Lauren M. Hancock Poetry and Prose

Tag: literary

  • Poem: Beneath the Surface – 24/05/20

    Poem: Beneath the Surface – 24/05/20

    On the surface of a scarlet lake
are dreams and nightmares cast aside,
laid to waste.
None have the desire to peruse
or recollect,
the enmity of these experiences,
why, no one wants to look back.
 
The moments of the night wander in a shimmer,
upon a crystalline surface,
like oil mixed with water,
they simply do not gel well,
their animosity alive rather than
a sheen of sheer consistence.
 
Nearby stand two fishermen
with their fishing rods so pliant,
I wonder what will they capture –
if anything at all –
or is their joy mainly in the process?
 
Their lines and sinkers are slick
with the congealing of subconscious creations,
confused moments,
surreal expressions,
and here the men are,
happily, into the night,
casting their lines again and again,
no disappointment at their lack of capture,
those dreams and nightmares do evade.
 
And then suddenly there is a bite,
something below the layers,
these creations of the night,
and rise unto the air,
a water-falling shape is revealed,
cascading around a moment of precious truth.
 
The creature hooked is nothing like something
ever seen by you nor I,
an abomination,
non-descript to most,
yet something which terrifies.
 
The fisherman grins,
pleased with his prize,
he is the master of
slowly cleansing this lake
of that which is untoward,
unworthy of remaining alive.
 
I realise now his role is not to be self-sufficient,
nor to enjoy the actual process,
but to purge this lake of things which should not belong,
removing the waste of nightmares
and dreams which hold the ability
to cause a sleeper harm.
 
And into the night and morning,
for days they will remain,
the demons of the lake,
expelled one by one,
through and through,
they shan’t remain.
 
I wonder how long it will take them,
if ever they will succeed,
at making this lake fresh and transparent,
a wondrous and true beauty to be seen.
 
Oh, hark! I tell myself,
I am sure there will come a day
when the water is cleared,
and the drippings of a drain of
combined subconsciousness,
dream time of many sleepers eventually cleansed away.

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by 272447 from Pixabay

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  • Poem: Angels – 22/05/20

    Poem: Angels – 22/05/20

    Angels come and angels go
but they’re always watching down upon us.
 
They carefully observe,
they take care of us,
ever present,
although distance may be a factor.
 
Their wings caress,
though invisible they may be
to the naked human eye
they are there,
and the angels’ hearts
for us, beat freely.
 
They insist on being caregivers,
they are there in all times,
especially strife,
mothers, uncles, daughters,
those who do or have walked along
our path of life.
 
And there’s no use wondering
if and when we will see one,
just know,
rest assured,
you’ve likely already seen a few.
 
The woman down your street,
who smiles at you with such warmth
within her eyes,
your teacher who lauds your efforts in school,
motivates and attends,
making a difference in your daily life.
 
Your passed grandmother who you swear
you sometimes smell her signature perfumed scent,
that kindness in your chest when you recall the times
spent together –
weren’t they the best?
 
Angels above and angels on land,
here to love and be guides
for all of us.
 
They pride themselves on being here,
making the most of their missions,
they are wise and knowing,
understanding what it is we need,
ensuring our lives are enriched and continually growing.

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

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  • Poem: When Words Won’t Speak – 06/05/20

    Poem: When Words Won’t Speak – 06/05/20

    When words won’t speak, 
colours do,
vibrant splashes,
moody shadows,
emotive characters,
abstract patterns.
 
When I cannot find the right letters,
or when I simply stutter,
I bring forth emotional therapy,
brilliant shades bleeding with highlights
or slices of calming, iridescent colour. 
 
Sometimes nothing lyrical comes out, 
and I’m left with a blank, cursed page, 
or attempts of controlled cursive crossed out, 
never for anyone to view.

Or there are other types of words, 
they ramble and demand,
intended for others to experience,
to see, 
their rawness brought about by
my hastily scrawling hand,
interpretation intentionally difficult,
I wait, I hope, I breathe. 
 
But in such a situation, I doubt myself, 
my words may prove too harsh, 
best translate them into a form of visual art,
where it’s less specific, 
less obvious what I'm trying 
to place on show.
 
Less fervent will the story be
for I can disguise the dramatics 
and roll on and along 
with the waves of emotion
'til the process of ambiguity
makes my words fit for public consumption - 
 
images filled to the brim, 
a certain crescent rising,
a personal triumph sent,
 
an explosion of hues, 
of brushstrokes,
of textures, of layers, 
that have been expelled from deep within.

I am now tentatively pleased, 
the story has been told, 
by shades and highlights, 
bright and bold, 

I have created a scene
without a single word, 
the speckles, 
the explosions, 
the colours I'll live and breathe
until I'm frail and old,
this process is a priceless passion. 

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by Aida KHubaeva from Pixabay

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  • Poem: A Curious Moth’s Cycle – 01/05/20

    Poem: A Curious Moth’s Cycle – 01/05/20

    The moth is drawn to the flame,
curious though tentative 
he dances,
he flits closer,
the heat scorches –
away, away!
 
Although his wing is singed
he cannot cease his wondering,
in his mind he feels he must
continue to draw closer,
nearer,
until he’s sizzling in a second,
both his wings in 
devastatingly smouldering tatters.
 
The other insects,
they mourn their inquisitive friend 
from the ground,
but what else could they have expected
from a being 
perpetually drawn to the light?
 
It was the moth’s downfall 
to be so hopeful,
to wish to be near a force so dazzling
that it would only burn out 
his own light:
 
an ending
by that impermanent deathly flicker,
the poor moth’s obliterated picture,
a life cast aside by his final fateful flight,
what more than sadness and grief 
could it have delivered?
 
© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by Andreas Lischka from Pixabay

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  • Poem: It is Decidedly So – 29/04/20

    Poem: It is Decidedly So – 29/04/20

    “It is decidedly so,” her mother speaks,
she smiles with warmth in her tone.
A kind welcome
is assured,
the woman’s feelings strong, heartfelt,
well grown.

The kingdom has gathered to
witness and bless this young babe,
her cooing and calling for Mother
draw attention and affection her way.
 
While a wild gust of wind could blow this scene away,
there is hope on the horizon
for this newborn,
society’s requests have not been forgotten,
their blessings for her will be spoken.
 
They wish for her:
long life,
prosperity,
intelligence,
beauty and bravery,
 
but if these wishes for her
were not enough
a grinning godmother approaches,
her eyes lit up –
is she deranged?
Or is she delighted to speak,
moved to promise the child even more?
 
“I wish you the truest love,”
she begins,
with a slight inflection in her tone,
head cocked curiously to the side,
she glances over at the two royal thrones.
 
“Love in its truest form shall make you alive,
cause you to excitedly feel,
and the memories of a childhood will then be lost
and simply fall away.
 
Begone the memories well-constructed,
of timely family events and moments,
of kingdom comes and open loving arms,
decidedly it is so,
decidedly it is… -"
 
And the evil godmother was knocked out cleanly
with one single blow.
 
Who was the babe’s true saviour?
That somebody who temporarily removed the ability
Of Godmother’s intended curse?
The desired removal of the babe’s
future fondest memories,
to be torn from their safety
with the cruellest of feelings?

Why, it is a young boy,
could only be of three,
smiling to himself
shyly, but proudly enough
to see.
 
In his hands lie the sparkles
and twinkles of magical folk,
perhaps he is the babe’s truest love –
we must wait to see this as fact,
or as falsity,
or as truth,
with hope,
in due course.  

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by PawinG from Pixabay
_____________________________________________________________
A/N: I watched Malificent for the first time over the weekend and really enjoyed it. This poem is inspired by this movie.

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  • Poem: Autumn Leaves to the Air – 28/04/20

    Poem: Autumn Leaves to the Air – 28/04/20

    Autumn leaves fall one by one,
excusing themselves from attendance.
Like warm emotions they peel away,
leaving an unfamiliar, unfeeling circumstance.
 
Soon the branches will be barren,
stark,
undecorated, alone,
with no reminder of spring or summer,
when heartfelt words were purred,
within another’s arms feelings were grown.
 
How differently a season can present
a once near-perfect circumstance,
even if slightly illogical,
the dreamscape was there,
unique to be had.
 
A sense of comfortability grew,
but now the delicate leaves fall and fall,
stripping away layers that once shone –
where is that which once called to me now?
 
I sit by the base of the tree,
dumbstruck, tremulous,
at how things have unravelled,
words may be unspoken,
but as obvious as falling leaves dancing,
the silence permeates,
creates an acidic, sullen mood.
 
A loss, a replacement,
with little care,
I reach forth,
throw handfuls of rejected leaves to the air.

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.   
Image by Rebekka D from Pixabay

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  • Poem: Jagged Picture – 27/04/20

    Poem: Jagged Picture – 27/04/20

    Rivulets of broken seams,
the crackling of irritation heaves and gleams,
beneath a thin surface
a heated secret boils
it festers,
does she wish to be anything other
than what and how her impatient heart can muster?
 
There’s no calm in the desert creek
where parched tongues refused to get along
the sandpaper-like exterior
cat-like,
gingerly, one could prime this picture.
 
But to see this image fall apart,
though long-awaited were those positive dreams,
it is clear that irritation is what
the present promotes,
an ultimatum,
a damned unspoken destruction,
meant to be cataclysmic?
To eventually come undone?
 
The fate lies,
awaiting,
quietly, coercive,
need the ending be spoken of
in bittersweet tunes?
 
A sing-song chorus of
maddening annulment,
shattered pieces,
laid there in their raw glory to view.
 
Are these pieces able to be
pieced together again?
as of yet,
unknown,
the picture’s something still
jaggedly beautiful to behold.

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by kalhh from Pixabay

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  • Poem: The Path – 23/04/20

    Poem: The Path – 23/04/20

    Weariness, Weariness,
rests upon my head,
where cobwebs and stilted cogs lay well rested
in their beds,
the machinery’s movements have ceased,
Weariness allows me to take that break,
but behind the scenes I’m still ruminating,
I simply disguise it from him.
 
Aptitude, Aptitude,
once carefully measured with closely observed time,
makes me wonder now whether the path was worth
the efforts to propel me so far,
because what am I doing here with this life?
 
I know,
I know,
that intelligence comes in many forms,
not always those tested,
skills, handiwork,  
of Aptitude, many are assured.
 
Desire, Desire,
to be something more,
to perform something else,
to rise to the challenge and advance myself,
it is not only in the mind that Desire does seek,
a change,
a triumphant case,
in which I can alternatively speak.
 
Knowledge, Knowledge,
have I sucked you bone-dry from the pages
I have to tend to?
The parched paper with its annotations and highlighted markings
grins at me,
resonate reminders of hard work and times oh-so studious.
 
Whenever I am down on myself,
I simply need to glance at my words,
my interpretations,
the violin fingerings,
the sheet music’s markings,
 
and I understand that I have worked arduously
at several crafts,
and have returned to the original craft of my own.
 
Conclusions, Conclusions
are like cadences softly spoken,
the melodious cessations of my
quiet contemplation,
I’m not performing at Life so badly,
according to my efforts
I’m trying to better myself,
there is no need to sink, sink down,
to aim a tirade toward myself,
 
I am improving,
daily,
through the efforts of no one other than myself.  

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.  
Image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay 

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  • Post: There is Hope – 14/04/20

    Post: There is Hope – 14/04/20

    There is hope if you look hard enough,
Among the shadows that lurk and loom,
No matter how difficult
To discern,
When our prying eyes have had enough,
We spot that glimmer,
That shimmer –

A glistening snail’s trail
Leading to that foreign place
That certainly is not home
But it calms you in a manner
Strangely stupendous
For something that is so
Different and odd to what would
Normally calm a throng.
 
And you sit there, quietly absorbing
That naked light,
A trailing of hope leading to
An outcrop, surrounding land full of shadows
Which has the power to relax you
With its scattered stars above,
An enormity, yet a closeness,
A childhood reminder of a time
That triggers something from afar.
 
And within you now a locket meets a key
And amazed you are
As your version of Pandora’s box flings open
But with a twist,
With internal, humble, resonant reassurances
You know there will be no casualties.

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by Linda Biggs from Pixabay   

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  • The Sliver: A Horror Poem – 11/04/20

    The Sliver: A Horror Poem – 11/04/20

    The translucence of an eye is insidious,
it narrows its eyelid to a sliver of pupil to see,
a glint of curiosity
but little remorse to view,
what could this vision present to someone like you and I?
Us, or even just you?
 
Barbaric tones,
the slashes, the slights,
the light burrows into my own orbs,
quietly, calculatingly I take on the mood
of the insidious view I’ve knowingly absorbed.
 
Unbeknownst to myself though,
from now, I am expected to travel alone,
this living, breathing eye has snatched me away from you.
 
Now I work in tandem,
my eyes with It,
alone, I am,
yet breathing its painful sooty sin,
can I not escape,
with peril can I be freed?

A combatant’s energy:
I stare into its glare,
its memories are horrific to experience and even worse to see.
 
Free me from its peril!
I want to shriek.
The maladies I’ve experienced through its blatant enormity
weigh down upon me,
they dare me to speak.
 
But, how to escape horrors so convoluted they make us entwined,
where are you when I need You?
I cry posthumously.
I live only through the Sliver’s memories,
stifling, the visions stew.
 
And it is as though we are living a dragging nightmare,
undulating waves of nauseating misery swim through
the void of energy that once carried and housed me,
I can barely breathe,
but isn’t that the point of it all?
There’s nothing left to see.    

© 2020 Lauren M. Hancock. All rights reserved.
Image by Evren Ozdemir from Pixabay

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