Suddenly

Suddenly it felt too crowded on our hill
Surrounded by houses that feel too close
Watching from their windows
With sweaty beady eyes
Their faces illuminated by their dim lights
So curious of this yellow house
They pull back their curtains
To catch a glimpse of us
And see what happens through these walls.

Your eyes see right through my walls

I can feel them search for the moment
I became yours
take it back, rip it from me
Understand that part of me was yours
Black eyes tell me all I need to know.

If there ever was a place
So stilled by the moment as this one
That it made you remember
How silent silent really is
Open all your senses to the paused moment
And unblock the wall to the landscape
A day when what's in front of you

Doesn't feel real

You know the crow that follows you
The one you see through your window
The one that passes by during the night
And you know that I saw that crow
Many years ago with you
That crow that you pretend is not there
when you wander outside
Down that Twisted lane
You will eventually come across
That crow
realize one day facing it is inevitable

I stood there, waiting
The stale air filled my nose
Will it ever flow freely again,
escape this room.
The feeling of eternity
wash through my body
In that moment the darkness wraps its arms
around me
Engulf me into nothingness
I thought I was gone
Left with only distant memories
that find their way back.

To say what happened is impossible.
But in that moment of nothing
I became awakened as if
My eyes were finally adjusted to the night.

Melting Layer

I wish for the ice to fill the puddles
before walking onto the fragile layer.

Soon I am stepping slowly towards the frozen slate
wondering about what's below,
Searching for glitches, Underneath,
I feel the crunching ice run up my leg.
Tonight I will stay on its melting layer.

But for now I try to stay above what
this layer must be holding back,
the palms of my hands scraping as I grasp the surface.

Original poem

Billy Collins

Walking Across the Atlantic

I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach

before stepping onto the first wave.

Soon I am walking across the Atlantic

Thinking about Spain,

checking for whales, waterspouts.

I feel the water holding up my shifting weight.

Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.

But for now I try to Imagine what

this must look like to the fish below,

The bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.

Sinking Boats

Like ridding elephants in swamp lands
To slow and they sink
Towards a sea of upside down boats
And shores littered by alligators
Run towards daytime
Twisted attractions help to obscure reality
Uprooted trees twist into the night
Their roots reach for the sky
Colors drip from the rivers
And trickle into the earth
Absorb towards the boiling point
As it building up into explosive emotion
It settles as dawn awakens us

Walk Listen Leave

Leave with envy
Walk with pride
Who you are you cannot change
Scream to check your alive
Whisper to gain attention
Listen with your eyes
Understand with smell
Run towards your problems
Fall towards your death
Trip into reality
Fight into your heart
Wonder towards the edge
Give what you cannot
Help people without words

Sometimes

The street talks to me sometimes
He complains about the weight of the buildings
The way they make him stay in form
He does not like the way cars use him
Unable to speak back
Sighing under the feet of people
But the street can not move
Without the shift of buildings
He feels the weight that keeps
The street still
He says he smells the food
That he can not have
He hears the children play
But can not join
And sometimes he tells me
He wishes he were a building
Just for the air

Whisper

Harsh hush of lips
The flicker of tongue
A quiet message being passed
It brings the secret to the world
Eyes darting across the room
An intimate message shared
The lips carry
Process and repeat
The whisper grows stronger
Move faster through the crowd
Growing louder
Louder until it deafens
Grasping the voice as it echoes
Screaming to escape the silence
Soon the voices hush
Quiet into the distance
Dancing away as fast as it arrives

Cubist Poem

Down around down
Here we go again
Around around around
In circles

Twists of lemon
Life of dirt
Bring me down
Towards the shore

Spin spin spin
And leave me
To go towards
The ocean

Image and Poem

Dirt crawls across the floor

Windows waiting to be cleaned

The dishes grow old

The house groans

The creaks catch your attention

Heat escapes through the cracks

Water sits still

The house speaks

Your head turns towards the noise

Doors left open in the wind

The roof peals back

Can we still go in?

Photography by: Elke Talbot