WORDS LIKE DAGGERS
A Poetry Collection
Steve Wands
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SMASHWORDS EDITION
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Published by:
Steve Wands on SMASHWORDS
Words Like Daggers: A Poetry Collection
Copyright © 2010 by Steve Wands
Cover Design and Layout by Apparatus Revolution
http://www.staydeadrev.com
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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A word from the author
I'd like to take a second to say thank you to my family and friends for your support, friendship and inspiration--Thank You.
And, to the readers who took a chance by picking this book up--I hope you've found what you were looking for.
To Jacob, may these words give you a greater understanding of who I was when my time comes to pass.
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WORDS LIKE DAGGERS
A Poetry Collection
* * * * *
Steve Wands
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Words Like Daggers is c 2010 Steve Wands
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be replicated or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical. Including: photocopying, recording, or by any information storage & retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or author.
Book Design and Layout by Apparatus Revolution.
Published by Apparatus Revolution in conjunction with Createspace.
www.stevewands.blogspot.com
www.staydeadrev.com
www.pleasestaydead.blogspot.com
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WORDS LIKE DAGGERS
A Poetry Collection
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COFFINS FOR MEMORIES
Warm-hearted friends depart on journeys to the abyss
To haunts I cannot travel, to times that have passed by
The dirt and debris of our past times kicks up
Leaving eyes with something in them, dirt we say
Photographs crammed in shoeboxes under the bed
Coffins for memories, the obligatory 'remember when'
Oblige the nostalgic, drive by memory lane
Let's not forget: we're still alive
The good-times well doesn't have to run dry
We make the good times
There's just not enough time
PRETTY DISASTER, PRETTY DISASTROUS
There's no better truths than the lies we tell ourselves
It's not all for nothing, there's something more
Call me liar, call me savior---whatever makes it real.
We're all little nothings trying to be something
Spin me a spider-web of lies and leave me as bait for the beast
Whatever it takes to get you through the night
I feel like something when you smile at me
Maybe to you I'm somebody, maybe you're what makes me real
My anchor to the world, when you go I'm going with you
I'd follow you to hell and back, a one way trip? You bet
Goodbye daylight, hello darkness
Spinning out of control
I look into your eyes
I know what I have to do
Whatever it takes
Whatever makes it real
If I'm dreaming, don't let me wake
If I'm dreaming, kill me quickly
I'm still waiting to rise, before I can fall
Gotta have it, man I need it, don't you want it
You're my obsession
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW DOESN'T KNOW YOU LIKE I DO
In a civilized society we rape, we murder, and we laugh about it
We pillage and plunder, fires burn as the earth pulls us under
Gloat about your actions
Take pleasure in pain
Walk hand in hand
As vengeance follows
The fires burn, but not as hot as the flames of vengeful retribution
Swallow hard and walk tall, walk around with your head held high
Your end is nigh
Revenge taken
Your end is nigh
Who's laughing now
SLEEP NOW
Vivid dreams of little deceits, tiny tremors that travel under the sheets free to roam along the pillow talk and the blanket screams. Fingers turn into claws; a gentle touch turns into a knife in the middle of the road causing a car crash of nerves. People are screaming and looking for help--it's a pile-up reaching for the sky. Eyelids tremble, sown together with sleepy silky threads as black as ink and as soft as lashes.
FIRST BLOOD/FIRST LOVE
I'm hanging on by a thread
On dreams better left for dead
Don't burst my bubble
Or I'm headed for trouble
How am I supposed to feel
What am I supposed to say
That I feel just fine,
And that everything's okay?
IT'S ALL A BLUR
Tiny eyes set deep inside the folds of skin that make up a brow
Furrowed in anguish and self-loathing, as usual
Eyes beadier than ever, wet like oil and void of color
The mirror betrays, hallucinatory nightmare images of an old angry bastard staring back
Time, you bitch, stop screwing with mind
This isn't me and that sure as hell can't be you
It feels like we just met, and yet here we are
Lost kids at the beach staring into a void where the ocean and skyline smother each other under the glimmering broken glass shards of moonlight
Time erodes like hollow laughter at the theatre
To cave in our souls in the wet death of avalanche
Freezing the evidence that no one cares to find
It's no crime, it's just the nature of it all
We're all just lost kids in the pajama-skins of old folks
Nostalgia is a mistress, Time is a bitch
And life is a short sentence with poor grammar
I HAVEN'T HAD MY COFFEE YET
Save it kid, no one wants to hear the bullshit;
That cacophony that fills the halls and takes the elevator all the way up only to burst like a broken water pipe and rain all over my God blessed parade.
What's the matter? Some dame broke your heart or are you just so used to spilling your guts to any Joe with a cup in his hands and a pair of open ears?
Both? Well, that's funnie
st joke I've heard all day.
Move along, do your thing and let me do mine.
We don't have to bond. We don't have to be friends.
Hell, we don't even have to like each other.
It's okay, trust me, it happens, more than you know.
DAMAGED GOODS
Distance makes the heart grow fonder,
but I'm not fond of you, never have and I never will
Give me a reason to believe that you aren't worthless
and I'll give you a reason that proves it doesn't matter
You can't change what you are
And what you are is no friend of mine, stop wasting my time, get on with your lifeless life and get the fuck out of mine
LEGACY
Swallow your pride
Its okay to die a little inside
A new day breaks off another dream
Swallow it down
The sand feels like shattered glass
And you bleed into the ocean
The tide drags it out, pulling it under
Nothing remains, except for the shell
Brittle, flaking remnant
Picked up by curious hands
A beautiful bit of decay
Broken lives along the sands
GHOST
The words of a ghost echo in my ear, the words of the heartless, they do not move me
My tired feet tread upon an earth as barren as your emotions, like blood from a stone
Destroy the heartless, let them perish by the wayside, perceived strength is weakness
On borrowed time you still find a way to escape and run from the things you think you love
A coward you were, and a coward you are, so why not die like one too
Become the memory that you wish you were, leave the impact you never could, just do something
A coward dies a thousand deaths, and you're afraid of one
THE RUINED ONES
These words are wounds turned into scars
I've peeled the scabs so they'd be sure to mark
My skin in ways that won't come off
As I go along down this dark road home
Please, don't change, I like you the way you are
With a heart hell bound from the start
Unknowingly along for the ride
With red rimmed tear filled eyes
And mascara drips running down your thighs
Please, don't change, I like you the way you are
Too broken hearted to give a fuck
Too asleep to ever wake up
Too damned to repent
And too careless to think of it
LUST FOR LEVIATHAN
Scarlet letters drip from the wall
A message in blood meant for us all
Headless bodies hang from the ceiling
The terror leaves us wanting more
Secret desires buried deep in the dirt
The worms writhe among them
Safe from the light but close to surfacing
The serrated edges of an emotional climax
Hold tight the blanket of innocence
Hold tight...
HARM'S WAY
There's a hole in the earth
And no amount of needlework can patch it
Unnamable things tore their way in
To pick fruit from the trees of life
Just to watch us wither and die
Our torment is their entertainment
At least we feel alive
Staring unto the unfathomable demons
The things of nightmares
The earth shudders, breaking
Like rats we try to hide
Like roaches we skitter
Like screams we begin
And abruptly end
DISSOLVE
Take this heart and break it
Cast it to the ocean like the ash of the fallen
Its dead, and broken
The gears are rusted, the pump's too worn to work
Give it life by bringing death
If the earth won't keep it then the ocean must
May the waves grant rebirth
May the ocean depths stay forever deep
BITTER END
Save that last sip of cold coffee for later
The world is coming to an end right now
You'll thank me for it then, when you really need that last sip
It'll be bitter, and stale, but it'll be wet
It'll taste nothing like regret
More like a swallow of salvation
A brief escape into the world that was
DREADED HEARTS YET CONTENT
Like a kid relieved, the monsters aren't real
But something lurks inside the head
Behind the eyes, in the grooves of the brain
Compulsion, a disheartening dread
Desire dictates the architecture of the mind
The unreal becomes real and the now becomes then
Creatures populate the barren wastes
The darker tastes are satiated for now
All things lose their luster
When the dark is no longer dark enough
Will you travel the depths of depravity?
Will you forsake humanity to become the monster?
The days are short, and the nights a blur
Love finds a way into the most hateful hearts
With a foot in two different worlds, falling is eventual
Land soft if you mean to save her the hurt
REVENGE FILM PLOT LINES
Vengeance hangs in the air
Unmoved by the most gust-hardy of winds
Conversations with a ghost will reveal
Motives for mayhem the likes of which
Twitch irritably on the mind's eye
Claustrophobic passengers board
The vessel of heartache and heartthrob
Some carry knives, and others only fierce eyes
Stares cut, and blades rust and go dull
Hurt hits everyone, some saved by delay
Others can see it coming but can't move away
A force of nature takes man by storm
The vengeful avenges, free to mourn
The heartache never goes away
Scars remain a stain across happy hearts
That will always burn with rage
Today is the day where nothing will change
The scars will always be scars
MURDEROUS MESSAGE
There's a message in the mail room
It's been there such a long time
Waiting to be read
The impatient ink turns red
The words cryptic
And the handwriting is eratic
Like spotty audio cut by static
It's from a man I don't know
Who wants me to kill
I feel him behind me
And even once I take to the road
Words written in blood
A skin envelope
The paper too
My fingers itch
I wish I wore gloves
There's blood on my hands
DEEP CUTS
Touch this wound with dirty fingers, prod
Prod deep like curious worms, or lovers
Infect me, dissect me, do what you will
At least do what you can
Give me that charisma
Let me steal that smile
If I stay close maybe something will rub off
Show me what you see
Take me up on that natural high
Let me bleed out across the sky
SEASON'S END
Summer's end is nigh, approaching like a race horse
Its gallop a graceful fury fit for a photo-finish
The insect-eaten greenery falls softly to the gutter