Tag: art

  • Poem: A Herd of Human Water Buffalo – 26/01/20

    Poem: A Herd of Human Water Buffalo – 26/01/20

    I watch a herd of human water buffalo go by,
    within my vision, their grunting asides and laboured movements sway and swing
    one way, and to the other.
    The leader is coolly cautious;
    he does not need to show any fear,
    he is the preferred leader of the pack,
    he wants to project a pretence,
    that being gruff and strong are characteristics to savour,
    these traits are none to fear.
    They propel the herd forward,
    ahead is the direction they belong.  
     
    Then in the back, a hissing,
    some whispering from lips of babes,
    Why are we here
    Why is he so arrogant,
    Why are we made to be upon his haughty page?
     
    He cannot believe this backstabbing;
    he immediately knows what to say.
     
    Off with you,
    begone,
    find your own protection at night where your heads lay.
    If you can find a leader with half the courage and care of myself
    you’d be very satisfied girls,
    but my being is deemed unworthy of your wishes to stay.
    Now succumb to the unnatural emptiness,
    the lonesomeness
    the futility
    because of your betrayal of he who holds himself with required pride to lead many.
     
    Wailing from the adolescents,
    who believed they would be perpetually protected
    for their days ongoing
    but really, their future suffering is merely karmic retribution,
    for speaking poorly about a loyal male who’s been
    present for the entirety of their lives,
    though, his true intention is not to banish,
    not to abandon,
    but to teach a lesson,
    before their permitted return to their rightful stations.
     
    Human buffalo are like any other herd,
    there’s bickering and discussion,
    sniping, but love also,
    adoration, acceptance,
    emotions warm and not untoward.
     
    Perhaps they even secretly embrace and snuggle,
    it wouldn’t surprise me, buffalo are fuzzy enough,
    to want to share their struggles and heartfelt forgiveness,
    a human buffalo in its own urban wilderness.
     
    And after some nights and days alone,
    the teens are welcomed back into the herd,
    soft weeping into hair of fine gold,
    spinning tales of how being alone was so trying and difficult.  
     
    Their tears turn them into wise women,
    they became learned through the experience,
    sheer fright from being in a pair,
    no warmth,
    no safety,
    only belligerently spat words of suffering and plain blank stares,
    they learned, they learned,
    to adhere and accept.
     
    They lead the pack with him,
    a wise male buffalo lead by two young women,
    with an understanding that strength is required to contend with  
    unseen issues, problems, and incorrect suggestions.  
     
    © 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
    All images signed “LMH”
    are copyrighted 2019-2020 by Lauren M. Hancock
    and all rights reserved.
    

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  • Poem: shut-up prizes – 24/01/20

    Poem: shut-up prizes – 24/01/20

    Contemplate ahead of the moment
    where precious jewels sparkle upon fingers of 
    mad yet calculated women,
    where even madder men will fight to keep them happy
    but with their demands, ongoing,
    complaints, eternal sufferings,
    maddest men’s eyes look elsewhere,
    for new hands to bear,
    new hearts to win over.
     
    The bejewelled, once beguiling women,
    tap tap tap their manicured nails upon the sink,
    waiting for their husbands to return late from work,
    his inevitable sigh to engulf the room,
    of his own self-proclaimed suffering,
    and roll in he does, scented by 
    the faintest lingering perfume,
    she turns her face away, hurt, as though slapped but nothing’s said or done.
     
    She will pretend she doesn’t notice,
    this time, and the next,
    because out of the slightest guilt borne from his activities,
    he purchases her more jewels,
    more gold, then an increase of her credit limit,
    and she supposes this is all she deserves,
    if she were to leave him,
    she’d have far less,
    in comparison it’d seem as though nothing,
    so, gritting her teeth she smiles
    when receiving the shut-up prizes.
     
    © 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
    All images signed “LMH”
    are copyrighted 2019-2020 by Lauren M. Hancock
    and all rights reserved.

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  • Poem: Scent of an Aura – 23/01/20

    Poem: Scent of an Aura – 23/01/20

    I love the scent which surrounds you,
    your aura glows with meaning,
    permeating your outer shell with reinforced support,
    reassurance and kindness.
    You can try to fix my problems and aid my
    floaty, fanciful dreams
    but you know that this is not the right method for me.
     
    You take my brokenness and allow it to be a beautiful view,
    though still in pieces, you understand it’s my role
    to rearrange myself into something more
    positive, useful,
    that to allow transmutation through your hands would be wrong,
    it is for me to wield the vision here,
    hold me close as I once more transform,
    I love the scent when you hold me in your arms.
    
    © 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
    All images signed “LMH”
    are copyrighted 2019-2020 by Lauren M. Hancock
    and all rights reserved.

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  • Poem: At Least for Now – 06/01/20

    Poem: At Least for Now – 06/01/20

     At least for now the sun will always rise,
     I’ll always wake with sleep playfully clouding my eyes,
     I’ll always have that secure home to live in,
     and perhaps a second space where I can truly be me. 
      
     At least for now my heart is tickled and pleased
     at least, for now, I don’t ache anymore,
     begging upon my knees,
     I don’t require their attentions, 
     most certainly this assertion is true, 
     because now, I know my world is no longer 
     stormy grey, black and blue.
      
     Hued in colours of brightness,
     frequent moments of wry humour and 
     definitely always something to retort, 
     light-heartedly I’ll try to share certain adventures
     while framing others as truthfully serious.
      
     But, I know,
     at least for now I need to lighten up my words,
     an assumed requirement to be brightened to be heard.
      
     A tendency of leaning toward the serious,
     there’s a chilling factor in 
     recounting tales from years prior
     or, if I were to take another avenue,
     I could feed one scene upon scene, 
     leaving one wanting no more,
     the manner is blemished,
     somewhat unclean. 
      
     At least for now, the sun is shining
     there is no need to compare the “at least for now’s”
     and where I had been lacking,
     because I know that at least for a while 
     I will continue to breathe
     in and out,
     I’ll exhale and recall the letters of 
     my past nightmares and dreams.   
      
     © 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
     All images signed “LMH” 
     are copyrighted 2019-2020 by Lauren M. Hancock 
     and all rights reserved. 

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  • Poem: Hello, My Pudding and Pie – 03/01/19

    Poem: Hello, My Pudding and Pie – 03/01/19

     Hello to you, my pudding and pie,
     I will kiss you, dear, never make you cry, 
     for this is a promise I will make, 
     a vow that I will undertake.
      
     I shan’t allow you to feel saddened or blue,
     I will cherish your heart as I hold it,
     a perfect beating view,
     I will nourish our lives together,
     delighted you will become,
     because my darling, pudding and pie,
     nevermore will you cry. 
      
     Those silly little girls in your past, 
     they drew naughts and crosses against your heart,
     they scarred you in special places of your mind,
     don’t kiss girls like these,
     they’ll only make you cry. 
      
     I am here to wipe away your tears,
     we’ll create new memories, 
     of love and joy together,
     even the furious moments of which we’ll clear,
    
     and my dearest, hello, I greet you,
     I’m finally here to make your eyes fresh,
     hold me near.
     
     Pudding and pie, don’t remember those girls you kissed,
     because I am right here before your eyes. 
      
     © 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
     All images signed “LMH” 
     are copyrighted 2019-2020 by Lauren M. Hancock 
     and all rights reserved.
    
     Image by Adina Voicu from Pixabay  

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  • Poem: Bumbling Bumblebee – 31/12/19

    Poem: Bumbling Bumblebee – 31/12/19

     
     I am a bumbling bumblebee,
     I flit from flower to flower, 
     bough to bough,
     tree to tree. 
      
     I am in awe of what 
     Nature has to deliver,
     I sip, 
     I suckle,
     I collect: – 
     I leave.
      
     Bumbling from each flower to the next,
     I make my way around as though 
     I’m in my own duplex,
     where in the darkness of night, 
     I will not stumble,
     I know all the corners and turns, 
     the pieces of the puzzle.
      
     But then I reach a foreign plant,
     one which I have no awareness of,
     confusedly I ram into the branches,
     buzz, buzz, buzz, 
     grr, grr, buzz!
      
     The pollen on my back legs
     starts to disengage from my twig-like limbs,
     and there is nothing I can do because
     I must be under attack: 
     will my worker bees help me please?
      
     Falling, falling, 
     I am so bumbling,
     silly little buzzing me, 
     I should have investigated the scene before stalling.
      
     At the appearance of a swarm of wasps,
     I am required to quickly leave.
     
     © 2019 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
    
     All images signed “LMH” 
     are copyrighted 2019 by Lauren M. Hancock 
     and all rights reserved.     

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  • Poem Trilogy: As Close as Could Be – 29/12/19

    Poem Trilogy: As Close as Could Be – 29/12/19

    Part I: The Ebb and Flow of Healing

     Press forth,
     her gesture whispered,
     you can do it,
     reach that realm.
      
     Her hand gently pressing the 
     small of my back,
     encouragement to reach that certain angel.
      
     An angel who would heal me,
     remove from me all 
     the pain and 
     suffering
     that I was feeling,
      
     brought upon me by a being 
     so nasty and calculated,
     I don’t know why or how I loved him. 
      
     With him I felt the drag,
     with her I was allowed to
     be myself,
      
     I could stay awake until three,
     write, draw pictures, sing, dance,
     do anything.
      
     Feverishly I wrote and wrote,
     wrote and posted, 
     in my crumbling state of 
     heightened illness,
     I made sure I was heard by my world.
      
     These people, I did not know
     who I had reached,
     whether I was well received
     or even understood.
      
     But the numbers didn’t matter,
     it was the act of self-expression,
     to be prolific in my work 
     was very important.
      
     It was most important 
     that the ideas were expelled from me
     like endless buzzes from a 
     curious yet insidious bee
     turned rogue wasp,
     I wanted to be belligerent in my exposes,
     to a certain degree.
      
     Because some needed to be spoken of,
     others needed to be hidden and taken care of,
     but I most needed healing –
     purging was my means of achieving this.
      
     Meditation also called to me,
     I practiced it religiously,
     sometimes thrice daily. 
      
     And once I removed the 
     sin from my system,
     forced upon me via devilish means,
     I felt a sense of tearing,
     a breakage within,
     I wept and wept as though 
     a staining upon my soul
     had been removed. 
      
     I healed in her presence
     but I still longed for the perpetrator,
     in both my mind and reality 
     he was the culprit
     but of my heart, 
     somehow he would be my saviour.

    Part II: The Cost

     He came into my life, 
     she came into yours,
     jealousy seemed to rear its ugly head.
    
     We had always had each other,
     but now we had lovers to occupy our 
     hearts and time,
     less and less did we see each other, 
     and when we did, 
     mostly talk did we of our others in our lives.
      
     Becoming tamer and more domesticated
     we calmed in times of love and lust,
     another’s hand to hold and to accept us
     for who we really were in life.
      
     They seemed to be more
     than our friendship could provide,
     but these unions came at a certain cost.

    Part III: Who I Once Thought You Were

     Who I once thought she was,
     is not who she is now,
     her new identity is now sharper, 
     harsher,
     well defined,
     strikingly and painfully real.
      
     Her care, love, and concern,
     dispersed to other sources,
     grown apart, it does seem,
     new friends in her current life courses.
      
     We were like slippery fish playing together,
     rolling in the deep, 
     enjoying each other’s company,
     slapping our tails playfully, 
     even taking on a curious eel 
     who simply wanted to grin.
      
     Then, prolonged silence, 
     we would no longer speak,
     for an age it would be that we would 
     not bother to take our fill of 
     each other’s words or efforts at counselling.
      
     Disapproval from both ends of the spectrum,
     who knew what was unfolding, if even anything?
     The silences initially made me angered,
     but I would not call, I would not give in.
      
     And so, I observe the changes, 
     not the physical, but the mental and emotional,
     it appears there is a great disconnect 
     and unsurprisingly 
     I can feel the presence of it. 
      
     My fellow slippery finned friend who was 
     once well featured in my life,
     where day by day we shared each other’s moments,
     then side-by-side we fell from one another’s 
     stories, both public and private. 
      
     And now it seems as though we are
     on the way to becoming strangers,
     it’s amazing how these things can unravel,
     this notion of being “best friends”
     it sometimes ends in upheaval. 
    
     © 2019 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.  

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  • Poem: Stay a While – 28/12/19

    Poem: Stay a While – 28/12/19

    N.B. This post may be triggering for some people. Please consider if you may be prone to being negatively affected by reading this post. 
    
     Stay a while, they said to him, 
     consume, consume, 
     of us, 
     take your fill.
      
     There is nothing in life  
     we cannot fix,
     blindly drink, 
     devour, ingest,
     take us in,
     we are your fuel. 
      
     Then,
     Stay a while, 
     They say to him, 
     as he sways from side to side,
     excessiveness his served meal, 
      
     Stay, my friend, stay, 
     an echoing voice calls,  
     the past dragging him behind 
     to a voice he once knew well. 
      
     Stay, my darling, please,
     her voice begs of him, 
     as he foams at the mouth, 
     his eyes rolling terrifyingly,
      
     Go if you must, 
     his mother’s saddened voice is faint, 
     barely a whisper, 
     as she strokes his hair,
     wipes away the slick sweat.
     
     In a moment she knows he is lost. 
      
     Teach them to stay, 
     that life is worth living! 
     she announces to the 
     assembled crowd 
     at the gathering where 
     awareness is raised
     for her son and the psychology of 
     many lost and living others.
      
     They need to stay,
     she beseeches, 
     they need to know we want and need them to remain,
     love will teach them,
     that they need to stay a whole while longer.
      
     © 2019 Lauren M. Hancock 
    also known as Alice Well. All rights reserved. 

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  • Poem: Reach and Repair Us – 23/12/19

    Poem: Reach and Repair Us – 23/12/19

     I reach into the depths of myself
     and pluck that certain something which makes me Me,
     beneath the surface I am swimming,
     searching for something that signifies, 
     which best expresses my essence.
      
     Is it that particular pitch of 
     laughter which resonates within you?
     That characteristic flick of 
     hair out of my eyes
     because I needed that haircut months prior?
    
     Or my grasping onto your arm,
     oh, how I needed the support from you,
     when crumbling and falling apart
     you were there. 
      
     Darling, we have patched ourselves so hastily,
     from broken and battered to healed with wefts
     and super human glue –
     Tarzan would be proud –
      
     Of our issues we seem to have 
     tentatively repaired,
     it’s no longer you and I 
     but us together, 
     an entwined pair again at last. 
      
     In pulling myself apart,
     in making myself experience discomfort,
     in making me try to bring forth that 
     which had become hidden,
     I knew I must draw myself forth,
     melt away the layers of my hesitant heart,
     for the good of ourselves,
     to fix what had come undone.
    
     But, the rusty handle of the gate 
     had been squeaking,
     begging to be oiled.  
      
     I attend to it lovingly, 
     with my brightened laughter and smiles, 
     you observe my work while you 
     attended to the rusted hinges.
     
     Then, perfection: 
     the gate is salvaged, 
     it no longer sings,
     though, it glides,
     view the beauty and smoothness it casts
     upon new memories now created 
     by the hearthside. 
      
     © 2019 Lauren M. Hancock 
    also known as Alice Well. All rights reserved.  

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  • Poem: The Roast – 23/12/19

    Poem: The Roast – 23/12/19

     The roast looks magnificent, 
     I can almost taste the glistening juice, 
     dripping down the sides as though 
     there is no other place for it 
     but before our hungering eyes. 
      
     I see you practically 
     salivating opposite me,
     between us the roast is 
     perched quite perfectly,
     
     a distraction,
     a piece of meat to catch your eyes,
     instead of falling upon me. 
      
     A wave of jealously: 
     how ridiculous! 
     How can I be upset that you’re 
     adoring a piece of cooked flesh?
      
     But it’s the intent behind 
     that stare that makes me
     pale behind the way you 
     usually look at me and assess.
    
     Perhaps I’ve grown too old a view —
     overfamiliarity can cause a rubbery chew.  
      
     © 2019 Lauren M. Hancock 
     also known as Alice Well. All rights reserved.  

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