John-Ward Leighton

STRANGE PLACES

Photo ©Copyright 2007 by John-Ward LeightonIt’s a strange place
in this dream called life
and you wonder if you will ever wake up.
When you wake up, how old
will you be?
If you’ve died and gone
to heaven
do you start all over again?
Sort of – do it
until you get it right.
If you go to hell are you stuck
at where you ended
and that’s the hell of it?
I’m swimming in a pool of song
so what could go wrong
with today.
Will there be more bad news
from far away
or will the trouble be more immediate?
Something that happens
because you are an idiot
and only notice after it has
all gone wrong
and you’ve taken the bait.
Somewhere where
you are a buck short
and a half hour late.
Somewhere where you run out of words
or the only ones that are left
are turds.
Something that stinks up the page
something about an impotent rage
she was available and ready
but you couldn’t get it up
she didn’t take kindly to the insult
and pleased herself
and left your dumb ass
high upon the shelf.
Feeling foolish is a way of life
wondering how you got into
all this strife.
Your life is in the toilet now
you’re merely waiting for the flush.
Friends proceed you to the grave
with silly looks of surprise
they were younger
this is not the way it’s supposed to be
they are gone and you sit
coffee in hand wondering where
and why they went.
I can call up the faces
in the most unusual places.
I can hear their voices as they talk,
unaware that the only sight and sound
is in my mind.
My crib is cold
and before the dawn is at its darkest
I warm my hands on my coffee cup
and conjure up old lovers and friends
they dance behind my eyes
and love me for who I am.
I am my own story
visual and sound track included
and my poems swim away from me
to other lives in other minds.
I sing in cracked tenor
and beat my feet
in time.
There is only me and the people
behind my eyes
and the music in the machine
as my fingers tap out the words.
This, my verse, my faint insanity,
known only to me:
all those beautiful bodies
and faces
hidden from view
in
strange places.