Smoky Halos

Smoky halos

of wartime lilies

remind me

that there are

places

where bombs

are as rare as comets,

and the dead

don’t litter

the streets.

 

Then I remember

that discarded milk carton

that blew off

Johnny’s arm,

and my instincts

stomp the peaceful

dream’s head,

and focus on the

wasteland

that wears me

like a comfortable

old shoe.

 

The poet

must be sliced

from the soldier.

 

A necessary

field amputation

of a sugary cancerous

remnant.

 

Quick panting cut

with the rusty

hacksaw bade

of mangled reality.

Reviews

[E.H. Monroe]

The poet
must be sliced
from the soldier.

What do you monsters just spawn from some fucked talent pool of poetry and visual stimuli?
You and yer brother the goddamn juggernaut need your own tv show.

anyway..
the forgetfulness of our own creativity and infusing of some sort of machine warrir is abundant here. The two need to be seperated..but one always dies..and thats the creative part.
Well done Cennobite..

[roarke]

"The poet
must be sliced
from the soldier.

A necessary
field amputation
of a sugary cancerous
remnant."

I don't know, if we could, where would all the great poetry and prose come from?
It's all wartime, bodies are everywhere, the lilies are always in bloom.
reality is, mangled or otherwise, but it's clearly obvious you know the path, so write on.

[OT]

ahh bleak and cutting!! I concur with EH and I told RG earlier - what the hell is in the water where you guys grew up!! send some over haha!

brilliant poem - stark harsh imagery! nice!

[Dream Weaver]

Love the title and as for the write,
Tremendous!

[Kerry O'Connor]

Such twists and turns of lines and impressions and ideas - a zig-zag path through inner speculations. That last image is enduring.

[Peter Joseph Swanson]

Love it! Fabulous!

[Elle B. T.]

This makes me wish that I could write poetry. It is sad and perfect. It makes me think of my father. The "mangled reality," that you speak of seems to be the side effect of human existence.

[Dragonslayer57]

A pretty bleak reality for the poet in the soldier.

I did, however, like your first paragraph. Lilies sprouting admist the war signifies beauty, renewed life, and because they are lilies, a sense of peace.