Tag Archives: writing

The Lesser of Two Evils

By Benjamin Grossman and Cassa Bassa

The glacial battle begins in our heads
Face pressed to the sun-pierced window pane
January snow in recession, the signs of regression 
Half hidden like an iceberg in the arctic water 
And where once a soft glow illuminated the surface 
Only the placement of desolation remains
Reverberating silent screams 
  
There is no one way of knowing cold
The stages are fluid and transient
Its meaning bitterly ambiguous 
Yet in rare lucid moments, I see husks
An empty bed, scarred skin, chattered teeth
Spirit-numbed mind, missed meals, vacant smiles

There is no one way of knowing cold
Its symptoms appear to have no rhyme or reason
Although they move with wintry doom
From person to person increasing in aggression 
Till you understand the meaning of icy
Which unbeknownst to us creeps in succession 

There is no one way of knowing cold 
Though maybe it’s always the same
Emotional and physical reaction 
A state of feeling dangerously low
Struggling to survive between cold and colder
The very same polar opposites: Arctic and Antarctica

(This is part of a collaborative poetic effort between myself and Cassa Bassa. Make sure you check out her blog by visiting Flicker Of Thoughts. She’s always coming up with some exciting words! And often sketches, too.)

How To Do Just About Anything

I’ve figured out
how to focus on
one thing at a time effortlessly

and also how to go weeks
without the need of food or sleep.

So, too, I’ve discovered
how to feel the winter
on a humid summer day

and even how to turn an hour
into one hundred thousand years.

It’s actually very simple—
very much free, as well:
just miss someone you love.

Forbidden

After Little Charmer

If only I could
If only you would
But we both know it couldn’t
Come to any good

Yet you still have some may
And I still have some might
So what if our wish on the stars
Could make something so forbidden lawful tonight?

Second verse added with permission of Little Charmer. Read and like the original here. And make sure you check out the rest of Little Charmer’s wonderful blog and, if you haven’t already, follow and like from there.