Juvenilia: Tyrannopolis

[Ah, to be young and full of spunk! In the spring of 1978, I was living on Beacon Street in Boston's Back Bay and attempting to piece together a cohesive poem cycle on the living decay of large cities. I had fire but, alas, not so much focus. As much as I want to edit the hell out of it now, I'm just going to present it in its awful form from that time period. Actually I don't think editing would help. The wording, form, presentation, and the balls out, full steam ahead character of it would complicate editing. A re-write would probably just drain the life out of it. I think it could easily benefit by cutting half of it. Naw, I have to acknowledge it is a beast unto itself, a product of my early attempts to express something in a unique way. Unique, sure. Ha. There's a reason I'm calling this crap juvenilia. --wordlackey]

[Erg, having a little problem with the formatting here. Every other line starting with the second line should be indented. I was able to do this with the whole third section by using blockquote. For individual lines, not very viable. I'll work on it. My HTML skills are rudimentary.]
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Tyrannopolis: Hard Line

It starts with the word scream

in hell lost in self-screaming

and there is no possible way understanding

can open a path for screams

solidly frozen in space

never to hear/treasure anyone

on the path of one alone onealone

without the respite of reassurance and intimacy

needed for the psychical balm it gives

hypnotized by carresses allalone and sorry.

In its clutches

ripped off egofeelings

hope crushed and without faith

to have faith in humanity

is the repeating pattern silently rippingoff feelings

by society demands societydemands

and the whole world is black

nightblack engulfing smothering darkness

of notalk nocommunication nounderstanding

of one for another crying among society pylons

rebuffing the emaciated lovers of tenderness

and stressing the impersonal redlights

flashing in the perpetual emergency night

the state of the emergency art

meeting the deepshadowed one once again

while turning a fog shrouded corner

and the straining of tired heartstrings

separated from everything people can offer

and take terminal take ripoff of energy

hate taking from all...

(dragging through prismspectrum of hate/distrust

(all the same don't touch don't talk don't feel

(remorse do what youmust to survive to kill

(all threats against bodypsyche attack all pain

(fetter all bind all threats get away from me

(strike dead help hit help killhelp fright strike

(out blindly at all help egopowercentre shall

(kill threats blow away threats neverend sight

(sound of all coming for paranoia afraid stranger

(kill power over environment to fear all go away

(from me damn you asshole bumping me kill you

(bastard sonofabitchfaggotpissing threat to

(egopower shit son of mutated reptile offal

(touching me shit bash your face all over the

(ground you goddamn shitforbrains asshole...)

An ever crouching coward of tyrannopolis

society problem thing of a misbegotten hopefear

death and torture which we all have in common.

Part of you is dying in the city

for the hopes you once had

and now there is no compromise

you must meet the city on its own grounds

of hatefear gasp last breath on the steps

of this cathedral dedicated to death

dedicated to noescape from all the pain

in the cityhate comes the end of the revolution

and feeling helplessness creep over you

for the dearth of any gibbering sanity

straining hope spending itself in the citynight

deathnight of the city killing all in its path

reach out and tough cityskin hits you

with its callousness

the closer connection of hate breathing

through your pores selfdenial of all hope

for the nightblack city is only for the hopeless

try to understand hate and it destroys you

with the citysoul feeling of hate

strangling suffocating you in the night

and then performing a twisted act of mouthtomouth

resuscitation on the remaining husk

to create an artificial semblance of life

which is possessed and controlled by the night

and the night belongs to the city

breathing its hate into you.

There is nohope for survival intimacy here

drink to escape but it is there

in the shadows

in the morning too hating for words

too overt for forgetfulness

the deathdealing machine known as the city

breeding hatred for all enough hate for all

to share in egohate always

to share in the common tyranny

so hatelove it or leave it.

© 2005, wordlackey for php