nora poetry

poems by ben north

[norapoetry]

"It Will Be Alright"

"It will be alright" I said I know I said it all the time still it didn't make it true I tried to always think positive because I had trouble coping with the truth "It will be alright," I said then I woke up You said, "I need you to go"

[norapoetry]

Traps Unextict

There's something leftover There always is Some things we have done That were obvious Some things we have done That were left in the dark And even though we have gone in To clean up the mess There is lingering mold We let you out some so you could breathe But not enough to completely escape the gloom

[norapoetry]

Where Feet Have Walked

Feet walk the coarse dirt in sandals, Beneath rock sweat and gore, Earth props you up it shouldn’t Still you’re up, you don’t deserve it.

The prop continues without words Is only repaid in lumps of coal Dug from its own flesh ‘n’ blood You’re cold man, you’re cold.

Did you hear the robin singing? You didn’t interpret the words. Or do you feel the flower squirming While you are squeezing her throat?

It’s true you’ve advanced yourselves With what you call higher thought, You’ve chosen to distance yourself A direction that love never taught.

[norapoetry]

I Try to Tell You

I wrap my fingers up in bandages

then act like you don’t notice.

I look for pictures of skulls and bones

then try to pretend like it’s nothing.

I try and tell you that I don’t like the taste of blood

then go and bite through my tongue.

I try and tell you I’m not as if ugly beast confined

then think about how there is no possible end

Where I don’t hurt you.

[norapoetry]

I Love You

Yet I love what created you even more,

the earth, air, sun and water

for without these essentials

you would still be like a seed

only possessing the ability to grow.

Would it not be madness

to love you and not love the others

just as much or maybe even more?

And when I see you

I see more than just your lovely face.

I feel I see time moving

a small seed growing roots in the dirt

leaves growing, petals blossoming

sun shining, rain falling.

I see all these,

I see you.

[norapoetry]

Rosebush

If we could, for a moment,

forget all the sounds and colors,

all thoughts and desires

and experience then the touch of fingers.

softness would begin the senses.

Remember what it felt like,

true love’s first kiss, or handhold?

Much like hugging a rosebush,

with beautiful smells but don’t move too quick,

it’ll rip you up.

If we could, for a moment,

talk about the time it happened,

when she pressed your hand to the griddle

and it came off burned and red.

Suppose the softness is an idea,

and one that can’t be grasped or contained,

intermixed with pain, contingent on it in fact.

Suppose that’s just the way it is,

for some reason.

[norapoetry]

You

You do away with me

like floods do to playing fields.  

You do away with me

like a child releasing a balloon to the air.

You do away with me

like hailstorms do to shingles,

the same ones that protect me from my fears.

Whenever you smiled at me

I knew death was the only thing

that could be more powerful.

[norapoetry]

Ballet Dancer

I’ve always thought of Ballet (you)

As a foreign language I am unable

to read or write or speak.

I see it, I hear it even, (it like nothing else)

but don’t know the words (and never will)

they could be saying anything to me

could be saying beautiful things, or lying,

which even that can be beautiful too.

Let’s think about the time

we took our bodies to the river

and set them on little wooden rafts

then watched them float away,

how beautiful they looked.

I almost forgot about when (despite my best efforts)

you told me corpses were the prettiest

whenever they were floating downstream.

Resting there holding your hand

I knew you were right. (you always were)

Sorry that I ever doubted you.

[norapoetry]

untitled

They placed the rope around her neck and just before placing the sack over her head

asked her if she had any last words and she said...

“Yes, please recycle this bag.”

That’s what you get for not being a man.