Sounds...

I'm just a listener a passenger to Nirvana,

As my feet walk halls on souls made in China. 

Nevermind the specifics just entertain us, 

My Verve always has a "Lucky Man" ready 2 blame us.

There's always been something in the way,

N I hope Lucifer guesses the nature of his game.

It's a Babyshambles of a Shotters Nation, 

Pale white girls queuing outside disused power stations. 

So just come as you are whether a friend or an enemy,

I swear I don't have a gun just sat ready under my knee.

Coz I'm just an outcast and n anarchist,

I've never been just like the other kids.

So try 2 cut my legs off like King Kunta,

Just don't say I share bars like a prisoned punta.

N Fuck Forever if you don't mind,

Its all one n the same n my eyes R not blind.

My ears are bleeding sound like the creep I am,

A man in a can, imprisoned roasting like ham.

But I'm so happy coz today I've finally found my friends,

They're in my head so I'm on a path 2 a lithium end. 

I just playback the sounds that always deliver me,

A quiet sense of meaning in a world that will never be.

A place I can truly share my feelings,

So I'm just a sucker 4 drips of sound 2 give me some meaning. 

© 2022 All Rights Reserved Robert Reid, Nirvana, Babyshambles, Verve and others..

Whether....

Whether you're wise or clever, is a problem not,

The problem is inside your head, dumb bloodclot.

You're anchored to bondage, for time non-stop,

And only the devil can free your soul, head rot.

The sun hurts your eyes in the morning, red raw,

And you don't get off your back too much, bed sore.

Whether you can break free is a debate, no more,

You've been chained to the pain for too long, get hacksaw.

It will take time and effort and what's left is thin,

Any plans you had will change with the weather, head spin.

Whether it rains or snows is not in your power, wet skin,

That empty feeling in your gut may get filled, from within.

Your life has been one long film script, Oscars no doubt,

And the demons that haunt your brain will linger, break out.

So get off your arse and let the pain begin, without,

That teddy bear womb feeling you've held on to for so long, check out.

Because without a change you're doomed for the bin, recycled no,

And that pain will seep through your skin, from deep below.

So you've tried and failed many times before, with sorrow,

But before you die from lack of spirit why not give it one more last go.

© 2022 All Rights Reserved Robert Reid

This won The Creative Writing Groups bi-monthly Competition for Best Poem July 2022.

Drips....

Drip drop drip drop,

Watching IV fluid non-stop.

30 min bag so they say,

But I've been counting drops half the day.

Celestines on another mental rant,

Too young 2 b sectioned so a Bible chant.

She thinks she's been saved by a religious man,

Running around pulling plugs out coz she can. 

Reciting Genesis word from word, 

I point 2 fingers at her eyes n tell her it's absurd. 

An ancient Sumerian creation myth was passed down. 

From land to empire a trick the Romans turned around.

She's skinny as fuck but been put on Olanzapine, 

I don't think she realises what a real mean teen really means.

She got on my tits when the shower was off, 

I gave her the evil eye n told her off. 

Just u wait til ur in a locked padded room with 3 other loons,

You'll be doing the Largactil shuffle pretty soon. 

I'm on a locked ward in 30 degree heat, 

The stench of death leaks from legs like rotting meat. 

I kicked off before n ill kick off again, 

They just go lardy da thinking I'm insane. 

This is a mental ward with very disturbed patients, 

I count myself as one when I lose my patience. 

"Don't worry Rob" they lie to my face, 

As doctors hide, I run n chase. 

"Honestly, your benzos r coming very soon," 

Saying that all day n night all 2 the same very tune. 

If u don't come equipped ur going to rattle,

Every muggy day locked up is a daily battle. 

I seemed 2 hv got a monthly rotation at this HMP,

I see nurses n dox that I know, looking scared wen they jus see me. 

I think I've got to that stage of my life,

My mental n physical health is gone I'm on the dive.

So I count these drips from the bag as they drip n drop,

N plug my earphones in 2 block the rot.

© 2022 All Rights Reserved Robert Reid

Scumbag......

It's a world of mad sensory silence,

My head is full of memories of scraps n violence,

Come on I ask "Whose got a blade"?

"Why?" Well, I've got plenty of numbers to shave.

I'll always be quick n very close up,

Silent and deadly, like a hot shot dose up.

Why wud u pay 2 C me in a cage?

The whole world is my story's mad stage.

I never did kill a man for his giro today,

I waited a whole month n took a whole company's pay.

Black n blue my eyes still shine thru,

However, what I picture I can't even describe 2 u.

I got many wounds, many too deep,

Picking dead flesh out always sends me to sleep.

I reckon I'm just a low-down scumbag,

Ready to shake ur hand before robbing ur shot bags.

Postcode blacks always come down from town,

Think they can rule till we run them all down.

Clawhammer to the jaw n someone takes them gold teeth,

Cars being rammed n runners being tortured as they carry out St beef.

It can be a whole world of terror n fear out there,

N it's all daily news that your local paper will never ever hear.

They fight in the dark, taking alleys one by one,

But the really sad thing is that they think it's all good fun.

2022 - All Rights Reserved Robert Reid

I'm Not Going Out Like That.....

To be honest I've been thinking a lot about suicide,

I don't want to die alone, not knowing where I am, no shame to hide.

Pants down grown man, being washed like a kid who cries,

Minds all turned to mush, your own memories a tall lie.

So I've decided I'm not going out like that,

The only decision is to find a way to sucker that bat.

Pills n Whisky my old man says is his only choice of going splat,

A single malt mixed with sleepers n then a fall into a whisky vat.

For me I need more, n I dunno what kind of painless way,

Don't need 2 be spending a ton on pills n powder 2 not only go one way.

I need so much dark, XANS n booze, I'll have to start saving today,

A piggy bank stash of cash all wrapped up, set for my final day.

It may seem to you like I'm taking the coward's way out,

When you've been stuck with senile men, you wouldn't have any doubt.

I ain't going out like that, an old grown man baby without any clout,

Think it's braver to use a shooter, N blow my own mushed brains straight out.

That day will certainly come but I have no idea of the time n date n when,

I just hope I don't go senile first, N 4get to pull that trigger again.

Coz yesterday was supposed 2 be my last on earth, with a failing brain,

I forgot 2 write a post-it note 2 tell me 2 flush my life down the drain again!

© 2022 All Rights Reserved Robert Reid