Personal Space

In the spirit of returning to work, an homage to what is now far too commonplace.

"Personal Space"

Left arm across bar
She's not holding on physically
But verbally
Clearly
To every negative streo-type
The sights and sounds echoed
Over and over again;
Neon nails
And some deprived Indian's hair
Loosely tied to her naps beneath
But I dare you to ask
'It's mine, I bought it!' she'll yell in reply.

Ghetto princess
Her cheap hem reeks assy
As classy escaped
The moment she fell out of some woman's twat;
Dirty as the mouth which speaks
As the attitude common
Her friend a 'Forever 21' bag in tow
It is their name badge
These females
Who are females
Between legs and sheets only
But men otherwise
Who devour and conqure
Despite this public space
And the children who listen and learn.
©2012clarencecbess

Somehow

I'd swear the sun moved across the sky a little faster
That the moon vanished behind the dark
One too many times
That stars fell to my feet in laughter
At their master's joke
And that I couldn't conceive the irony.

I'd swear the grass makes me itch now
And the beach's sand grates my flesh
That my tears never flowing
Wait in a cul-de-sac to flood
The remainders of my life
As leaves fall to my feet in laughter
In understanding their master's intent
And that I could not grasp the irony.

I swear that toys still speak to me
And songs of the pew have never faded
That my eyes would still betray me
And my gut can never fill
As my tongue can never taste
Because my heart will not be still
As it falls to my feet forever laughing;
The joke's on me... isn't it?
©2012clarencecbess

Sunshine

Took a dip in sunshine
Burned my eyes
But I felt fine
Cause I woke up in the light of understanding
We
Instead of me
My
Self and I;
Want nothing more
Than rays
Bright yellows
Sweet oranges
Peeled back revealing
Dampened divinity of all that could be
With each bite decided to take.

Took a bath in sunshine
Changed my flesh
But I feel fine
Staring back at me
In the reflection of your heart
Sweet mandarin to my often bitter berry
Of doubt;
Too many questions without
Answers
I don't really want to hear
Because as I just learned
It is my nature
My bitter peel
To protect my sweet
From jaws seeking to ravage
Quech
Hunger to ingest
Swallowing another
One
Of
Us
Taken from our trees premature
Left to ripen in crates
We have no choice but to be placed in.

I wait for the drip, drip
Sticky destruction
Of my nature sublime...

And maybe,
Just maybe,
I'll be yours in time.
©2012clarencecbess

Forgive & Forget

In a moment forgive
In a lifetime forget
Upon a dream release
Those things which haunt
Unseen
Yet somehow known
Despite the darkness which shrouds;
Shadows have weight.

Innocence cocooned
Split to reveal
A butterfly to become
Despite nature's attempt to delay
Took flight immature
Survival It's quest
Weakened wings made it to the horizon
And what lay beyond;
The light strengthens.

Eyes look now
Look past
In a moment remember
Take a second, no
A delayed moment to reminisce
Decide
Tis best to forgive
In a lifetime of forget-me-nots
And dreams which beg for flight
Upon midnight wings
To a place of no regret;
The weight lifts.

Maturity walks into the present
Accepts It's past
Calms It's soul and listens
Learns...
©2012clarencecbess

Reduction

Another sad love song
And I look to faces who interpret me
Still
Upon some mule
Belongings in tow
Lost in misery
Mystery
To the point I must look to heaven
Hoping for release.

I want vibrant
Jagged rhythms
Screaching
Screaming as I wake pronouncing
This world too is mine
I have and shall conqure
Am one in the same
Human and living
Not some bastard hound
Ruined and abused waiting for death
At it's master's fee

We are not all the same friend.
We do not all laugh at Madea
 Eat collards
Interrupting the movie with snapping greasy fingers;
We do not all greet each other with nigga
Procreate out of laziness
Need someone to save us
Mold us
Corral us
Reduction us
To children lost
And too many sad songs...

Let us scream
Let us live
Let us
Be!
©2012clarencecbess

Know This

Your arms will still hold
Lips forever kiss
And I'll lick to catch a taste
Close my eyes and still see
You
As mind drowns in wanting.

I will bathe beneath streams
Walk familiar paths
Look to clouds and stars
As you slowly release
Get to moving on
Hoping not to be called
By the elixir of absence.

Know this
You've moved
Intoxicated me
 Made partial complete
And will rest upon my mind
Each time I touch my lips
Feel an empty space so cold in loneliness
Of not having you near
Yes I fear
Know this
That I too could love you...
©2012clarencecbess

Robin's Song

Shall I dance with you?
Should I play with you?
Can I lay with you
One more night in your arms?

Shall I talk with you?
Should I listen too?
I could dream with you
As long as you stay here in my arms.

Slowly quiet kisses
Everclear
Moments slipping across my heart;
Purest wonders
Loneliness disappears and I depart
Questions
Lay truth at your feet
In the palm of your hands holding me.

Shall I sing to you?
Should I touch you
There?
I could heal your wounds
If you'd have me as air.

Moments quiet misses
Passion
Each time you disappear into your past
Leave me standing palms-out
Wanting nothing more
Than to hold your heart.

Shall I dance with you?
Should I slow you?
Show you I
Know
You?
©2012clarencecbess

Forget Me Not

He made me forget
Mistakes
Made me toss rationale aside
Till all there was left
Was gut
Raw
Uninhibited emotion
And new beginnings
Volatile and exquisite
Like new worlds forming.

With him I wanted to see
Photographs and memories
On night stands and book shelves
Covered in age's dust
And people smiling because
Well,
Just because it was us
As if it always was
And only time was the culprit
Keeping us apart.

He made me touch desire;
Made it a tangible thing
I could somehow wrap myself in
In those cold callous moments
Chalked up to life
So I could be at peace
Dreaming
Time was the only culprit
And not my unfortunate realities
In keeping us apart.

He made me forget
Me
Remembering only the ambrosia of his smile
Sweetness honey-suckle kisses
Stolen between leaves
As they turned a deeper shade of love
Only to fall dead and dying
In that fall of confusion
To yet be reborn
When at last we could be in presence.
©2012clarencecbess

Special Sauce

Contorted faces speak common
This place reeks.
A saturated scent of bad decisions
And failures by those
Who couldn't care.

Contorted faces
We look around
Frantically searching for a culprit
Who we all know
Disappeared a long time ago
Because the remnant is dying
Or rather masked by familiarity
Lingering only because
A scent like that never goes away;
It travels
Car to car
Corner to corner
Borough to borough
County to county
City to city
State to state
Reeking
Wrecking
The only way to tell Its presence?
Contorted faces
Of those who recognize
The stench of giving in
Going with a flow
Erratic and destructive
Leaving one guessing,
When will this toilet back up?
©2012clarencecbess

New Direction

(Chorus)
Baby,
Don’t you ever leave me
I know that it aint easy
We can take in a new direction
Baby,
How could you release me
You’re the only one who sees
The beauty in my imperfections

I’m sorry but I’m through
Cause I can’t get to you

I’m headed in a new direction

I’ve wasted all my time
Done nothin’ but lose my mind

I’m headed in a new direction

But you say

(Chorus)

I know we’ve played that game
Before, but now it’s not the same

I gotta head in a new direction

This thing has run It’s course
And now I’ve got no choice

There was never love in the equation

But you say,

(Chorus)

On the other side it’s bright
I’m needing day instead of night
Truth over a dream
Whispers instead of screams
Kisses in place of lies
Laughter over my cries

I gotta go in a new direction
I’m tired of your imperfections

And I don’t want to hear you say

Baby
Don’t you ever leave me
I know that it aint easy
But we can take it in a new direction
Baby
I know you must be dreaming
Cause my feelings have never changed
You are the sum of my equation
Baby
Don’t go away this time
I promise I’ll make it right
I’m gonna go in a new direction
Baby
Please don’t ever leave me
You’re the only one who sees
The beauty in my imperfections

(Ad-lib fade out)
©2012clarencecbess

No More

Silent winter's here
I await rejuvenating spring
Want to
As flowers bloom
Stare into faces and breathe
A short
Blunt
Goodbye.

No more can I take
Smiles and contradictions
Ready-made stories
Of how the world's done them wrong
And yet they do all they can to remain;
No more
can I see with mine eyes
Nomadic souls
Eternally looking at mirages of truth
Because some government,
Some state,
A city,
This county,
That school,
Her family,
His community,
Their
Whatever
Has let them down
And despite my honest tries
They all want someone else
Bearing their burden.

No more I say!
No more I dream
As this wasteland creeps
Into the crevices of me
Till now I am late
Every day
Watching my cares evaporate
As vividly and quickly
As a warm exhale on a frigid day.

No more I say.
©2012clarencecbess

Uno Momento

Half-empty
Muted echoes
we ride on our way.
The best moments on the train
Are now
Not too far
Before the end of it's line
As burst of speed
Brings entrance to the outside worlds
Now just beyond and beneath it's tracks;
Countless windows
uniformity in chaos
hoping the sun will show
From behind the blanket of clouds
This mild day
Mild moment
perfect
Because there aren't too many people
Too many sounds
And too many things that matter more
Than getting a good start...
©2012clarencecbess

For Now

Night comes again
On the way to another sunrise
and moments most-likely familiar
But for now
Nothing
Just thoughts of getting there
letting my guard down again
Welcoming conversations that will attempt
To size me up
Categorize
Prejudice me into a pocket of familiarity
Where I'll hope to be change
Instead of material
So I can rattle about reminding of my presence;
For now
She sings in my ear
I close my eyes and see faces
In my timeline prehistoric
Of souls I am left to wonder in mystery
Of current whereabouts
And would they recognize me
Years older
Heavier with the appetites of the living
Weight of my soul?

For now
I'll attempt to move forward
Wake up in tomorrow
Now
Today
Take a look at me again
Trying not to count the lines
My rings of the passage of time...
For now.
©2012clarencecbess

Horizon

Came rolling thunderheads across my horizon
Heard nature's rumble
Vibrating my world into me
My soul;
Shook me awake
Then drenched me in knowledge
Washed my ignorance away
Left my soil saturated
Rich with dreams and accomplishment
I could not see
Until I let go
Concentrating on the rising silhouette
Behind my destiny so far
The sun
One
Giver of life
As a love radiated upon its warmth;
Contemplating my new-found reason
I waited for the next storm to come my way...
©2012clarencecbess

Married

Saw fireworks instantly
Had to double
Take
Double
Back
Confirm that chemistry
Or denial
Which happened like most times
Though eyes told me
Quite contrary;
Fate is making me wait
maybe to frustrate
No
Triple back
Expressing what my heart tells me
Without conversation...
It's always worth the possible pain.
©2012clarencecbess

Over Ice

Penguin came into view
Waddling his balance
As they often do
Holding himself
Despite his pomp
Seemingly unsure of himself
Confusing bling for soul
Confusion for control
He is the path so many choose to take.

penguin came
His unfortunates in tow
Ghetto melody sung
Product of the equation
Society over culture
Negative
To the square-root hypotenuse
Triangulated
Bastardized belief
Of just whose job it is
At what time of the day
To raise this egg
Protecting it from elements
Usually more dangerous
The closer they are to home.

A penguin
Whose set of wings
Can longer help him reach the sky
Just the depths and darkness
Of his frigid world
Indifferent
But for the time someone takes to know him
Or question him
As they'll eventually do
In his right of passage
If it already hasn't occurred.

Penguin that I see
'Cept different nest
Could've been me;
Never forget your diminished wings.

Beyond the blue of your world
Again to skies you'll fly some other way...
©2012clarencecbess

Stupidity

Stupidity is a liquor
Flowing and sweet
Too many ingest
Throwing caution to the wind
Getting behind wheels of desire
Carelessly plowing
Into souls along the way
To their inevitable sobriety.
©2012clarencecbess

Drink

Ladled your mind
Dipped into your stream
Subconscious eloquence
Took a sip
Felt you slip down
Deep
Past diaphragm
into private places
Expanding me to expel
Loveliness of what you do to me...
©2012clarencecbess

Pieces

Another piece of me fell away
Joined the ages which cake
Browning with rust
And that careless dust
Which becomes of busy
Moments and people who pass
Again and again.

Another piece fell
A ways down
Into the black nothing
Or maybe something
Just this side of my platform of possibility
As I wait forever too long
On an express train to deliver me;
But alas,
It's the weekend
And there is just local.

Fell away
leaving me to look in mirrors
Sometimes strangers eyes
For minutes too long
Caught upon hopes
I'll catch a glimpse of that little boy
Whom desperately prayed for release
First from walls
Then from mind
As it was the prison which held
Took life away
One bad decision at a time
Only to tease success
Momentary awakenings
Dressed in an urgency
Lacking now in complacency.

Another piece slipped away
Veneer flaking
Exposing me to elements
Of self and society
Meant to destroy
Returning me to a stained mother
Whose only purpose now
Seems to be
Tomb;
Maybe when I wake up
Sunshine will strike me
It's warmth blanket me
Sealing my daydream
That I am to be something greater
Beyond me
And pieces falling away
Leaving me hollow cavity
Empty
Longing to be filled.
©2012clarencecbess

Mental Excerpt #2

With memory I danced
Loved a pastime paradise
And as all good southerners do
Enhanced my stories
Making them bigger than me
Adult tree instead of seed
Till they escaped
And I could not grasp
To hold on to them
Instead leaving me
To watch them there
Out of reach
Stars which periodically shone
Through my hazy new world
And wishes to return
Which would never come true.

With subtlety I played
Procreated a stance
As all artist eventually do
Bigger than me
Never complete
To give me something
To look forward to
Always and forever
Creation being that ultimate gift.

With honesty I live
Sleeping in a bed of content
That hurts my back
More with each morning I wake;
That arches my back
With each fetal position I make
To make comfortable my dreams
So much larger than me...
Trees instead of seeds.
©2012clarencecbess

Forward

Lest blessings come
Like fall's leaves
Abundant and colorful
I fear what will be on my mind
Worry how long will I look
At all of them in detest
Till I eventually turn towards me
In-wards
Back-wards
For words to lift me
Fly me above this blue trapping me
Lest I remember
Everything I need to complete
Is at my fingertips
In my sights
Never more than a few feet
And a couple of gel pens away
From permanent memory;
Lest me
I will move forward
For words
Despite those things
I feel complete
Not meant for me...
Well,
Maybe.
©2012clarencecbess