Tuesday Poetry: Bad Omens

I sat alone
At home on
My couch when
I heard it
Knock, knock, knock
No one stood
At the door
It meant something
I had forgotten
So I searched
Three knocks meant
A bad omen
Someone will die
You hear stories
But never think
All of it
Could be real
Six weeks later
My roommate’s mother
Passed away in
A hospital bed

From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.

Tuesday Poetry: Breathe

Breathe – just breathe – 
The panic will pass
The thoughts will pass
Everything will be okay
If you just take a breath
And think of your happiest memory
Or even a fantasy – 
Just breathe – 
Move around
Distract yourself
Stay busy
And stop the darkness
From consuming you – 
Inhale – exhale – 
The darkness never lasts forever

From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.

Tuesday Poetry: Darkness Surrounding

Everything’s a distraction
Watching movies
Listening to live music
Meeting friends at bars
It all distracts you
From the darkness within

You awake every morning
With a black cloud
Hovering over you
No one else sees it
No one would suspect
You’d have one

But you see it
It’s always there
So, you do things
To distract you
You stay busy
Avoiding the black cloud

Sometimes staying busy
Isn’t enough to help
Sometimes the black cloud
Surrounds you and
Nothing you do can
Save you or stop it

You don’t know how
It goes away but it does
It never really goes away
So, you learn to live with it
But your fear of it
Taking over never leaves

The black cloud makes you
Think the worst things
About yourself and others
You become your own
Worst enemy; a villain
Fueled by hate and pain

Your emotions are
A powerful force
And you’ve slipped
Into the dark side
The darkness wants
To consume you

How do you emerge from
The darkness after it takes hold
Everyone’s path is different
Your path might be alone
Ending it all is not the answer
Don’t let the darkness win

Never give up and 
Never surrender
But don’t live through
Distractions either
Find a way to overcome
Make the darkness disappear

From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.