Anxiety – Simon's still stanza

What Frequency?

What Frequency?

What frequency

Is your tinnitus?

Mine casts waves.

Of doorbell chime,

Searing security alarms,

And phones

Pinging and ringing and

Ringing and pinging.

But wait!

Is that sound of

Guitars?

And cicadas on the summer breeze,

Of banter and laughter of those

Passing by.

With a little sigh

I hear

Why fret and worry

About so many things?

Few are needed.

Let them go.

Let them be.

Be.

Simon C.J. Falk 14 January 2023

Riding the Adrenaline Bus

Image: Freepics on the net

Riding the Adrenaline Bus

Riding the adrenaline bus

Fueled by a ‘Red Bull’

Mentality and actually

Rocketing along

With ‘Mother’ as a

Bumper sticker

Holding fast,

Yes, fast

As the heart will pump

And the greater

The thump

When the crash

Comes.

Harrowed eyes

Through road maps

The viewer spies

Darting balls this way

And that way

And every way

But shut.

Riding, clinging amid the

Fuss

Why us?

Shut off

The engine and coast

On a quiet roll

Or a rhythmic stroll

At a measured pace

There is no race

For you to face.

Simon C.J. Falk 13 August 2018

Check out #WATWB while surfing

Guest post #Anxiety by Kia Jones via spillwords.com

Those who enjoy poetry may already have discovered spillwords.com . This guest post features a spillwords post by poet Kia Jones called Anxiety. Aka Mrs Jones can also be found on twitter @CYSMbyKia . Those who may experience feelings of anxiety are encouraged to seek help.

#Movember2016 & Other Bristling Words

#Movember2016 & Other Bristling Words

Bristles, whiskers, stubble,

Forming on the chin;

Tracing lines on upper lip,

Framing round a grin.

Movember makes a comeback,

Raising hair on many a face;

We do our bit for mental health,

To make the world a better place.

Simon C.J. Falk 1 Movember November 2016

The Childhood of Thomas Thimbleton #postingforpeace

The Childhood of Thomas Thimbleton

We’ll get it, yes!

We’ll get it, and you

Can…

Even

As he stands,

Flat on his feet,

In the noontime of his years,

Thomas can be

A child again.

As the joking, jocular, jibes

Dart, dart, dart

His heart aches

And his head spins

Spins, spins.

He is back

In the schoolyard again,

The gang of voices fencing

Him in and

Poking

At his tender soul:

Little Tommy has a thimble, has a thimble, has a thimble,

Little Tommy has a thimble, a thimble for a ____!

Funny?

Oh, how he wished

To be free,

Bold,

And able

To feel their glee,

Instead of

Anxiety.

Simon C.J. Falk 9 September 2016

Addiction

Addiction

We have all had experience of compulsive and addictive behaviours. It could be us, or those we love. This little free verse touches on some of the insidious experience of addiction.
Addiction

Comes in slows waves at first,
Just a social smoke
With mates after work.
Smell on the clothes triggers the lecture
From unimpressed others.

Years on:
Those quiet minutes,
In the garden
On the verandah,
The drawing in
Of the exhilarating exhalation.
Those minutes,
Those moments
Of restfulness and peace.

Cigarettes gone:
The dartboard gets a workout,
Pummelled by uncoiled tension
That used to be released
On smokey out breath.

But
That’s OK.
The exorcised anxiety found other shapes
And repossessed its host.

Now the keyboard and the monitor,
The apps on the touch screens,
Are the new fixation
For the frazzled.

It robs you of hours,
Slowly
Drained away
Like a persistent leak
Or an unseen, internal haemorrhage.

Just when you are tired of it,
You succumb
And fall
Again
And again,
Like an iPod on repeat
That never goes…
Flat
Until…
You are flat
From the shame
That flattens you
In its wake.
And
You become
Sick and tired
Of being sick and tired
And lack the get-up,
The will,
To change
Or be changed.