WE #TEND 2 DISAGREE You’re playing the violin While the world eats pork scratchings. They’re not even listening, mate, Just scrolling into a ditch Of their own heavy trauma. Everyone is full of holes, Some wide and almost pretty, Others bone-deep With teeth in the walls. #vss365

When I #arrive at the club, It means I’ve left the pub. When I buy a ticket to Spain, Portugal fades in the kitchen window. I may have done a million things, But there's a trillion things I’ll never do. A RHAPSODY OF THINGS I’VE NEVER DONE #BornBattleReady #vss365

DISCIPLES OF SELF-REPROACH We’d catch the bus to the #coast, Get drunk and stupid And on the way home I'd see them, Long figures by the side of the road, Pretty robes and garlands, Elongated fingers pointing through the glass. #vss365 👉🚍👈

HALF A LEMMING Here we go, A continuous line of meat, Shambling into the pit. Watch us #descend, Juggling unfeasible skills, Oblivious of our plight. Fractured in the hollow, United in great number, Everybody welcome. #vss365

I apologise to someone every night. Most won’t remember who I am, Others decided long ago That I wasn’t a threat. Just a penitent sheep, A remorseful creep, “You're a paranoid freak!” I feel the rent of every bite, And I’m sorry, Even if you don't recognise my teeth. #BornBattleReady

DELIRIUM It isn’t a path, it’s a #road, And the mania hits like a wayward bus, A convoy of vans and honking trucks, Shoot me into space And wish me luck. #vss365 🚀 🧠

He came to Earth on a mission And a cosmic #tailwind, Stopped 7 wars in 3 hours, Fed the gaunt with light from a box in his belly, Even told us how to kill him Should the need arise. We stole his DNA with sexy tactics And sent him back 2 space. Now we don’t need anything. #vss365

6 Wrong #Turn(s) 6 wrong turns And I finish with a slump In a stinking neon dump Where I merge into the junk 6 long burns And everyone is drunk Useless vermin start to jump Even wretches get to hump 6 numb worms And the sorrow starts to thump 50 arrows in my rump Filthy insects in my bunk #vss365

ALL MOUTH AND VIOLINS Procrastination is a nail in his feet, Excuses dripping from soiled gums, Lies like blisters, Hissing fears with Medusa’s sisters. “Time to #depart,” says the mouse, Demented with tedium, Fiddling with the fat clock. #vss365 🕚

SPLENDID CHARGERS Ride with us Into the fetid dusk. #Conquer the thoughts, The urges, The dubious temptations That fabricate terror And self-loathing. Ride with us, Into the foul horde! #vss365 🎠🎠🎠🎠

CLASSIC MECHANICS Conceited devils, #Patient in the picnic hours, But music in slices is drastic, Snapping the plastic in panic, Convincing ourselves that it’s magic. “We’re fucking fantastic!” Our egos are critically tragic. #vss365

KILL ALL MONSTERS She #rose from the sea, Thirteen reasons swinging like a beard, Remembering other lives, Faintly, Like a ghost. #vss365 #BornBattleReady

A frolic in the woods, You said that it would do us good, Liquid in my eyes and throat. Scoundrels of the night, Flashing stars, mushroom white, Tattoos of an unhinged sprite, I've still got trauma, neon bright, Still reside within that light. A #frolic in the woods. #vss365 🧚‍♂️

VITAL INSPIRATION - eat my muse Shake my fists in pungent frustration, Punch those drums, Stamp a pattern on the floor. Chainsaws whirring, Thoughts occurring (And burning). A revolution for something, Jumping and thumping. Grit my teeth in gratified #defiance. #vss365

LEGITIMATE LOGISTICS (God's Infinite Fist) I want to roll up my skin, Show you strange bones And throbbing tissue, But that would be too #revealing, And some people deserve to be surprised. #vss365 🤛♾🤜

You told me love was cruel, A bag of #carrion And blunt scissors, Snip! Snip! “You deserve so much better than me." All sugar-coated fangs, Sexy blondes painted on Fighter jets and napalm bombs. O it stings like a scorpion, But tastes like long mornings. A gentle way to choke. #vss365 ✂️✂️✂️

WHO SAID ROMANCE WAS DEAD? I ruined the final moments, Gurning like a deflating doll And asking if I should #pull out. #vss365

SAVE YOUR WISHES I clench and #lurch, Licking plates and stroking magic bottles, Gasping as a djinn explodes from the glass. “Save your breath, mate, You get a million quid And the power of invisibility, But no one's saving the world today.” #vss365 💥🧞‍♂️

a haiku the anguish I've caused impossible to #undo hang my head in shame #vss365 😔

MOTEL DURANGO the #novel Room 13 page 81 (head in a bucket of sludge) The door creaks open And the stench confirms all is not well. Mr Fig crouches in the corner, Shadows stretching along the walls like spider legs. “Poor ostrich,” he says. “Did you dream I'd slip away?” #vss365

HOOLIGANS Look at them Snarling on their plastic chairs The larger ones Flex previous deeds Like muscles The smaller ones Yet to fledge Still look cute Suckling on the teats of Momma But heed our warning, tiny poet, The beast With the least Teeth Is still A #fiend #vss365

We wear a mask, A #gift to play our parts. An easy glance, A hollow fraction of a chance, Still got control (if people ask). We’re Crazy Joe, The dead man at the park, Don't mean we’re soft, Just often slow to start, A gift to play our parts, We wear a mask. #vss365 🎭

THE WOLF EATS THE LAMB REGARDLESS OF THE OWL A lot of what we do is #forbidden, But we're not ashamed, Because the rule-makers drink the blood of worms, Fat with ignorance, Dominated by their own machines. Besides, The wolf eats the lamb, Regardless of the owl. #vss365 🐺/🐑/🦉

MEAT 🥩 "That's #forbidden," says the God of Lucky Flags. "Return it immediately, Or I'll feed you to the Horde." I place the meat back on the table, Watching the insects scurry from the woodwork. It takes them 5 days to devour the haunch. I die on the 4th. #vss365 🏳️🚩🏴

A 3 BODY PROBLEM Her name was #Dawn And we met on the floor of The 5 Bells. “I’ve not seen you here before,” I said. 3 bodies fell thru a window. “That was by design,” she said, “I never wanted to get this close to you.” “Must be fate,” I said. A bottle smashed on the ceiling. #vss365

It's a conspiracy, But therapy too. It stretches the mind Until the old stuff drips out. It doesn't have to be real, Just real enough, A proper fake, "Same same but different." See it as cosmic #deadfall, A vacation beyond the usual, Somewhere to suffocate the throbbing mundane. #vss365 🔻

Brilliant!.Great to be nominated with the others! Very much appreciated! 💜 🙏 ⚔️⚔️🐙⚔️⚔️

BattleBorn Poetry@thepoetryarena.bsky.social · 2mo ago

@taintedtrailer.bsky.social

A yellow horse Outside a familiar saloon, Ambiguous and nonchalant, Tail swishing in the dying light, Threatening like an omen. ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD? An internal interrogation (Today and #evermore...) #vss365 BornBattleReady

I ain't #falling for fake fishnets, Pretend friendships, Or hard luck stories begging for a cappuccino ☕❌ #vss365

CHUMP #VICTORY You cheating slug, Mouth so wet and gleaming But your breath is smug. Such fawning thumbs, And gross misuse of trust Because the room is long. I fear each verse, Cos A.I killed the words And now the lines are blurred. #vss365 🤖