Beat The Clock
1
moonlight so blue
it left no trace
on my skin
as his fingers
followed the flow
of the edge
where the blue
became pale flesh
the flow
where finger tips
were replaced
with
teeth biting
2
this is not the time
no one will tell you
when the time is right
but when it’s wrong
you are told not what to do
but never what to do
you’ll never be assured
because
everything you do is wrong
of course
over time
the right way becomes the wrong way
there is a right way
it’s for you to figure out
no one will tell you how
only punish you
for each and every mistake
love will be withheld
opportunity will be denied
without explanation
no explanations will be forthcoming
until you do it right
perfectly
giving up is not an option
this is not the time
to give up
even if you don’t
have the time
even if you don’t
give a fuck about what time it is
even if
you don’t have anything
to give up
you can beat the clock
but time always wins
and that bites
This piece is a little disjointed, so don’t worry about trying to make the two parts fit 🙂 They do but I don’t have the time to explain how. Both were prompted by the same rule. I wasn’t that happy with the first take so left it. The next day I took another run at. Part 1 is a sort of romantic, sensual moment that verges on gay greeting card. Pretty. In editing it I’ve made it a little less generic with the last last line. It could stand on its own.
Part 2 is a partially a play on words and partially a comment on assumptions. I have met an endless number of people in recovery who felt that when they were younger they missed the class where one was taught how to live & be happy. I often felt I lacked some key piece in the puzzle of emotionally relationships – apparently the same piece millions of people think they lack. A piece that no one can give them because everyone is looking for it 🙂
Many on that search find fault with others on that search. Everyone is wrong when no one is right. We live in a culture where the ideal of the right ONE rules advertising, sitcoms, romcom – the search for the key to a last relationship. To opt out of that ‘search’ is nearly impossible. If one does they are seen as arrogant, misanthropic, and destined to be incomplete humans, failures at life. So giving up is not an option.
In editing I rearranged lines, added some, cut some and came up with an ending that is logical (to me) if a bit too clever. I like echo as a way of resolving a poem so the end of part two echoes the end of part one.
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