of Hunter S. Thompson as a role model... But you know, for just one day...
Vol

[Lorry]

Well, I hate to use the same punchline twice, but I'm Scottish mate and that just sounds like a laugh round Shreks house....(Shrek is definitely Scottish. Listen to him, it's the same voice he does in so I married an axe murderer! 😃

[Re-Pete]

clever metaphor. not a good place to be, not where we were meant to be. unfortunately, some have frequent flier miles there.

[MCS]

Lots of twists and turns here, you're not alone in these thoughts and feelings. The chaos we live in adds to this darkness and disconnect. Well done!

[Vol]

Thank you for going beyond just reading... And we are shocked at our own perversity...

[Sami Khalil]

I feel the poem speaks of the muddy waters or muddied waters of politics: some drown in propaganda campaigns while others sort things through.
I could be close or far from the intent of the poet.

[Vol]

Sami,
I have two response to your comment.
Any poem means what you think it means when you read it. There are no wrong answers or interpretations. If it speaks to you, however it speaks to you, it is a successful poem.
When I wrote it I was thinking about my life and how I have always opted for the safer, less dangerous course, never run away with a lover, never robbed a bank, never got into a real fight...
played it safe... I don't know whether to be proud or disappointed.
Vol

[Sami Khalil]

Wow! I did the same: played it safe. We could have both lost on the adventure style or chances opportunities. Oh, well, hard to change old habits.

[Vol]

It is hard... all those poets who were alcoholics, and multiple lovers, traveling the world... while i just sit here in my safe home...
May I be a little nosey and ask where you are? I am Texas, USA.
Vol

[Sami Khalil]

Alabama........

[Vol]

Sami,
Seriously? Where in Alabama? My cousin/brother lives in Daphne, I grew up in Pensacola, what we referred to as "LA," lower Alabama.
Vol

[Sami Khalil]

Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Lived in Houston 10 years long time ago
What a small world

[Vol]

I am intrigued by your Oriental name...

[Sami Khalil]

ARAB American

[Vol]

I figured... I wish we were closer, I'd love to hand out to talk about life the universe and everything, i would love to hear what you have to say about stuff. When I still lived in civilization (Nashville) my friends and I would hang out at Stogies, a local cigar bar and solve all of humanities' problems. you would have been a welcome addition... that is if you didn't mind going home smelling of tobacco smoke.
Vol

[Sami Khalil]

::::::))))())))

[Vol]

Sami,
;-) May I ask, what is poetry to you?
Vol

[Sami Khalil]

It is a reaction to life, an awareness of the mind, a new birth of the self, a way of communicating feelings and emotions, an art form that is centered creating, a gift to share from ourselves, a treasure to behold.

[Sami Khalil]

Centered on creating

[Vol]

Sami,
I used to tell my students (a few might have even listened) that life is ridiculously short and important to no one except the sel... UNLESS you create something good enough that it will live longer than you do. God created humans to be creators, and though the best we can do is a mere bit of ink or paint, or manipulated stone, it is still US just trying to reach out and touch Him!
Now, may I ask what your field of study is, or what you do for a living? It is just nice to know how someone came to poetry.
Vol
Vol

[Sami Khalil]

I like to decline to answer and no offense please.
Just have a gift of creation from the creator.
No credentials so to speak.

[Vol]

None needed... The gift of words is almost always sufficient...

[Sami Khalil]

I agree wholeheartedly. Thank you for your understanding