rhyme – Page 5 – Kevin Trent Boswell

Zing, Pow

Nothing stings in quite the same way
As when you sting yourself
Forgetting the purpose of your boundaries
Casually placing them up on the shelf

You had them in hand for a good reason
And that good reason, you’ve still got
Once you remember why you need them
You’ll marvel at how you forgot

Area 25 by Trent Boswell — Available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more

Snake

Thin, diamond-eyed weaver
Of rhythmic, pulsating speech
Spells spill from forked, cunning tongue

Whispering secrets that never fade
Of things that are only just out of reach,
Union, knowledge unknown to the young

Ruddy red splatter on the worn blade
Spirit piercing flesh and taking root
Dew sits lightly on the petals of a flower

Serpentine speaker, knower, deceiver,
Thief in waiting to purloin the loot
Beneath the cover of the witching hour

Author’s Note: Yesterday, I learned that someone passed away in my apartment building (presumably within a day or so of when I heard about it). I had never met them and they hadn’t been living here long at all. Their death was apparently not unexpected; I was told that they were in poor health before they ever arrived here.

The weird thing is, they lived in the apartment right below mine. But stranger still, I had occupied that apartment myself, up until just a few months ago. When my current unit became available, I took the opportunity to move because it’s quieter on the top floor. While I don’t think I ever met the tenant, it was a brisk reminder that death is never far away.

Death is right under your feet
But try to put it out of your mind
There are chores to do and
Demands to meet
So, try putting it out of your mind

Death is coming up behind you
It is wise to not make a stink of it
Since you cannot stop it, and
There’s nothing you can do,
It’s best to try and not think of it

There beside you, Death hovers
I suggest you pretend not to notice
It will pounce on nervousness,
Any weakness it discovers,
So, just casually appear not to notice

It may approach you from any angle
You are bold, but Death is much bolder
You can tell it’s there by the cold, stale air
That envelopes your throat to strangle
Death patiently perches on your shoulder

thrust

make whatever you like of this,
but know that it may, likewise,
make whatever it likes of you.

thrust and struggle and burn
loudly feign, but ever so quietly,
an attempt, in the corner,
through muted silence, to enunciate

struggle with the reason
why is it that one does so yearn
to take the difficult lesson
one cannot be brought to hate

twist and then don’t,
because of the can’t
and moreover, he will not,
exactly as they were never told

a question, wide-eyed, receives
the penalty of the question’s answer
and it stings, being cold and hot,
enough to make one shriek and pant

a perjured testimony, it will recant
a tortured, and elated dancer
flailing there, on the dance floor,
it joyously thanks and aching, grieves

the hatches all battened down
and lashed to withstand the wind;
the wind begs contritely for more
claims not to know instruction

the end result, ruby red and sore
scoreboard racked and tucked away
nothing else to buck, or smartly say
all done for the night, playing the clown

make it into anything whatsoever,
anything that you want it to be,
for it won’t be made into something
that it isn’t supposed to be already

it has always known what it is, steady
to be whatever he chooses to shape
to make it speak and twist and sing
if only it is able and willing to see

not exactly dire

it’s pressing, I will admit, yes
and it was needed yesterday
however, it can wait,
if you’re short on time

a kiss and formal gesture to bless,
to take all the pain away,
to set everything straight,
and smooth out the rhyme

no one is used to getting
all that they want,
and most certainly not
in this economy

tea leaves, crystals, and bloodletting
a beg and a ruthless taunt
the emperor’s still got
his priests and astronomy

but you and I, the commoner type,
left only with crumbs and the crumble
of entropy and its effect on us
if we wait for it to sort itself out

or loudly, we may boldly gripe
with a roar, or at least a rumble
and let them feel our fuss
and threaten to do more than pout

and then, that which we release,
it falls from memory, and at last,
we clear the debris, and the way
and walk into the here and now

with a little squeeze and some grease,
we can break free and hold fast
and hear everything we have to say,
about the where, the when, and how

A Name and Little Else

A catalyst, dipped in fire, a belch
Memories serve as a match
Begging forgiveness, promising again;
The disease is certain to catch

On further reflection, please do not
Pretty please, say that you can’t
The idea of slightest, greatest, or middle
Causes a rage and a rant

It’s simply too much, and too little, by far
And none of it’s worth all the troub…
I can’t even begin, much less finish,
With an every-time-wrong-way rub

Let someone else have it; I do mean all
If it’s like that, the price is too steep
The smart is too short, the stink too wide,
And the stupid is just too deep

It thinks too little, too much, of itself
A fickle, passing wind, a decree
It tilts on stilts, and then, suddenly wilts
At nothing and all that you see

Throttle the speed, and down the shifter,
Or the shafter, or the hole, or whatever
Turn it away, and all that it offers,
Which is little and even less clever

For days are short hours; hours, too long
Months wasted on the beginning
But cutting it short and calling it quits,
One is afforded more winning

Then, years all stretch comfortably out,
All the tired heads nod to agree
The minutes are sweeter; decades, too
And everything is as it should be

Tag: rhyme