Pain: A Sonnet - Kathy Figueroa

Ah Pain!  Thou intruder!
With footsteps across my skull resounding
Could your presence be any ruder?!
My scalp’s a drum that someone’s pounding!

From whence you came?  Why torment me?
Please depart, I implore!
Why dost thou not leave me be
And upon my visage stop declaring war?

To halt your conquest of my nose and jaw
I gird for battle with vitamin C and zinc
My nerves are now frayed and raw
As I reach for yet another hot drink

Pain, in this fight I strive for your defeat
And hope this intrusion won’t repeat

Kathy Figueroa

Image : Pixabay - geralt

Tinnitus - Trudie Shannon

It’s always raining in my head
Sometimes there are cross-winds
And often interminable white noise,
Static that comes before and after storms.
Always raining, from light hissing drizzle
To persistent shards pounding the windows of my eyes.
Sometimes when the night is weighty with silence
I hear the globules of rain flaunt descant and harmony as
They drift around the contours of my skull in vivid orchestration
Often the wind rises exponentially
Obliterating my hope for potential creativity.
Yes, it’s always raining in my head.
Within the landscape of my cranium I have the auditory pulses
Of every season
Soft April showers
The cascade of summer flood
Autumnal gales
And Winter snow’s vibrato hiss.
Always, always raining in my head
With static, that interminable white noise
That comes before and after storms.

Trudie Shannon

Dead Head (My Grain Or Yours) - Lyndon Queripel

Lying in a darkened room
With no light nor sound
I could be in a tomb
Sanctuary underground
In vain I wait for the pain
To fade or to ease
Shaking in silence once again
Just longing for release
Don't talk, don't speak, don't try
For even my own voice
In a blinding reply
Is just another noise
There's an ice pack on my back
There's one across my head
I sometimes wonder when under attack
If I'm half alive or half dead.

Lyndon Queripel

Fighting Alligators - John Buchanan

Drip, splat. Drip, splat,
droplets begin to merge,
a thin film forms.
Drip, splash,
now it has volume
still the rain falls.
The depth increases,
slowly, relentlessly,
I’m buoyed from the floor,
forced to tread water
in the filthy mire.
The swamp deepens,
it fills with claws and teeth.
I'm forced to fend off alligators
while the rain falls.
Claws rip, teeth gnash
the fight drags on.
Resolve, strength, my very soul,
sapped- by the incessant onslaught.
I begin to flounder,
every ounce of strength
expended in a fruitless struggle
to stay afloat, to fight alligators.
Each scintilla squandered
just to experience the languid
dismemberment of body and soul.
What's the point?
Stop kicking.

John Carré Buchanan

Rage Against My Machine - Ian Renouf-Watkins

My body is telling me I’m old, older still at least
Because bits don’t work and some, so full of metal
That bone has gone amiss somewhere...elsewhere
Awry, around, through and down, it bloody hurts!
Warmth, not anymore, not felt, seen or even heard
Anyway, I feel absurd; irascible in fact, so much
So, knowing I should have given up, but years ago
When my body told me to stop, no, that’s enough!
Is enough, enough? I want more, don’t you?

To breathe easy, walk easily, run… don’t laugh
At me, it isn’t funny… is it really that uncanny
To dream of such simple pleasures, quietly?
It’s a bastard, a git, a complete shit storm of feelings
Coursing through me, as my legs still refuse to work
Properly, righteously angry, I want to scream loudly
But no one will hear it tumble, only, a useless mumble.
From my lips, slips the tip of something lost
Not found again, not ever retrievable, or even able
To really articulate how I’m feeling. Lost perhaps?
But, mostly, dog tired, stretched and horridly feeble.

Ian Renouf-Watkins

Pointless - Diane Scantlebury

Too many harsh words said
Too much acrimony read
Too many bitter tears shed
There’s no turning back

So many hopes dashed
So many promises smashed
So much wreckage crashed
There’s no coming back

Pointless nothing to gain
Heart broken in so much pain
Thoughtlessness to blame
There’s no recovery from that

What’s done cannot be undone
Joy lost no more fun
Futile battle no one has won
Where’s the sense in that?

Diane Scantlebury

All Around The World - Shannon Shell

With thanks to Al Green for the opening two lines.

All around the World
People are crying,
Listen and you can hear.
People are hiding,
Another beating they fear.
People are lying,
Plastic smiles from ear to ear.
People are dying,
It makes the pain disappear.

Jonny is crying.
His dad just died.
His family hates him.
They’ve taken his pride.
So tonight he cuts.
And his skin starts to peel.
Sometimes he wonders what it’s like to feel.

All around the world, sadness creeps in.
In all the places you’ve seen.
In all the places you’ve been.

Molly is hiding.
Her dad is drunk again.
She hides herself away.
She hopes she’ll be okay.
Then her dad opens the door.
He kicks her ‘til she bleeds.
He tells her she is worthless.
It’s a waste of air she breathes.

All around the world, sadness creeps in.
In all the places you’ve seen.
In all the places you’ve been.

Danny is lying.
All the pain and hurting.
Covered up by smiles.
All his stupid flirting.
And his laughter.
Just one terrible lie.
Drugs of salvation.
Rehab he’ll forever try.

All around the world, sadness creeps in.
In all the places you’ve seen.
In all the places you’ve been.

Jenny is dying.
She can’t breathe no more.
Noose around her neck.
Her feet don’t touch the floor.
The pain killed her.
Her family and friend.
They shut the door.
So this is her final end.

Crying can you hear.
Hiding and they fear.
Lying ear to ear.
Drying…then finally disappear.

Shannon Shell

Sciatica - Martyn Legg

Rats are gnawing, biting, clawing
Pain is searing, endless, aching
Rats are gnawing, biting, clawing
Knotted tension, sleep is gone
Rats are gnawing, biting, clawing
Knives are twisting, cutting, probing
Rats are gnawing, biting, clawing
Tendons rigid, stretching, screaming
Rats are gnawing, biting, clawing
Spine is wracked by endless flame
Rats are gnawing, biting, clawing
Stupid, pointless futile game
Rats are gnawing, biting, clawing…

Martyn Legg

Sweet Pain - Karen Allaway

Sharp fine metal,
Attached to vessel,
Pierces the skin.
The thumb goes down and the vessel empties.
Exquisite pain is plunged into my back and travels down the nerve to my toe.
Who could imagine that this pain would feel so sweet but me?
The nerve bulges waiting to explode but no, wait.
Numbness envelopes my leg like millions of tiny tentacles.
The pain recedes apart from point of entry.
Not once but thrice this has to be endured.
And now lie in wait.
I wait for the shots to take their effect

Karen Allaway

Untitled - Katherine Svensson

“That’s what you’ve always wanted”
Was all that you could say.
Your cold, hard voice, those steel grey eyes
I remember clearly from that day.
“That’s what you’ve always wanted” you said
When they placed him in my arms.
That you should not feel the father’s love
He’s your son, your flesh and blood.

Did I detect a trace of bitterness the day our son was born.
Or maybe you were feeling just a little insecure.
I shouldn’t really judge I know but I too was unsure
What this little life would bring on that summer’s morn.

“That’s what you’ve always wanted”
Was all that you could say.
I will remember those words those wounding words
Until my dying day

Katherine Svensson