present with no past

The pages are all past tense;

etched in sketched permanence

were the reprehensible sensible

to the conscious mind

instead of luridly lurking

for a midnight subconscious find.

Burnt books stoke prurient interest

in flailing fires of flame’s incest

because if the last past

is no longer written,

then there’s no need

for the coals to cool as if never smitten.

death creates death

morbid insight into our susceptibility to psychological suggestion. after mass homicidal or suicide articles are published, incidents of imitation or multiple deaths will be over 1000% as likely to occur within the areas that read these stories within 2-3 days of being published. its effects continue in decremental amounts over 2 weeks before returning to normal. further morbid irony, this applies to car and airplane crashes. yes, there is a 1000% increase of a fatal airplane crash over the next 2 weeks. that includes passengers. this phenomenon has been researched and validated over decades of data analysis.

phase ii

the smiles disappear beneath
my graying beard that itches:
the will to scratch my malaise
remains elusive as it switches.
my faint reflection keeps watch
in the backyard window at dark:
ghostly floating capturing a picture
that is more tangible than its mark.
no hands can stroke the weariness
that has settled on my shoulder:
blackbird doesn't show in the glass,
but, pecks and turns me colder.
heady beginnings consummate with sallow
finally yielding birth to dust in earthly fallow.

boom

tick