Ash

Standing here, stacked damaged goods

I bring me back into the woods

The fantastic tales I tell

Of wondrous magic spell

Weaving winds together tempest thrown

Burnt cinder press ash on softened bone

Bound together with winding vine lace

I do this in my secret place

Where faces see not my wild eyes and snicker

Deep in resinous forests the air becomes thicker

Confused are made wanderers, disoriented and lost

And when seeking for solace, are greeted by frost

But this you won't understand

With wet cement covered hands

You've build the walls that keep me away

Ear pressed upon them to hear you I stay

Still the violence is done

You've gathered you guns

And firing in all directions

Without any recollection

You find yourself spent and pleading 'why'?

Noticing not the truth you speak with a lie

That it isn't one sided

And you have not decided

The commitment you lack

Forever loop circling back

With anticipating gaze like a vulture

From your living zombie sepulchre

Knowing neither true life nor death

Evading the real, short timed breath

And I am no better for you are not

Reacting to you contains my thought

Our antagonistic & tumultuous legacy

Defines the contours of our jilted intimacy

But not alone are we the ones beyond the wall

As we walk we remember that it too shall fall

Yet always reaching for new rocks you reconstruct

While heavy you become and in shifting soil stuck

Too ponderous now to rediscover abandoned wonder

Unsettled by change, shaken by storm cloud & thunder

Fearing what you’ve blocked off on the other side

Unwilling to face what’s within, you run and hide

But I can only ever meet you halfway in this space

Can’t lift your mask but simply beckon to this place

If you should chance upon the cracks in that wall

Hearing beauty through them, melody of siren call

Rush not nor scurry to apply another thick patch

Rather, call to me, then wait for our eyes to match  

Broken Rhythm

A spark inside frozen cold

Regaining time past lustre

World is wicked so told

And bravery needs be bold

From rickety trust can muster

The memories of lying disease

Assault cured leather defence

In quiet moments on knees

For fretful relief from these

By pleading no fault’r pretence

Season brings among other things

A breath of renewed awe & wonder

With crowns on ground garden kings

Chase rabbits, fox, fowl and rings

Take to dancing in rain & thunder

But never does one dance alone

In these times of balanced bliss

 ’Stead spin upon grand rolling stone

Precipice edge with splintered bone

Extended by hand and lips to kiss

Face of the forest finds ways to manifest

Alluring smile & laughter it's speech

Labyrinthine pathways it's test

Frustration and pounding of chest

Must be overcome by we seekers each

And sparks find home in wild spaces unknown

To be cradled and thus to rekindle

Though icy winds still blow

And failed harvests be sown

Needed dedication shan’t dwindle

Rather coax from spark a glowing fire

Casting shadows away and to all sides

Emblazoned center with right willed desire

Name projections greed, fear, malice, pride

 Step over these w’ caution confident in stride

With life blooming in each step’s wake

The motion both a leaving & becoming

It gives as terribly as it does take

Leaves feelings unable to shake

’Spite roar in the beat of drumming

-Brandon Fenton 2015

Still

Still these trembling hands

With yours in woven bands

Show to me your grace in mercy

Lift to me your face though it hurts me

Remind me now how to hold you dear

Free from your touch that I have come to fear

Thaw this battered body so that then

I may feel the warmth of you once again

Relax my stuttered breath and noose

So we may tell each our silent truths

Every tear holds back an ocean’s weight

Every laugh conceals a pain far too great

The scars run deep as darkened caverns

And all that I’ve found are broken lanterns

Too long I’ve been left to lay in wait

Self-effacing and prone to hesitate

As you steady me, and I support you

Eyes show signs of all that we’ve been through

And we may not know what to do

But I will hold you

Just like I told to you

For a moment we may pause

Retract our feisty feline claws

To banish the weakness in our wills

And you to hear me say that I love you…still

-Brandon Fenton 2015

As Without, So Within

  Within my hand is earth, stick, and stone
 
In cold blown wind I stand thick rigid bones
 
Water from my eyes runs down upon my feet
 
And fires that I see make not warming heat
 
The street is processed dense black tar paved
 
All I greet are distressed, in bars, enslaved
 
Crowded by protruding empire of obelisks
 
Confounded & colluding desire shoved risk
 
Both mesmerized just as materially forced
 
To rationalize, fake smile, & stay the course
 
Great wars were lost before wiping sleep from eyes
 
While upon beaten backs, the dreamless did not rise
 
I let loose the earth, stick, and stone from my hand
 
For held within my skin is sun, wind, ocean, and land

- Brandon Fenton 2014

Habritual
 

The magnificent now is felt so deep
 
But from perfectly pitched perch I leap
 
Into swirling whirlpool comforting sleep
 
Beneath the dulled diluted distraction
 
One becomes lulled lame satisfaction
 
And actions bear the wear and tear
 
Of self-sabotaging sneaky snares
 
Cannot escape what once is caught
 
With fleeting flowing of random thought
 
To sense the system’s hushing constraint
 
Halting loosed movement, brush, and paint
 
The image made clear and represented
 
Guilt, shame steered, and unrepentant
 
Without solid soil nor cover but foil
 
Contraption contorted over much toil
 
Where the arrow points
 
Pulls marrow and joints
 
They become unhinged
 
Nerves numb & singed
 
A lone cry for the wild
 
Recall that as a child
 
With smile now bared
 
Without further cares

The way was once known

My, how you’ve grown
 

                                                                                                           -Brandon Fenton 2014