Final project; poems (6)

1.The Rain Shattered Cathedral Walls.

The rain shattered cathedral walls,
Stained glass breaking into every hall,
And the rain, woke truths from the tomb---
purged white lies, from the fountain of youth.
The Choir sang, as the fire fled to the altar,
The riots screaming---
---Breaking down what were actions that had faltered.
And the old man was consumed in the flames,
as they burnt away the life’s they had refused to claim.
The rain kept adult eyes dry and dull---
---But the little one fell out the cradle that had rocked
And after the fire woke a girl in the remains
Lay in the meadow, staring across the wide green plane
She woke up,
rubbed indigo tears from her eyes,
then turned her back on all the Sunday morning lies.





2. A Day in the City.

The sun felt good,
So looked over the shoulder
She bathed in the fountain
Down by the parade {a celebration of our colors,}
The babies cried, and laughed
The madam, purple turban and ears
Told fortunes
Collecting believers
The students, kissed,
And read anthologies
Stood and screamed their thoughtless honesties.

The girl in the café wore her permanent smile, berry, and honey straw
And it felt good when she smiled
---back through the glass at her.
They sipped in silence, they both missed momma.

They came down the crosswalk, golden and brown
But walked in silence,
Straight through the crowd, {they held their silent vigil}
---But the girl in leathers stood and stared …
They weren’t hot coals like her.
They just walked, they walked hand in hand
And slowly into every bind mans heart.

But the girl in the leathers screamed out her frustration,
And through the window the poet cried for every possible reason.
And in the alley the junkie shot up,
Because [was he] he was nothing but a f--- up
And the family man, didn’t tell no one
When he got the gun
And then, just like that, made himself gone.



3. The convenient time.

She’s sleeping through the riot
Ambian induced narcissism makes for happy dreams

He changes the channel, to the station that makes him feel safe
And he is numb, tuned in so he can tune out

She’s fixing the window, because the rains getting in
And its making her wet
And she’s starting to remember
All the things she made herself forget
And ignore, now livings is a chore
And he’s closing the door
Cause the wind reminds him of all the faces,
[But it’s closed now so everyone is in their places…]
He turned around and closed his eyes
And it’s no surprise, that he can’t feel the fire anymore
[It burned him}
And he never got to cry
He just hid his tiered eyes.

And I’m crying now because I don’t want to see anymore.
I too, wanna shut my door
Close my eyes, my mind and my heart
But theirs a wind blowing, and I think I can see,
The possibility of finding
Another [out there] an insomniac-
Like me.



4. If I had a camera I could show you.

Blood In the street, street sweepers, just trying to sleep.
Little children, in hives they lie,
Swollen bellies, just trying to stay alive.
In the mountain ripe blue they eat,
flies coming by, rising and swelling, in a fit of goodbye
In the broken night she spoke,
Fleeting lives,
And there’s nowhere to hide,
And in the back of throat, the words we forgot to spoke.

We see through tainted glass
Cause people taking the pictures are just looking for a quick pass,
There on a nowhere mission, cause they don’t know what it’s like
[we’re all just fighting for our life.]
But still, those children are up every morning
[Rising to days, without promise of again],
And still somehow they see the sunrise
And find peace in the red earth, and the clear blue, never changing skies.



5. I took a train.

I took a train
To a place I saw in a dream
The one I thought you’d remember,
And isn’t it funny how everything stays the same
But you can’t tell because you don’t remember
[ forgetting is fun till you forgot what you once remembered.]
I waited a the train, to see if you would meet me,
But I forgot that I was just something that I couldn’t quite remember.
And so I stole away to the shore,
To the place I saw you face once before
But now I think I can remember…

It was 1962, when you left out of what seemed like the clear blue,
And died,
Fighting for what turned out to be a lie
But I still take the train to the place we met
So I can remind myself to never forget.




6. One Happy Sumer.

You taste of berries, and honeydew
The smell of sun and salt and air too
We bathed to together in the Mexico moonlight
Were we can lie together all night [?]
Finding patterns in the way we fight, trace and travel
Finding rhythms of the morning, ---
as day and night unravel.
Its been told---
The story that will unfold---
The one where you leave after the summer---
But I think that maybe that’s okay----
Cause most people don’t even get that---
One happy summer.

Final Quarter Work (Not Including Project): Battle Piece # 3

Battle day

In the sticky summer heat
Swelter riots- refuse defeat,
Stomp-, and cry, in the florescent lights a lie,
But I don’t remember, last night I cried.
And tomorrow?
Will I once again meet my sorrow?
When I close my eyes, will I sea it’s all a lie
{And remember}, the day before last
When I cried for the time past
When I was hung out to dry
But for today, I stomp, I cry
Today the colors are one, and maybe well bleed, well bleed into one.

Final Quarter Work (Not Including Project): Battle piece # 2

Wacky Day

It’s funny to see, on Wacky day-
all the kids in there “wacky” cloths, still trying to look cool.
It’s funny because there shunned if they don’t have the “right” kind on wacky gear.
They get dressed in the morning-
Like every morning
Full of superficial fears.
And there’s a girl who cries-{in the bathroom stall}
There’s always one-
Cause no one told her how to be “acceptably wacky.”
How to wear the right kid of wacky gear.

Final Quarter Work (Not Including Project): Battle Piece #1

Pajama Day

“Hey Anne”
“Hey”
“Nice pajamas”
“Thanks”
“I like Elmo too”
“It’s not Elmo, its Clifford”
“Oh….”
“YEAH ILL SEE YA LATER, WELL TALKE MORE ABOUT CATS”


“Hey Brad”
“Hey”
“Nice pajamas”
“Ummm….thanks”
“Yeah, I really like it when guys sleep in Wife Beaters, I think it looks rugged”
“…..”
“….”
“Oh…okay….ill, yeah ill see ya around.”
“YEAH OKAY, MAN, ILL DEFINATLY CATCH YOU LATER.”


“Hey Samantha”
“Hey”
“Nice pajamas”
“Thanks…they’re my cousins”
“Oh…huh...okay, yeah I’m cool with that you know, if that’s what you, like, into”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, like its cool, I think, if you like love him or something.”
“What are you talking about, I bought these for his birthday … but he never got them cause he died….”
“Oh…uhhh…sorry”
“I hate you”
“YEAH ILL SEE YOU LATER, WELL TALK MORE ABOUT INCEST”


“Hey Dave”
“Hey”
“Nice pajamas”
“Thanks”
“Are they as fuzzy on the inside, as they look on the outside”
“ummm…I…yeah I guess”
“Oh, cause I once had a pair of fuzzy pajamas, and I think they gave like a rash or something.”
“Oh”
“You know like a rash below, the equator, if you know what I mean”
“Yeah okay, that’s…ewww, yeah I gotta go”
“YEAH MAN ILL, CATCH YOU LATER, WELL TALK ABOUT GUY THINGS…LIKE RASHES”


“Hey Brittney”
“Hey”
“Nice pajamas”
“Thanks”
“Do you really sleep in those?”
“Ummmm…yeah”
“Oh...yeah I always pictured you sleeping in something different.”
“Uhh… what did you picture me sleeping in”
“Oh, like, I don’t know, the ones I had in mind, were shorter, and like had more lace, and were like see through”
“EWWW get away perv”
“OH, OKAY YEAH ILL SEE YOU LATER, WELL TALK MORE ABOUT YOUR UNDERWEAR.”


“Hey Jim”
“Hey”
“Nice pajamas”
“Thanks”
“Hey are you cold”
“umm, yeah a little “
“Oh”
“uh, how did you knoew that?”
“oh I could see your nipples through your shirt”
“…..”
“….”
“Freak”
“YEAH, OKAY ILL SEE YOU LATER WELL TALK MORE ABOUT OUR NIPS.”


“Hey Principal Smith”
“Hey”
“Nice pajamas”
“Thanks”
“Yeah I think night gowns are a good idea”
“…why are night gowns a good idea”
“You know…easy access”
“Andy, I am shocked, that is completely inappropriate, if anyone heard that do you know what they’d think? I could get fired!”“YEAH, OKAY, ILL CATCHYOU LATER….WELL TALK MORE ABOUT STATITORY RAPE.”

Final Quarter Work (Not Including Project): Other Poem # 2

The truth about midnight. {12:00}

Harsh lines, rough tides, poetic slaps, fading into memories, of colors bleeding and still.
In the night, and within the absence of life, sleeping alone, in the life pre-owned.
In the lone, and on our own, she calls the line to find it dead, ten years since
Cigarette butts, and a pill too many, washes salt from the oceans, and tears cannot find tracks.

Judgments fulfilled, with memories obligated, calls to the grave, and telling lost lullabies
No more than she said, was goodbye.
And at the end of the river, were stories not told
lives gone before yet to unfold
and somewhere in the tide and the papers scattered with harsh lines and woman looked
To see stars falling from across her balcony,
and was reminded.



The truth about daybreak. {12:01}

Rage is pure and love manufactured so sad was they day that came before the day after
Anger lies cause dreams are forbidden
this overlooked tide and with whom can we confide, the dreams we left behind, ten years since.
In the chaos lies out of corporate body out of my mind.
Dial tones blinking red enemies
And the little one finds it hard to say goodbye
To her dreams, and everything’s obscene and why are our life’s so---clean

Tears with color staining the truth, but its all lies anyway.
And trees-two-by-two with deep twisting roots, have split up the seems of ---
What is going on today {families are splitting up but its okay}
And what is reminded from yesterday and why is the earth invisible and why are we so convincible. Is it okay, if I say, that I’m afraid
And in tomorrow, if we could see through our own sorrow we could find hope in the tears that shed themselves onto the oncoming breeze.
And will be reminded.

Final Quarter Work (Not Including Project): Other Poem # 1

I: Days that fall like wandering Stars.

your ashes are falling from the sky They’re periwinkle stardust, feathers
your face is growing and grime.
a big red balloon,
a duck in a pond, {sleep restless angel}
my tears are the pond
who is the duck?
my dress is moving
it’s too tight,
it’s not tight enough.
Your calling
I’m deaf I’m listening I can’t hear you I don’t want to listen.
The rain is staining my dress
your fears, because I’m too afraid to call them mine.
they’re ruining my life
they’re ruining this, our, mine and yours Paradise
---You don’t believe me
Well I don’t care
That’s a lie.
Your not reaching But It’s me right?
Why Why Why
your so tiny,
i’m smaller.
Your too big
I’m Taller,

II: Amber bath
And I’m alone again
Floating-
But this time still it’s all so new
Murky,
I float and swim in molasses,
the color of oysters, and of your eyes
I taste
it tastes of tears but they’re not mine
It smells. Amber and bonfire,
I am spinning, too fast but I like the numbness in my head It’s liberating
So why am I so terrified…

III: Where am I?
Still in the pond I float lazy legged and spinning out of control
I am muting.
The colors are turning pastels, lilies in the famous pond he painted for me
And I am vanished, somewhere,
I lost the colors and now, I am gone
I’m so scared, because I’m looking at the painting on the wall, and I can’t find my face,
Where did you go?
And I look down, and whose clothes are these? and how do they all of a sudden match,
My shoes are on the wrong feet and I can’t walk very far without falling,

I can’t breath
Who is holding me?
Trying for my safety, but my head is humming
I want to cry out but can no longer scream,
And it hurts, so bad,
This silent riot
This silent protest in my head
And now that I am with all The You’s…. don’t worry, be happy they sung
Oh G-d, I’m so alone, this wasteland where I can’t be herd.
Where know ones listening
I am cut throat, clawing, a dying in this gallery everyone looks but no one sees
and then the sounds,---they go too,
And all I see is you.
The endless parade
The endless charade of you’s
And I can no longer hear the things not said…

IV: No name

And then comes a boy, red freked, and twisted into himself
he doesn’t talk either, he is forgotten, he is no name
and I don’t think he hears,
but I think maybe, he can see…
Me?
Does he know? His eyes tortured water, drip of pain and warning,
Don’t resist Role over, play dead.
And I cry, because, that’s all I can do
Wail, Why?
I was so perfectly breakable
Why did you bring me here, to this wasteland of thought control?
Were there’s no pond
Or duck
And nothing tastes of tears…

And he wants me to stop, but I can’t help This time their mine.
And now I’m done for, because I see them coming
White coats, and stolen Halos, they come
She
She can’t be trusted,
Little girl, why can’t you just be satisfied?
And a NO finally breaks free---
from a place behind, that I did not know existed.
People staring and pointing
Some people, asleep on the floor in happy dreams stir,
And the no name has induced paralysis just looked but not of mind
I told you, restless one, you should have played dead,
now you’re gone,
they’ll take it all away now, and when you wake you won’t be the same, girl.
Then they came for me.

V: A darkness called bliss

The last thing I saw was you.
Your ashes were falling from the sky
And they were periwinkle.


Ashley Siflinger

Final Quarter Work (not Including Project): Sonnet

Look upon this mirror and tell what you see
Look into the stars and ask, still believe?
Look around and see, and who should I be
Turn on T.V, wonder who to believe
Turn off, cause its all lies anyway, and
Tears fall, come from places that have dissolved
Because we fade into the nights that brand-
-command us, sustain us, over and solved
We cannot see through the thick and the haze
It clouds in before it’s too much too late.
She turns the corner, and is lost in maze
Us humans, is this it? Is this our fate?
Maybe it’s ordinary, but ill wait…
I think ill wait one more time at the gate