RYAN KILLEEN

640 words

Everyday my walk is so pleasant

I waltz up to the Whitman house

The old abandoned lady surrounded

By the young bucks and buns in the oven

It sits in silent elite

A wise old construction

Garnering the respect of the youngins

Being sought for advice from the babes

Plants grow large and untamed around it

Like gathering children on the preschool story carpet

Around their sweet old teacher

Just waiting for the day the building creaks

All day it soaks up wisdom

Then the day that the sponge is full

It will groan

One all knowing phrase

That will save the world

 

Remix

 

She’s beautiful

Grown old and still strong

Dark for now but life waits in her rafters

Spine compressed some

But a brain is stacked

And waiting

There’s a switch that will flash

An orgasm building pressure

Since probably the 90’s

An explosion of blinding

Heaving

Electricity

Then the foundation will shudder

And all things will know it

I will lay bearded with the rats and rafters

Reading Borges

And scribbling on the walls inside her

One day

For the of my life

And it will make sense

To me

Briefly

In this old house

Aflame with brilliance

Time will stop

The questions will be answered

For the instant amounting to a universe

Then

More questions

Begat

And the ancient trees outside will lean

Toward the windows of the mind

The nuclear flash of insane utterance will blow

Their leaves back

Then it’s gone

And the soul will calm

And the bricks will cool

And I will not leave a corpse

 

Rewrite

 

Chimney wheezing after years of breathing fire

That kept eager minds warm

Floor boards moan

Years after their young doors were penetrated

Year in and year out

By strong young bodies

Different suitors always

Now dry and un-tread upon

It will be used again

Impregnated by the sounds of many feet

And laughter

The womb will echo

Ready to belch out intelligence

I will serve drinks in her

Open it up in the summer, air it out

And turn her on in the winter

Clear rust from her pipes to spew life again

Trim leaves from her throat

Tickling and choking

 

I wish I could sail round the world

And follow the moon

Night forever

Always a dream

The sun, a wakening

Always chasing me

Pressing to not dream

Forever at my heels about false responsibilities

The sun is governmental, capitalistic, bossarriffic

Parental, everything forceful

Night is breath and at my side

A friend always willing to do whatever seems fun

I can see the stars in the distance

Keeping minds of distance planets preoccupied with light

The vast blackness between me and them

Is a space to float free and see everything

All at once or one at a time

My planet will always be nighfallen

Not dark but open

Not ominous but promising

The sun is the ceiling light that exposes

The walls of the globe

Never a happy home

Lights out

Lets us look up through the convertible

To see that we are not the authority on life

Let us not forget that open space exists

Between worlds unknown

Use it to fill with endless possibilities

 

I’m going to lose my mind someday

But in doing so I will finally find

The world I’ve been waiting for

 

The moment you’re born the clock starts ticking

Everything you do will be timed

Including exact time of birth and death

I’m going to run in zig zags and circles

Try to lose its tail

Confuse time

Maybe it will leave me be for a while

I don’t want to do that now

Or get this done by then

I just don’t wanna

I didn’t ask for this life

Or to be timed in my advance

Can you stop the clock

And let me watch