Ummagumma

I stare at the wall

All day, all night.

 

This is death

In its most deceiving form:

 

Placid plaster and stale paint,

Cum stains like stoned eyes,

An all-consuming emptiness

Dressed in human disguise

And naked for no one to see

 

And this is death.

 

You should know

 

An empty page with empty words

With empty thoughts in an empty world

And how can love be but empty, empty, empty.

 

Time takes time to understand

And yet time never understands

Why we can’t understand why we live by time.

 

This is death

 

Her picture on my desk;

 

A conundrum of a wall sticky tacked beneath Bangkok,

Dublin, Rio de Janeiro, The Cascade Room,

A living tree, a hole the size of a dick,

A gypsy w***e, a snake charmer

And a calendar…ha…

A conundrum,

 

A pile of guitar tab,

An incense burner foiled in stars,

Twelve books I never read straight through,

Thirty stories propped on the bookshelf in the shape of wine bottles

And an alarm clock.

 

This is death

 

And I am dying.

 

“I’ll dig until the rain pours

Through my side of the world”

 

And maybe finally the world will drown

As it should have long ago,

I won’t turn back for fear of stone

When stone is all I know.

 

Decisions are best not made at all

Which is a concept we all can understand

Being that somehow we came together

And our lives fell apart just as before

Just as we feared yet ignored.

 

This is death

And yet we live.

 

Haha

Reviews

[Mark]

I have read two of your offerings thus far, and in two of them you managed to mention ejaculate, or absence of. This I think might be excessive; stretch yourself, and come up with more ways of expressing the signature losses of the person who filled that role in your life. Your work is promising, but it could easily be seen as trite, if the same descriptors got used too often. That need not happen! The word pictures you conjure, however, are quite effective. And the ironic ending: "This is Death, and yet we live: Ha-Ha", is pretty novel as well. May I know a little about yourself?

'this is death
And yet we live.

Haha'


really well done.

[jinjahman]

Hey Hollow Man,
I love your style - not a thousand paces from the way I think, but each to their own stamp on life/poetry; you definitely have an articulate, unthreadbareable (that's good!!) and worthy stamp to imprint on the face of a sometimes tiresome but rewarding planetary path.
Good luck and look forward to more

[nothing]

Good work, and rock on. You definitely made me want to see a continuation of this if you'd write one.

S.

I like it. Lifes too short we hear people say. To paraphrase that Lifes too short to try and understand, to know it fully and be capable of making the right decision everytime. Sometimes, it almost maddeningly seems in reach but ive yet to meet someone who truthfully has no regret. In the 7th stanza you capture this conundrum perfectly: Time takes time to understand
And yet time never understands
Why we can’t understand why we live by time. Well done

[Star Shaped Heart]

dude i dont know you but i have to say i freakin love you... i laughed and cried while reading this... i decided last night im getting a tattoo TIMELESS with a star as the dot in the i. i love your truth and sarcasm... so has the conundrum been mastered?

[Nobody.]

again! another beautiful expression of that loss...that ache that comes from lonesomeness. great imagery...very 'right now' and easy to connect with.
well done. making me sad. lol!
cheers!

[Minerva des Kali Fleisc..]

This was very interesting and timid of a poem. It was fairly good structure of this. good job!!!