Feeding On Emotion

Photo by Rabia

My flesh is used to feeding on emotion that is not mine.

Every morning I replay a gruesome pantomime

Trying to make myself feel any love for who I was,

And every morning my spite puts on fresh rubber gloves.

There is no point in trying to stitch together my skin.

As soon as I heat up the needle, my soul turns paper thin.

I do not know how to move on or how to get better,

But I am certain that I cannot fix this curse with a letter.

Between therapists and nurses, and those who stayed,

I try to find just one person whose debts have been paid.

The more I look, the more I slip away from this reality,

But in these sweet moments I forget my own mortality.

So, my flesh keeps feeding on hurt that was never mine,

My brain keeps treating this avoidance like a damn crime.

Every night I howl at the moon until my voice breaks.

I have to make it to the morning, whatever it takes.

-Jackie

A Corner Of My Skull

Photo by Erik Mclean

I am sitting alone in a distant corner of my skull,

Waiting for my brain to collapse like a great empire.

My market value is crashing, nearing a round null.

Is this truly that much better than the worst hellfire?

I have been living clean, and the purity blinds me.

The creatures in my chest will break my ribs soon.

Why does keeping myself intact feel this mighty?

One wrong move, and I will blow up the moon.

Watch me ruin the mood with my constant sulking.

I know you all get tired of my dark fantasies.

Still, my shoulders are headless, they need a new king,

And what’s left of my brain despises modesty.

There is meaning lost in every line that I write,

But I do not hope that someone really seeks it.

I sit and observe as my brain is consumed by light,

Secretly wishing that the darkness beats it.

-Jackie

But Not Before Midnight

Photo by Marcelo Chagas

Let me walk the path covered in gilded leaves,

Let me go, but not before midnight.

We can live the dream if we count to three,

And if we miss, we still have this joyride.

I gently pull my head out of the clouds,

Trying to shake off the morning mist.

My quiet thoughts arrive unannounced,

And I try, but I cannot resist.

Let me walk the empty road alone this time,

Let me go, but not before midnight.

We can shoot for the moon for less than a dime,

And if we miss, you will have your whole life.

Do not worry about me, leave it behind.

I am a scratched record ready to be burned.

Go on and pass greetings to your own kind.

Tell them that I never learned.

-Jackie

Clowning

Photo by lilartsy

I wish people knew how to pronounce my name,

But I suspect they won’t learn until it’s written on a grave.

My sense of humor tickles their throats with feathers.

They’ll never admit it, and I’ll never know any better.

My grey matter turns into sequins when I dance.

I think I’ve missed a dozen shots at a real romance.

All I know is how to spend cash on quick satisfactions.

I don’t remember my last real human interaction.

The green in my wallet still can’t buy me respect,

And people on the screens ask – what did you expect?

I wish I was a real clown so I could run this circus,

But I guess they’ll strangle me before I find my purpose.

-Jackie

21st Century Exorcism

Photo by Erik Mclean

The dust of my hometown is locked in my bones,

That place cries for my skeleton, tells me I’m alone.

I’ve been trying to see straight, but the world is a prism.

Welcome twenty first century exorcism.

The shadows keep looking over both of my shoulders.

I trust when they say that my past smolders.

These days simply breathing feel like a punishment.

My status is stained, but I just keep on polishing.

God talks to me, saying he will exercise my demons,

But those bastards will give him the Olympic treatment.

They’ll run miles around him until he is imprisoned.

Welcome twenty first century exorcism.

-Jackie

Consequences

Photo by Engin Akyurt

Screens sucked me in with their lustful loves,

And I tried to move my restless feet to the beat.

The crowd had torn up the first three rows,

So, I hoped someone sweet would save me a seat.

My brain played nice for the first two tries,

It observed the overplayed tropes with hope.

Others described these brand-new highs,

But I was losing rope on a downward slope.

The screens became brighter as I lost color.

My wings never grew, I could not feel a thing.

I was dancing on my tiptoes from lover to lover,

Looking for anything, even a sting.

But I was loved without any consequences.

The words deceived me, and they lost all meaning.

Soon enough I grew tired of climbing red fences,

And I knew that my consciousness was teething.

-Jackie

Until Proven Guilty

Photo by Ash Cork

I was reaching for the green doorknob, ready to walk away,

But your sorry eyes fooled me, and my friends begged me to stay.

Almost one year has passed, and I am not sure who to blame.

Is it you and your reasons, is it my friends and their shame?

Maybe my chilly glares gave you ideas you could not resist,

Maybe I could have pushed you away if I tried with my fist.

Somewhere deep under my skin is a note addressed to you,

And it lets you off the hook because there is nothing to prove.

-Jackie

God Complex

Photo by Tianwang Xiao

I sing to the ceiling as you whisper my surname,

Insisting that we were better off playing your games.

You swear to god but your words are way too heavy,

They fall down to hell, the very place that you met me.

You tell me all about my shortcomings and messes,

But I sing to the ceiling in my turquoise sundress.

I watch as you throw out my clothes and my candles.

That is what you do now, leave lives in shambles.

Still, it is always me who causes these scenes.

Love is never good enough unless it rots and bleeds.

I wait until you sit down to throw me mean glances.

Baby, your god complex will have consequences.

-Jackie

The Road Not Taken

Photo by Madison Inouye

We exchange phony prizes in the cheapest hotels,

Toasting each other for not doing well.

We spill prosecco on sticky diner tables

And curse out the friends whose paths are more stable.

Our skulls house delusions greater than Gatsby’s.

We stopped reading books and grew into patsies.

I look back and wonder – how did we get lost?

Did we pass the line we should not have crossed?

Still, as long as I am not alone in this roaring blunder,

My pettiness and I, we cannot be torn asunder.

What I lose for love, I lose without hesitation.

Me and you, we do not need their sparkly validation.

-Jackie

There Was

Photo by Tyler Wang

There was once only darkness,

There was once only light.

I lost my innocence in you,

You destroyed my might.

We played it like a movie,

You held me like a charm.

I never saw what hit me,

I only felt the spark.

There was once only music,

There was once only silence.

We are two trapped birds,

Dying in our silos.

My ears ruined our illusion,

Your eyes ruined me.

Years drowned me in confusion,

And I lost our melody.

-Jackie