Gatsby's Fall From Grace

A light of hope burned within Gatsby's heart, a flickering green light that ignited his extravagant and love fueled dreams. It is true that this very green light hovered over his blurred horizon, danced along a hazy border between sky high fantasies and deep sea deaths. That light soon became a beacon for his hopes, but its bright light cast an envious shadow over Gatsby's soul, over the years slowly manipulating his hopeful smile into an expression of desperate longing.

That night their bodies danced with ultimate pari passu, moving as one amongst the crowds of people who's bodies rustled in jeweled sweet wrapper habiliments. The glitz of the party faded slowly faded into the distance and dissipated into the soft brown eyes of Daisy Buchanan. Her sweet honey suckle hair swam through his mind like finger waves, her finger tips dripped in gold pawing gently at his back, her eyes begging him for reassurance.

Two short experimental pieces exploring the characters and themes associated with F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. 

Origami Swans

Eyes wander over grazed, stained arms
skin thin as canvas
stretching over bone
framing a piece of art so frail
its pigment begins to fade,
paint cracks feather over
every detail
as blurring narratives
fade into
sunlit backdrops

Cut fingers
and pin pricked minds
trace over
origami thought
wrapping lace bandages
over nics
and accidental incisions
sewing stories onto
paper
in bespattered paint

The room swarmed with paper swans
as the floor turned to red

You & I

I
would tell you
everything
if I had
secrets
to share

I'd
unload my
troubles
onto
the shelf of
your shoulders
release worries
onto
aching palms

You'd
feel
the weight
of my worries
as heavy
as they are
fall gently
into your keeping

I
trust
you'd hold
them close
as I
would
yours

Another bottle dry

Shot- like a pin prick through my spine
Bleeding like a barrel full of wine
I pour myself out
Pick up a glass
and drink the whole world out
Tomorrow i'll be nothing but a headache
A hungover reminder of a life that once was

The Leaves Died For You

The leaves died for you.
the September air
that christened your lungs,
that bought you life
and laughter,
did so harshly take their breath
to fill your lungs with air.
Tears fell in the first few months
like rain,sleet and snow,
and the dark winds
that carried their sorrow
did so to protect your home.
The spring that followed
full of lamb,
of daffodils and rain,
bought your first taste of sunshine
and washed the night away.
The summer sun did shine like you,
so young yet just as wise
as the sea that washed over the sands
with tales of the tides

Ecstasy

The addict-
inhaled her into his lungs-
replaced nicotine with flesh and blood-
rolled his body around her like a joint.
His body a mixture of two parts paranoia-
and one part anxiety.

Sweats,
shakes,
rejection,
exhaling her from his lungs-
before taking another drag.

Trembling hands-
as she parts from his lips-
her perfume clings to him like cigarettes-
                         Like ecstasy she will push him to the edge

This poem was inspired by the relationship between recovering addicts and their partners, I thought about the idea of quitting an addiction for the person you love, essentially replacing the addiction with the person and becoming addicted to them. in this poem the addict replacing drugs and alcohol with his girlfriend. i questioned what would happen when the relationship breaks down, would the person be able to cope with another dose of withdrawal? 

Melt with the wind

We met at first in the Autumn
she had a cold.
her nose pinched as red as a raspberry
her distant Welsh accent
peering from behind
her nasal toned voice
and thick woolen scarf
teal,
her favourite colour,
fortunately,
as it complimented her eyes
in a way that made hem glow-
she glowed,
in a world so desaturated by tragedy,
she radiated colour
and with this gift she bought hope.

Her name at this point
is still unknown
but the urge to call her my own
is stronger than any
formation of syllables
could ever be.

For our first date
she took me somewhere
I had never been before,
the world seemed different
to me on this day,
its sky a richer shade of amber,
its air sweeter
than it had ever tasted before.
My mind more focused
on the temperature of her hands
than the world at our feet.

It is upon reflection
that I now realise,
it was not the season
that had changed
but something within me
the sepia tinted leaves
and apple scented sky
was of her creation
her hands moulded around
the earth,
contorting it to her design.

She stepped back
and watched it bloom
through my eyes
watched the seasons
come and die
and her lips began to curve
as she watched the leaves
shrivel with age
and melt with the wind
she laughed at the sound
of their crumpled corpses
as she danced upon their graves.

Within her heart,
she holds
that childish enthusiasm
for the minor details,
I often watch
as she gazes upon
a glitter of dust,
or rainbow of colour
dancing through the air.

My heart quivers
at the thought of growing old,
her skin melting like snow,
bones crumbling like sugar
her tears will fall like rose petals-
like autumn leaves
we will melt with the wind

Never before have I attempted to write a poem at such length from the point of view of a male protagonist. The idea for this piece sprang from the film Ruby Sparks: a beautiful fulm about a writer who's character comes to life and they embark on a life changing relationship. I explored the moment shared between to characters upon their first meeting and built upon the relationship from their. It was refreshing to create a characters so refreshingly simple for once and these two unnamed characters are ones that I will be working with in the near future.