Serenity now?

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We are all connected. The woman
in line at the grocery store
too tired to say no to one more question.
The young man scanning the Skittles
his arm a pendulum absentmindedly marking
time. And me at attention
with the world while my phone
shows zero bars and I long to march on.

We all crave serenity. The woman
thinking of a euphoric cacophony of silence
that a mouthful of candy may bring.
The young man clocked out and finding
ecstasy absent the din of beeps, glorying
in his moment. And me raptured
from this world and returned home
where my wifi vigorously absolves me.

Phillip Knight Scott | © 2019

Written for the Go Do Go Cafe Tuesday Writing Challenge. Today’s prompt is “serenity“

Mother told me

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My mother told me it would all be okay,
but I’m inclined to believe that
things were simpler in her
womb, in the dark about the blights
illuminating mysteries
perhaps best left out of the spotlight.

A warm shield from injustice
with the first breath of my origin story,
Mom carefully pulled back the veil
through childhood, slowly acclimating my eyes
to a world waiting to blind me
with harsh truths and cold, naked reality.

Perhaps I’m okay. I don’t know another way
and I’m inclined to believe that
things – though complex – deserve
the light, and I can see clearly
because her hand held the flashlight.

Phillip Knight Scott | © 2019

Written for the Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge (“My mother told me …”) over at Go Dog Go Cafe. Come join us, won’t you?

And then

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A funeral, then the beach –
tastes hot in my mouth,
clinging to top of my mouth,
lingering unwanted
black heat into the void.

The sun insists on spitting
spicy splinters of light,
splashing in my eyes, children
playing on retinas, harmless
and infuriating – such indifference.

A hurricane, then back home –
feels wet on my face,
showering on a young shopping cart
creeping to the bike rack
winding eyes wide in witness.

I dare not wade into
mischievous waters, churning
in the pit of my stomach,
longing for relax, last
to reach the calming land.

(c) 2019 by Phillip Knight Scott

Prompt: “mischievous waters” from Go Dog Go Cafe. Come join us!

Deception

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I prefer to call deception –
that duplicitous imposter
born of self-aggrandizement
amid seasons of otherwise warm
dispositions – a fraud
whose hazy outline bleeds lies
like smoke
as mirrors
portend a vague shadow
of a home where earthly browns fade
to nothing,
his intent from the start.

The fox who outfoxes (or do
I mean outguiles?) no one cannot
reach the tree, leaving
with only sour grapes, paws scratched
among the pretense. Thorns stir us
from the artifice,
pedals dissolving
like smoke
as windows
stubbornly refuse to reflect
angled shadows
in a home where truth fades
to nothing,
and we arrive at the end.

(c) 2019 by Phillip Knight Scott

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Smoke and Mirrors

Edge of Summer

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A puppet tricks a telephone,
answering to no one
in the sunshine,
wearing a garish bathing suit
several sizes too large
held up
by sweat and determination.

Genuine in her vitality, she
bares the heat
in her beach chair,
wearing the virtuous look
of someone bravely
confronting
the view from the edge of summer.

The puppet stumbles to her bike,
cycling through the rhythm
of homecoming,
wearing the dog days
in sown-on lips,
agitated
by the last seaside breeze.

(c) 2019 by Phillip Knight Scott

Written for the Tuesday Writing Prompt at Go Do Go Cafe, hosted by the wonderful Devereaux Frazier and Beth Amanda : “edge of summer”
Also written for the prompt “genuine and virtuous” from M at Putting My Feet in the Dirt; “agitate” from the Ragtag Daily Prompt; and a fever dream that overtook me this morning.

The endless storm

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Tempestuous and tempered, raging
among the heavens but eager to descend,
the endless wrath of another storm
hurries us into the shadows.

Hidden from the blustering call while
a squall stumbling for purpose blots out light
with each blast, blindly seeking
a companion, we huddle, hopeful

the humidity will swim away as
we continue to perspire, hesitant
to head out into the gale, uncertain,
but wet one way or another.

(c) 2019 Phillip Knight Scott

Written for the Tuesday Writing Prompt over at Go Dog Go Cafe. The words today are “endless” and “shadows.”