John Sweet: Two Poems
the bleeding horse revealed | to be given the gift of helplessness

the bleeding horse revealed

in this dark room
the smell of rain is a
gift

the gentle push of cool air
that comes before
the thing itself
and i check to make sure
the baby is warm enough

i try not to be a man who
wonders how he
came to this strange place

a twenty year-old desk
in a sixty year-old house
where the windows warp and
the frames gently
rot away

where the bills smother
the paychecks
and sleep is always uneasy
and shallow

is punctuated by sirens
by passing trains
by drunken neighbors stumbling
from 2 a.m. cabs

and i have been a good father
i think
and i have been a
good husband
but never at the same time

i have wasted too many hours
neglecting the people i love
and for what?

poems about murdered children
will save no one

the bleeding horse is
nothing but an image i
stole from picasso

is only my
unspoken fears hung
with
a coat of bones

i can make it move
but have no control over
what it will destroy

to be given the gift of helplessness

it is a small thing
to tear
the child in two

it is the
absence of laughter
or the open hand sharply
across the
unsuspecting face

it is so easy and
the wars
are all far away

imagine a lit cigarette

a stove burner

minor atrocities that will
never make it beyond
page three
and i am tired
of drowning in anger
and i am tired of feeling
helpless

it is a strange thing
to be sitting in a room
with a woman who undresses
as she tells you how her
mother's boyfriend raped her
when she was
thirteen

Poet's Biography:

John Sweet has been writing poetry for 19 years and has had over 1,000 poems published in the small press. His latest chapbooks include Scorched Earth Policy (Black Hoody Nation) and Seasons of Rust (Via Dolorosa Press). When he first started to take a serious interest in poetry, he believed that most of what he read was too etheral and detached from everyday life, so he started trying to write pieces that were a little more truthful and grounded in reality. He is opposed to any school of poetry.