TIME TRICKS

 

TIME TRICKSby phil roberts

Time drags me from one day to the next
Punctuated with coffee and cigarettes
And, as I settle into another mode of being
Behind my closed and aching eyes
Time  slips and splits every infinitive
Every rule known to man and grammar
Images spin into view like a fruit machine
You lose, you lose, you may win a little
But Time doesn't care
You shall see what you are shown
Like Scrooge at Christmas

Split screen images just to pile it on
The glaring fluorescent factory lights
The flickering tv shadows dancing
Garish coloured neon 
Holding you in its thrall
All flashing in and out of your vision
Then the internal flash as the kid is slapped across the room
The crash as a beer glass smashes against the wall beside your head
And you don't even care enough to move
Maybe this passes for excitement
Maybe it's a joke

And then you see smiles
Mum, grandma, dad, aunts and uncles and cousins
Each smile surpassed by the next in a queue of warmth
But you know that one can't be trusted
One of them hurts you in body and in mind
Now the smiles are red and drunk
" Hell, we all got something to survive"
Drink the drink, smoke the smoke and pop the pills
It's just a trick of time anyway
Slipping through your fingers like smoke

Reviews

[cfix]

I loved how you started this out. The first two lines really hit it for me.
Very profound and intrguing. I enjoyed this.

[Lily Mae]

Wow Phil, its an amazing write but packed with such strong emotions of a lost child. Memories left behind from a broken cross that we bear are the worst. We smile and laugh and cry inside.. Forever making our days ruled by the pain.. I see this so much with my work and it's difficult road to journey on.... :) x

[Chris Smith Welshpoetcs]

An incredible profound poem my friend (I had the bowie song Rock And Roll Suicide running through my head as I read it). This is a favourite.