Darkness

IN THE BOX; BOUND

/ deuxiemepeau / 4 Comments

 

Imagine beauty
bundled in a box,
locked from light
and bound to blindness,
imagine your eyes
banished to its bounty
while it smothers in silence,
deep in the darkness.
Imagine freedom
in that very box,
bound, blind
and banished.
Imagine strength
deprived of that force,
see it tampered, tainted
and tarnished.
The refugee
on the road
holds hope
in a box bound,
breathless for the day
it can be opened.

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Inspiration came from the poetry prompt ‘Box’ from @Microprompt on Twitter.

Audio version available on Soundcloud:

BETWEEN THE BONE AND THE BROKEN, PART 5; UNDER A FOLD IN THE OCEAN

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Under bedclothes,
under darkness,
under the weight
of all that once was,
I twist and turn
through folds
that blankets
can’t seem to find
freedom from.

Under. Weight.

Under water,
undercurrent,
under pressure
at the deep end
of denial,
I twist and turn
through waves
the sea
can’t seem to
ship back to shore.

Under. Pressure.

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio version available on Soundcloud:

 

LIGHT, LIGHT, NO LIGHT

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Day 24: National Poetry Writing Month #NaPoWriMo

Hot flames
burn beneath
the breath of
whiskey’s heat,
dry and stale,
the eyes
like coal
never burn out;
never burnt enough,
trapped by heat,
suffocating heat,
slowly smoking
more smoke,
cigarettes,
lighter,
light, no light
in the darkness,
find the match,
burn it,
break it,
matches break,
all that is matched breaks
snaps like thin sticks,
fragile like brittle bones,
they all burn out
or break
but linger in the air
like whiskey
on the breath,
dry, stale…

All word and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio version available on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/damien-donnelly-2/lighter-light-no-light

 

SYNCOPATED SADNESS

/ deuxiemepeau / 6 Comments

Day 17 National Poetry Writing Month 

Dwelling
deep in the darkness
where hearts breathe less,
held hidden below the humour,
like a tumour, there’ve been shadows
dancing, all this while, to a beat he cannot follow,
to a music he cannot swallow, that cannot be
caressed, a syncopated sadness
with no cord considered,
with no harmony held
within this hell,
a scintillating
score
of deafening
silence, no more
synergy within the darkness,
no more energy where the light is less.
and less, in this darkness, dwelling deep below
the surface, where the beast makes mess and worms wiggle
through worries, wiggle through niggles, through all
of what’s been left, after all these years,
after the fight and the fears, after
the struggle, after the tears,
after the lies, the raw
lies, exposed
lies,
sharpened
lies that cut like glass,
glass that holds no reflection
but distraction, glass that cracks
with the weight of what’s been done. Crash
and see fragility smash on the floor
of the darkness with no door.
Dwelling deep down in the
darkness, there are
sharp edges
to swallow.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

COME HAS THE SHADOW

/ deuxiemepeau / 1 Comment

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And the black crow comes calling…

and summer is falling,
has burnt in blushing breaths before us,
before worshiped walls and rushing rivers,
as if it’s taken to tombs or swept below waters
raging in the ruins, sunken into shade,
shadows slip winter’s wings over sunshine,
colour hiding, as if hibernating,
climbing tall towers till showers pass.

Light is waning as if washed away
from where we bathed yesterday,
like dreams that dissolve at daybreak,
as if the world isn’t capable,
as if hope isn’t sustainable;

sweep in, stir up, swoop out, leaving us wishing, waiting, wanting.

And the black crow spreads its wings
as autumn stirs and winter sings
in shallow pools on sidewalks,
in river beds where torrents stalk.

And the black crow crashes down on the storm,
all light now shadow, all colour now fading,
all freckles now a flicker of what once was,
all changed in the flutter of a wing.

Come has the crow and we cower from its cawing.

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio version available on Soundcloud:

THE COMFORT OF THE SHADOWS

/ deuxiemepeau / 9 Comments

 

Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 00.58.03

I seek out silence
as I settle in the shadows,
as I settle in the darkness,
as the darkness drowns me in its silence.
I seek out comfort,
I seek out solace,
a space safe from sonic stimulants
escaping sound
beneath the silence,
a refuge from the rage
that roars within my head,
raging, roaring, raiding reason,
cover me in comforting cradles
until unconsciousness carries me off.
I lean into nothing,
the soothing embrace of the nothingness
blanketed within the darkness,
l lean in to draw breath,
I lean in to draw silence from these hands
no longer holding pencils, painting pictures,
painting words in lyrical lines.
I seek to draw distractions
from this piling pressure
that towers over me,
that topples down on me,
that trembles tap tap on my temples,
trembles, trembles,
a terrific torture, torture, torture
pounding, pounding, pounding, pounding.
I seek shelter from the weight that weighs against neck,
that climbs over blood and bone,
that steals sight from eye
and human from head.
I seek comfort
in the silence of the all-encompassing darkness
and wait for the suffocating pounding to stop.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

 

CREATION IS FALLING

/ deuxiemepeau / 2 Comments

 

There are shadows falling
shifting suspicions into shapes
there are shadows falling
features fading into fears

There are shadows falling

There are dreams waking
as babies sleep under blankets
there are dreams waking
as stars diminish in darkening skies

There are dreams disappearing
within an impossible reality

There are shadows in dreams
there is no light in the darkness
there are shadows in dreams
there is no comfort in revenge

There are dreams
falling all around us
there is hope dying
in bombs and bullets and blood
there is a darkness
draining the daylight

There is no longer light
There is no longer comfort

There is only chaos
and creation is crying
and society is dying

Surely this is not the truth
Surely this is not the dream
Surely this is not life

my life
your life
the cost of life
the loss of life

There is a fear
wrapped around us
cloaking us
choking us
it flows through us
like a venom, vicious
making us victims
to our own vices
making us suspicious
of neighbouring races

It is drowning us
poisoning all possibility

There are shadows falling
dealing out devisions
shifting suspicions into shapes
and turning innocent into ashes

 

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly.

IN THE LIGHT OF LIES

/ deuxiemepeau / 5 Comments

 

Behind the darkness,
before the morning wakes,
I reach for you, one last time
and accept all that must fall away
in the light of our lies and mistakes.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Photograph: Light flooding the Hato Caves on the Dutch caribbean island of Curacao 

HE TOOK THE LIGHT

/ deuxiemepeau / 10 Comments

 

He took the light
wrapped himself around it
as the rain fell outside
as the machine beeped
in the room next to him
the same monotonous sound
unchanging, unending, eternal

He took the light
held it to his body
as the darkness fell outside
as the machine beeped
in the room next to him
the same hypnotic motion
sounding, stopping, sounding, stopping

He took the light
down beneath the covers
as if light could conquer darkness
as if light could elevate illness
while all the world was sleeping
but the machine kept on beeping
calling, signalling, coming closer

He took the light
before the light took him…

 

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly