A collection of poems
A poetry compilation written by Curtis Millen and edited under the guidance of Neda Mostofi
Bad News On a Good Day
The greatest way to mask your pain:
Hide your teardrops in the rain.
And on the days when rain won’t fall
Turn your face towards the wall.
Sniff and cough to hide those sighs.
Divert your gaze to distant skies:
Where far away no one can see,
The reddened eyes and glasses steamed.
Eventful journeys, far from home.
Tales to tell, though, on the phone.
An aeon’s passed, in the blink of an eye.
Damn… passed like loved ones, with no goodbye.
My heart swells when I hear their names
Like a dam: fit to burst at the next spit of rain.
Frustration Part 1
A cranial squeeze in a self-made vice,
Tightening the temples as it's winding.
A jaw that seizes as frozen as ice,
Cramps up. Clamps shut. A bear trap: teeth grinding.
The pressure could crush a full can of coke,
Perceptions split like loose ends on a rope.
Like a rupturing spleen that’s fit to burst,
Filled with the dread of distancing from dreams.
A witch threads lips of a man at his worst,
Leaving no space for air. No room to scream.
To think of what’s gone and what’s to be
Is akin to living your life in virtual reality,
With a headset as poisonous as lead.
Anchoring the body: Where all taste is sour.
A heart that races while laying in bed
Relentlessly trains in midnight hours.
Like work on a Friday, slow down the pace:
Live in the now. This life is no race.
A Pair of Brown Eyes
A sip of coffee as I stare
At button nose and curly hair.
Laughter fades to smiles so shy;
They leave the lips, but not the eyes.
Impassioned looks across the table;
Withholding hands for fear of labels.
In spoken words I can’t explain,
The joy I feel to see your name
Ignite my screen, as you’ve replied,
Endorphins rush - Ahh… What’s Inside?
Emotions never felt before,
Gently push, opening a door
That all my life I’d kept closed.
I’d feared my heart would be exposed.
If I’d give out and then get burned
By giving love that’s not returned
Torturous thoughts: fanning a flame,
If I offer my hand…Will he do the same?
Erosion
Lights are on,
Faintly flickering.
Nobody’s home
Except a figurine.
She dances through her days
To music softly playing.
She whispers to her shadow
As they are gently swaying,
I lose a little piece of me, as time goes by.
I lose a little piece of me, it’s hard not to cry.
I lose a little piece of me…I can’t explain why.
The Children of Tomorrow
God bless the children of tomorrow,
Born into the new norm.
They’ll never know the life we lead
Before the great conform.
Blind are these children of tomorrow:
Not to question the sight,
Of Mummy chimney sweeping her nose
So they can board a flight.
God bless the children of tomorrow:
Not knowing what it means,
Not to have lived all of their young lives
Pacified by small screens.
How square will be their eyes
As they stare ever-deep
Into their Digital Medication:
Tablets that help them sleep.
God bless the children of tomorrow
Who know the names of storms.
When I was a Child of Tomorrow
Winter was cold. Summer warm,
A tepid Autumn, A nippy Spring.
Seasons: 4. Not Anymore.
They blend into one With the intensified
Heat of a dying Sun.
God bless the children of tomorrow
With challenges ahead.
When cinematic dystopia becomes
Their reality, instead,
As we edge closer and closer to
Our day of reckoning:
Rising seas? Nuclear War? Technology?
Four horsemen: beckoning.
I pray for children of tomorrow,
God bless their mental health.
God bless the children of tomorrow.
Couldn’t have one myself.
Drive
To say I’ve lived,
Not just existed.
Look back one day,
And say I’ll miss it.
