He draws stars from his pocket

and throws them afar

like gems in bright swirls

creating galaxies in whirls

with unexplored worlds

in Goldilocks zones

giving life a home

where water freezes and steams

and the vital spark gleams

so that ichthyostega’s spawn

crawls from the mud

and one day may dream.

She bathes in the deep streams

of depravity sinking beautifully

in quicksand of forgotten truth,

an inelegant bird of flight

chewing and devouring reality

in her translucent shadows -

an empress of delusions

with a lop-sided tiara,

dancing in frenzy of morbid beauty.

Entrenched in corners of my mind,

she scorches me with forgotten sins.

Paralyzed by her fears of empty voids

of insanity, she opens up her soul

like parted oceans, watching the moon

illuminate her mind, suffocating her

essence in darkened waves of delusions.

Abandoned tarnished fears

inhabit her heart, mimicking sounds

of preying vultures, emptied by insanity.

Shadows are dark pits in psychosis,

huddled within her bones,

gelatinous promises of vacuumed

aberrations of sinewy threads.

And I am adrift in clouded wells

of her depraved mind, drawn

by forked electricity,

beauty of frenzied lunacy.

My mind 

Is stuck

In eternal

Vicious cycles.

I'm not

Quite sure

Who is me

And who is you.

Our bodies

Are the same,

My mind

Fragmented.

Into you 

And me

Pour blood 

And tears.

My art

Jewel toned

Razor edge

Of glass.

We scream

At each other

Because we're

Both real.

I whirl

And twirl

As you

Fall down.

But me

And you

Are subjective 

To whimsy.

Our beautifully 

Demented minds-

You and me 

Intertwined.

Our world 

Is of two

Yet we

Are of one.

Come in

And explore

Seeing double

In our world.

There are flowers on my windowsill.

I don't know who they're from.

They smell like freedom

But I'm in chains

I can't stand their bright colors

They're making me crazy

I have to get rid of them

god they're so heavy

Throw them out the window!

Break the vase!

One petal remains,

A small token of freedom.

I tuck into my pocket

And sit back down on my bed.

Did I bring those flowers here?

I think I stole them from the hall.

I'm not supposed to leave my room

But the door was left ajar

And they can't expect me to stay.

If I sit still too long

My wallpaper comes alive

And I have to throw myself against the wall

To kill the demons there.

I rise again, to the window

And find a shard of the vase I smashed.

I hold it in my palm then make a fist

Until bright red blooms on my hand.

Such a lovely color...

It reminds me of freedom.

I don't know what I am.

I was just one once,

A bubbly child, playing with her thoughts.

But then another entity entered,

A vain girl, concerned with her appearance. 

And yet another joined the pair,

An insecure teenager, worried about her place. 

These three fought.

And out of the wreckage of the battle climbed another,

A broken woman, controlled by her doubts. 

These four now reside, leaving me to wonder:

What am I?

Do you have one?

Have what?

A demented mind.

Ha! Not me!

Yup, you do.

How so?

It takes you ten minutes to wash four dishes.

I like clean.

You change your pillowcase every night?

Of course. I like clean.

You scrub your kitchen floor every Saturday.

I like clean. When do you scrub yours?

Hmmm, maybe once a year.

What?

I'm not gonna eat off the floor.

Still....

You scrub your tomatoes, peppers, squash....

So? I like clean. You don't scrub yours?

I rinse them and rub the dirt off.

What?

Haven't gotten sick yet.

Just wait, you'll see I'm right.

You think?

You'll see.

She sees a world.

One we will never know.

It is flawless and safe,

nature and man living in harmony,

the skies forever blue

and the sun always shining above,

not a cloud mars the horizon.

She sits alone in her room,

holding sticks of red and blue,

letting them bleed out onto sheets,

releasing her thoughts for all to see.

She's never seen the world outside of these white walls,

she's never seen the suffering and heartbreak.

In her head, she dances with butterflies

and rules supreme of her fantasies.

They say, "Let her be"

and no one objects.

Here she stays, inside these clean walls,

a pure child trapped in the body of a woman.

On a table

Under a shadow

In my mind

There live the howlers.

Behind my eyes

Within my brain

Upon my tongue

They control my very soul.

Inside my hands

Beneath my words

Underneath my actions

They slither, driving me to sin.

Out of mind

Toward the abyss

Above the inferno

Howl with me now, devour the dark.

Untouched by normal thought

Unrestricted and free

Uncaged and uncaught

Each idea liberated a self-creation

Unsullied by the boring

Seasoned with boundless imagination

Clever to the point of unbelievable

Moulded with the surreal

Wild to the point of inconceivable

Bubbles of senility

Drifting out relentlessly

Encased in a possibility

…this is a beautifully demented mind!

----------------------------------------------

© M.Withers/M.Strudwick . All rights reserved.

Both the name The EriduSerpent/EriduSerpent

and any written material is owned solely by the above named.

Permission granted for all written material to be shared but not for profit.

Printing or publishing is prohibited without seeking permission first from said owner.