I stood on the edge of an epiphany,
Trying to choose between a peace of mind
And my own serenity.
But I swore to give it all for my kind,
Swore to swallow the burning jealousy.
I swung my foot over the emptiness.
You told me to hold back.
No, I do not sell my selfishness.
You do not own whatever I lack.
Meet me at the end of this precipice
So we can fall towards the soothing black.
-JW
The night covers my honesty in dim lies.
It is just you and me beneath late October sky.
The moon drips silver in your empty cup.
I reach for the light, but I am out of luck.
And you dance through the grey branches,
Shuffling the particles into avalanches.
It is a perfect storm with us in the middle.
I try to entangle the story
But each part is a new riddle.
-JW
Excuse me as I become a bad example.
They tried to fit me into a mold,
They tried to make me into a sample.
But I questioned everything I was told,
And for that I was called sinister.
The status quo laughed at me,
Tried to heal me with their best ministers.
They turned my name into a legacy.
Accidentally, completely unprovoked
I became the very thing
Most were told to behold.
My weakness became their king.
-JW
My tongue is a tightrope,
It twists when I command it.
My tongue is a rude joke
When words get too stranded.
The teeth serve as a trigger
When other defenses fail.
They leave marks and figures,
Shoot coffins into nails.
And my lips glisten in red,
They quiver when you whisper.
My lips speak with the dead
And make the third sin my sister.
-JW
Take me to through the fields of silver
Where all fates float like rivers.
Take me down the steepest hills
Where they hide away our wills.
Let me risk it, let me be saved
When I take the road less paved.
Let me stand up and let me fall
When my ego grows ten feet tall.
Run me over if I disobey you,
Pull me apart unless I pay you.
Run me like a show, bright and loud.
Call me from the dark to kill the crowd.
-JW
My skin is taking your form.
It adjusts to every edge.
The vessels are blue and scorned,
Feet hanging over the ledge.
What did I expect, truly?
Your words launch like rockets.
And your tongue is unruly,
Asking me to empty the pockets.
But you never seem to mind
When I put my life on the line.
You curse out my breed and kind,
Rotting everything that is ripe.
(Still, I tell them it is fine.)
-JW
The lights on the ninth floor are trembling tonight.
I know you are waiting,
Building your appetite.
The hair on my back stand up when you whisper.
Your breath fogs up the windows,
And my vision grows crisper.
The left foot is moving, the right one stays still.
I know I am late,
But you have time to kill.
The candles on the ninth floor leak wax tonight.
My chest lifts the elevator
As I hold myself tight.
The door is about to open and show me your face.
I know you keep waiting
For me to find my pace.
The darkness from your eyes engulfs my senses.
I walk beneath the stars
And drop the defenses.
-JW
“I will grow into my name.”
The courage builds up in my chest,
It does not respond to shame.
Leave the selfless thoughts with all the rest.
I will grow into my name
As it rings across these silent waters
With no one to take the blame
Except all the disgraceful fathers.
I will grow into my name,
Make it mine, with no exceptions.
Let me taste the limelight and the fame,
Let me shatter in seven directions.
-JW
Come in, don’t you hesitate, push over the papers.
The room hasn’t changed since they moved in this April.
Her laptop’s slowly drowning in a red pool.
The dead plants break their necks, dissolving all proof.
Ignore the putrid smell, the windows won’t open.
He nailed them shut as he trapped her like a rodent.
The carpet’s still bruised from the many stab wounds,
And the walls bleed crimson, ready to be in the news.
Come in, don’t hesitate, step over her remains.
It’s been a few months but no one’s noticed a change.
She will slowly rot away until late September.
No one will remember ‘til they hear she’s been dismembered.
And the mail will pile up as the seasons keep changing,
The excuses in their minds will stop rearranging.
So they’ll have to come in and face the truth –
She was always right when she called him a brute.
-JW
The carousel ride never ends.
We spin with the Gravitron,
Spilling glitter on our intents.
And they call us graceless,
They stomp on the lights.
The kaleidoscope covers us
As hungry fire ignites.
Once the sparklers cover the sky,
I hold your hand tightly,
Knowing this is the very last time
These memories will find me…
But our carnival never ends,
Even if it kills us nightly.
-JW
The Daily Writing of Jackie Wright 