Ben writes poems and stuff

[The New World Oceania]

last one for now:


Poem #11:

"A Brief History of Hate"

All around the people
Are making eye contact
But nobody's really seeing each other

You should definitely look into revising this one and seeing about getting it published. Probably the best place to start is experimenting with the line breaks, then changing diction to see what works.

[Bezombia]

last one for now:


Poem #11:

"A Brief History of Hate"

All around the people
Are making eye contact
But nobody's really seeing each other

You should definitely look into revising this one and seeing about getting it published. Probably the best place to start is experimenting with the line breaks, then changing diction to see what works.

You really think so?
Publishing had never even crossed my mind before. I was basically doing this so I could put stuff down on paper tangibly, to be honest.
I'll look into cleaning it up a bit tomorrow.

[Bezombia]

But for now, I have one more before the night ends:

Poem #12:

"Flies"


The night decays into a sea oil
The light rays disappear
An hour's thoughts tear years apart
An hour's words could kill

In the beginning we all sat
In a great circle, just like that
No concept of evil or time
But now only the funeral bell chimes

We turned to each other in dire need
And in our arms we planted the seed
Of hope, of faith, of trust, of peace
But now we fall piece by piece

For years we marched as happy could be
But none of us could possibly see
The leaders we painted upon our hands
Were maiming and killing the land on which we stand

An entire society built upon friends
Starts to collapse and come to an end
And because the trust relied upon lies
Now we all start to drop like flies

[Bezombia]

can't stop won't stop

Poem #13:

"Surreality"

The air stings my eyes now
The leaves start to tumble now
The cars drive by, they leave me behind
Left to wonder why and how

A picture perfect future
Meets a dystopian past
And sandwiched in the present
Is my last gasp

Counting off the minutes
And counting off my fingers
I wait desperately for motion

But inside the picture frame
Of this life I lead
I can only see and not but seen

[Bezombia]

poem train has no brakes

Poem 14:

"The Window"

Far across the room I see
A window looking back at me
In a friendly gesture, it smiles
Inviting me to sit and stay for while

"Life could be simple," it says,
"When you're looking out the window."
It has a nice black plastic finish
An a mechanical Korean signature

I really have to admit
It's so easy to submit
When the pictures tell me what's what
And how's down and which way's up

[Bezombia]

Poem #15:

"X"

I'm looking in a mirror
And I stare at the wall behind me
I'm looking at the wall
And I'm seeing me

[Bezombia]

Poem #16

"Ice Cold", Parts I-IV

Step One
You look out over the ice
It doesn't look very nice
The coldness sends shivers down your spine
It calls to you, "It's Time"

Not allowing yourself to stay
You turn away, give yourself another day
To greener fields and warmer sands
Not near the ice you now stand


Step Two
A good decade later you find yourself
Back at the ice and back over the shelf
Of infinite coldness in absolute fear
But those thoughts, you don't want to hear

Distract yourself, confuse yourself
Say it just isn't so
Remember the fields and deserts
Try to say you don't know


Step Three
Fifteen years now and no signs of stopping
But suddenly something is crashing and dropping
An entire lifetime spent on regret
You wish you could end it, wish it weren't said

And so you gravitate back to the ice
From this point of view it'd be quick, it'd be nice
You used to fear it you used to scream
But now you just want to enter the dream


Step Four
They gather behind you yelling to stop
They say they have answers, you know they do not
"A phone call", they say, "Is all it would take"
But all you desire is that ice-covered lake

A final glimpse to what could have been
A small tinge of sadness over what you had then
But with feelings leaking out of you like a sponge
Into the lake you plunge

[Bezombia]

Poem #17

"Ants"

For millions of years we stared at the sun
Ran around the yard and tried to have fun
But now that the sun set and the day's done
All alone and dried out, like ants we run

[Bezombia]

Poem #18

"Ghosts"

Prelude
You can spend your entire life chasing a ghost
Or you can spend ten seconds closing the door

Part I - Glory in Death
There was a time when I was a dumber man
Taking pride in standing in the rain
Prancing around putting my foot down
A time when I could call myself sane

The people all gathered together
Standing around throwing stones
That was when I first met her
A stone that I could call my own

Never thought of it too much
What I was thinking, who knows
But then the time came to move on
Well...that's just the way it goes

Part II - Cerebral Mists
Thinking back now it's easy
To see where I went wrong
To think of it now makes me queasy
But yet I must write this song

The months became years
And the years became fears
And the fears became tears
And the tears became years

And what I hadn't seen then
I clearly can see now
And I can see how
I threw it all away

Because now in my mind
It's just another ghost
Of what was and what cannot be
Clearly I see

Part III - About Goddamn Time
And I know that it means nothing to her
And I know that it means everything to me
And I'm grateful that I'm swimming in a sea
Of solid lead

And I know that it was my world for while
And I know that I had no world for a while
And I'm grateful that I can still softly smile
Pensively

And I know that it will never be the same
And I know that this is just one big game
And I'm grateful of the thoughts she claims
In my mind

And I know that I will never see the light
And I know that it will only lead to fights
And I'm grateful that she's blinded my sight
Forever

Part IV - Elegy
It's surprising, to me, that I can still think
Of the years spend flushing the sink
The problems we had then seem so obscure
But I know we never found a cure

Departed forever two souls once touching
And years of thoughts spent on absolutely nothing
The story ended years and years ago
But I'm still trying to know

And for years the ghosts haunted my mind
Reminding me of a better time
But gravestones cannot speak of stories
They hide

And It's a shame I had to tell the story like this
Three years in real life fit on a page the size of -this-
But nothing could ever have come of anything
Anything, that is, from me

I don't remember the color of your eyes
My focus was stapled to the skies
And now my mind floats like butterflies
The ghost, forever, has died

Epilogue
You can spend your entire life chasing ghosts
Or you can spend ten seconds in a graveyard

[The New World Oceania]

I didn't really read the poem but it has parts and the end is cool and that's rad.

[Respubliko de Libereco]

A shorter-than-usual, epilogue-ish stanza ending a poem is usually called an envoi (and traditionally labelled "L'Envoi", if it's labelled at all - I don't think I've ever seen a poem with a section labelled "epilogue"). You missed out on an opportunity for extra pretentiousness.

Many collections of poetry also end in a poem called "L'Envoi", but that's basically the same idea on a larger scale.

[Bezombia]

Poem #19

"You"

You
What a strange word
What crazy connotations the word holds
What legends lie behind the simple letters
Let's take a look!


Yelling at the wind, waiting for the seas to change color
Of shorter days and longer nights, seeing how the children run in fright
Underneath the stars, waiting for a heart to change it's mind

Yowling at the moon, sinking silver, swooning at campfire
Over the hills and under the mind, I saw the time change
Up above the clouds and down below the morals you and I sought the sky

Yellow in the morning, green in afternoon, black as night in the day and evening
Orange in the sunset like the mossy grass beneath my fears
Undersea the feelings all sink like stones in the spacetime

You and me and me and you and I and him and her
Over with the days are, under gone the sea of time remains
Until we go seining, go insane-ing

You you you

[Bezombia]

Poem #20

"The Next Step"

The next step is oblivion
When all I see is the moon
For everything is stopping fast
And suddenly...there's you

The next step is immolation
Of the purist kind
For all around is sinking fast
And decaying all the time

The next step is two steps back
When everything is the same
For nothing speaks the spoken word
And all is dull and lame

The next step is already passed
And floating backwards in the past
Standing forever in time steadfast
The human race...I came in last.

[Bezombia]

To go backwards a bit,

Poem #21

"Emotionless, III"

Casually from my eyes the sun gleams
A change of face, of change of scene
People around here seem pretty mean
Onward forever, emotionless

I take the chance and I roll the dice
The odds from here look kinda nice
Cold and hardened, a soul of ice
Onward forever, emotionless

From my hands the shadows fall
An aching heart, a desperate call
Pointlessly trying to take it all
Onward forever, emotionless

Into the dreamworld I still try to fly
A hint of pain from the corner of my eye
But I have to lie, with a defeated sigh
Onward forever, emotionless

[Anollasia]

To go backwards a bit,

Poem #21

"Emotionless, III"

Casually from my eyes the sun gleams
A change of face, of change of scene
People around here seem pretty mean
Onward forever, emotionless

I take the chance and I roll the dice
The odds from here look kinda nice
Cold and hardened, a soul of ice
Onward forever, emotionless

From my hands the shadows fall
An aching heart, a desperate call
Pointlessly trying to take it all
Onward forever, emotionless

Into the dreamworld I still try to fly
A hint of pain from the corner of my eye
But I have to lie, with a defeated sigh
Onward forever, emotionless

*likes*

[Bezombia]

To go backwards a bit,

Poem #21

"Emotionless, III"

Casually from my eyes the sun gleams
A change of face, of change of scene
People around here seem pretty mean
Onward forever, emotionless

I take the chance and I roll the dice
The odds from here look kinda nice
Cold and hardened, a soul of ice
Onward forever, emotionless

From my hands the shadows fall
An aching heart, a desperate call
Pointlessly trying to take it all
Onward forever, emotionless

Into the dreamworld I still try to fly
A hint of pain from the corner of my eye
But I have to lie, with a defeated sigh
Onward forever, emotionless

*likes*

Thank you.

[Bezombia]

Here's one to honor my pretentious and shitty roots:


Poem #22

"The End"

<extended silence>

[Bezombia]

Breaking this off from its original location in Poem #20, as it stands better alone than part of that:

Poem #23

"Another Day"

These games we play
These things we say
These roles we assume
Another day
To hurt another way
And roll on into doom

[SuperFruitland]

Here's one to honor my pretentious and shitty roots:


Poem #22

"The End"

<extended silence>

*massive round of applause*

*roofs collapses with sheer amount of applause*

*hundreds of publishers around the world rush to you to get it published by them*

*get millions of adoring fans*

[Jordsindia]

Marry me Ben. Be my soulmate!

[Bezombia]

Here's one to honor my pretentious and shitty roots:


Poem #22

"The End"

<extended silence>

*massive round of applause*

*roofs collapses with sheer amount of applause*

*hundreds of publishers around the world rush to you to get it published by them*

*get millions of adoring fans*

I was just contacted by my agent. I'm doing eight readings of that poem this week, all at elementary schools.

[Bezombia]

Poem #24:

"Take My Hand"

Just take my hand
And lead me to another land
Just take the pain
And flush it drown the drain

Just take my mind
And put behind blinds
Just take all the dark clouds
And clear the sky

Just take my life
And turn it into strife
Just take my mind
And put it away for another time

Just take my hand
And lead me to another land
Just take my pain
And flush it down the drain

Just take my fears
And turn them into cheers
Just take the rain
And put it behind bars and chains

Just take the world
And put into a swirl
Just take all the bad things
And set them free

Just take everything
And make it nothing
Just take all that's here
And make it gone

Just take my hand
And lead me to another land
Just take the pain
And flush down the drain

[Bezombia]

Because I really could have gone a lot further with that one:

Poem #25

"Another Day, Part 2"

The things we say
The pride we unfurl
The games we play
The mud we hurl

But at the end of the day
It's just another way
To reenter the fray
And mold each other's hearts like clay

We enter a craze
The spittle sprays
With brains flayed
And dues paid

Another day
To hurt another way
Just to hear you say
"Begin again"

[Bezombia]

And now for something a fair bit longer again:

Poem #26

"Faces"

Prologue
Your face changes
But your role remains the same


Part I - With Perfect Eyes

With perfect eyes I see you now
Not a thought to wonder how
Ideas molded by the grace
Lay upon your freckled face

A passing glance, a moment's look
For memory's sake that's all it took
The image wrapped in paper and lace
The image of your face

Looking back puts in a trance
About how we'd mentally dance
Physically without a trace
Streaming from your face

Oh how I'd love to relive it all
Before the growling, before the fall
Sadly up my sleeve was no ace
And now I never see your face


Part II - With Hopeful Eyes

With hopeful eyes I see myself
Staring back from the shelf
I have not yet begun the chase
To reclaim the image of your face

And somewhere in the light
I begin my fabled fight
Reveling in the day's
events without your face

For six years gone and six years ready
The waves bounced off my like a jetty
With blue skies and hopeful eyes
In my memory, your face dies

High on life and high on a mountain
Energy radiates from me like a fountain
But before the days of yonder are reached
Your face in my memory becomes a leech


Part III - With Paranoid Eyes

With paranoid eyes I see it all
Waiting and waiting for it fall
A lapse of time between the past
And now it's all ending fast

I try to find what happened there
Between now and when it was fair
A change of scene and a change of pace
I finally remember your face

It sits in the air like an uninvited guest
How it's still there is anybody's guess
Prepared to reach the sun, to chase
I stop dead in my tracks to your face

A golden crown shattered on the ground
A steely sound resounds
And as it reaches my ears to taste
I beg for words coming from your face


Part IV - With Factory-Build Eyes

With factory-build eyes I view the sky
As an asset to sell and buy
Nothing keeping me from the safe
Nothing but the ghost of your face

I've taken the crown, I've drunken the juice
I've worn the suit, I've argued the truce
I've finally been dealt an ace
But it's nothing compared to your face

It's been years and the memory's fading
But in my mind it's still parading
A hollow man's saving grace
Is the simple shape of your face

Encumbered forever by hope and glee
Of the view that I used to see
A spectrum of eyes to twitch and trace
On the wall the shadowed shape of your face


Epilogue

Your role changes
But your face remains the same

[Bezombia]

Poem #27

"Confirmation"

The night is young, the night alive
Just trying for fun, the day can strive
But somewhere I recognize my demise
High on the heels of the day's timeless sighs

Sitting in the black yard of anger and hate
Waiting for someone to come and demonstrate
How to claw out of this hole
That I survive in like a mole


But I still need a reason
To get out of bed today
So please give me a reason
Not to throw away this day

I still need confirmation
The grass is greener this time
So please give me confirmation
That I won't come out bloody this time


So I take up my flagpole
And try walk high
Got thrown down by earful
Don't know why I bothered to try


I still need a reason
To stay out of trouble today
So please give me a reason
Beyond a fake hope and pray

Yes I still need confirmation
That I can walk through the door
So please give me confirmation
That I can come back for more

And I still need a reason
To not sleep right through the day
So please give me a reason
To not take my life away

Still need confirmation
That there's really a finish line
So please give me confirmation
That I won't get killed this time