©2021 Michael Raven
he was all smiles and brazen confidence there on the execution scaffolding until they opened that wooden box with the instruments of his death: razor sharp words and honed glass memories numbering in thousands he begged for mercy at the sight and still they bled him dry
my past is a vampire bat hanging from my neck: exsanguination each day of my life
This is the way the world ends
TS Eliot, The Hollow Men
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
i am surrender: i lay down arms suing for peace this fortress ready for possession under a white flag
silence is the cruelest dagger twisting like ice in your heart as it turns back and forth always leaving behind the black taint of questions unanswered salting the wound and a trail of scarlet left in the driven snow leading to no place and no where
i have seen too much loved too much known too much ached too much desired too much read too much fucking SEEN too much i see i see i see seer sear sear sea s pluck these eyes blind me stuff my ears with busted glass sew my mouth shut tar me and set me aflame
sceadugenga 
instruments of
his death:
razor sharp words and
honed glass memories
numbering in thousands
Wow! These were excellent! 🖤
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“Exsanguination”… fucking great word. Lovely poems as always. Always leaving a few cuts… but welcome ones. 💜💜💜
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Superb writing – in particular your opening verse: it is indeed our pasts that will kill us. Nice link to Eliot too – surely our greatest fear, to fade out in anonymity.
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