White Absentia

                                                   White Absentia

                        “Face it this place is a mess, it’s got a hole in the ceiling;

                        The rain comes and washes away all the hope and the feeling.”

                                                                                                -Taime Downe

                                    The train hopped and my tracks stopped

                                    And I bled upon my rosary

                                    Giving grace and snubbing fate

                                    And blinded in my fury

                                    ‘Til I stop.

                                    No slowing, no brakes, no collision

                                    Which spills into the drunken dawn,

                                    Only a halt.

                                    To cease the wheels’ motion,

                                    To pause the speed essence,

                                    To focus on the blood

                                    Clotting unpleasant

                                    Between the beads

                                    And weakening the string

                                    ‘Til it breaks.

                                    Sprinkled through the air,

                                    The prayers sound like marbles

                                    On the tiled kitchen floor

                                    Batted about when the cat yawns

                                    And rolls over and back,

                                    Paws extended in stretch.

                                    Deep sighs wake it

                                    As the crucifix lands on its nose,

                                    Startled into stupor

                                    ‘Til the shock

                                    Settles in without asking

                                    Or answering requests from night-

                                    Light hidden nightdreams.

                                    Peaceful sleep relaxes muscles

                                    In the eyes allowing them to roam

                                    The face of God carelessly,

                                    Against the rigidity of his wake-

                                    Fully obscene labors. Greedy vision

                                    ‘Til red covers

                                    The scope of it all

                                    In layers and days of paint

                                    Shielding the windows

                                    And trapping the blackness

                                    Within the walls.

                                    Fear forces rodents through mazes

                                    Mapped from my twisted beaded string,

                                    And my arms and my legs

                                    Move anxious for release

                                    ‘Til the absence sets.