tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432041148708294922024-02-08T08:34:04.661-08:00Reflectionsmy life in abstracts
(a collection of my poetry)Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-57233301359974602202013-10-16T19:27:00.002-07:002013-10-16T19:27:56.150-07:00like<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>my eyes feel heavy like</i><div>
<i>they're weighing down my face</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
it was like the bags</div>
<div>
under my eyes</div>
<div>
were full to bursting</div>
<div>
and my eyes</div>
<div>
just resting there</div>
<div>
like elephants</div>
<div>
on water balloons</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've been so angry lately,</div>
<div>
like I just want to hit you,</div>
<div>
like I just want to rip you open</div>
<div>
and squeeze the life out</div>
<div>
drip by drip - </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I can't.</div>
<div>
And my fury turns inward.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
[written 10 & 17 September 2013]</div>
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-51560089397696939282013-04-11T23:22:00.001-07:002013-04-11T23:22:01.565-07:00bones<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Ancient bones<br />
grown fresh beneath the flowers<br />
crumbled legends for Spring's new love.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[for Magaly's 4th Blogoversary party: <a href="http://pagan-culture.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-lies-beneath.html">Witches in Fiction 2013... to the Bone</a>]<br />
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-60100232723347675822013-03-04T09:47:00.002-08:002013-03-04T09:47:58.469-08:00Let's make a Deal.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
All here - All gone. <div>
It's one or the other. </div>
<div>
I'm an all-or-nothing kind of girl. </div>
<div>
No misspelled names on my Valentine's card,</div>
<div>
no forgotten promises to call,</div>
<div>
none of that I-got-distracted bullshit.</div>
<div>
Be Here</div>
<div>
or Be Gone.</div>
<div>
I've got no more patience for in-betweens and maybes.</div>
<div>
I'm Here, or I'm Gone.</div>
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-23260400343142229102013-03-03T19:11:00.001-08:002013-03-03T19:17:35.469-08:00cycles of hurt, expressed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's futile. I'm futile.<br />
Racing, racing to rise<br />
to meet the grade<br />
to see the light<br />
reflected in your gaze.<br />
Racing my shadows<br />
I stutter in your appraisal.<br />
Futile.<br />
<br />
Not good enough.<br />
Not fast enough.<br />
You love me,<br />
but not enough<br />
to see through my faults<br />
to care about my pain.<br />
<br />
Your warnings<br />
- I'm not enough -<br />
all you deign to share.<br />
I'm overwhelmed.<br />
I stumble.<br />
I'm futile<br />
in my tears.<br />
<br />
<br />
~<br />
<br />
Don't try to save me. I'm happy where I am. Your comfort comes with chains that can't be shaken loose. They keep you free from life, which I would rather savor.<br />
I wish you could taste it with me. It's not so scary, after all. The colors are so much brighter<br />
when you're not hiding in the clouds.<br />
Don't be so afraid to fly.<br />
<br />
<br />
~<br />
<br />
Here I am<br />
trying to find you comfort in your relics.<br />
You're so far away<br />
all I can feel is your back<br />
walking away<br />
beyond time,<br />
beyond hope.<br />
<br /></div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-87057107568138850502013-02-20T18:55:00.002-08:002013-02-20T18:55:59.001-08:00He asked me a question...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
...and then there was Silence.<br />
<br />
Silence was met by the sleeping Cold.<br />
Loneliness sighed - she sank to the floor;<br />
Hope shattered, but gamely tried to keep his feet.<br />
<br />
Shackled, they sang.<br />
They sang to the Silence,<br />
they sang the Cold awake,<br />
they sang their tears to ice.<br />
<br />
Hard, so hard, they armored themselves;<br />
wrapped in frost and pain,<br />
waiting for warmth, waiting for another song.<br />
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-75332879569197070322013-01-31T19:12:00.004-08:002013-01-31T19:12:50.834-08:00I wear yellow in the Winter.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My speedometer tells me more<br />
about how far I've driven<br />
than how fast I'm going;<br />
it's very optimistic.<br />
I wear yellow in winter;<br />
surrounded by blues and grays and purple.<br />
They tell me I'm depressed;<br />
or maybe just an introvert.<br />
Maybe they should just mind their own damn business.<br />
I'm not a fucking statistic;<br />
75% white bread, bleached-flour whiskey-drinker<br />
with two dogs and a cat.<br />
The cat has three legs.<br />
Someday I'll buy a house with a heater and<br />
a real foundation;<br />
an old house<br />
with stories of its own,<br />
footprints of the past hewing it together,<br />
and Warmth,<br />
Warmth that has nothing to do with mechanics<br />
and everything<br />
to do with color and touch and texture,<br />
and wearing yellow in the winter.<br />
Someday seems so far away, but closer every day;<br />
I'll know how fast I've gone when I turn to see my story,<br />
stretching back from the aged threshold of home,<br />
thirteen legs making tracks behind me:<br />
two dogs, one cat, and one girl.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-50576258113860554512012-12-26T14:21:00.001-08:002012-12-26T14:23:01.692-08:00Mother<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Mother -<br />
your children were endangered<br />
while you were playing house;<br />
pretty bows and three-piece suits<br />
couldn't shield their eyes;<br />
the pain that came<br />
in whispered lies<br />
built their lives on fear;<br />
some days you gifts were kind,<br />
a distraction from the real,<br />
but they knew what you were hiding<br />
was truth more sure than words.<br />
<br />
Mother -<br />
have you heard your children's song?<br />
Did you think they were misguided?<br />
Their roots were twisted by your needs,<br />
but pain has made them real;<br />
their paths have parted,<br />
they've sought their souls<br />
in places lush and barren;<br />
what cures they've found<br />
grew untainted by veneers;<br />
you'll find your world<br />
of skirts and ties<br />
far from where they dwell. </div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-59871220155712125602012-12-17T15:53:00.003-08:002012-12-17T15:53:56.519-08:00blood makes a bitter cage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Winter's chill creeps in,<br />
frosting your mask with diamonds -<br />
I thought you were a hero,<br />
sent to guard my soul.<br />
<br />
The oaths we made<br />
were iron in my eyes,<br />
and I shed my blood<br />
to make them true.<br />
but<br />
You waved goodbye<br />
and in your hands<br />
our oaths washed away -<br />
running like a river<br />
my heart could not dam.<br />
<br />
In barren silence<br />
I see my iron light -<br />
Your oath is only the mist,<br />
and blood makes a bitter cage.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-28965248724005625542012-11-30T08:07:00.000-08:002013-01-12T14:23:59.619-08:0040 Pieces: my life in abstracts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
All poems and prose already published in this blog thus far are part of my artbook, "40 Pieces." For now, the book is only available through me. I'm making each physical book by hand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
[Poems in this blog that appear after this post, chronologically, will be in the next book.]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
~</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About 40 Pieces</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many of these were written in the midst of my deployment
with the US Army. I was in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>, from August
2007 through August 2008. As the Army saw it, my job was to talk to our
detainees, and to attempt to gain some useful information for the “war.” As I
saw it, my job was to talk to our detainees, and attempt to figure out what the
hell was going on. These 40 pieces are the ways I made sense of things for
myself. Some were written in the aftermath, both the long descent to ‘rock bottom’ and
the eventual rise to where I am now. For the clinicians in the world: consider
this a window into Depression. </div>
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-38064350111262045622012-11-26T20:50:00.002-08:002012-11-26T20:50:26.151-08:00driving home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: right;">
the long highway stretches out before me</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
a lonely song from a make-shift radio, the only voice in my head</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
if I close my eyes, would it all just go away?</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
would there be time for fear or pain, if I didn't know what was coming?</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
the quiet solitude of oblivion</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
so welcoming </div>
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-90862438887204199842012-11-26T20:44:00.003-08:002012-11-26T20:44:31.202-08:00thoughts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Don't leave me alone with my thoughts.<br />
They hurt me.<br />
<br />
[I'll go wherever you will go.]<br />
Just don't leave me alone.<br />
The darkness creeps in,<br />
shadowing my edges as you pull away,<br />
overtaking me when you turn.<br />
I'm not strong enough.<br />
<br />
I know it's wrong.<br />
I know my thoughts shouldn't hurt.<br />
I fight them, always.<br />
Sometimes I win. Sometimes I'm just so tired.<br />
<br />
Sometimes the best feeling is blank.<br />
Nothingness is better than being carved like<br />
Picasso's sculpture;<br />
the blade of memories knows exactly where to slice,<br />
again and again.<br />
<br />
I'm not lost.<br />
I know what's happening here.<br />
Some days I can corner it, cage it in a little box<br />
in the bottom of my mind.<br />
Some days I'm too dizzy and<br />
I can't find the key.<br />
<br />
<i>I need a little help.</i><br />
Just hold me up.<br />
Don't leave me alone.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-81668922514821611012012-11-26T20:38:00.001-08:002012-11-26T20:38:45.382-08:00Memorial Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
- you lost it all<br />
to save us from ourselves -<br />
<br />
- an offering<br />
taken from your flesh -<br />
<br />
- your light went dark<br />
but I remember you -<br />
<br />
- you, the Fallen,<br />
who gave it all<br />
to save us from our fates.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>to the Fallen</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
(2012)</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-89129424688001114192012-11-26T20:36:00.004-08:002012-11-26T20:36:24.918-08:00one heart<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>I am your Archer - </i><br />
I am your Bones -<br />
<i>I will guide you true,</i><br />
I will steel you stance.<br />
<br />
<i>I am your arrow - </i><br />
I am your vision -<br />
<i>I will see your heart,</i><br />
I will help you dance.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-47812175648862083822012-11-26T20:34:00.003-08:002012-11-26T20:34:52.055-08:00in the diary of bones<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the diary of bones<br />
let the words fall where they may,<br />
they linger for dissection,<br />
caught there, where they can't decay.<br />
<br />
By the Archer's point,<br />
the timid words, examined,<br />
are strung out and fire-cast,<br />
iron from ashes and a gilded corpse.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-75734170776995159032012-11-26T20:32:00.001-08:002012-11-26T20:32:05.830-08:00some days<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
some days aren't so great</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and are so bad</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
some days</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
i'm just pensive</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
taking in</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
taking everything in</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
some days</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
are sadder</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
wiser</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
some days i'm just an observer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the world goes by</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to a faster tune</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
some days</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
my drum is slow</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and it's not so bad</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but not so great</div>
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-50282867402634364372012-11-26T20:30:00.000-08:002012-11-26T20:30:17.179-08:00Hela<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My goddess is a seer,<br />
one hand in life<br />
and one hand in death.<br />
She knows my heart and holds me<br />
one hand in life<br />
and one hand in death.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-33859745387194444532012-11-26T20:28:00.002-08:002012-11-26T20:28:20.684-08:00the walk<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'd show you the face<br />
of a thousand years,<br />
if you would hold my hand.<br />
<br />
I'd show you the heart<br />
of a broken life,<br />
if you could see the child.<br />
<br />
I'll teach you the ways<br />
of a tangled soul,<br />
if you will listen kindly.<br />
<br />
My voice will stray<br />
so stay right here,<br />
and let your touch be guiding.<br />
<br />
Our step so light<br />
no footprints follow,<br />
ahead is all we need.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-3772468666477162142012-11-26T20:26:00.002-08:002012-11-26T20:26:23.422-08:00not always<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Unraveling the abyss -<br />
that mad churn leeching behind me,<br />
screeching bells in my ears -<br />
your hand out, ahead;<br />
I focus on you, clasp you -<br />
Please don't let me go.<br />
<br />
In your grip, cloaked,<br />
I can look back, safe,<br />
and see the horror you saw;<br />
<br />
it was home<br />
for so long.<br />
<br />
But not always.<br />
<br />
<br />
Not always.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-46835564426405746282012-11-26T20:24:00.001-08:002012-11-26T20:24:11.353-08:00exquisite<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
your hands are wise<br />
though your tongue is quick;<br />
<br />
yet your voice soothes<br />
while your touch arches<br />
exquisite<br />
across visceral truth.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-16243961266873687412012-11-26T20:22:00.002-08:002012-11-26T20:23:09.745-08:00pierced<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>pierced.</i><br />
<i>arched.</i><br />
<i>swathed</i><br />
<i> in pain</i><br />
<i> that comforts</i><br />
<i> the tortured.</i><br />
<i>make it merciless.</i><br />
<i>make it hard.</i><br />
<i>sow me love</i><br />
<i> the way I know</i><br />
<i> the way that kills.</i></div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-8207270532566804612012-11-26T20:21:00.003-08:002012-11-26T20:21:28.102-08:00rain in Baghdad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Crowds gather<br />
as drops fall<br />
timid, through the net.<br />
<br />
Last night, there was a storm -<br />
twelve mintes<br />
of vengeful winds and<br />
ghostly dust<br />
whipping through the dark -<br />
Glorious.<br />
<br />
Crowds disperse<br />
to cower<br />
one by one,<br />
hidden in their eyes.<br />
<br />
They quiet now, waiting<br />
in the daylight<br />
as the drops fall<br />
timid.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-42615672076294435272012-11-26T20:19:00.004-08:002012-11-26T20:30:24.516-08:00Orion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My god is a Hunter<br />
wielding his bow of stars.<br />
He follows me<br />
reminding me<br />
to keep my aim true -<br />
as true as my words,<br />
as strong as my arms,<br />
as fulfilling as my heart.<br />
My god is a Hunter<br />
wielding his bow of stars.</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-43445707183064260872012-11-26T20:18:00.004-08:002012-11-26T20:18:42.237-08:00here<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
I cycle like the moon,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
sometimes needing to be seen</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
needing to be held,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
sometimes needing to observe</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
hidden from view,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but always here</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
here for you.</div>
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-47185457986816209892012-11-26T20:16:00.001-08:002012-11-26T20:17:24.795-08:00time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Time is a disease:<br />
Afflicting all the cosmos,<br />
<br />
Picking at our minds,<br />
Carving decades into skin<br />
and Eons into stone.<br />
<br />
As incurable as life,<br />
it only pauses for the dead.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Tick-tock.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tick-tock.</div>
</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643204114870829492.post-18621838421220659532012-11-26T20:15:00.004-08:002012-11-26T20:15:41.807-08:00Tucson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hot night in Tucson,<br />
People ooze through the dark,<br />
Caught in the dream.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
(2011)</div>
Archer's Boneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15507043334472692421noreply@blogger.com0