Steel Outline (2nd Rev) Poem by Margaret Alice Second

Friday, I should’ve escaped in the wisdom
of Proverbs & Pratchett’s Thief of Time as
every beautiful hour unfolds petal for petal
and the rose of time grows until the flower
begins to wither, vanishing slowly until the
next flower unfolds into a new perfect hour,
I’m stuck in real life’s mind-molasses and
cannot create a special meaning within to
fill the mystery of my own being -

A headache grows insidiously until my mind
broadcasts on emergency frequency where
mental gymnastics manifest a fluttering fear
of the immense abyss in my head where all
life disappears - oh, where’s the crocodilian
escape from physical reality where my eyes
search for pink & silver glitter to mark every
moment in delicate glimmer - only to find a
bleak steel-frame out-line of life instead -


[ORIGINAL: ]

Friday night blues, I should’ve escaped by
reading words about wisdom & marvellous
thieves of time because as every beautiful
hour unfolds petal for petal and the rose of
time grows until the flower starts to slowly
wither, vanishing little by little until the next
beautiful flower starts to unfold in order to
create the next perfect hour, I’m aware of
life even though I remain stuck in the mind-
molasses unable to create personal meaning
within my own being - like everyone else -

An insidious headache keeps growing until
the only frequency my mind’s broadcasting
on is the emergency channel where mental
gymnastics lead to butterflies fluttering in my
stomach because I fear the immense abyss
in my head in which all of life disappears –
I should settle with a book and escape the
physical reality I don’t understand, my eyes
keep searching for pink and silver glitter to
mark every moment in delicate glimmer, but
only find a bleak steel-frame outline of life -