The Long Neon Night

 

 Play song while reading the poem..

then listen again   and again and again.........

City Of Tortured Souls

by Mark and The Material Objects

Voo · City Of Tortured Souls

 song by my friend Mark that inspired this write.....

bone shaking, dynamite song with the greatest 

scream I've ever heard in rock.......

 and this is Mark..
the screamer, composer and singer of the song

...

The Long Neon Night

Lights

Blink.... 

On.

Off.

On.

Off.

Red,

Then 

Yellow,

Red,

Then 

Yellow.

Hissing neon

Crackling

In the midnight

Hitting me in the face

Between lightning bolts

And the drum roll

Of deep, black thunder.

Can't shut it out

It peeks there

Through the curtains

One inch short of closing

Taunting me with advertisements

Of a better life

Found somewhere down below

In a happy hour bar.

This bed 

Is my hell.

This bed

Is my sanctuary.

I can't leave it

It won't let me.

See how it holds me

In it's dirty sheets?

It's comforter

That gives no comfort?

It's pillows scented

With a thousand other heads?

Over and over

I have this 

Dream

Every night

From dusk till dawn

The screaming rising

From sun deprived streets

Up, up to my window

Desolate voices calling

Pleading, asking for things

I cannot give them

And do not want to hear.

Then your face appears

And I exalt 

In momentary joy

As you hover there

Bathed in red neon waters

Beckoning to me

From the top of another

Mildewed motel.

You're always smiling

At least, until 

The fake yellow neon sun

Shows you for what you are.

Down the hall to the left

There's a guy always

Playing the blues

On his guitar

The walls tremble with it

The rodents sing harmony

And the residents curse

And bang on the ceiling

In rhythm to the song

For a moment or two

There's silence.......

And the song begins again.

I no longer know

Which is the dream

And which is my life

I don't know 

How long I've lain here

When I checked in

Or if I'll check out

I don't know

If you ever truly loved me

Or if I made you up

Like some madman's apparition.

Flashes

Of waking perception 

Make me catch my breath

Sit upright,

And reach out to the empty void

That stretches around the room

Down the hall

And back to me

Carrying nothing

But snippets

Of the blues man's song

And mourning

From the dying day.

Then...

I sleep

Again.

Hear the screams,

Feel the fear,

Touch the terror,

Taste the tangible,

Smell the soured milk smell

Of love that lived

And withered like a mushroom

In a corner

Of a room

Under a bed

In a thirty story building

On a street that's always crying

In a city of

Tortured souls.

Blink....

On.

Off.

On.

Off.

Red

Then

Yellow

Red

Then 

Yellow

Blink.

Blink.

Blink. 

  ©by Voo, words, images

and Mark, music, face

Feb 20, 08 midnight 

Apparition River

APPARITION RIVER 

I walked along the river again today

I saw the places where we used to play

I saw the apparitions floating by

Of smile and kiss reflecting in the sky

I felt the touch I can't feel any more

Since you walked out and slammed that hollow door

And it bounced back and refused to catch and lock

And I sat there waiting three days for your knock.

After three days I thought I heard a siren's wail

But I was so far down I couldn't tell

Screaming past my house down by the water 

It woke me up and I went running after

My mother caught my arm and said "Go home."

Then she rocked me, crying, "Baby girl, he's gone."

So now I walk the river's edge and cry

And watch the apparitions floating by.

"There are ghosts in that river," you told me, "Suicides,

Lovers lost and widows, jilted brides."

You teased me every time we gathered there

But I loved you so much I didn't care

I remember how your ghost stories made me shiver

But how we loved that muddy rolling river

And now that dirty water is your grave

And I have nothing lovely left to save.

I saw you there last week by river's edge

You waved at me and smiled that golden smile

I stood there so dead still upon the ledge

And let your memory hold me for a while

I know I broke your heart but you forgive me

I know I lied to you and did you harm

For three long years I've walked along that river

And longed to be back in my true love's arms.

Tomorrow morning I shall get up early

I'll put on my unused white wedding gown

I'll carry roses in my arms to give you

And let your apparition pull me down 

Down to the muddy depths of cold, cold water

Reflecting blue that's borrowed from the sky

Then immortal, hand in hand, we'll walk together

And watch other apparitions floating by.

One More Time by Laura Pausini

©by Voo

March 3, 2004

NOTICE from PHOOOEY.ORG (Poet Haters Of Odes Of Earth Yo) CLASS ACTION SUIT FILED TODAY

 

POETS ARE THE SCOURGE OF THE EARTH.........

IF THEY LOVE YOU THEY WILL WRITE ABOUT YOU......

IF THEY HATE YOU THEY WILL WRITE EVEN MORE ABOUT YOU....

IF THEY DON'T WRITE ABOUT YOU THEY WILL MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE CRAP

WE MUST DO SOMETHING AND DO IT NOW!!!!

LET'S STAMP OUT THOUGHTS THAT RHYME...

Protest silently

BUT

RISE UP! 

JOIN PHOOOEY.ORG TODAY

           In association with.........

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YO!!!

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REMEMBER OUR MOTTO..............✏️

IF YOU DON'T WRITE IT DOWN, NOBODY WILL KNOW

©️10/01/25

V

O

O

Dedicated to William Topaz McGonagall

Globally known as the world's Worst Poet

but he had GALL, ya'll

                    https://mypoeticside.com/poets/william-topaz-mcgonagall-poems

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Something wicked this way comes

I can feel it in the air 

Something evil prowls the darkness

And the blind and deaf don't even care.

  

Something awesome in it's horror

Something shining but not of gold

Something monstrous in it's purpose

Something new but ancient, old.

Running slyly like the wolf

Gathering strength on silent feet

Searching for recruits for battle

Looking for men's hearts for meat.

Can you feel it in the heavens?

Can you feel it in the ground?

Can you feel it in your spirit?

Something wicked falling down.

Beware the prophet who preaches peace

Beware the teacher who teaches lies

Beware the beast who seeks the saintly

Devouring souls and closing eyes.

Something wicked this way comes

In dream and daylight, night and noon

Descending terror, pain and plunder

To darken the sun, shut out the moon.

Be not deceived, the day is evil

The star that falls is not a star

The days of peace are gone forever

The  earth has given birth to war.

©By Voo Shining Stone

Mar 3, 2017 at 12:09 AM

This White Room

• 
  

• 
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  This White Room

  
  

  
  
  This white-walled room
  Streaked with lavender
  From the glass heart
  Hanging in the window
  In the sun...........
  
  The heart you gave me
  With a smile in your eyes
  The heart that was shattered
  By cruel unthinking hands
  And was mended, restrung, on it's white silken cord.
  
  My bare feet rest
  On moon pale carpets
  Strewn here and there
  On hardwood floors
  Clean and cold as a hard winter snow.
  
  Silky white curtains
  Flutter in day breeze,
  Tease the book's pages
  As it lies on the shelf
  Reading to it's self of my long ago dreams.
  
  And here sit I
  In my satin and lace
  White sofa covered with pillow and fur
  Waiting, as I often do
  For my life to go on......
  
  Long, silver mirrors
  Catch the odd glow of sun,
  Of fragmented purple, of my long raven hair
  And reflect back the silence
  That the world cannot hear.
  
  In the garden, a cat
  And the song of a lark
  Sharp smell of roses
  And the whisper of trees
  But I do not turn, I sit stiller than stone.
  
  Waiting for footsteps to fall on the stair,
  A door opening softly and the embrace of your eyes
  Waiting for the smile that once out shined the sun
  Waiting for forgiveness in a world that's gone dark.
  
  Maybe today I think, he'll come
  He'll stand behind me, brushing my hair
  Watching me watching him as I did in the mirror
  Before I crushed his heart like the lavender glass
  Now mended, restrung, on the cord in the sun.
  
  Maybe today in this white room
  The wind will blow my hair like ribbons,
  The book will close and my heart find peace
  Maybe today, on moon pale carpets
  My sad, sad feet will stand up and dance.
  
  A sound in the garden, not of cat or of bird
  On the wind there's a sweetness
  And a tasting of hope
  Gently, the lavender heart starts to sway
  And I watch it transfixed and I turn towards the door....
  
  
  

  

  
  
  

  
  

  

  
  
  

  ©by Voo

  Feb 24, 2010   

  9:36 p.m.