Author: madeleineatkinson

Reverent

~ madeleineatkinson ~ Leave a comment

Restless, he wakes
To a sky full of stars
And his thin bones are bruised
With most violet of scars.

A patch on his forearm
His hip bones, a peach
Distorts its perfection
With the autumn it reached.

When the branches hang not
With the weight of its friends,
And the fruit falls alone
To dry grass it descends.

He awoke to a ceiling
He had not seen before
And a headache that stretched
From his curls to his jaw.

Lights from the windows
Below heaven, on streets
The lamps light up paths
Where the mortals all meet.

Which makes it hurt more –
That he is so alone –
They left so much earlier
From the place he called home.

To the world past the glass
He casts his eyes, only two,
From horizon to starlight
Hopes he returns soon.

There’s a humbling pi(e)ty
To these toy tin human things
Words tumble on tongues
Where are my wings?

Daffodils

~ madeleineatkinson ~ Leave a comment

I see you in the daffodils.
Your neck below their heads
Your legs outstretched on green
The blanket on your bladed bed

I’m reminded there are worse things
To see you in at times
I’ve woken, shaking madly
Catching your face next to mine

This reminds me I am better
To see you here, old friend
To forget the burn of our last words
And fall in love again.

Yellow makes me well now
And it looks good on you too
One day you’ll burst up in the sky
Amber hair on azure blue

And all the world will see you
Though they may not know your face
But I will know you’re up there
And we’ll meet again one day.

On Eastern Avenue

~ madeleineatkinson ~ Leave a comment

She wasn’t there when I saw her.
Absent and empty and gone,
Her face caked in vomit and saliva,
Nothing behind her eyes at all,
Slumped in her seat as the needle,
Had drained the life from her body
Slower than it pushed it in.
I half expected blood to pool on the floor,
Of the car in the footwell and the inside pocket,
Where she kept her CDs.
Bowie and Bowie and Bowie,
His lightning face paint, and staccatos,
Still playing from the speakers,
As I tried to shake her awake,
As the ambulance came,
And the flood of its lights tricked me,
Into thinking she came alive again.

Here we left it

~ madeleineatkinson ~ Leave a comment

Your eyes are filled with sadness, dear.
Your heart is growing dark,
You do not smile the same, sweetheart,
Your laughter’s lost its spark.

I don’t know if it’s you or me,
Or the space between us both,
But when I see you, you are not the same,
As the man I loved the most.

My words are heavy on my tongue,
Too much for lips to start,
We separate with soft, sad words,
Far from the fire of the start.

The Monster

~ madeleineatkinson ~ Leave a comment

There’s a monster in my chest
He beats my heart like drums
I’m choking on this blood of mine
That’s pooling in my lungs.

I feel as though I’m drowning
And my vision’s turning white
Blur before me, avalanche
Tell me that I’m right.

There’s a hole inside my body
Where you’ve eaten me away
I squint through colour, motion, shame
I stumble to the end of days

Jerusalem falls around me
The soldiers at the wall
Have laid siege to my temple
Just a day too long

It’s October, when I crumble
Flames burn away my gold-tinged skin
I fall like Autumn leaves
And whisper curses to the wind.

There was something here, once
A beauty to be had
But I lost that, oh years ago
When everything turned bad

I am the image of no one.
The sky is empty tonight
My limbs are dead around me
And my neck is flecked with blight.

I zone out to rope and medicine
And vomit down my front
There are monsters haunting me
From which I turn and run

They’re down every hallway
Handprints on every wall
They’ve cracked every floorboard
Pandemonium feels so small.

My body’s not my own now
I’m blood and flesh and shame
That’s why I call him Monster
For I do not know his name

Tears rip through my eyelids
And spill right down my face
This isn’t what I wanted
This boiling, burning place.

But I see him when I close my eyes
And count, so slow, to ten
I choke on black and empty space
And whisper my amen.

I’m begging you to save me
Just pull me out of here
I don’t know if I want to die
But I do want to disappear.

I want you to rest me easy,
Cotton, for my face,
Press til I stop kicking,
And over me, say grace.

Purge the evil from this vessel
And rid the monster, yes
I s’pose I’ll meet you in the elsewhere
It’s not for me to guess.

Take Me Home

~ madeleineatkinson ~ Leave a comment

It’s the name that I can’t say
It’s the bullet in my brain
It’s the answer to all my questions why
It’s the hurt behind my eyes and the reason I can’t cry
It’s the pain inside my chest and why I’m screaming to the sky

Chorus
Oh, take me home
I know I don’t belong here anymore
Oh, I want to go
I don’t know what it is I’m asking for

Rip me open, take my heart
It was broken from the start
Erase the parts that I can’t see
I’m all but begging on my knees

Darling please I don’t know you
But you’re the one I’m crying to
A promise held in future times
A push to walk a reason why

My heart is open have my soul
Take it, here, have it all
I give to you every last part
My open chest, my empty heart

Rest between the scarlet curves
The pretty lies the broken girl
Look past my lips look past my smile
I’ve been dying for a while

Baby please don’t leave me here
You’re the only thing that I hold dear
Across the ocean far from me
A key to life that I can’t see

Chorus

I haven’t seen where I live
But I know where I exist
Push past the fog and through the mist
Lead there and take my kiss

Hold me in your aching arms
Kiss along these ugly scars
Tell me that you’ll love me
Even when we’re worlds apart

I look up to the break of dawn
Sick of this and wanting more
You sit beside me in my mind
I’ve been empty all this time

I know that you’re not really here
But won’t you lay with me my dear
It helps me cling onto this plane
Cut through these locks and break these chains

A thousand questions far from me
Now I know what dying means
I’m tired of doing what I hate
I’m going home it’s getting late

You may never know my name
And for that you take no blame
The world it wasn’t big enough
If you look for me just look above

I don’t know where I’m going now
It’s not this place it’s not just town
I feel faint and I feel sick
And yet I’m calm that this is it

Chorus

The Fate of the Wood

~ madeleineatkinson ~ Leave a comment

They are ripping down the cherry trees,
With teeth of steel and iron,
Before dusk, when the moon’s still up,
Beneath Draco and Orion.

The grunts of sweat and blood and men,
Are deafening in the night,
Shadows painted on the soil,
From their glowing torch of light.

The fruits were picked off long ago,
It was winter when they came,
Soldiers clad with helmet and axe,
And titles instead of names.

Amongst the throng there are no cheers,
When the first bough hits the ground,
A thud, then a scatter of leaves,
A resolute and aching sound.