(BOTH WAYS)

Rick Reut

…which sounds and smells like looks

can be deceptive to taste.

They differ in different books.

Many words go to waste.

The present becomes the past

whereas the future is clear

only to GOD. Your last

chance to defeat your fear

may be right now. Or may-

be some other time. Regret

is of the past. One day

you may get what they get.

Pain and pleasure, of course,

are of the present, like joy.

Sorrow tries to destroy

everything that is, was

and will be. A night sky

speaks to an empty street.

Say hallo, then goodbye,

hoping that you will meet

again after another night.

You are getting ahead

of yourself. Out of sight,

you live in your own head

as if it was a room

or an entire block

of flats. Haunted by gloom,

you dwell on top of a clock

tower of ivory or

whatever you think it is

you can see in the freeze

frame of your mind. A door-

way leads both ways: outside

and inside. There’s another

doorway where you can hide,

getting farther and farther

away. Under the bruised

sky in the afterglow,

a multitude of unused

rain clouds crawl in slow

motion to turn on the black

coffee machine of the night

and then maybe come back

in coffee-black or milk-white,…

 

…which sounds and smells like looks can be deceptive to taste. They differ in different books. Many words go to waste. The present becomes the past whereas the future is clear only to GOD. Your last chance to defeat your fear may be right now. Or maybe some other time. Regret is of the past. One day you may get what they get. Pain and pleasure, of course, are of the present, like joy. Sorrow tries to destroy everything that is, was and will be. A night sky speaks to an empty street. Say hallo, then goodbye, hoping that you will meet again after another night. You are getting ahead of yourself. Out of sight, you live in your own head as if it was a room or an entire block of flats. Haunted by gloom, you dwell on top of a clock tower of ivory or whatever you think it is you can see in the freeze frame of your mind. A doorway leads both ways: outside and inside. There’s another doorway where you can hide, getting farther and farther away. Under the bruised sky in the afterglow, a multitude of unused rain clouds crawl in slow motion to turn on the black coffee machine of the night and then maybe come back in coffee-black or milk-white,…