*This article is the monthly winner of the IA Writing Competition Most Enthralling Fiction Work category.
POEM: Dead awake
Woke up, face down, back into my comfort zone
Learning nothing, asking no one
Life on hold, black hole soul, Deja vu of yesterday.
Woke up, face down, stood outside my comfort zone
Threw the shackles, broke the mould
Spat out Kool-Aid, won't be told.
Educated ignorance, so proud of coming last
Bought the farm, cut self-harm
Rode the dice, paid price
To memories, oblivious, the theatre of the past.
Now I lay me down too deep
No bondage or reward to keep
Serve karma cold, burn humble pie
Describe no shade, project no lie
Unshackle yokes of expectation
Grind shoulders down on wheels.
The free-range humans, boxed and labelled
The profit, loss, and corporate yield
The broken clocks, the time by Pavlov
Wake and chase the sun,
and then...
You run at the horizon, 'til it's dark
this moment done,
and then...
You race back home, race back to sleep
and then...
You set alarms, set to repeat
and then...
Another final box, to ride on shoulders
carried cold, so old, and
Buried dark, committed deep
Another soul, eternal sleep…
* Full IA Writing Competition details HERE.
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