The Eternal Footman

Furrow

2007-03-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

So furrow your brow
purse your lips
squint your eyes
and lower your head
do all that you need
to show your discontent
Open your eyes and
therefore your mouth
raise your head and
throw up your arms
You have yet to say
a thing that matters
you have yet to use
your knowing look
to influence the eyes of all
I felt your anger
but not your passion
I saw your glare
but not your heart.

Words by Lisa

Conscious

2007-03-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

An urge to speak is pressing against my tongue
Loud and screaming and beyond silence
A pillow behind my head, a buffer between bone and wood
Who once rested against this tree?
On a spring afternoon, with another tree in hand
Spelling out nonsense to those who hold it
An artist's hand, turning beauty into beauty
Cutting down beauty to create it
Age might be fickle, but youth is desperate
That song today made me cry
The movie broke my heart
The painting stole my soul
The water drowned my senses
That subtle being turned my eyes
Never yet always the same
Consciousness is frightening

Words by Lisa

Never

2007-03-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Never always sometimes everywhere,
maybe surely nowhere in peace.
Inside peace forever but outside
peace always especially and hardly
ever. Usually important yet always
useless and not necessarily amazing.
It eats and chews and never digests,
literally consumed and partially
enjoyed and so clearly ridiculous
and actually without point or desire.
Peace.

Words by Lisa

I Ate My Heart

2007-02-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

Today I ate my heart
But it will be back tomorrow, I'm sure

I've waited for that other day
for when my heart was pure

I left behind a bitter frown
I had before I was tall

Instead I own a bitter smile
Ignorance is bliss, after all

Words by Lisa

irrational fears

2007-01-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

in between breaths
my heart is stopping
emptying of life
with fate just gawking
not forgetting choice,
i'm leaving nothing
shocking as it is for you...
a weak vein showing
how fragile a collapse
could be, while knowing
that taste is a challenge
fertile in blossom.
it will undergo fatigue
without being locked in.
a frighteningly awkward pause
amidst tight-lipped talking
proves vague insight
to conditions still mocking.

-m.r.

Mel

2007-01-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

She fell with grace, not from it.
She looked back with a glare but forward with a glint.
Beauty might be the first thing they see,
but gold is what they will carry ever after.

Words by Lisa

Split

2007-01-18T09:00:00.001-08:00

And then it struck again
it wasn’t lightening
but it was close

And with that slight
impossibility
a light bulb blew

But before I could
take a breath
and start a word

It left me again
with only a
vivid aftershock.

Words by Lisa

I'll Make My Way

2007-01-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

My head might not be on straight today
but tonight I will be alright
mostly disorganized as usual,
though not completely fallen apart
I’ll hear that melodic medicine
and inhale the magic too,
and maybe for a few hours
it won’t wont hurt me so much to move
it’s easier to be free tonight
with the lights down and
my mind wide open for awhile
when the pressure is on
that one on the stage
not on how I make my way
they say that love is ultimate
but I can’t see how anything
can be better than this moment
on this day.

Words by Lisa

not.worth it.

2007-01-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

suddenly before me stood
instances worth saving
they spoke in broken fragments
reflected by angled light, and they're fading
but today's been particularly smooth sailing
for a ship without a sail
i got to work on time again
not intimidated enough to fail

m.r.

Their Songs Fill the Halls

2007-01-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

Iron bends in arcs
crossing firmly overhead
another sun rises to set
another feather shed

She considers their wings
As envy burns through
if she had those wings
she'd fly away too

Collected in her rooms
no frames needed on the walls
they alone are enough
Their songs fill the halls

But their songs are lies
to her unknowing ears
if she felt what she heard
she wouldn't waste their years

When We All Forgot

2007-01-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

So those plans we had
well they didnt work out
that was a dream that
all but fell through
but hey it's those dreams,
those torn at the seams
that make me who I am
and turn you into you

And it's you who said it
who started the ball
not rolling, but tumbling
down the rocky old hill
that hill full of dreams
the ones torn at the seams
that ends with its wall
built by broken will

And right now I can't think
of what made me agree
what made me say yes
to the adventurous plot
for I knew it was a dream
to be torn by its seam
and I knew it was my heart
to break when we all forgot.

Words by Lisa

Corners

2006-12-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

He holds her hand
and she looks to her knees
hiding her shy smile.
She's not ready yet
not ready for him to see
the love the reaches to
the corners of her mouth
as they lift towards
the glitter in her eyes.

Words by Lisa

Flyaways

2006-12-01T18:25:00.000-08:00

I want to observe
the way you react to rainfall
do you cower against needle-sharp
wind soaked resistance
or stride heavily against pitted puddles?
does your hair go a-mess
with the stress of the weather
or are you above concerning yourself
with what's out of your control?

-m.r.

Our Heads Belong in the Clouds

2006-11-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

Lids are not obstructing my view,
yet my gaze is stubbornly blind.
A monotonous monologue is
spoken at me, not to me.
Eyes are fixed anywhere
but where they should be,
unconsciously obstinate.
No one wants to listen,
their dreams are more inviting.
Our heads belong in the clouds,
where life is easier to accept
and getting up in the morning
is not a threat, but a privilege

Words by Lisa, with a special thanks to Bree for being an inspiration.

Spark

2006-11-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

That night, that evening
those hours that passed.
That moment in time,
a magic was cast

A spark, a light,
a kindling fire
a glow in the eyes
that climbed ever higher

A deafening whisper,
a voice that spoke,
tapped on my shoulder
it was time I awoke

And so I was saved
my god I was blessed
my heart can settle
my eyes can rest.

No man at my door
With shame on his face,
Could sell me a vision
Without you in this place

Words by Lisa and Martha

Writer's Block

2006-11-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

there must be a thousand ways
to break a cloud covering
with as much power to
make me re-think a pen-print

made first on a page
intimidating in it's effortless white
i'm standing cornered in a room i decorated
not with reason but remorse

hushed conservative darkness
spreading through the wavelengths
i never agreed to this!
numbing hesitation meets countless re-dos
i tell you, i never wanted this

it might be another story
if a metaphor was properly used
to express something beyond a simile - but
i'm sorry to say it ended there

...wearily, nonetheless gleeful
to be appreciated at all

-m.r.

Quickened Pulse

2006-11-27T17:54:00.000-08:00

I claim to see little transition
Between day and sun-down
Obliged by passing colors,
To ignore them.

-m.r.

Words

2006-11-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

I was moved without stepping
Those things he told me
I don't need wings
I have words to hold me

Words and Visual by Lisa

Endeavors Left Behind...

2006-11-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

I see the eager souls
ready to capture life
to store in their pocket

But my pocket,
my pocket has a hole

My pockets are sharp
when they're littered
with this shrapnel

the remnants clinging,
clinging to the fibers

My hands are shredded
by the lost causes
the endeavors left behind

When will the wounds,
the wounds become scars?

Envy might be the devil's virtue
but who can really say
if that's right or true

When everything I ask
is just to be you
to be you

Words and visual by Lisa