Play in the Night

                      --Michael Kwack

From two o’clock

When owls hoot

Up to four when cocks crow

Surely I will be kept awake,

To watch the secret play

Of the conscious and unconscious.

However, I will not see

The queer performance inside me

As a mere dream in the night.

If I long for better plays,

More will I wander dur...

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I am not Alone

Ujjal Mandal, India
7th December 2020

I am not alone.
When nature cast her beauty upon me,
My silence speaks the words
Of happiness.
Oh, I am not alone
I have silence.

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Confined to a tiny apartment

terrified of a viral threat

she rocks in her chair listening

to voices in the corridor

Who is going out?

To voices in the street

Who are they? Are they infected?

She turned off the TV months ago

when depression became too much to bear.

In the silence she waits

for the danger to pass

listening to the constant

chatter of...

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I don't want to hurt no more
I don’t want to cry
Don’t want to curse no more
Don't want to live this lie
Inside I feel I’m dying
The pain it hurts so bad
I feel I’m losing control
Every day I feel so sad
I’ve felt this way for a lifetime
Thought I’d mastered how to cope
But the pressures getting heavy
Feel I’m living with false hope
Thought talking would help to free me
But I feel I’v...

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Lost boy, find your way home
Reach out your arms
You’re no longer alone
Lost boy, please don’t be scared
There’s a safe place waiting 
You just need to get there

People may judge you
And that is OK
If they have a problem
We can keep them at bay
Thoughts and feelings are normal
Its everyday life
The future is yours
So keep that in sight

Lost boy, why are you afraid
It’s not your ...

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Crumbling all around you
Your world falling apart
Life seems to be dealing cruel blows
And your wondering where to start
From the moment you start hiding
Things go from bad to worse
The damage is occurring
And your causing yourself hurt
On the outside you are smiling
But on the inside there is pain
To the world your seeing sunshine
But all you see is rain
Behind the dark clouds lurks y...

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It’s a nagging,

A light tug of the sleeve on a cold day,

It reminds you it’s there with

Every quiet evening and cancelled plan

If you close your eyes you can feel

It stronger, engulfing you with its words

And its touch, filling your soul with the

Dirty sludge it flourishes within. 

It follows you while you walk from

Street to street, from room to room,

And taunts you ...

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When I walked through the path,
Alone in the moonlight stars.
I found a stranger wearing smile,
Didn't know the feelings behind
Walked with her and saw a different world
'There I got a new family' - I loved
Didn't know we could get so close
That my life could be disastrous if we broke.
Hiding the feelings behind and faking the smile they left.
Hope of meeting again is the only thing they ...

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When I’m not alone 
All I do is moan
I also groan
My companions say “Oh won’t you stop!”
But my only reply is “I’m going to the shop”
 

 
When I’m alone
I can play my trombone
Without somebody screaming “I would rather you moan!”
And I don’t always have to go to the shop
I just always watch TV non-stop
 

Once I was alone
And I was on my phone 
And I was shown 
A warning about a...

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Four walls

Little comfort

Self control, the rage inside

Missing choices
Voices taken
Expelled forsaken
No choice
To live..
To feed the fallen
Four walls
One door
No comfort,
challenges acceptance
we shall over come

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I went to the market today, 

I bought some Haddock.

Under the present circumstances it seemed like the best thing to do,

There’s nothing in the shops,

Not even toilet paper

It looks like things are going down the pan very rapidly

What a thin veneer

Civilisation is so fragile

No thicker than a sheet of tissue paper, so gossamer.

I poached it in a bit of milk, the Haddock,

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an old man sitting alone at a diner

a child alone at recess because no one wants to play

an addict who sits at home inebreated because shes lonely

all of their minds have gone astray

feeling not good enough, feeling like no one cares

the feeling of loneliness is sometimes too much to bare

laying alone while your significant other sleeps

watching the ball drop on your own on ne...

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