Down Along The River Bed

The Geelong Writers Anthology book launch is on tonight, and this is one of my poems that I was fortunate enough to have published in the Anthology. I suppose the words seem to be quite appropriate, considering my continual long stay here in hospital. I’m supposed to be going home in the afternoon, however, sadly my old body parts will not be strong enough to go to the book launch this evening.

I arose from the dead

Uncovering pieces of me, I dread

Old body parts I must shread

Blobs of fatty tissue to shed

Sinkers of lead inside my head

Drag me down along the river bed

A stainless steel ankle plate

More than an arthritic ache

Pins and needles spike my heel

Soon I’ll need pump-up wheels

My unrepaired tear ducts

Flowing cascades

Pour over etched eye facets

Like flooded Everglades

Black-metal lays upon my soul

Eclipsing my deepest goals

Darkened shrapnel shards

Deal me unforeseen tarot cards

There’s a hole in my heart

Where a silver coated bullet

Fired from an empty pulpit

Ripped my senses apart

If I throw out the truth

What remains of myself

I might as well be dead

Only words left inside my head

Ivor Steven (c) 2018