35 Promises

Heat singes the flesh
And a new year blazes into being
As I make thirty-five promises
Wondering what happened
To the previous thirty-four

Losing count
I think intentionally
I blow out my candles
Thirty-five promises
Once virgin and blue
Now singed and blackened
Not a minute old
With the truth of it all
Of whatever happened
To one through thirty-four

Thirty-five promises
Baked onto my flesh
With the hope It'll be cooler
Tomorrow
Down the road
And maybe this will be
The right number
Where promises come true
Leaving to me to stand
In resolution and content
As I seek to devour
This sweetness called life...
©2011cchristopherbess

Peep Show

Though I watch,
I stay out of people's mouths
Unlike the woman
Now across from me
Intently staring...

She watches the papers I hear
Of the woman next to me;
Watches a woman almost in tears
Embarrassed she broke down
Here
With the man next to her
Barely seeming to care
As he hurries to answer another call
Before we dive underground.

She watches
As I glance
Taking in flashes
Interpreting pictures that remain
Which over time
All look the same
Grouped or not
People going about life
As if no one else existed...
©2011cchristopherbess

So Far Away

Between images
Of pristine worlds
And what I live in
I slip away on dreams
Things I wonder
If I should believe in
Like maybe there's a place
Where injustice and stigma
Are words to be readin'

Instead of seein'
Instead of livin'

Between what they say I could be
And what the world
Seems to have planned
For all who look just like me
I slip away on dreams
Maybe there could be
A place for truth and love
And all the good they say
But when I wake
That just seems

So far away

So far away

Between words and worlds
I hoped never existed
Beyond stories of old
I dreamed it was all a lie
And that I didn't have to die
To know a little slice of heaven
And to the children I could say
That peace exist
And it wasn't

So far away

So far away

I think I'll have to turn
Forget the way they see me
Accept the fact I'm stolen
No closer to my history
Than what I'm allowed to be
Without fear up uprising;
I think I'll have to turn
My cheek again to burn
From the sting of a world that plays
and leaves us all astray
Chocking on the exhaust
As they achieve their dreams

So far away

So far away...
©2011cchristopherbess