Submissions by Casted_Runes (Mr Karswell)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I write poetry on a range of subjects and in a range of styles. My privacy is extremely important to me, though I hope that you enjoy my work and that I enjoy yours.
DARK POEM
Published
7th May 2022 8:36am
7th May 2022 8:36am
Some Perverted Form of Art
I read an essay once
about a dog leashed to a public square
and starved
in some perverted form of art.
"But is it art?"
a crowd of dilettantes cried,
stroking their chins
and clutching their programmes,
as that good boy shivered
and turned his poor
and pleading eyes on them
in turn.
"Let's say it is"
a critic said.
"Here's my review:
the dog should be replaced
with something else.
I vote the artist."
about a dog leashed to a public square
and starved
in some perverted form of art.
"But is it art?"
a crowd of dilettantes cried,
stroking their chins
and clutching their programmes,
as that good boy shivered
and turned his poor
and pleading eyes on them
in turn.
"Let's say it is"
a critic said.
"Here's my review:
the dog should be replaced
with something else.
I vote the artist."
#evil
#art
234 reads
3 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
6th May 2022 1:27pm
6th May 2022 1:27pm
Kindness in Conversation
you'll never see
the other person's memories,
the cinema is closed to all but its owner.
tread carefully about its premises,
and listen when the owner says
that you've approached too close.
the other person's memories,
the cinema is closed to all but its owner.
tread carefully about its premises,
and listen when the owner says
that you've approached too close.
#kindness
368 reads
6 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
6th May 2022 11:28am
6th May 2022 11:28am
ancient red
sometimes I'm moved to acts
of generosity
not necessarily
by war, or crime, or other bastion
causes of good, human feeling,
the urge to clarify and solve.
but rather seeing PD James' books
listed in web encyclopedias
with only one or two
unflattering reviews
noted,
giving a false impression that
her books were largely ill-received.
"this cannot stand!" I cry,
and sharpening my editor's pencil,
a cheek aflames with ancient red passion.
of generosity
not necessarily
by war, or crime, or other bastion
causes of good, human feeling,
the urge to clarify and solve.
but rather seeing PD James' books
listed in web encyclopedias
with only one or two
unflattering reviews
noted,
giving a false impression that
her books were largely ill-received.
"this cannot stand!" I cry,
and sharpening my editor's pencil,
a cheek aflames with ancient red passion.
#funny
#inequality
265 reads
0 Comments
DARK POEM
Published
5th May 2022 10:10pm
5th May 2022 10:10pm
Pure Evil
evil cannot be pure
because the very self of it
- its raison d'être, reason for
being - reposes in impurity.
the maniac or beast is never just,
a monster always comes from a closet.
because the very self of it
- its raison d'être, reason for
being - reposes in impurity.
the maniac or beast is never just,
a monster always comes from a closet.
#evil
231 reads
2 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
5th May 2022 6:35pm
5th May 2022 6:35pm
Boundaries
..for I am labelled Mrs Smith,
and you are labelled Mr White.
The boundaries are clear between us,
and all invasions, infractions,
and otherwise disturbances
of these borders
are dredged up from this central point:
that I am labelled Mr White,
and you are labelled Mrs Smith...
and you are labelled Mr White.
The boundaries are clear between us,
and all invasions, infractions,
and otherwise disturbances
of these borders
are dredged up from this central point:
that I am labelled Mr White,
and you are labelled Mrs Smith...
#relationships
301 reads
0 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
4th May 2022 4:07pm
4th May 2022 4:07pm
questions of orientation
how can you know
where to go
if you don't know
where you are?
how can you find
someone's pain
if you've got no idea
where yours is?
where to go
if you don't know
where you are?
how can you find
someone's pain
if you've got no idea
where yours is?
#MentalHealth
297 reads
1 Comment
NON-FICTION PROSE
Published
3rd May 2022 10:58pm
3rd May 2022 10:58pm
What a Woman Means to Me
an essay
I wanted to write out my thoughts and feelings on the subject of the late American crime writer Patricia Highsmith in the context of what she and her work means to me in an essay because prose is a more analytical medium than poetry, which is more concerned I think with wit and beauty. I have written a poem on the subject, which you can find in my recent bibliography under the title “A Toxic Woman”, and thought about writing another. But to exorcise this demon I need to understand it, so to speak. Which isn’t to say that I want this essay to be dark or depressing at...
I wanted to write out my thoughts and feelings on the subject of the late American crime writer Patricia Highsmith in the context of what she and her work means to me in an essay because prose is a more analytical medium than poetry, which is more concerned I think with wit and beauty. I have written a poem on the subject, which you can find in my recent bibliography under the title “A Toxic Woman”, and thought about writing another. But to exorcise this demon I need to understand it, so to speak. Which isn’t to say that I want this essay to be dark or depressing at...
#violence
#fiction
#nonfiction
499 reads
4 Comments
DARK POEM
Published
3rd May 2022 12:20pm
3rd May 2022 12:20pm
and so it goes
Tell the world Johnny, tell them that I Johnny Depp am a victim of domestic violence.” - Amber Heard
...and so it goes
that Destruction is always Male,
however it’s born,
however it identifies.
But we might just be learning now
that sometimes it’s a girl.
Becoming Female. A woman of dark
proportions. That on occasion
death doesn’t wear a charcoal tie
and creased trousers. They sometimes wear
lipstick, face-paint, extensions, jewels...
...your mother’s dirty robe,
chasing you at five years old
up through...
...and so it goes
that Destruction is always Male,
however it’s born,
however it identifies.
But we might just be learning now
that sometimes it’s a girl.
Becoming Female. A woman of dark
proportions. That on occasion
death doesn’t wear a charcoal tie
and creased trousers. They sometimes wear
lipstick, face-paint, extensions, jewels...
...your mother’s dirty robe,
chasing you at five years old
up through...
#abuse
#DomesticViolence
452 reads
2 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
1st May 2022 11:42pm
1st May 2022 11:42pm
and so it hurts
..and so it hurt when you said
that nobody cares,
that my pain was just self-absorption.
because no matter how
the stain has aged with time
or what I’ve learned in cleaning it,
how much is now removed,
the fabric showing up a little more,
it’s not gone yet
and I can’t get it out
just by screaming in its face
that nobody cares,
that my pain was just self-absorption.
because no matter how
the stain has aged with time
or what I’ve learned in cleaning it,
how much is now removed,
the fabric showing up a little more,
it’s not gone yet
and I can’t get it out
just by screaming in its face
#suffering
289 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
30th Apr 2022 12:59pm
30th Apr 2022 12:59pm
the map and the territory
together we are landscaping
the ways of love and care,
providing maps, road guides,
new editions as and when
a new part of the plane is found.
and from the plane we take flora:
micro-scoping hate
so as to splay it on a slide
and store it for added research,
so as to one day wipe it from the plane
the ways of love and care,
providing maps, road guides,
new editions as and when
a new part of the plane is found.
and from the plane we take flora:
micro-scoping hate
so as to splay it on a slide
and store it for added research,
so as to one day wipe it from the plane
#relationships
#conflict
226 reads
3 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
29th Apr 2022 8:57pm
29th Apr 2022 8:57pm
A Toxic Woman
Tom laughed at the phrase "sexual deviation." Where was the sex? Where was the deviation? He looked at Freddie and said low and bitterly: "Freddie Miles, you're a victim of your own dirty mind.”
- Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley
I first fell in love with a toxic woman
when I was fifteen years old
and in the "crime" section of my local library.
her name was Patricia,
her name on the spine of a book
called This Sweet Sickness,
about a clever scientist
who's stupidly in love
with a woman from his youth,
so much...
- Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley
I first fell in love with a toxic woman
when I was fifteen years old
and in the "crime" section of my local library.
her name was Patricia,
her name on the spine of a book
called This Sweet Sickness,
about a clever scientist
who's stupidly in love
with a woman from his youth,
so much...
#reading
445 reads
0 Comments
EROTIC POEM
Published
29th Apr 2022 3:03pm
29th Apr 2022 3:03pm
Landscapes of Need and Want
I wanted, I guess,
to be brutalised.
but as I grow I realise
that this was just a surface glaze
I tried to ground in instruments.
the dark inquisitor
that was my self-interrogation
of sex and why I needed it.
he strode in like a crossed
and cassocked torturer,
whose dim religious sense came down
to thumbscrews, dunking stools, and pikes.
machines of fetish, of the night.
now I leave his long shadow behind
and find that lust was always of the heart
as well as mind, the thought as of the...
to be brutalised.
but as I grow I realise
that this was just a surface glaze
I tried to ground in instruments.
the dark inquisitor
that was my self-interrogation
of sex and why I needed it.
he strode in like a crossed
and cassocked torturer,
whose dim religious sense came down
to thumbscrews, dunking stools, and pikes.
machines of fetish, of the night.
now I leave his long shadow behind
and find that lust was always of the heart
as well as mind, the thought as of the...
#sex
241 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Casted_Runes (Mr Karswell)
