TWO POEMS BORN OUT OF THE WITCHING HOUR

Here are two poems inspired by how I felt one late night around 3:30 in the morning...

WISH I COULD PAUSE AT 3:33

by matt burns

I have a really good buzz

Going

And I wish time could stop

At 3:33

Because I feel so good

And I just want time to stop here

So I can just chill

With this buzz

Watch some TV

Chill

Ride it

And not let morning come

Not let reality come

Not let the no job come

Not let the bills come

Not let the no money come

Not let my stomach get hungry again

And growl

Not let my thirst need quenching

Or my body need maintaining

Or my teeth need cleaning

I wish time could just stop here

I want to stay here on this couch

In the dark

With the nice buzz going

And the TV flickering

Beverly Hillbillies is on

It’s an Oldies station, late night TV

They don’t expect high ratings at this time a night

So they put on the calmer, old stuff

No Reality TV in your face

No negative world news being barked

Just stuff that keeps you calm

The more time that goes by

The more money you need

And the more depressed you get

And the more alcohol you drink

And the more your body withers

So I wish I could just stay here

In this moment

Nice buzz

Beverly Hillbillies

Forever

COULD JUST BE PLAYING THE PART

by matt burns

I’m sitting here on the couch

It’s really late at night

I feel a dark cloud over me

A dark depression weighing me down

I just want to cash in now, honey

I just want to throw in the towel

O misery!

I’m full of despair

But I’m not really sure whether I’m just being dramatic

I might just be playing the part

The part of the man who’s at the end of his rope

Instead of actually being at the end of my rope

I’ve seen this despaired character in movies

And TV

Plays

Read the part in books

So I’m not sure how real the depression is

I have surrounded myself with so many characters

From all the various forms of media

So I’m not sure how much of what I feel is real emotion

Or how much of what I feel is canned emotion

From some character 

I’ve seen

All too often I find myself playing a part

As opposed to just being me

But is there such thing as just BEING?

Maybe our brain is forced to gravitate to some character

A character that exists in our bag of Jungian archetypes

We feel unsafe lingering in chaos

Just 'being' is chaos

And we run to the character mold that fits our emotional state best

Because that’s the only way we can process what we’re feeling

Otherwise we panic in the chaos of existence

Emotion is chaos

Feeling is chaos

But what is canned emotion?

Order?

Yes

But also unreality

And living in unreality

Is 

A

Form

Of

D

E

A

T

H