Tag: series

In The Getaway Car: Part II

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by S Migaj from Pexels

I navigate between empty lanes, absorbing the adrenaline.

Every noise is a threat, every crooked sign lies.

All the smiles of passersby deceive with their benevolence.

The scarlet car roars as I rush through the deserted mountains.

But the evening sun rises, it drains my guilty eyes,

They leak like long abandoned fountains.

The inky mascara mixes with my miserable pity and it burns.

No strength left to escape, no energy to stop the cries.

My stomach and eyelids convulse, each taking turns.

A gentle light in the distance pulls me out of the panic.

It shakes and it dances, mimicking the stars in the night sky.

And my limbs move, they’re almost mechanic.

This might be the limbo – but I’ll take anything a little less tragic.

As I pull over, the door of a mahogany house nearby swings open.

She smirks, lips playfully parted.

My downfall, my last omen.

“It’s been a while since I’ve messed with magic,

But, love, I’ve never seen a soul more disheartened.”

I collapse by the entrance, all goes black, then turns blue again.

Yet, I manage a grin,

Knowing that I’ve found a fellow sinner in a friend.

-JW

A Lone Bar

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels

The neon shines in distorted agony

As I exhaustedly enter a lone bar,

Right by the dusty road of vanity,

Over the state lines – but not too far.

They smell my boiling blood,

I know it a bit too well.

My car’s covered in rusty mud –

And if that’s not a telltale…

The whiskey neat I ordered

Tastes just like yesterday’s regret.

I’m a scumbag, I’m a hoarder

Of the terrors they’ll never forget.

They won’t let go of it either –

No matter what excuses I bring to the table.

The blades they carry have one desire –

To slay me like Cain slayed Able.

The dirt on my snow white fingers

Screams that I’m no angel.

The sins choke and they linger,

But don’t be scared, handsome stranger.

Are you the one to take me away,

Are you the one to follow?

In some places I might be the prey,

Here I might be your gallows.

***

I sneak out as the sunrise comes knocking

Like a gunshot in the distance.

I throw away my ripped stockings

And get back on the road to seek assistance.

-JW

Velvet Casket

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

You slapped a tax on our love

And sold them the copyrights,

Wrote off my voice as I was watching front row.

You erased all the fights,

Renamed them after your pride.

Just another scalpel you hide

While I peel off my own skin at night.

And you tried convincing me that I couldn’t have it any better

As they unpacked the cameras

Along with the heads they had severed.

They scream, they leak red,

And you call it amorous.

But I learned long ago that each bruise on my ribs is a blessing

Dressed as a velvet casket.

You taste like venom mixed into the salad dressing.

You don’t even mask it,

Just smirk and start confessing.

And you sign off on our love with mahogany ink,

Giving away my name to the gloom,

Letting me sink, sink, sink…

Until I give up my right to bloom.

But don’t worry, dear,

I’ll be back by the next Blood Moon.

-JW

The Thirst

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by fotografierende from Pexels

My face grows paler each coming day –

But the bright crimson on my lips remains.

And the bite marks bloom like spring flowers

As you leave me alone in the dark for hours.

No, I do not mind it, leave as you please,

Lock me in your tower ‘til the next Christmas eve.

My skin will grow snowy, my muscles – weak.

My voice will forget which words I can speak.

But the bright crimson on my lips will stay,

Hiding from sunrises and their audacious ways.

And you will come home to see me once more,

Hopeless and fearful, still lacking a cure.

The memories will lose their charming taste,

You will think of death when seeing my face.

But the blood will not stain

As long as you stay.

As long as you carry the thirst too,

You will bow before my pain.

-JW

Scarlet Smoke

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by VAZHNIK from Pexels

Your guilt trips over my thighs,

It covers you in modesty.

You cannot avert your eyes,

I cannot promise you honesty.

The red plays with my hair,

It curls it like summer heat.

With each moment we share

You clung tighter to your seat.

The guilt wraps your elbows

And ties them together.

I pluck petals from a white rose,

I mix them with feathers.

Your knees get trapped too

As you admire the scents.

My lips stain like a tattoo

And they burn like pure hell.

The guilt serves as your necktie

But you do not seek freedom.

Your instincts stay on standby.

Yet – you have no plans to free them.

The scarlet smoke surrounds us,

Your lungs struggle to breathe.

Your screams sound boundless

As your pupils drift off to sleep.

-JW

Red Eyes

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by Inga Seliverstova from Pexels

Raindrops dance on my window,

It’s been a while since the heaven wept.

I sink in memories until I’m numb,

I can’t recall the last time I slept.

My mind counts the first morning birds,

It follows each voice I hear nearby.

The bed holds me tight like a hearse,

And life plays as my final lullaby.

They don’t seem to notice the red

Although it’s leaking from my eyes.

I survive on plain water and bread,

The previous night fades into lies.

But the thought of darkness traps me,

The evening terrifies me to death.

If I don’t open my lids, just slap me,

Let me cry until I lose my breath.

Don’t let me sleep, don’t let it slip,

Let me hold onto the red a little longer.

Raindrops knock on my windowsill

And I know that I’m a goner.

-JW

So Long

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by Darwis Alwan from Pexels

It took some time to pull myself out of the deep end.

They told me, “Go swim with the sharks,

But don’t make them your friends.”

So when I got scared of the dark,

I never killed the lights to please them.

It took some time to pull myself out of the deep end.

Years passed me by but the water stayed in my lungs.

Some blamed my red temper,

Some called me too goddamn young.

They failed me as mentors,

Yet, somehow, the culprit’s my tongue.

Years passed me by but the water stayed in my lungs.

I let my senses lead me until I ended up where I belong.

They sent dogs after my scent

But always seemed to get it wrong.

The trail ran cold wherever they went

Until they whispered, “So long.”

I let my senses lead me until I ended up where I belong.

-JW

Last Day In Hell

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by Zachary DeBottis from Pexels

Hopefully, you’re aware of why I’m writing this down –

You must’ve heard by now why I left the town

And sold your paper crown for pennies to your rivals.

I’ve almost left a dozen times but this time it feels final.

Take your plastic jewellery, don’t engrave it with “sorry”s.

You asked me to take this to my grave

But I tattooed all the ghost stories on my sleeve.

My skin burns in red neon when I sleep.

I wonder if you noticed as I burned out for you on display.

Now I can only pray that you remember this day

As I shoot by the state lines without saying farewell.

Six months ago I almost buried my pen

But this is my last day in hell.

Take care of those who outlive my patience.

Hope they find the spite to outrun your basements

And the tinted shadows you cast that can’t be washed away.

It’s your dark abyss now,

Don’t get too high on the power you dismay.

-JW

The Flowers

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by Skylar Kang from Pexels

I plant dead flowers, they’re the only friends I keep.

Plastic roses laugh at me while I struggle to sleep.

My nightmares revolve around the land you created,

Completely controlled, with all my demons animated.

There’s no distinction between your time and mine,

All the minutes spent worrying, reading between the lines.

A car almost ran me over on my way back to you.

The only thing I thought of was your grin turning blue

As the news broke of me being another statistic.

You probably would solve it well, approach it all holistic,

And you would’ve replaced me a week after the tragedy.

The fact that you had to wait at all was a travesty.

I know I should hate the thought of my profitability

But my own head is lacking the basic civility –

So I bend for every wind or fire you put me through.

The reality calls me but you hide all its clues.

And I water dead flowers, that’s all I’ve ever known.

You sought out my vulnerabilities and took out a loan

Against the life that I’ve lead, everything that it’s worth –

Promised to pay the highest bidder, sold me to The North.

Despite my best judgement, I grew awfully meek.

You confused my tiredness with a character that’s weak.

One day I’ll sign off with a blood promise to never tell.

One day you’ll sign off on my last day in hell.

-JW

The Silver Glow

jackiewrightauthorLeave a comment
Photo by Zichuan Han from Pexels

Let it go to voicemail, just let me go home.

I will break at the next ring of a telephone.

But you’re keen to get it your way, I must admit –

Somehow your gaze feels worse than a hit.

The walls stare back and their silence reminds me

How I’m nothing without your claws behind me.

The rain plays with the backbone I once owned,

I lost it to your hexes, intoned and cold.

Now it sits by the window you refuse to unlock

And the phones keep ringing me out of luck.

“Am I trapped? Or am I just overreacting?”

My voice sounds brave but it’s clearly cracking.

And my judgement may be lacking, that I know,

But the only light I see is the silver glow

Coming from another screen that you gave me

As a weak attempt to finally “save me”.

But your hospitality still tastes hostile,

A wicked circle of control, then a white lie.

So let it go to voicemail, just let me go home.

I will break the next ringing telephone.

-JW