New writing project! Yay! I have this friend and her name is Brandi. She writes about lots of things including her amazing knitting projects, and her life, and her life on a boat. (Seriously, she’s amazing and interesting and has a super exciting existence.) Anyhow, when I did my Gotye inspired poetry, Brandi asked if I would want to do a little project where we both post poems inspired by lyrics from the same song. Essentially, we take turns picking songs, and then we decide on the lyrics from said songs that speak to us individually. I’m pretty excited about the whole thing. Without further ado, here are my poems! The song was Brandi’s choice this go of it and she picked The Rainbow Connection by The Carpenters. Groovy, yeah? (Brandi’s poems can be found on her tumblr by clicking right here!)

Why are there so many songs about rainbows…

Unicorns, sunshine, rainbows…
They’re all the same really.
Illusions of happiness, delusions
of something better
somewhere, fantasy, beauty.
Perhaps the ever present smog,
the smut, the general decay are
too much. Perhaps the fabrication is
better than the slice of truth,
better than the reality that hits you
in the face on a daily basis.
Perhaps the bright colors and fairies
singing in your ear are easier to accept.
It’s always possible that in the end
we are all quite mad, and you are better
for just believing in the unbelievable
instead of depending on what
is clearly there, right before your eyes.

Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide…

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear–
only me and you and the way you feel
when we first wake up and you
are resting in my arms. In that
single instant, that one moment,
I realize that none of this is real, it’s
all an image of what we should be
it’s what we wish we had
but that we never
could quite achieve.

Someone thought of that, and someone believed it…

“It was written somewhere,” she said.
“I’m not sure where, but I know it must be the truth.”
To her, the truth is whatever she can see,
whatever her eyes can scan and take note of,
even if what she sees is a facsimile, even if what she
sees never existed in the first place.
“No!” she asserts. “I’m certain this is the truth!”
She continues on, foot stamping adamant, “I know
what I’ve heard, what I’ve seen, what I’ve been told.”
It is that simple, that basic. Someone, somewhere,
there was a person or a place or a book, and
in one of those, there was a word or
a phrase and from that moment on, it was the
absolute truth. It was her everything, and there
was no going back. It just was.

Have you been sleeping, and have you heard voices…

With a start, sitting straight up, calling out
for the person that must have been there, the voice
that had just said something so close to
my ear that I felt the small hairs on my neck
stir. That feeling of being watched,
but sure that the doors and windows had
previously been locked. My breath catching,
stuck in my chest as I wonder what
had happened. A freak thing, a dream made
real under the effects of weeks of insomnia and too
much white wine, although, still possible that
I was not alone. Voices calling me, telling me
what to do and where to go. Invisible beings
pulling at me, trying to sever me in two, trying
to divide me into pieces. Nowhere to run, but
the urge to get up and move. Hiding is not
an option, ghosts like closets and find good company
in them with skeletons. I try my best to breathe in
and then out again. I try my best to still my
beating heart and return my floating head to
its place on my neck where I know it will be safe.
Eventually it becomes overwhelming and
my body decides to shut down. Feeling myself
drift off into sweet oblivion, I relax, but
it only lasts for a moment before a tingle
begins to emerge behind my ear, and I feel
a slight movement in the air by my neck. Words
begin to float on the air, but instead of startling
me into the world, they lull me back towards
nothingness and calm and something
that is somewhere else.

It’s something that I’m supposed to be…

Stand tall, walk straight,
hold your head placed directly above your neck
and do not speak unless
someone cares to hear you.
Do not argue, do not think
do not spend your days dreaming–
know your place and stay there, tucked away
and happy, always appear happy.
Let your lips only speak
good things, even if
they must lie. Do not curse
yourself or your situation. Bake
cakes and cookies and fill
your cupboards, but do not ever
allow yourself to increase.
Stay at home, go to work, marry and
stay perpetually single. Have babies
that never really exist except
in your own mind. Pretend to exercise
your rights and your body, but keep
your mind and your legs closed.
Above all else, be yourself, but only
if that person is pleasant and expected.
Above all else, do not waver in your
pursuit for perfection. Always strive
for more and less. Do not appear greedy,
but take everything that is in
your hollow, empty grasp. It is the way
things are. The way you will be
and grow. Do not take no for an answer,
but try your hardest, to
never
say
yes.