Individual Poems

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The poems on this page are all original works of the page’s author, Travis King, and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

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because i cannot bring myself to speak

Posted Dec 15, 2007

serpents
wriggle
within my mind
insects
scramble
beneath my skin
my insides are writhing
and I want to scream
the demons are crying
for savage release
how do I sate them
make them cease
blood
blood
blood
blood
blood
and tears

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Fragments of Eternity

Posted: May 20, 2008

The air is cold and clear, a perfect night for gazing at the stars,
a thousand stars blazing blue, white, yellow, red, resplendent
in the darkness. Shadows shiver; creatures crawl unseen;
trees tremble, shake slightly in the breeze, boughs drooping
or standing straight and tall, reflected with the stars above
upon the surface of a silent blue-black lake that stretches out
into the distance, stretches out and touches the horizon. Standing
there it seems eternity is tangible and hovers within reach;
standing there it seems that time stands still, that lake and stars
are all that ever were and all that ever will be in this world.

But then the wind grows strong; the slight breeze, once a light caress,
becomes an acrid, stinging scourge, and where it whispered once,
it now emits a piercing shriek. It interrupts the silent contemplation,
interrupts eternity, inserting time again into the world,
and, sweeping swiftly over the reflections that once stood still
within the lake, raises ripples on the surface, causes swells,
and shatters in an instant stars and trees, as though the water were
a piece of painted glass.

                                                  Above, the stars still shine; around
the lake, the trees still stand. But now this mighty storm arises,
howling, piercing, causing chaos, and impelling creatures, small
and great alike, to seek out shelter, find a refuge—howling, piercing,
shrieking, swiftly moving, like the breath of God Himself, bearing on it
a scream of pain and madness. Above, the stars still shine; around
the lake, the trees still stand. But in the face of such destructive power,
in the face of disillusionment, one can only wonder if they, too,
might shatter in an instant.

(N.B. This poem was first published in the 2008 edition of the literary journal Waves.)

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Here Comes the Storm

Posted: Dec 15, 2007

Although the air is still and warm,
Clouds announce a coming storm;
Traveling east toward the shore,
Turning seas once still and blue
Into a black and frothing brew,
Transforming light to dark once more.

What angry god, gone unappeased,
Now sends his wrath? And what rough beast,
Its hour come, takes on this form?
We ask these questions as we pray
For mercy on this dismal day—
But vainly, for here comes the storm.

(N.B. This poem was first published in the 2006 edition of the literary journal Waves.)

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impressions of darkness

Posted: Dec 15, 2007

from the darkness of the earth
we are thrust unprepared
placed in a matrix
given physical form

we are imprisoned

from the darkness of the womb
we are thrust unprepared
placed in a world
of random unkindness

we do not consent

from the darkness of childhood
we are thrust unprepared
placed in the hands
of uncaring fate

we have no control

from the darkness of life
we are thrust unprepared
placed in the grave
returned to the earth

we cannot escape

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together…apart

Posted: Dec 15, 2007

together

we sat on the sofa we talked
enjoying a film we felt so right

at the end of the night we went
our separate ways to sleep

it felt
so wrong
broken

apart