Desperate Monsters

DESPERATE MONSTERS – Caitlin Johnstone

We were comfortable in our complacency.
We were satisfied with our Netflix and our Taco Bell.
We were not happy, but we were satisfied.

We did not want to have to awaken
the strange DMT gods that live in our foreheads,
or the screw snakes sleeping at the base of our spine,
or the mushroom giants who dwell behind our visual fields,
or the great golden frog at the center of the earth.

We did not wish to have to summon
the caterpillar planets from the depths of space,
or the elephant squid from our secret abysses,
or the mammoth moths from the tabernacle in our throat,
or the Yellow Priestess from Her dinosaur throne.

But desperate times,
you see,
desperate times call for desperate monsters.

So now we’ve got to get up,
dust the cheese puff powder from off our sweatpants,
grumble our way over to the police tape-covered door
and, after clearing the theremin and the surfboard
and the sewing machine out of the way
(none of which we use anymore but we keep meaning to),
unleash eldritch angels and eyeball blimps
to burn this motherfucker to the ground.

We’d have been content with decent paychecks
and a viable planet,
and maybe some healthcare for the Yanks,
but you bastards got greedy
and now your mouths are full of weirdling worms,
and I bet you all feel quite silly now.

You did not realize that we have tentacles in our bellies
and wands that shoot eel ogres,
and benthic beasts swimming in our souls.

You did not realize that we are more powerful than your wildest imaginings,
and that you have never truly understood what we’re made of.

Desperate times call for desperate monsters,
old chap.
There is a feathered claw behind you.

~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/05/13/desperate-monsters/

Exhibition

The accompanying artwork has stopped showing here. 🙂 Unless that sorts itself out I advise you to go to the original post. It’s well worth seeing.

a.mermaid'spen_

Words bleed out of my mouth
without my concern,
Keep leaving this body
with no hint of return.

I’m the master
of breaking my own heart,
with weird thoughts
and shattered hope
I keep tearing myself apart.

You can see me
painting canvas,
but it’s not me.
My scars are on exhibition
I don’t want them to be.

People come to me
saying,
You’re art inside out.
I can’t help,
Smiling,
I just wonder and doubt.

View original post

Familiar (with image)

FAMILIAR

A true bond
Is never broken
Birth to death
Life to life
Rooted in one another
Branches of one tree

~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~

I came across this fine photograph on New Hampshire Garden Solutions‘ site and was moved to republish this shadorma accompanied (with his kind permission) by his photo. His site is one of my favourites, always full of both beauty and interest, and I highly recommend it.

Puzzles

pic
pic
PUZZLES

Is this cup I hold here half empty
Or else, as some would have me think, half full?
A troubling conundrum, eternally insoluble
Yet quickly resolved by simply letting go

Full of confidence, the tortoise
Challenges his friend the hare to a race
“Just give me a ten yard start,” he says
“And you’ll never catch me,” he boasts

And he’s right, for whenever Hare reaches the spot
The tortoise has already gone
Still … When the hare has gone twenty yards
Where is the tortoise then?

Imagine a goose in a narrow-necked glass bottle
How can you get the goose out of the bottle
Without either of them coming to any harm?
Easily … There; it’s free

A puzzle you might find more tricky
History professors can’t answer it
Scientists still haven’t solved it
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Perennial

 

…..
…..
…..
PERENNIAL

Keeps her secrets
Within her silence

I too, passing her
Day after day

A gladsome addition
To my daily constitutional

Grateful to the wind
That blew her seed here

A gradual paling
Day after day

Petals crinkle, fall
Her secrets die with her

I shall mourn her absence
Patiently await next Summer

A Simple Acrostic

…..
…..
…..
A SIMPLE ACROSTIC

Hugely appreciated and
Universally valued when
Genuinely expressed and
Shared slowly between two

Gold coins, silver, diamonds
Over-esteemed, so say I

Arid … Meantime all these souls
Neglected, disregarded, crossing
Deserts alone, dying of drought

Deep dark dank oubliettes, shackled to walls
Old fears and hungers binding us fast

Likely seems it’s we hamstring ourselves
Imitating care with taut taught gestures
Kisses on proffered mouths or cheeks
Evasive tactics, light flirtations, small talk
Worrywarts avoiding any need of need
I ended up imprisoned as did you
Solitary observers, unknown, disunderstood
Everywhere so let us welcome them then

Hugely appreciated and
Universally valued when
Genuinely expressed and
Shared slowly between two

Badge Of Shame

…..
…..

BADGE OF SHAME

Pride and prejudice
I love the book but hate it
Used as a motto

Poise

 

POISE

Balanced on one leg
Motionless, a crane inhales
The gold of sunset

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Image found at Flickr – Photo Sharing!

– https://www.flickr.com/photos/30402351@N00/2207333268/

Defiance

…..
…..
DEFIANCE

Snow lies everywhere
Summer but a memory
But here come snowdrops

Preaching To The Choir

…..
…..
PREACHING TO THE CHOIR

To live and let live
Not fighting over plumbing
You get the message