Here’s a poetry preview, poems featured by Scott Scherr included in Madhouse Theater:
Someone Turn a Light On
Someone turn a light on,
There’s a darkness in my head.
I’ve been acting strangely
And I always feel half-dead.
I’m sleeping more each evening,
But my dreams fill me with dread.
Someone turn a light on,
For I wake in strangers beds.
Someone turn the light off,
For my conscience saw the news.
Another woman murdered,
By her bedside were my shoes.
I woke today without them
And my clothes were bloody too.
Someone turn the light off,
Best not know the things I do.
~~~
Dark Room
I define helpless,
kissing death
in the
dark- I cannot rise.
My limbs are dead branches
for all they
are worth
now- I cannot run.
This mouth, void of speech
to cry out;
all hope
gone- I cannot plead.
Physical escape
has failed me
in this
place- I cannot move…at all.
Drugs work perfection,
even now
near the
end.
I possess a single eye open
to keep this
terror
real
and
ears to amplify
their footsteps
coming
soon…to my dark room.
~~~
White Noise
The multiplication of voices resounding,
Sanity’s drowning in background destroyed.
All words that once rescued from sirens surrounding,
Lost in dark frequencies, death by white noise.
I’m deaf to their footsteps now masked by tone madness,
Legions of audio demons proceed.
My senses betray me, I dance in the darkness,
Sound works in silence, infecting my dreams.
I wake in the false light, subliminal phantoms
Guide me like piper, completely deceived.
To do what they tell me, and think that I fathom
The reason my hands are now red, while you bleed.
My conscience now muted, as well as your screams,
Lost in the background, where I used to be.
~~~
Cellular Zombies
Have you seen them…roaming
with deceased awareness?
Former members of the living,
joining the ranks of the oblivious.
You may find them jogging in the park,
or on the freeway driving near dark.
They’ve over-run the shopping malls,
infection spreading down every hall.
Have you seen them…answering the call
with blank stare, no longer there at all?
Self-consumed by various transmissions,
losing sensibility, not aware of your existence!
Speaking into the cellular air
they’re lost in plastic receiver cares.
The longer you linger, the more you’ll diminish,
soon becoming victim of unlimited minutes.
So if you see them…roaming
with deceased awareness,
best wait for these zombies to pass,
for their insensitivity might be infectious.
~~~
Strange Lights
We watched them move across the night;
strange lights in a moonless sky.
At first glance one might dismiss
this sleight of hand on eye.
One by one they killed all doubts,
and reason lost its voice.
Dare we let such wonder in?
A skeptic’s loss of choice?
How long did we fail to notice;
have they been there all this time?
In those few moments we laid down
the trivial for the sublime.
Like children when the world was new,
dumfounded and sincere,
We shared a common unity-
at least…until the fear.
We watched them move across the night;
strange lights in a moonless sky
pretending to be stars.
~~~
All poems above Copyright © 2010 Scott Scherr. All rights reserved. From the new book, “Madhouse Theater” by Scott Scherr and John Ecko.
From the collaborative madness of story teller and poet, Scott Scherr, and visual poet, John Ecko, comes this twisted collection of short stories, poetry, and visual nightmares from the darkest corners of their unbalanced minds. The stage is set, our props have been sharpened and our cast of characters are ready to perform their torture on you, fair reader. Within these pages wait a vast assortment of sickos, maniacs, boogeyman, monsters, myths, ghosts and much, much more. Please, take your seats and welcome to the theater. We hope you enjoy the show…although you’ve been here all along.
Madhouse Theater is now available for purchase. You can purchase directly at:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=2893692
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