~ by Joel Duncan

There’s a force so strong it can break
grown men and make them cry as if
they’re a dam and the brick work has
come loose.

When the ground catches me with
its rock fingers,
the cuts from my hands bleed out
my weaknesses and I always find myself
back on my feet again.
Gravity gives in because against
this invisible power it will never win.

There’s a question you’ll ask at some point
in your life if you haven’t already asked it.
But the truth is it’s already been answered
for you even though it’s still bound and
gagged inside your brain.
You’ve taken it hostage.

The answer to the question
is waiting in a baby’s laughter
on a bus journey home when
you need cheering up.
It’s in a song you know the
lyrics to better than your
own language, but one day
it will make you cry for no reason.
It’s the thing you considered
a gift from a higher power
but then like waste you tossed
it into the closest bin because
it seemed to be rubbish
you’d made up.
Fabricated nonsense.

There is a stubborn parent waiting
somewhere tapping a pen against
his chin wondering what should
come next in your life story.
This ‘being’ requires everything
you are before he unleashes
anything you desire.
Because the entity desires you.

All the questions I’ve been
Begging for the answers to
have been sitting in my ears for years.
They’ve been knocking on the
door to my brain but recently
it must have lock-picked its
way in because it took
me completely by surprise.
I cried when I realised
it was actually him.