NORMAL

I dream of dead birds.

They embellish my back yard.
Their bodies form a soft mantle over the grass.
I dream of dead birds. And they are black.
I dream of crystal gums.
They belong to an old man who plays the saxophone.
Blow, blow, hard, just blow.
I dream of crystal gums. And metal teeth.
I dream of silk flowers.
They are woven with purple thread.
They rest still, pretty, over a grave with no name.
I dream of silk flowers. And they belong to the dead.

Sometimes, I wish my nights would paint different stories.
Normal stories.
Sometimes I wish I was normal.
Sometimes I wish I knew whose voice it is that whispers secrets in my ear before I go to sleep.
It’s the same voice who taught me how to make invisible origami.
Maybe it belongs to the gnome that lives in my hair.
Maybe he directs my dreams.
Maybe normal is not my way, and if it isn’t, so be it.

I dream of golden spoons.
They are lost in the little tin box I keep under my bed.
I dream of golden spoons. And cotton forks.
I dream of fluorescent vapours.
They travel at sound speed and become stars when it’s cold.
I dream of fluorescent vapours. And they taste like mint.
I dream of infinite puzzles. Its pieces are made of mirror.
When you put them together you can see a sad girl with long hair.
And a boy with thick glasses and rebel fingers.
And a gnome with a megaphone.
And an old man with crystal gums.
And a thousand dead birds.
I dream of infinite puzzles.
And I haven’t finished them yet.

STEADY

Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Presented by poetry.com and the International Library of Poetry 2007

This poem will be published in the next edition of the anthology series "Voices - a Collection of Poetic Works" done by Greenspring Publishing going to press this October.

Average. I will paint my life in shades of grey.
Thrill seekers die of adrenaline rushes. That’s not me.
My heart rate will not be elevated.
It goes beep, beep, beep. Steady.

There will be no drum solos.
No high pitch “I love yous”.
No braking before hitting the wall.
My tires shall leave no marks.

A thousand zeroes will not buy me excitement.
My mood can’t ever be disturbed. I am a sea with no waves.
I bear no life, parasites cannot live off of me. I am not a host.
I am a black hole, a nebula. I am the stillness of dust.

My heart is unimpressed by beauty.
It goes beep, beep, beep. Steady.
My world shows no evolution.
Time is not my platform, nor my diving board.

I shall know no emotion.
I am not a ying or a yang.
I am the blurry core, the insipid meal.
There is no eating me with a spoon.

But I… I shall never perish. I am eternal.
The unsolved riddle.
Age does not wrinkle my lining,
moths poison when eating my skin.

My rhythm will beat to no soul.
I am the music of the numb.
My heart will pump gasoline into your flow.
It goes beep, beep, beep. Steady. And then you go.