Come Hail or High Water

 art and words by  shaun  lawton   

      In the image of the word lies reflected it's own reversed face looking back

 from a surface shiny enough to catch the light bouncing off the edge 

of a dimly recollected wavering impression fluctuating as if 

on the surface of a wind rippled pond in a maelstrom

 of shadowy currents lotus blossoms adrift like 

frozen icebergs forming a line at sea or live 

volcanos erupting in the distance on 

the horizon spewing silt into the atmosphere 

an alkaline transubstantiation rite gone torrid 

of a sudden in an apocalyptic immolation 

of fury unlikely to be repeated for some time 

adrift in the greater induction current of a bedlam 

of pandemonium amid a turbulence of turmoil 

unfolding in the bloom of the torrid afternoon. 

       The correlation Ourself have managed 

to equivocally substantiate renders official 

queries into veracity obsolete, considering

 how well known it goes without saying. 

 

    The volatile and elastic  gelatin quality

 of the humid conditions established 

for optimal transference give the ritual 

a sense of soluble freedom.  

 

hot coffee

 by shaun lawton 

   after going on those strolls 

 upon the well worn 

cobblestone sidewalks

 of Marlborough St. 

    the pealing tolls 

   drift through the fog 

 spill into shapes

 formed from memory 

accompanied by the distant 

 hushing whisper of the dead

 come into me as darkness

  dissolves into night 

  with the leaves 

     in the morning 

    to awaken again 

     

    

Medusa Planet Death Mirror Game

 by shaun lawton 

   I won't follow the game going over 

each play blow by blow as they come and

 neither should any of us waste our days 

worrying over every frame in time. 

  The best thing to remember as we slide 

toward September is to keep our wits

 about us and appreciate the air 

so we may live without a care 

but try our best to represent us 

  by stopping for a thought about the bigger 

 picture and helping out the distressed 

since serving others helps to maintain 

the whole assuring we are all blessed. 

 In the ravages of these quickening times 

multiplying the horrors to come 

  opportunities to help increase with the tides 

 for our war that is forever won 

  for there are no wars that belong to Them 

 since every war belongs to our very own heart.

We are the so called 'Masters of War,' 

every woman, child and man play their part.

  None among us may walk away innocent 

of the accusation of total complicity 

 amid the atrocities committed by any nation 

dwelling upon this planet as we have been 

  all of us in it together as of this very moment 

 remain one hundred percent at fault.

 

  Each one of us pointing our fingers 

and facing the other's index-indications

 continue to be the sole perpetrators 

of everything that's wrong with our world.

 Since we aren't capable of getting together 

and setting apart our differences

 of perception for even a moment then 

we may as well stand and lay down, guilty as charged.

 It matters that the subsidiary wars undulating 

underneath the refractive layers cast upon 

 this glamorous  multilane media-lit world 

of after-hours trafficking and chemical traces 

of neurons all along the towering electrical gridwork 

firing perpetually to light up our dreams and waking lives 

  into their constant interaction of charging up 

the shared screen that passes for our minds.

  Of course it matters as it leaves us all 

 enthralled by the idea of being alive 

when every last one of us just remains 

  yet another person stuck in this game to survive. 

    

 

 

  

Count Down

by   shaun lawton 

a bug defect flaw hitch malfunction mishap problem bitch blow glitch

defeat delay difficulty adversity complication crisis deadlock dilemma 

gridlock plight predicament circumstance crisis hardship impasse

 standoff standstill pickle plight condition predicament quandary

 trouble anxiety concern danger difficulty adversity complication 

hazard crisis catastrophe change confrontation disaster calamity 

debacle emergency failure breakdown collapse decline beating

breakdown destruction annihilation carnage elimination

 eradication decimation extermination extinction obsolescence

 end of life void nullity nonbeing nothing zero 

The Power of Dirt

by  shaun lawton 

One definition of knowing 

 could be settled for a rationale 

Just a cursory demarcation 

of a rendering into twice told tales

the individuation or formality 

forever the annotation you get the drift 

The setting for a reason 

 a soundness of understanding 

To the edge of the terminus

for clarity to a definition

taking shape before all struck eyes

like a sliced off cross section of fruit

Don't let it bewilder or concern you

 with portents of unforeseen wonder

Luring the witchery into a trance

to contemplate inside one's castle built

the pipe dreams of the chimerical muse

the craft of a life's work hung in the balance

Pursuing the inquest to follow the legwork 

 leading to question and reason it out 

A matter of deliberate consolidation 

melding into a coalition of alliance 

by association with the syndicate

all aboard with the trusted crew

An inconspicuous murmuring 

 through the members of the clade

But the moon was very full and bright 

a turn of strange events had led to the ones 

that already had it made forced to turn around

headed back in the direction which they had come

 

Dissuaded

 

Heading Back Into The Dark

by  shaun lawton 

Conflations of energy flow are woven

 about us so we know just how sure we should be 

of ourselves at any given moment, 

how else could we have shown otherwise 

if not to disguise our basic need for want 

of another seed to plant anew our dream 

and see it flower into another fortune 

altogether, only we'll never figure 

it could be better than our original

 venture into unknown territory together,

showing us how we are guided

 by the most innocuous measures

 back into the nethermost silent

territories adrift in the plumb deeps. 

Here we gather for our treasure

 hunting expeditions we can keep

regards to others in their own weather

while the times exist together under

the wind in the fields of wheat.