Synesthesia

-source-

It hits

Fast and overflowing

The vibrations

Continuous and intent

Intent on making me feel…

Feel more than the rhythmic temperamental burst

Invading more than my sense of hearing

More than just the harmonic combination

Of instruments and melody

Plastered with vocals

Smeared over each note

Tied to every chord

The underlining refusal to be categorized

To be quelled or silenced

It needs to be heard

Yearns to be released

Nomadic in its expression

The intensity in its keys

Longs to be free.

The euphoria stimulates the union of senses

I hear it…

I see it…

I taste it…

Olsfred James 2015©

Naima

Pain hits.
The force of what seemed like a thousand bricks connects with my face.
My head racks backward and for a brief moment drifting to the darkness seemed like the favorable choice. 
Just close my eyes and sink into unconsciousness.
The thick trickling blood tickles my nostril on its way out and triggers a need to sneeze.
I suppress it for fear of the strain the pain would cause.
This is one of many encounters but the first to make me cower.
Ripping me from dream, leaving me thinking what the...
My assailant is unthreatened by my presence
Impervious to an attempt at retaliation as she lays there
Deep in slumber

Mouth slightly ajar as these soft cat-like moans escape

Her hands and feet toss wildly until finally she settles
Possibly reenacting the excitement from her fun filled day

So innocent and clearly unaware of the injury she caused

So I swallow my embarrassment

Tuck her in once more with a kiss on her forehead.

“Sleep well princess”

As I proceed to do the same.

Olsfred James 2015©

Gossamer

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So should the sky fall tonight

I pray we’ll see the light

Somewhere at the end of a tunnel

Like a fire burning bright

I know we’ve missed our flight

But two wrongs don’t make it right

And every time we sit off in silence

I still wonder why we fight.

I still wonder what we’ve done

With all the heartless words we flung

While the only way we express how we care

Is to judge all we did wrong

When did the tune leave our song?

When did the air leave our lung?

When did the promises begin to mean nothing?

Or was it like this all along

I can’t recall; I can’t tell

My heart drowned as I fell

Over the edge of the rainbow

Now I’m surrounded by this hell

This hell of you

This hell of me

This was not meant to be

Consumed and surrendered to everything

Lost stars within the galaxy

If I could close my eyes; click my heels

From this dream I would be free

If I could remove the plank from my eye

The answers I could see

But who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

Addicted to more than we need feel

Unable to recognize the reality

Of the hands we sort to deal

But should the sky fall tonight

I pray we’ll see the light

Somewhere at the end of a tunnel

Like a fire burning bright.

Olsfred James 2015©

Insomniac

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I dare not sleep

For morning comes too swiftly

Dusk greets dawn when I am not looking

Time begins to move far too briskly

During my slumber they conspire

Thinking I am unaware

But I heard them

I swear it. I heard them

Their treachery was loud and clear.

I dare not sleep

Delaying the scheme to come

Forced to relive yesterday disguised as today

So overt it’s covert

But tomorrow is not fooling anyone

They’re surprisingly cunning

The best at their game

But something seems off

Yet everything is the same.

I dare not sleep

But the man in white says I should

I suspect he is in cahoots with the others

But the pills he gave me tasted so good

Now my energy seems an enemy

Why did I just yawn?

Maybe I could close my eyes

For a minute. Just a min…

Oh my goodness what have I done!

Olsfred James 2015©

Intonation

-source-

The voice of my pen

Is a tad bit soft

Sometimes unspoken

Not heard enough

It lives amongst the pages

Of words still unseen

From wandering eyes of persons

It choose to let in...

To this chamber

Accompanied by my mind     

Scared to reveal that last shred humanity

They would come to find

The voice of my pen

Is of warmth and of cold

Of times before time

Of the brave and the bold

Of kisses upon lips

We long to hold

Of a portraits definition

The crafty hands upon a sculptor's mold

So until that voice

Is no longer detained

By fear and inhibitions    

Amongst these pages it will forever remain.

Olsfred James 2015©

Feature - "Just I"

This featured piece is a personal favorite from an old friend who has finally decided to let pen touch paper once more.

Keep the creativity flowing Glo!

-source-

Just I
no one else.
I talk to the words on this paper
and they talk back to me
they don't leave me hanging
they don’t make me feel lonely
all I have is 'I'.
my source of comfort
makes me feel needed
makes me feel protected
I - loves me when no one
else makes the time
it gets lonely at times even
frustrating when you crave
communication and all you
have is I.
many a night spent crying
my thoughts alone with me
the silence is frightening
can anyone hear me?
I guess it’s just I.
I can't help but wonder
can I lose myself?
who would come looking?
who would notice I'm gone?
a nocturnal being
this world is my prison.
slit the wrist , cut the throat
end the pain, end the fear,
end the cold – I’m freezing.
lonely is just a word like life
but emotions...now those
are real...emotions stifled
because of circumstance
drives me crazy...  but who
gives a damn...only I...
I keep hearing myself
but no one gets it...breaks
my heart....have you ever
felt your heart break?  Feel
it drop like weight to your
toes… The pressure is building
with nowhere to go. Survival
isn’t just about living anymore
...fuzzy logic...flipped upside
down.....and all I have....The
only who feels it is I.

Gloreen Lake 2014©

Nothing

"What do you feel?"

-Emptiness

Yet, how do I relate a feeling so profound?

Like the morphine in my veins had made its way around

It started maybe 3 weeks ago,

I suppose in a way my body was preparing for what was to come next. 

Things that would normally provoke a physical reaction 

In its place there was now... 

"An emptiness inside?"

-Open

My system now numb

Begins to shut down 

I almost thought for a moment I was a sociopath

Like I finally lost it

Something was amiss

"Tried shaking it off?"

-Unshaken

How do I summarize that which can only be felt?

When, at the same time, 

It's like the first stone had no impact the moment they began to pelt

My skin it did welt

In this desolation I dwelt

I suspected my hormones were to blame 

Buried my head in humiliation

"Tell me more...."

-Futile

I compare this to the drifting 

Out into the endless sea

Where the ocean stretches forever

Surrounding....No....Consuming me

I can’t articulate it 

But my words never did it justice

I fought with myself, pondered the thoughts, of this emptiness

"All you ever need is one word"

-Void

I drown

Or the lack thereof, invading my lung

One word summarized all the infinitesimally small feelings 

One word that seems to describe all this.....

.....Yet I still can’t explain what this nothingness has done 

"I think you just did"

-Bareness

Any talking makes no sense like the surrendered last birds' song

Where I am aware I should hurt but my brain does not respond

Perhaps

Or maybe it's just… nothing.

Olsfred James & Gloreen Lake 2015©