When the Mask Slides Away

I wrote this after a long phone conversation with someone who was once a close friend. This person was in my life at a very confusing time, and I placed him on a pedestal that, admittedly, he didn't deserve. But when someone is your best friend, martial arts instructor and giving you a place to live, well, there's a compromise that has to be reached.

Unfortunately, it was all one way.

After the inevitable parting of ways, we didn't speak for almost 20 years. Flash forward to 2006, and I start putting my videos on youtube. My "friend" saw some of these, and got in touch with me...And I realized he hadn't changed a damn bit in 20-odd years.

I don't normally title poems, but this one's called "When the Mask Slides Away"

There’s nothing left to say
There’s no debt left to pay
We’re even now, we can walk away

The price a friendship costs
The bitter sting when it’s lost
It’s just grains of sand. We can let the past lay.

Playing for time, you lost more than you could ever find
When the mask slides away.

Living a lie you lose sight of the things you left behind
When the mask slides away.

The choices that we make
The hearts we have to break
We always hate those who we most envy

The way we used to be
The way we used to see
And what we were...Wasn't you, and isn't me

Losing the light your soul seems to take a different path
When the mask slides away.

Something inside just snaps, and you can't see the other half
When the mask slides away.

Deep in the night, and your eyes are still open wide
When the mask slides away.

Paying the price, you forget what it was you sacrificed
When your mask slides away.

You can argue all you like
I know you think you’re right
But look behind – Do you even see what you’ve lost?

Turning your back says much more than words could ever hide
When your mask slides away.

All that I’ve done and regret, at least I have gotten on with life
When my mask slid away.

All that we were has sunk into something less than us
And now it’s far too late

We’re too far along in life to ever regain that trust
We just turn away

Enough

I’m running out of patience for the fools
I’m cutting off their access to the tools
I’m letting go of things I thought were cool

I’m setting off the lighter to the fuse
I’m sucking down the remnants of the booze
I’m letting go the person I accused

The funny thing, this didn’t have to go down
Another thing I thought would never show out
The oddest thing, I didn’t even know, now

You never see the gold in front of you
You never know the people who are true
You never get a chance to learn the truth

Three Word Wednesday

I'm still getting my poetic process down, but I think three word Wednesday would be a good start for public posting. I got the idea from Tiel's blog.

Last weeks words:

Corpse
Damage
Knife

The reasons of the rainfall

The passion and the price

The coffee breath and highway eyes

Of a filling-station Christ

Say it’s something from a daydream

Call it leverage for need

Its bacon-wrapped and tangible,

And elegant, to a degree

The top, the side, the timer and the bomb

The tic, the toc, the damage and the aftermath

The cops, the corpse, the splinter and the thumb

The French, the fools, the butcher and the bombardier

Like flesh of blood and muscle,

Like knife of wood and bone

The symptomatic tempo of her undulating groans

The hollow wish of deadbeats

The knock is all you hear

The fingertips of lavender and opiated fears

The chant, the coin, the feather and the blood

The God, the trap, the bastard and the barricade

The sex, the drugs, the Raven and the book

The shit, the shack, the lover and the maniac

The girl, the dog, the stitches and the shots

The loss, the search, the gypsies and the underpass

The sin, the filth, the savior and the cross

The wine, the cheese, the marriage and the photograph

So Fucking Wrong

It’s so fucking wrong

Nothing’s right for long

Just one step across the county line and

It’s all gone fucking wrong.

It’s just so unfair

No buyer beware

One shell still lodged in the chamber

No way to repair

It’s not what I wanted

It’s not what I meant

One left turn at the stoplight

And everything hit the pavement (Hit the pavement)

Don’t come too close

Don’t speak too loud

Let me leave before the party’s started

Get out of the crowd

Turn off the light

I could give you a fright

One look into abysmal hatred

You won’t forget the sight

It’s so fucking wrong

The place I don’t belong

The man I’ll never become

It’s all long, long gone.

What It's All ABout

This is just a place where I plan on putting my poetry...IF I decide to actually publish any of it. I'm surrounded by great authors & poets, so you may never see anything here, as I will only stick my neck out so far.

...But you never know!