"Poe-Heart-ry": The Long and the Short Read online



  "Poe-Heart-ry": The Long and the Short

  By Mia Wang

  Copyright 2011 Mia Wang

  THE BENCH

  Who wouldn't fancy

  A bench inscribed with their name

  Or getting some heroic recognition of sorts

  Some object to mark

  A glorious and wonderful life you've led

  A silent eulogy

  An eternal one at that

  For as long as this bench rests on its four legs

  On the soft muddy patch

  There it scribed "Abercromby".

  Mister, Sir, Monsieur Abercromby

  Your picture is neither hanging off a wall

  Nor immortalised in some cheap metal

  Where everyone stands and gapes in awe

  Your countless, precious contributions

  Are encased in only a bench

  Under the cooling shade of the Royal Palms

  With an occasional stench

  This Mister Abercromby

  Was he a sniveling baby

  Just like you or me?

  Did he talk about the sun and the sand

  Would he have been a big football fan?

  Could he be the beggar on the street

  Frantically looking around for something to eat?

  Was he your neighbour next door

  Who walks and talks like a boor?

  Pardon my insolent tongue

  You do not have to win the Nobel

  For Peace, Physics or in Law

  For in each of everybody's hearts

  Has that special someone's name

  Deeply imprinted all the same

  Nedlands, 2004

  The pretense shadowed by forced smiles

  Nonchalance masked behind a cold, harsh voice

  The melancholy remains cached

  Behind those oak brown eyes

  The answers lay

  Unseen.

  Unearthed.

  In the labyrinth of her mind

  She stops short.

  Jaded, she sinks.

  Ephemeral joys waste away her soul

  Wearing away all hopes for salvation

  Clouding her fleeting thoughts

  You toasted to my mortal happiness

  with the Cup laced with poison

  Whisk me away up into the tangerine sky

  Like a fallen angel

  Immortalise me in your pain

  Anyway.

  Anyway, she says.

  Murdoch, 2005

  The strings play

  The eyes move

  The fingers strum

  The guitar remains in its peaceful lull

  His movements across the strings are like my lips

  against yours

  Like the rhumba he plays

  Soft and hard, quick and slow

  The music of the heart

  Plays only in your ears and mine

  Then comes the allegria

  Like a thunderstorm on a stormy night

  Your tears strike me like lightning flashes

  Right down to my gut

  The hurt echoing like waves

  Dispersing into the dark green sea

  Away was the lull we used to share

  Away were the sounds of the strumming guitar

  The flamenco guitarist picks up his hat

  Bowed down and left.

  Melbourne, 2004

  Clamp me in with a turn of your key

  You reek of insanity

  The honest look through your glassy eyes

  Crossed within the boundaries of the soul

  The puppets of your words come alive

  Prancing around without strings

  Your hands knotted and tangled up

  Beneath the calm

  I smell fear

  Resentment resides

  Exchange seats

  Like a game of musical chairs

  Take my place and I’ll take yours

  Change only begins with the end of our tune.

  Melbourne, 2004

  You scream deja vu

  Again and again

  The trees bellow their secrets

  Push me to the edge of this cliff

  I elevate

  Fall into me

  You accuse me

  Again and again.

  Deja vu.

  Perth, 2003

  Like a double edged sword

  You split me in two

  And then into you

  King of Darkness

  The rain pelts down like stones

  I leave you shivering in the cold

  Periphering the borders of our sanity

  You fall out of line

  Lie and roll in your treachery

  Blinded.

  Barred.

  Desire.

  The web of deceit is spun

  Like a helpless prey

  Tangled.

  Unfazed.

  Fear.

  You drown in the cantation of your pleas

  And hopes of salvation

  Burn on the stake

  Impaled against the cirrus flecked primrose sky

  The wisps of smothered smoke

  Drawn with the evening wind

  Without a trace.

  Without a sign.

  Leederville, 2004

  Two hearts enshrouded in the mist

  I can't seem to find my soul

  Deep into the open sea

  Like a pebble I sink

  Beneath the ripples of insanity

  You crush me like a tidal wave

  You prick me relentlessly on my Achilles' heel

  Pain has given me the answer that I seek

  You float above the darkness

  Under the moonlight i write my plea

  For a death row pardon

  That only you and I can see

  The cold blasting wind against my cheeks

  Misty winter sky

  Its grey marauding blanket

  Engulfs me with its outstretched arms

  And rocks me to sleep

  Like a baby in its mother's bosom

  Live or Die, Heaven or Hell

  In my parallel universe I entrap myself

  In your tenderness, beguiled, my soul I sell

  I lay awake with my eyes closed

  I sing a song I know

  Touch me with a feather of a phoenix

  See me rise above the cinder and ash

  Soft and sullen

  I slip

  Away into the stars and the midnight aurora sky

  Perth, 2004

  In memory of a lost love

  I took a walk down the path we used to walk

  Hand in hand

  Lay myself down on the bed

  Where we used to twiddle our pinkies

  And listened to that band

  I talk to your shadow

  And breathe your scent

  Come what may

  I say

  Our hearts will find the hidden way

  Back to where the promises unearth themselves again

  And rise from the dead

  Where only you will hold the key

  To bring me back

  And set us free.

  Melbourne, 2004

  I saw another shadow beside you

  Beneath the stars

  Your silhouette against the wall

  Your face beat

  Your heart forsaken

  I reach out to touch you

  Yet I can't hear you breathe

  Slip into the nightgown of the sky

  As its silky coat hangs over my shoulders


  Like wind you came and went

  Through the Milky Way

  I’ll extend my wings and soar

  Like I never did before

  I promise I'll catch you when you fall

  Touchdown.

  Perth, 2004

  Spin me around like a top

  Like you please

  The echoes of pain

  Constantly numb my brain

  The unbearable weight on my shoulders

  Wear me down like an anvil

  Chained to my ankles

  Tell me a story

  Make me believe in make-believe

  In the darkness, answers you will find

  I am your salvation

  You are my muse

  I walk around in circles

  In this palimpsest of mixed emotions

  This eternal damnation of my folly

  Perth, 2004

  The rain pelts

  Queen of pain I await

  You opened Pandora’s Box

  Fingers sliding across the locks

  Your fiery eyes

  On the loose

  I break free from this sanctuary

  Like a river I flow into the sea

  On a rock I try to float

  The dry and speckled sand

  Like a flying strip

  You call out to me

  Come here and land.

  I come to an abrupt halt

  I falter and fall.

  The rain pelts.

  Perth, 2005

  Muddled up in a million thoughts

  Overflowing with confusion

  In a frenzied state

  He galloped

  Sweeping past the night

  Adrenalin pumping

  Heated blood boiling

  The wilderness jeers at him

  The leaves gasp

  And the branches cackle

  His long soft mane of snow

  Yellowed under the moonlight glow

  His melancholic wails echoed through the forest of Nowhere

  As he stood by the shimmering lake

  And cried a tear of Silver

  Orion the Hunter nodded with sympathy

  As the Southern Star showed him the way

  He picked up his pace

  Through the trees

  Hiding away from the nocturnal sky

  For he should never be seen

  Only to be buried under scorn

  the unicorn without his horn.

  Perth, 2004

  My mind's a whirl

  In your psychedelic realm

  As I lose myself

  In your spinning world

  I grow dizzy

  As the crystals permeate through my veins

  I become vulnerable

  Limp and fallen I lie

  Jaded and broken I cry

  You slip like sand through my fingers

  As I try in vain

  To hold on to every grain

  Leederville, 2005

  I’m a vendor of my secrets

  I set up my stall along the rubble of emotions

  A flicker of your past

  A love reunited

  Igniting the long lost sparks of before

  I sit alone

  Left in awe

  Perth, 2004

  It's the same tune again

  Like an old broken record you play

  The same lies

  The same accusations

  Oh, how time flies

  The same look on your face

  The same cries not to leave

  Couldn't take a faster pace

  Hauntings of my past

  Bewitched as I fall

  Like the posters of you

  Plastered against the walls

  Perth, 2004

  So many perfect nights

  In an imperfect world

  You drive me wild

  Yet keep me sane

  We'll hold hands and dream apart

  And meet again in our parallel universe

  You're the Queen of my heart

  Perth, 2005

  # The End#

  Mia is in constant need of inspiration, in search of some respite from this crazy world and on the lookout for more adventures. Adventures of life that is.

  In her parallel universe, she spends every day with a notebook and a cup of tea, thinking and writing about nothing at all.

  Feel free to send your thoughts, ideas or any questions at all to [email protected].