Obscure
This delicate laboratory
of our eyes
in which small doors close
Behind lies that darkness
of the head
Eyes need not tell
sight is already a language
its words
like air
unattached.
In shame
Speaking from a mouth of pain
who would want to hear such things
am I to sing of pockmarked skin
my ugliness and dismal days
what kind of songs are those?
So mirror take me
earth swallow
my soiled face
and scarred soul
I want to be invisible.
From the sky
The sky
this great blue
fall
from space
in remorseless
unseen hail
turmoils of light
speaking a jargon
for the eyes.
Parent tape
If it wasn’t for you
I would have made something
of myself
If it wasn’t for you
I could have done it and gone
wherever I wanted
If it wasn’t for you
I wouldn’t be taunted
by those chances I missed
There’s that other life
I would surely have led
if it wasn’t for you
If it wasn’t for you
who is to blame
for such failures?
If it wasn’t for you
who knows what things
I might have to admit.
Darkness monotone
In darkness monotone
here I lie
attending to a cerebral sky
where perceptions unfolding
shiver with exclamation
while through an electric tide
beneath this skin
beating its numbers
I feel the useless flare
of my heart.
Another language
With snapping wind and heavy cloud
a scattered day
closes
My taut flesh not relieved
where kisses
leave their ache
Tonight earth lies cold
even for a lover
whose dreams are unbetrayed
These awkward lips
try to speak
another language
Words
fall
like dead leaves.
Newly washed creation
Up there
darkness
clenched stars
Radiant
the dawn
was
transient red
spread
flushing rose
Molten
the sun
itself.
Word machine
The horizontal voice drives
through tunnels
of printed lines
down cramped margins that score
a mute white glow
unbound
loose from meaning now
as insect rush
they stipple and stut
on exhibition
babbling word machines
do manic dance
while eyes skid across
their jostling forms
which thrash beneath
perception
in a pattern
of assault.
Ken Hallett Blog 