A walk into Night…#CoffinHop by richard lynn livesay

tortured soul

daunting pain that clouds my mind
cuts deep with guilt I cannot hide
and all seems lost, there is no time
so cries my soul for the other side

there is no peace or kind release
of faces left, voids of regret
this self-judgment will never cease
cries my soul for the other side

as darkness is my only friend
I take a walk into the night
to be in the void of the end
my soul cries for the other side

darkness creeps inside my brain
I slide into that darkened coil
that twists my nerves to insane
my soul cries for the other side

so I entered the other side
was filled with misery and grief
in a mirror of my soul, I cried
to see my soul in false belief

#CoffinHop delusions of sanity by richard lynn livesay

Black-Cat-walking-away

memories below the sea
in a dark void of nothingness
blanketed by shadows, I dissolve
into a form of scaly madness

thrown into a pit of vipers I swim
hissing my name in vain,
like rabid lepers in pain, I shriek

lost in underworld of entanglements
my life cuts deep as my psyche shutters
deranged, insane and rearranged in pain
my suicide note floats on a cat’s liver

depressed memories penetrate my limp corpse
covered in kelp on the sea bed, defamed
I scream then shrink into a dot of octopus ink
and become the eye of a tapping raven
stuck in limbo on a chamber door

I had failed to make the deadline of the CoffinHop
my blood soaked poem was eaten by an evil worm
then my computer contacted an Ebola Virus
I read my obituary on the ass of a black cat
“He was a poet, behind and without luck”

NEW LEGEND of Arco and Venus Water-lily By Richard Lynn Livesay #CoffinHop

hadesandpersephone

I wasn’t sure. It was so long ago.
Was it the lightning storm or
The vivid dream that woke me?

Hours I paced around my room.
The dark shadows seemed to move,
Moonlight drifted through the window

The dream, a summons from the Council
“You must go on a dangerous mission
To save a maiden from Count Villus”.

Dad told me, “Someday the Council will call”
We were not a “normal” family. My dad,
Samilus, was part of the Nephilim, he

Had mated with my mortal Mother, I-Ann,
I am Arcos Demeter, part angel, part mortal
With metaphysical powers and compassion.

I arrived at the Count Villus’ mansion at sunset.
It was a dilapidated, three storied, dark structure with vines and mold.
As I walked to the door, I noticed a girl in the garden.

I knocked and the Count, a creepy, beady eyed old man, answered.
I told the Count that I was a bookkeeper looking for work
And would work for room and board.

Villus, invited me inside and showed me to my room.
It was musty with spider webs everywhere…and bats!
We passed two very large doors bolted shut.

Villus said, ”The doors lead to my dungeon where
Once a month, I entertain some of my friends.
You and my gardener should never enter these doors”.

I settled in and later met, Venus Water-lily, maiden-gardener.
We lived in separate rooms in a third story tower
And would meet and talk for hours after our work.

I explained to Lily why I was there and who I was.
Meanwhile I fashioned a peep-hole to the dungeon
And used it to spy on Villus’s depraved meetings

I watched sick rituals involving drinking blood from bowls,
Small animal mutilations, sex orgies and torture
As Villus and his clan walked around in black hoods

One night, hearing the eerie incantations of the group,
I opened my spy-hole and was frozen in time.
There on a dungeon table, lay the nude body of Lily.

Suddenly I became “other-worldly” and filled with energy.
My body swelled, my mind intensified, my mission had arrived.
I became a wave of particles and teleported to the locked door.

I walked straight through, the chanting stopped as black hoods turned.
Some raised their knives as Count Villus came forward. He said,
“Boy, come in and meet our Master, Beelzebub and watch the sacrifice”.

My energy exploded inside and sent a gale-force wind thru the room.
I spat on the floor causing a flash of lightening and from the smoke
Appeared a snorting, beautiful, solid white, winged stallion.

Mounting the stallion, I withdrew a magical, flaming sword from the scabbard.
As we advanced, all that tried to harm me, lost their heads.
Villus was the only one left; he stood with a knife to Lily’s throat

She whimpered softly but then remembered what Arco had taught her.
Lily breathed in and envisioned her skin as a body of armor.
Her body stiffened as she looked at Arco saying, “I’m covered”.

Arco advanced as Villus stabbed but couldn’t penetrate.
Arco reached down grabbing Villus by the throat, lifting him up.
They slowly walked to the wall where the hand of Villus was pinned.

Then the other hand pinned as Villus screamed obscenities,writhing in spasms.
Arco untied lily, wrapped her in a sheet and held her in front of him.
Looking at her with overwhelming love, he asked, “Will you marry me?”

“O, Yes”! She said as a force surrounded them and they flew through the walls
Into a beautiful starry night, transporting them on a wave of moonbeams.

(The Council smiled, then granted them stewardship of a Pleiades planet
Where they lived, raising a family in love, peace and joy)

Dark Justice… #CoffinHop a terza rima by Richard Lynn Livesay

haunting woman

my mind churned like ocean waves
voices vibrated a whispering chord
transmitting thoughts of illusory graves

the wind blew like a lion that roared
the window rattled: I grew uneasy
in the tree outside, a shadow soared

it looked like my murdered wife, Gigi
but I had dumped her body in a shoal
I began to sweat my head felt queasy

her shadow was haunting my very soul
the window crashed open with a fury
papers flew in the air and I lost control

a note in blood on the wall read, “JURY”
I reached for the gun from my drawer
Fired at the shadow; everything became blurry

I fell to the floor. Its all over, I’m done for
Put the gun to my temple and evened the score

Limboesq…by richard lynn livesay #COFFIN HOP

Buried alive

intrepid vines choke life with anger
ripple through mine fields in slander
with snakes and blackened salamander

worms slurp my brain in warring militias
splitting my thoughts, forgetting my wishes
then mirrors reflect my life as fictitious

my status now cracked, a mossy symbol
I hang in effigy no one claims to resemble
anonymously, my hand begins to tremble

rotting in my tomb, I begin to fall
through that dark vacated wall
my screaming silenced, my last call

a poet I was, unknown and frazzled
blinded by words I tried to unravel
a race to nowhere in a pit of gravel

dungeons and daemons my pen did supply
with dank decomposition of flesh nearby
now buried alive, I sigh my last sigh

in a journey unknown of borrowed sorrow

I feel the fabric of entrapment
Like Poe’s prison of morbid enchantment
and I once again become a tiny fragment
suspended in a void like a damaged magnet

# Coffin Hop…Dark Journey Myth by Richard Lynn Livesay

Hell-(detail)-2

reality splintered in traces of blood
reaching the end of what I knew
before being buried in a barrel of mud
was led into a cage below the Zoo

captured on a narrow road, I twisted
drugged and broken as all else fails
thorns pierced my feet but still existed
when Count Maire, extracted my nails

I fought to maintain my sanity
as rats nibbled at my hair and skin
But stood up, feeling less than humanity
howling, cursing like I was in deadly sin

beat and driven down to the lower gates
I heard screams, “Sabatoni!, save me,
From these ungodly fates
Then saw bodies, swarmed by banshee

the dark sky rumbled, red flashes contorted
I climbed the underbelly of purgatory’s stairs
Alone, in silence, I saw faces that I had tortured
Crying uncontrollably, my guilt in hot flares

I begged forgiveness as the gatekeeper wrote
you will go back and live in a bitter throe
living life again as everyone’s scapegoat
and finally commit suicide as Van Gogh

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The Bus Ride by richard lynn livesay

This bus of shame drives on, over

 Broken bridges of misunderstanding,

Cracked foundations and bumpy roads…

I peer out the window and  

There, trying to survive in a lesser world

Are the “Children of a lesser god”

 

I see the chicken boned children

 in garbage dumps starving for food and attention

but we drive by in poverty

the poverty of noninvolvement

 

someone says, “How sad, someone should do something”

then turned away, slightly guilty

but with the unconscious image of the

 children of the garbage

hidden away from “normal” lives

 

The bus ads want me to buy suntan lotion

Drink tequila on sunny beaches and

enjoy my lucky heritage

.

I sink uncomfortably into my

seat of electro-introspection,

Thinking of oily bank accounts

and Saudi harems, Mercedes and mansions

I try in vain to re-write a poem.

Soon, we stop for coffee in the city of critics.

Hoping to get my brain unmuddled, I sip coffee

Maybe I can infuse a new delusion (grand or false)

I head for the bathroom

They were short on toilet paper

So I left them one of my manuscripts,

 

I adjust my leg irons and re-boarded the bus,

“When does this tour end?” I ask.

“There is no end” said the red faced driver.

I was perplexed.

I continued looking at the broken down towns,

Gagging in smelly urinals

And forcing down “famous” cow burgers

and oily fries.

Peering out, I

saw an unshaven soldier with one leg

drinking wine in an alley, a disillusioned vet;

but one of the chicken boned children

was offering him a piece of moldy bread

 

Uncomfortably a tear rolled from my eye

As I dozed, I thought about this species called

human;

We kill;

We hate,

We fight and injure,

Lie, cheat and steal

And then hypocritically judge others

Then gripe about the things we don’t have

 

The image of the chicken-boned child

feeding the broken vet,

caused me to shake.

The bus stopped

I was blindfolded and taken out in a field

I screamed,”I was only telling the truth!”

I felt the first bullet pierce my skull

And it all became like a dream

 

Poor Poets Society's Blog

My Poor, Poor Poe  by richard lynn livesay

The Chant Royal is a poetic form that consists of five eleven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line envoi rhyming d-d-e-d-E. thanks for the inspiration Sarah and Susan

 

 

orphaned young was little Poe,

his Mother dead, his Father gone

the wealthy Allen’s adopted him

Edgar was wild and didn’t belong

first expelled from Virginia U,

army, West Point; life was grim

disinherited, ousted and all alone

he began writing; got in a zone

writing “Tamerlane poems”, he grew                        

at twenty-four, married cousin foreknown

poor Poe struggled, his genius askew

 

 “I was a child, she was a child,
in this kingdom by the sea”
but it was more than love —
“I and my ANNABEL LEE —“

In 1845 “The Raven”, a jewel

Two years later, his little dove,

Virginia; death also took her home

so, I…

View original post 317 more words

The Voice

Awoke in a dense foggy forest
Moss corpses hung from the trees
As shadows moved like predators

Arose painfully and questioned existence
Was I being punished for my negligence?
I had given up on writing poetry and life

An owl stared, asking me whoo I was
I questioned my very soul for answers
I stumbled into nowhere, unsure of everything

Fear moved within me as my heart beat faster
It seemed eyes were watching my every step
I chilled, surrounded by eerie unseen sounds

Climbed up a hill as my feet slipped in loose rock
There! A blur from in the corner of my eye
I stopped; watched it slowly move above me

Falling to the ground, I hit my head on a rock
Through the black void came an unknown voice
“Time to choose entrance; the pit or gate”

“I was sent to say, make your choice, run or face.”
I ask, “What is this beast that stalks me constantly?”
“It is the manifestation of all your fears and doubts”

I awoke again, seeing a black panther running at me
Fear of failure gripped me as a claw slashed my arm
Somehow I ran headlong into the black forest

There in the bushes cried a small baby, all alone
The panther had spotted it and bounded toward us
I shunned my fear, grabbed the neck of the black beast

It turned into a shadow, an impotent apparition
I viewed the baby closer and saw that it was me
And the voice said, ”Are you ready to try life again?”