Music Heard Solo
6 Poems of Alienation by J.C. Embree
1. Fade Into Obscurity
The curtain is falling
Once more; take your
Final bow. Don't embarrass
Yourself this time.
****************
You've lost your time to exist
You should know by now.
*****************
A lone ghost with a pulse
Destined to walk the Earth
In search of meaning and
Profundity; to always fall short.
******************
You've lost your time to exist
You should know by now.
*******************
Rich full lives will be met
Whilst you drone and mill
Overstaying a welcome that
Was cautious to begin with
*********************
You've lost your time to exist
You should know by now.
***********************
There will always be the
Window; a thick pane of glass
The Us is you, the Them
Is the rest. Have, have-nots
*************************
You've lost your time to exist
You should know by now.
**************************
Frantic and anxious you'll
Try to find the way out;
If there's a code to crack
It's as dated as you.
***************************
You've lost your time to exist
You should know by now.
****************************
2. A Slate, Torn Blank, Again
Funnel out the room
“I’ll see you again,
Sooner rather than later.”
So they say, hear
*****************************
Prior to the hinge of
The last door straightening
Reality comes in waves
Foresaw, but still unprepared
******************************
The slate, not wiped
Clean, per say, but ripped
Personalities, sociabilities torn,
To make way for the next
********************************
Much like a
Reset button, on an
Old video game
Better luck next time
**********************************
3. I Haven’t Seen the Sun in Far Too Long
Rays and beams cut
Through atmospheric barriers
To puncture us
With unexplained joy
**********************************
Yet I squint, and
Somehow, the orb is cold
Left with nothing
More than a shadow and an anticlimax
************************************
The greats,
Stravinsky and Meat Loaf were
All wrong, about so-called
Rites of Spring
*************************************
Or have I
Perhaps, simply built
An immunity
To the Sun?
***************************************
A high tolerance
To vitamin D
May be laughable
But dreadful, all the same
*****************************************
4. How Can I Ever Live This Down?
They are not coming
They are already here
The marching and chanting
Outside your eardrums
******************************************
How can I ever live this down?
How can I ever live this down?
*******************************************
You’d better be sorry
For all the words uttered
From your righteous vocals
To your arrogant lips
*******************************************
How can I ever live this down?
How can I ever live this down?
*******************************************
Out into a world unassuming
Keep digging, dig deep
Down through
The cortex, the center
*********************************************
How can I ever live this down?
How can I ever live this down?
**********************************************
Of your mind, pile
Debris, hoping
For resolution or some
Form of contention
***********************************************
How can I ever live this down?
How can I ever live this down?
*************************************************
But as racketous and
Disheveled as the front is
The quietude of
The back knows better
***************************************************
How can I ever live this down?
How can I ever live this down?
****************************************************
That the minute you
Live this down
Another predicament
Will spread in its place
*******************************************************
Will I ever live this down?
********************************************************
5. Faulty Outing
No amount of the whirring,
Blaring or chattering
From inside can ease
The saw of your nerves
*******************************************
There’s a party in there
And invited or not it’s
Open to all
Save you, perhaps.
*********************************************
The bouncer, distracted
Does not lock eyes
You play on your phone, put
An earphone in, take it out
**********************************************
Nobody’s staring, but the
Eyes are everywhere still.
Should’ve you stayed home
Or should you be here?
***********************************************
After a scornful approach
And fruitless attempt
Of the bouncer’s attention
You fold and walk off
***********************************************
Defeated but fighting
The feeling, you think
“Next time, I’ll bring
Someone; that’ll solve it.”
***********************************************
Go in or not, bring
Companions or not,
You know the feeling
Will last much longer
*************************************************
That the world is enjoying
Growing and celebrating
But you’ll be outside,
Fighting for a bouncer’s attention.
*************************************************
“You’re shit out of luck.”
**************************************************
6. Shame (parts 1-3)
I.
Should a wall
Be forged, should
It be made
Of sweat and not
***************************
Desire, but of desire’s
Antithesis; the
Desire to not
Want, nor to need.
***************************
You analyze
The cracks of the
Structure, find it to be
Made of nothing, really.
****************************
And yet it is there
You don’t quite
Remember building it
But there it stands.
****************************
It’s concrete textures are
The full scope of
Your vision, and you
Crack knuckles
******************************
As if today will
Be the day; but of course
You turn around, and go in
The other direction.
*******************************
Perhaps another time,
In a separate year, but now
The wall remains;
As does the shame.
*********************************
II.
There should be batons
Accompanying Thought Police
Ready at a moment’s notice
When you feel or try
*********************************
Years of training and
Trial and error don’t seem
To instill the truth
Godawful or not
********************************
They put you
On probation, say “No thanks”
In politeness; but these
Are not your people
***********************************
You are a guest in their lives
A mere passerby
An afterthought at best
Don’t think anything else
************************************
The most quaint way
Of being is to be simple
And meek. Your best virtue
Staying out of their way.
*************************************
III.
You spoke too loud
And all too sure
You created a world
Of resentment, bitterness
************************************
You dont know its there
But it will dawn soon
The shame will rise
As your heart sinks
*************************************
Insignificance regained
Depression reassured
The gain of tension
Loss of warmth
****************************************
You overshot and
Overthink, to pile on
And you can't complain
It's the bed you'd made
*****************************************
All poems are taken from the upcoming collection titled Agnostic Gospel by J.C. Embree.
About the Creator
J.C. Traverse
Nah, I'm good.
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