M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales, page 55
October 8, 2020
My Head
I don’t have a multiple personality disorder,
I just have several voices in my head.
And why would I try to navigate this fuck up of a life,
When I can just live here in my head instead?
See, in my head, the world is shinier.
People say the words they mean –
At least, the ones that I’ve invented do.
The residents there say things that are none too clean.
When they’re in full swing,
It’s like being host at a house party
Full of people you don’t want to be around,
...
Wasteland
The city was a wasteland. A crumbled facade of happier times, broken down into little but rubble and dirt. Lived had been lived here. Hearts mended and broken. Families raised only to be torn apart. The air still held the echo of gunfire and bombs falling, shrieks of fear captured even though they could no longer be heard.
Beneath that rubble, that stillness, came the gentle thudding of a still-beating heart. Concrete clacked and clinked as an arm pushed through, reaching out to unfurl finge...
October 7, 2020
Marshmallow
The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment got it all wrong.
Aren’t we supposed to seize the day?
Or in this case, seize the sweet treat before us?
What are we all waiting for?
The promise of more if we have patience?
Fuck patience.
Patience is a vindictive, cruel master,
For often patience leads to missed opportunities,
Wishful thinking, sleepless nights
And all kinds of insomnia-inducing disaster.
Patience. Patience sucks you dry, it
Leaves you hollow
On the promise of tomorrow.
A tomorrow that is no better de...
October 6, 2020
Mournful Musing
If all I had to give you was myself
How long would it take for you to find a better path?
If all I had to offer was my heart
Would you blush? Roll your eyes? Look away? Laugh?
This is all I am. I’m not a shiny, gleaming thing
Nor something well-polished. Rounded like a cherish pebble on a beach.
But I am human. Flesh and bone. Spirit and song.
Willing to grow. Not asking you to change. Or me your lessons teach.
I cannot conquer what I feel for you.
So many days I te...
October 5, 2020
Notch
Tighten that noose a little bit tighter,
It’s still too loose.
Notch it in further with throwaway remarks,
And find sturdy branch protruding from thick, strong bark.
Begin to swing.
You’ll find, as you claw, and gasp for air,
There’s no room for those words that always threatened to surface there.
They were never meant to escape.
And this is the surest way to make sure they never do.
After, they’ll say you were seeking attention.
It isn’t true. But you’re silenced now.
They win.
© M K Lee
From Coffe...
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October 4, 2020
Manipulation
If I do THIS and you do THAT, well. Everything will be okay.
But if this happens, and it won’t, well. I was right is what I’ll say.
I say the words I want to hear, and curse when you forget your lines.
You’re so impossible to predict. Follow your cue, so I know mine.
I’ve imagined every scenario; this is the one I wish to see.
You’d make this scene play out my way if only you’d agree with me.
I don’t mean to be selfish and unkind is not my thing.
But when you do the things you want, nothing but angu...
Investigation
The atmosphere in the shopping centre since the announcement of an investigation was bemused. Curiosity laced through every conversation, attention turned to every familiar face in the mall.
The oil on canvas painting always appeared out of nowhere, on the same back wall on a spot obscured by CCTV. Though how remained a total mystery; staff could see people walking around that floor section all day long without the footage even jumping.
Today’s was one of a lake house, three members of th...
October 3, 2020
Grenade
I set off a grenade in my hand
Because I didn’t want to maim anyone else.
A knee jerk reaction not thought through or planned,
The perfect fuck up. Really. I should be proud of myself.
As I continually pick out the shrapnel shards
That surface in splinters time and time again,
Inflicting more wounds with words harsh and hard,
Try to stitch wounds together with ink and pen,
I try to silence that nagging doubt
That tells me, I’ve let you use me too,
And that to lance you from my skin
Is not only ...
