original poetry – Page 109 – The Daily Writing of Jackie Wright

Tampered Heart

Two-faced wolves in my best friend’s clothing.

I look through my pockets so I could stop choking.

Would a tithing help me make it through this round?

These predators are quiet and their silence makes a sound.

The morning is approaching with its hefty promise –

I run to the west, I rush towards the congress.

Here the sun raises later and betrayal never stings.

The wolves choke on rivals while others plead to kings.

Wire-Eyes zooming in as I fall down on my knees.

He’s been waiting for a chance to politely cease

The suffering this city pours onto tampered hearts,

And I’m his favorite because I never play it smart.

Disheartened I crawl in a corner, sit on the icy floor.

My best friends come rushing through the locked door.

Just two-faced wolves in my best friend’s clothing.

I look through my pockets so I could stop choking.

-JW

Sometimes I forget I’m not alone in this fight

And those voices can still tell wrong from right.

I cry myself to sleep when I remember how far

I could run without stones tearing my shoes apart.

But it’s midnight and everyone’s sound asleep.

I guess those demons are mine to keep

And wrangle by suiting their every need.

If I do, my safety’s not guaranteed.

But I look through the window.

I push away greed.

-JW

This is not a sunny city, all the light is sold on dark corners.

Too far for me to reach, too dangerous for my own mourners.

I’ve been too unwell to ask someone to buy that spark for me.

It’s not unfair to say that everybody here is unstable or sorry.

Stuck in my four walls, tearing apart every shelf to find it –

What if I stacked up on bulbs when I still had some fine wit?

The Wire-eyes on the radio keeps screaming out my oldest fears.

I pinch my forearm purple to dull the need to volunteer.

In the mirror room I notice how my scleras are now the reddest.

The radio station switches its ring to a plethora of menace.

They sentence me to another year of unrest.

“You can’t wrest guns away from someone under

Their own mind’s duress.”

-JW