New poems by Clifford K. Watkins, Jr.

 

Charlotte’s Sanctuary of Darkness

 

Unaware of attention-grabbing vulnerability
As she burrowed her toes into the bone-dry soil
And experienced an unexpected renaissance amid the dying trees
Incapable of masking her vermilion hues
The muse covered her face with paint-stained hands
Realizing that it was love
Only to scamper back into her sanctuary of darkness
Where her fingernails dug into a canvas of mixed-up reflections

 

 

For You

 

Singing in the drizzly recesses of this chaotic mind
I saunter through a burrow of eerie trees
Instantaneously affected by your poignant tone
Once forging through the darkness seemingly in vain
I delved further into the miscellany of a vanished realm
And was blinded by your radiance
As apathy faded into the warmth of your delicate arms
Yet I was sentient enough to sense your brook of mushrooming unity

 

 

Tranquility

 

I'm feeling utterly worn-out, the likes of which I haven't experienced in eons, and believe it or not, it's a welcome change from the wakefulness that I've experienced since moving to hillbilly land. Even in your corporeal dearth, I've found something that I've never had in my tumultuous existence: A semblance of tranquility. And yes, you're that special to me. Just knowing that there's someone out there who truly loves the meager being that is me, for me is enough to carry through another slow-moving century.

 

 

 

Sleepwalking

 

I walked incessantly with
The circular senselessness of a dog chasing its tail
Powerless as a quadriplegic on a runaway carousel
Spinning and replaying events in my mind
As every facet of my being spiraled into frigid waters
And I could only laugh
At the quarters vacant of life
Shaking my head in vain
I sat alone on a concrete slab
Flicking cigarettes into the rushing creek below
Oblivious to the night owls plunging into the swimming hole

 

 

Dormant Account

 

Lost to the rudiments of being
Trying to envision your sketchy remembrances
I'm somehow assuaged by your tone
You compel me from a fracture in life's monotony
For your rhythmic words are the vanquishers of my darkness
Forging a mindset of quick-fix luminosity
Alive as I bask in this furtive sun
And somewhere you shudder at the thought of my affection
As I envelop myself with the warmth of faceless strangers
Yet always superimposing your dorky face
So there will always be misplaced scraps
In my patch-work existence
No matter how irretrievably foolish

 

 

Chameleon Plant

 

Every glimpse is a nuance
And each shade is a world's demise
Her face is a myriad of novel reflections
Nightly vanishing into the cerebral abyss
Yet every dawn she blossoms anew
Stemming from the depression of an infinite soul
Always compelled upward into the sun
Displaying her ephemeral colors

 

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