NaPoWriMo 2017: Day 16: A Letter

Copyright: lightwise / 123RF Stock Photo

Dear Mal

I still don't understand
And I suppose I never will
The awful thing that's happening
To your wonderful mind

A mind which you, perhaps, did not always
Think was so wonderful
Because sometimes it liked
To play mean tricks on you

It liked to make you think
You needed things you didn't
Like alcohol and cigarettes
It liked to make you think you weren't enough

But in spite of the glitches
Yours was a sharp mind
The chords hit like a hammer
The words cut like a knife

You didn't think you had much to go on
When it came to looks
Your mind is what defined you
Creating the hooks that cooked

We are none of us our body
And our brain is not our self
Still, it's terribly sad
This thing that has happened

To the brilliant brain
Of a humble man
You never said "why me?"
So I'm saying it now

Those who knew him
And those who loved him although we didn't
Demand now to know
Why him?

Love,
Cie

Malcolm Young
Just "Mal" to those who knew him well
(Dad to a daughter and son who loved him very much)
Diagnosed with dementia in 2008 at age 55

He once said that the only time he found peace was when he was playing music

He was a somewhat troubled soul, but he tried not to let his issues become problems for those he cared about

NaPoWriMo 2017: Day 3: B is for Broken

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

You were brilliant

Your mind was the key to everything

You had no higher education

But you schooled anybody

Who tried to put you down

Your amazing mind

Was broken by something

That can't be seen by human eyes

But I believe that you

And others whose minds are broken

Will remember

Perhaps you are already flying free

Far from a mind that no longer works

 If so, maybe you can hear me say

"Thank you for your gift to the world."

You may have been small

But you were better and stronger than you knew

With respect,

Thalia

OctPoWriMo 2016: Day 20: Pure Soul

Copyright: epitavi / 123RF Stock Photo

Pure Soul

Your soul pure white like a heavenly dove

With a spot of red upon its breast

It seems you have been cursed, not blessed

Your life a hopeless search for love

I invited you to come to me

You were like a bird with a broken wing

You thought you'd forgotten how to sing

I wanted to try to help you see

While your voice in this world is gone

The song from your soul cannot be so

Shut your eyes and sing soft and low

With me you can always belong

  Let your wings carry you to the Heavens up high

Where there will never be any more reason to cry

Pepper Baiij

for

Gerry Clifford

Form: 

Australian sonnet

 

Dedicated to Malcolm Young

from

Team Netherworld 

 

30 Days of Haiga 2016: Day 23: Dust

Click to Enlarge

Original Image:

Copyright: shamain / 123RF Stock Photo

Words by Wanda Psycho and The Real Cie

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie 

30 Days of Haiga 2016: Day 16: Weeping Moon

Click to enlarge

Original Image:

Copyright: mpz / 123RF Stock Photo

Words by Gunnar Raven

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

30 Days of Haiga 2016: Day 10: Shrouded Mind

Click to Enlarge

Forest Image:
(you can't see it, but this manip wouldn't be the same without it)

Copyright: andreiuc88 / 123RF Stock Photo

Angel Image:

Copyright: zwiebackesser / 123RF Stock Photo

Words by Cie and Ellie

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

With love for Malcolm Young

Dementia destroys beautiful minds

Our words and works can't save him

But we hope they will make people aware 

Love,

Cie and Ellie 

 

30 Days of Haiga 2016: Day 3: Breeze

Click to enlarge

Original Image:

Copyright: goldfinch4ever / 123RF Stock Photo

Words by Blooming Psycho and The Real Cie

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

Dedicated to our lost angels

 

Tea Time in the Netherworld

Image Source

Sadly I never got to meet any of you while you were alive

But once we are all in spirit together, I'm hoping you might want

To come have a spot of tea with me, so I can sit and listen to

You relive your lives in stories of wild times, triumph and tragedy

You were more than your stories, I know, you were real people, heart and soul

Lemmy, who pulled no punches, rough outsides but a heart of gold within

David, a real star who brought magic from the stars, a true gentleman

Alan the thespian, bringing Severus Snape to amazing life

Prince, diminutive giant, royally blessed with talent supreme

Chyna, gentle, troubled soul, no-one really ever understood

Sad, delicate Malcolm, body still here but spirit already gone

Our sweet beasties; if you think cats don't drink tea, you didn't know our cats

I'm not trying to be pushy, I hope I'm not asking for too much

But if you have a moment in your busy afterlife, you might like

To perhaps take just a minute and stop to have a wee spot of tea

To maybe stay a while, and spend the afternoon with Adam and Cie

Created by Adam and Cie

The invitation is always open!

Prompts used:

(Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie)

Love Lies Bleeding Like an Open Wound

I Blinked and the World Was Gone v5

by The Real Cie

Love Lies Bleeding Like an Open Wound

Love lies bleeding like an open wound

Under the grief-stricken moon and stars

The troubled traveler crumpled, his life in ruin

He knows not if it’s midnight or high noon

He knows not how he ever came this far

Love lies bleeding like an open wound

He prays his suffering will be over soon

His hand rests on skin made rough with scars

The troubled traveler crumpled, his life in ruin

It’s time to wrap the melancholy tune

To bring to a close a life that sorrow mars

Love lies bleeding like an open wound

Lying broken ‘neath the grieving stars and moon

Not a soul to hear him as he prays

The troubled traveler crumpled, his life in ruin

He prays that the red ripper may find him soon

For life becomes more painful each moment that he stays

Love lies bleeding like an open wound

The troubled traveler crumpled, his life in ruin

With love for Mal

By Opal and Cie

It isn't a perfect Villanelle
But it's got heart!
He wasn't a perfect man
But so did he

Prompts Used:

For The Ones That No One Sees

Photoshop art by The Real Cie

"In The Silence Of His Mind"

Nobody hears you

You're the one nobody knows

Speak up anyway

There may be someone

Who needs to hear what you say

Whose life you may save

Love,

Dolly

For Mal, who saved Cie in spite of being the quiet guy in the background

and for Cie, who thinks nobody hears what she has to say

It's worth saying anyhow

Someone may be listening

Notes:

I know there's one of the moderators at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads who hates the Haiku form. To you I apologize for choosing to use that form. I chose it because it reins me in and stops me from becoming too terribly maudlin, which I have a tendency to do with poetry. 

I don't believe this is a real Haiku anyway, as it's my understanding that real Haiku has something to do with nature. In any case, I'm fairly sure I'm not a real poet. I'm just a kooky old broad who writes poetry sometimes!

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 31: The Road

The Road

We took ourselves a trip

A little expedition

Driving up into the country

To do ourselves some fishin'

An innocent excursion

A little midnight drive

A young and carefree group of friends

Feeling joyful and alive

Our trek into the back woods

Became a voyage of the damned

We were hit from behind by a tractor

Into the cornfield our car was slammed

Image Source

Image by Narcotic Nightmares

Our weekend ride no longer

A happy pleasure jaunt

The terror of a nightmare

That cornfield rose to haunt

Our trip now a cruise to terror

The scarecrow demon said

Your journey isn't ending

Although you'll soon be dead

So now I spend each Halloween

Looming o'er the cornfield with my kind

Exploring the depths of my wickedness

As I scare travelers out of their minds

~Opal~

Note:

The OctPoWriMo crew asked us to reflect on our poetic journey this month. Sorry, but I couldn't pass up the chance to write a spooky little Halloween poem instead. We appreciate the gift you give us. Here is some candy!

Here's a little bonus treat for our Real Cie, because in fairness, the "pleasure trip" line (which I changed to pleasure jaunt) was ripped from this song. I was thinking of you, Darlin', and of the dear fellow who inspired us all so much.

I couldn't resist.

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 29: The Ending Does Not Fit

The end of some lives

Seems gravely out of balance

 Not at all deserved

Notes:

This 5-7-5 poem is a collaboration between Cie and Misty. 

You can stop here and just appreciate the poem as is, or you can read about our motivation.

When there are diseases that do this:

Turning a highly intelligent, very aware and introspective individual

Into a terrified, bewildered shadow of themselves

Then some fate or power needs a can of this opened on it.

In the meantime, the rest of us need to support research into outfoxing these malevolent mind stealing diseases.

When are we going to stop talking about it?

Not till a cure is found!

~Cie and Misty~

For this guy, and everyone like him whose mind has been stolen by dementia

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 2: Stolen Words

My words have been stolen

My thoughts all erased

A shadow wearing my image

Has taken my place

There's no way back in

Somehow I've lost the key

Although I no longer remember

Please don't forget about me

Images by Cie

Words by Adam

Notes:

I almost feel bad for sharing a poem about a grim subject like dementia after the praise I received for my overall positive poem yesterday. However, although one can see the beauty in the clouds and in nature, somber things like dementia and mental illness still exist, and I do not shy away from discussing them.

Today's writing prompt at OctPoWriMo suggested taking a favorite scene from a movie or a music video, turning the sound off, and seeing what thoughts were inspired viewing the silent clip. At first I was going to do a funny bit from the old Batman/Superman cartoon, but then I was reminded that one of my favorite musicians (and overall favorite people) has had his voice stolen from him by an incurable illness which destroys not only body but mind. I knew I had to write about this.

Using some of the Photoshop images that Cie has created over time to honor Malcolm, I created the above poem. I tried to keep it simple and to see the incident through my subject's eyes. He was a humble person. He was courageous. He put others' needs before his own.

He never stopped fighting against the odds. He won against addiction to alcohol, though unfortunately not against addiction to nicotine. He wrestled with depression and social anxiety and was victorious. He approached the devastating dementia diagnosis the way he approached everything else in life: by going up against it with determination and dignity.

One might say that this is a battle that he did not and could not win. I disagree. Yes, the disease process has destroyed his ability to function in this world. Yes, the disease process will eventually kill his physical body. However, the disease is not and will never be victorious over one with such a determined spirit. 

One day we will eradicate such diseases. For now, it is important that we continue to remember those whose lives have been devastated by these illnesses, to not sweep the subject of dementia under the rug because it's depressing to think about. We need to remember, and we need to come out swinging and keep fighting until such diseases are no more.

With Hope,

Adam