Still There Remains

By, Jess Dickson

This body has toiled in factories and fields
Sweat blood and tears
Birthed new life

This heart has loved in vain and return
Beat itself into believing
Knotted forever binding ties

This soul has aged beyond its time
Discovered the end before beginning
Revealed colors of hope unyielding

Still there remains…

Searching through this woman’s jaded eyes
A little freckled girl
Yearning for innocence denied

This body has felt the fracture of bones and courage
Shed tears and blood
Unearthed strength undefeated

This heart has loved in dedication and disaster
Pounded lies into truth
Skipped surrender to survive

This soul matured before the mind
Sought relief in a ballad
Sung everyone’s secrets but my own

Still there remains.

Pressed

Pressed
By, Jess Dickson


Between monuments of nights
On a bed of leaving pressed beneath
Where nightmares and soul are buried alive
Screaming for breath released in tombs
Of silence where the unspoken resides
Housed in tears blackened by soiled regrets
Ages pass in moonlight’s shadow
Forbidden years left behind

Between monuments of nights
On a bed of leaving pressed beneath
Where memories and heart are buried alive
Crying for agony liberated by a single starlit plea
That echoes in the mind of deceased illusions
Trapped in the throat closed on love
Lifetimes yield to iron minutes
Deflected hours left behind

Between monuments of nights
On a bed of leaving pressed beneath

The Ones That Aren't Mine

The Ones That Aren’t Mine
By, Jess Dickson


Bruises pain the face
That possessed his clenched fist
Destroying joy’s perfect pretension
Impressions blend in rainbow layers
Painted on by the letting go

I can still feel knuckles hitting bones, the ones that aren’t mine…

Nicotine stings the lungs
That owned the screams
Devastating silence’ glass
Echoes drift in upward coils
Released by the held in exhale

I can still hear the voice, the one that isn’t mine…

Freedom burns the mind
That claimed his madness
Disturbing all knowing oblivion
Allusions swirl in an imprisoned shadow
Obscured at the joining of lives

I can still touch delirium’s tendrils, the ones that aren’t mine…

Memories sear the soul
That captured drops of heart
Drenching papyrus anticipation
Wishes lay parched at the bottom of the well
Powdered by the friction of years

I can still taste the tears, the ones that are mine…

As If It Were Yours To Give Away

As If It Were Yours to Give Away
By, Jess Dickson


In silence broken only by breath
I watch as payment is made,
Innocence bought and sold
Just a simple trade
Bargaining with my soul
As if it were yours to give away

You promise another ‘round
Or two…what did it matter?
Bruises darken to contrast powdered lies
Just a simple trade
Bargaining with my sanity
As if it were yours to give away

In darkness cracked only by invisible tears
I listen as floorboards creak
Announcing your turn has come
Just a simple trade
Bargaining with my heart
As if it were yours to take away

You promise another ‘round
Or two…what did it matter?
Apologies contained in the vial
Just a simple trade
Bargaining with my mind
As if it were yours to take away…

Newspaper Times

Newspaper Times
By, Jess Dickson

Crushed between the wrinkles of time and tears
Spirit’s cry left behind in stories laid out and kept
Concealed in folds of memory behind the veil
Of headline smiles bleeding into parchment lies
Scribe of self relegated to comics and classifieds
Seeking recognition between the crease of touch
Hand-pressed thoughts balled into fine print confusion
By circumstantial pages joined at the corners of hope
Paper-cut dreams sting with healing possibilities
Tattered not torn, saved by love’s binding twine
Coiled around shared front page dreams

~Untitled~

~Untitled~
By, Jess Dickson

Time chokes
Breath caught
On the second hand
Set in the moment
Death claimed soul

Tears rain
Drowning days
The ones that went
And never came
Stolen by fatal sleep

Pain clutches
Heart shatters
Into bits that never
Land to mend

To Be...

To Be...
By, Jess Dickson


I yearn to watch you dreaming
Eyes tickling lids to keep up
I yearn to dream with you
To enter your slumber
As its gentleness covers my head
And walk at your side
Through the luminous forest
Of colored leaves
With its glowing sun
And multiple moons
Towards to peak you must ascend
To meet your greatest fear
I yearn to give you the olive branch
The blooming gardenia
The single word that will shield you
From the anguish at the center
I yearn to guide you
Up the spiral stairs
Be the vessel that brings you home
Where your body rests beside me
And enters sleep
As easily as breathing in
I yearn to be the air
That swirls within you
For only a moment
I yearn to be…

Calling Us Home

Calling Us Home
By, Jess Dickson


Clinging to the raft of reason
Fingers tangled in compassion’s knot
Swells of madness rush o’er heads bent low
Resisting current’s wrath with planks of anticipation
Lives collide in waves of time standing still
Forbidden tears restrain screams in the drift
As we navigate our passage with oars of language
Visions set on lighthouse brilliant truth
Signaling us to move beyond pervading darkness
Calling us home

Reflected Hope

Reflected Hope
By, Jess Dickson

Searching deranged glass for reflection,
Cracked with brutal truth by the fist of terror
Pondering a moment yet to pass through refraction
Considering the fragments that remain in broken place
Pointing with inside eyes at the scars
Still remaining after passing ages of scattered self
Misplaced by after-thoughts and forget-me-nots
Repression’s grace saves today’s face
Cloaked with the smile that radiates only for you
Unpronounced speculation concealed in its glow
Questioning inverse perspective of dedication
Lesions of spirit healed in your vision
Eyes that gaze beyond the blemish of tears
Offering yourself without hesitation
Replenishing dried wells of inspiration
Irrigated with distilled waters of devotion
Hope infuses fractured dreams
Revealing desires of long awaited tomorrows
Resting in the outstretched palms of divinity
Summoned by the yearning prayer of freedom
Finding its beacon in the sparkle of hearts

Kaleidoscope Life

Kaleidoscope Life
By, Jess Dickson

Tear shaped hours have shed light afire
Shades of grey transformed with the turn of heart
Our kaleidoscope discovered beneath ruins of timeless visions
Rooted in the seconds they began
Behind doors locked with yesterdays key
Dust covered souls hidden within boxes we designed
Integrity of self placed in shadowed corners
Set free to soar home on wings of grace
Verity of life revealed in brilliant longing hues
What we left behind waits in the breath of dawn
Hollow dreams animated by hopes gentle strokes
As eyes meet to witness prisms only we can see
In this, our kaleidoscope life