Submissions by mikeocull
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
As a poet, songwriter, and musician, I deal in art, culture, and emotion. I have a need to make you feel something.It's all about the vibe.
SELF POEM
Published
1st Nov 2015 8:55am
1st Nov 2015 8:55am
Undone
I come undone in the overnight.
My true self reveals its ugly face in the small hours
When I am small and blue and easy to break.
I feel the threats, the misgivings, the sadness of existence
And I often act on these feelings
with personally negative results.
My cure is remote and unavailable in these moments
And I twist in the wind.
I am stronger in the daylight
Even though I mostly hide from it
But late nights show where the defenses are weak.
I mend the fences the best I can each morning
But holes remain, patches seldom hold for long....
My true self reveals its ugly face in the small hours
When I am small and blue and easy to break.
I feel the threats, the misgivings, the sadness of existence
And I often act on these feelings
with personally negative results.
My cure is remote and unavailable in these moments
And I twist in the wind.
I am stronger in the daylight
Even though I mostly hide from it
But late nights show where the defenses are weak.
I mend the fences the best I can each morning
But holes remain, patches seldom hold for long....
467 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
1st Nov 2015 7:54am
1st Nov 2015 7:54am
All I Can Do Is Watch
It’s hard to admit
That most people seem like objects.
In fact, I own many objects that provoke
A whole lot more emotion in me
Than most people.
They seem like a chair, a tire, a crate
Things whose presence or absence
Has no bearing on anything.
They can stay, they can go
It’s really all the same.
Only the ones who are still alive to themselves
Seem alive to me, seem human.
Their fire is their humanity
And they burn brightly.
The rest are dead men walking
The rank and file at the end of the line
And all I can do is watch.
That most people seem like objects.
In fact, I own many objects that provoke
A whole lot more emotion in me
Than most people.
They seem like a chair, a tire, a crate
Things whose presence or absence
Has no bearing on anything.
They can stay, they can go
It’s really all the same.
Only the ones who are still alive to themselves
Seem alive to me, seem human.
Their fire is their humanity
And they burn brightly.
The rest are dead men walking
The rank and file at the end of the line
And all I can do is watch.
497 reads
1 Comment
SONG LYRICS
Published
21st Feb 2015 9:16am
21st Feb 2015 9:16am
Ill City
Can you dig it? What’s going around?
Can you show up to let me know that you’re down?
Do you have some heart left or is it all in the box?
Is your mind running free or does it come with a lock?
Do you think you’re the one, do you think that you’re better?
Because of your color, your car, or your leather?
Well, I’m here to report, to show, to break it down
Cause there’s a crisis of soul on the streets of this town.
It’s an Ill City
Now I’ve never been free but I thought that I was
I was free to spend money, buy clothes, and get buzzed
But...
Can you show up to let me know that you’re down?
Do you have some heart left or is it all in the box?
Is your mind running free or does it come with a lock?
Do you think you’re the one, do you think that you’re better?
Because of your color, your car, or your leather?
Well, I’m here to report, to show, to break it down
Cause there’s a crisis of soul on the streets of this town.
It’s an Ill City
Now I’ve never been free but I thought that I was
I was free to spend money, buy clothes, and get buzzed
But...
698 reads
1 Comment
ANGER POEM
Published
15th Feb 2015 1:04am
15th Feb 2015 1:04am
Breaking
I feel the urge to walk my streets
Even though I live cold on an ice sheet
Been so long since the days were good
Since the nights were long, since I knew you would.
I don’t know how to live without life in my years
I don’t know what I’m doing still hanging around here.
My body and yours, my soul and my mind
Have all come undone and continue to wind.
I’m starting to think I’ll never get unfrozen
Because this is the world and the life that I’ve chosen.
Nothing gets better, there’s only the grind
Of egos and souls bent on speaking their mind...
Even though I live cold on an ice sheet
Been so long since the days were good
Since the nights were long, since I knew you would.
I don’t know how to live without life in my years
I don’t know what I’m doing still hanging around here.
My body and yours, my soul and my mind
Have all come undone and continue to wind.
I’m starting to think I’ll never get unfrozen
Because this is the world and the life that I’ve chosen.
Nothing gets better, there’s only the grind
Of egos and souls bent on speaking their mind...
651 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
7th Dec 2014 9:21am
7th Dec 2014 9:21am
Broken
They say I’m not broken, but I’m not so sure.
I’m certainly not fit for much
So what does that make me?
I’m fit for going crazy in a room, alone.
I’m fit for madness, poverty, solitude
For the company of lost souls
Because we always seem to find each other.
i live, not to raise humans
or race cars or to fly to the moon
But to experience the highs and lows
Of my extremely emotional and unstable psyche
And translate them into art, somehow,
To turn my peaks and depths into
Something resembling human experience exhibits
that I can...
I’m certainly not fit for much
So what does that make me?
I’m fit for going crazy in a room, alone.
I’m fit for madness, poverty, solitude
For the company of lost souls
Because we always seem to find each other.
i live, not to raise humans
or race cars or to fly to the moon
But to experience the highs and lows
Of my extremely emotional and unstable psyche
And translate them into art, somehow,
To turn my peaks and depths into
Something resembling human experience exhibits
that I can...
490 reads
0 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
7th Dec 2014 8:57am
7th Dec 2014 8:57am
Warmth
What I miss the most is warmth.
The warmth between you and your leather jacket
That my arms were fortunate enough to encircle.
Feeling your skin, your sweater, the leather
And the cold all at once
Secure in the knowledge that I would, once again,
Survive the winter.
The warmth between you and your leather jacket
That my arms were fortunate enough to encircle.
Feeling your skin, your sweater, the leather
And the cold all at once
Secure in the knowledge that I would, once again,
Survive the winter.
563 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
14th Nov 2014 00:06am
14th Nov 2014 00:06am
Fighting
Fighting to find a way through to the center
Trying to find what isn’t inside
There are moments of incredible strength
When it all seems possible
And other moments of desperate fear
When nothing works on any level.
I get caught up looking for what isn’t there
And lose my way
As if there was something outside of me
That could fix this somehow.
Trying to find what isn’t inside
There are moments of incredible strength
When it all seems possible
And other moments of desperate fear
When nothing works on any level.
I get caught up looking for what isn’t there
And lose my way
As if there was something outside of me
That could fix this somehow.
510 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
13th Oct 2014 8:19am
13th Oct 2014 8:19am
Vision
Anger increases as vision descends
Sending a flash to the world as it ends
I go big, I stand tall, keep my hat to the wall
Small time ain’t no time, so let the chips fall.
I never did fit, I never could win it
I still can’t smile, don’t know how to spin it.
I never could learn the rules of the game
So I threw them all out, now I shout my own name.
So many are cool now that it’s over
But when it counted, they gave me the shoulder
They think I forgot, but I still run it down
I wanted to king but they made me a clown.
Now it’s all...
Sending a flash to the world as it ends
I go big, I stand tall, keep my hat to the wall
Small time ain’t no time, so let the chips fall.
I never did fit, I never could win it
I still can’t smile, don’t know how to spin it.
I never could learn the rules of the game
So I threw them all out, now I shout my own name.
So many are cool now that it’s over
But when it counted, they gave me the shoulder
They think I forgot, but I still run it down
I wanted to king but they made me a clown.
Now it’s all...
543 reads
0 Comments
SONG LYRICS
Published
4th Sep 2014 8:31am
4th Sep 2014 8:31am
Die From The Water
You can die from the water down here, they say.
I don’t care, I know I’m dying anyway.
I felt the fire go out a long time ago.
I want to feel the wind before the time I gotta go.
Nothing here matters but you and me.
We can fly with the eagle, we can drift out to sea.
I know I talk too much, I can’t walk, I can’t stumble.
The truth of my life is a barely heard mumble.
I lust want to live another day.
I just want to live another way.
I don’t know where I’m from, but it ain’t around here.
I’ll sing this song for you, Baby, then it’s...
I don’t care, I know I’m dying anyway.
I felt the fire go out a long time ago.
I want to feel the wind before the time I gotta go.
Nothing here matters but you and me.
We can fly with the eagle, we can drift out to sea.
I know I talk too much, I can’t walk, I can’t stumble.
The truth of my life is a barely heard mumble.
I lust want to live another day.
I just want to live another way.
I don’t know where I’m from, but it ain’t around here.
I’ll sing this song for you, Baby, then it’s...
624 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
13th Mar 2014 10:13am
13th Mar 2014 10:13am
Disturbance #687
How do you know you're ready to do the Devils' work?
How much thinking does it take?
How many lies do you need to hear from righteous lips
Before you will suffer them no more?
I am tired of people who offer prayer but not help.
Words but no actions.
I have hit bottom and there's no way out.
Do they care? No way.
They are all too busy at their prayer meetings and
Self-congratulatory congregations
To worry about someone who actually is
In danger of losing his Soul.
There are hard truths that need to be faced.
No amount of happy talk...
How much thinking does it take?
How many lies do you need to hear from righteous lips
Before you will suffer them no more?
I am tired of people who offer prayer but not help.
Words but no actions.
I have hit bottom and there's no way out.
Do they care? No way.
They are all too busy at their prayer meetings and
Self-congratulatory congregations
To worry about someone who actually is
In danger of losing his Soul.
There are hard truths that need to be faced.
No amount of happy talk...
541 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
12th Mar 2014 4:21am
12th Mar 2014 4:21am
Mad
Mad as a hatter
Nowhere to go
The sadness lasts longer than before.
I tap tap tap the night away
Running my dirty little hands over the keys, the strings,
Over anything that will have me…
I dream of wet city streets,
shadows,
moving silently along
Catching reflections as I walk
smoking things over.
Trying to amount to something
Beyond the sum of my broken parts.
I dream of riding the EL
To see someone warm…
To be welcomed somewhere,
if only for a little while.
Nothing continues as it is,
Change ruins...
Nowhere to go
The sadness lasts longer than before.
I tap tap tap the night away
Running my dirty little hands over the keys, the strings,
Over anything that will have me…
I dream of wet city streets,
shadows,
moving silently along
Catching reflections as I walk
smoking things over.
Trying to amount to something
Beyond the sum of my broken parts.
I dream of riding the EL
To see someone warm…
To be welcomed somewhere,
if only for a little while.
Nothing continues as it is,
Change ruins...
504 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
17th Dec 2013 9:06am
17th Dec 2013 9:06am
Stand Off
The things I need to say cannot be said.
I cannot give them voice but can
No longer keep them inside.
I am at an impasse.
I cannot give them voice but can
No longer keep them inside.
I am at an impasse.
573 reads
2 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by mikeocull
