Dark Rum Bandit

dark rum bandit
sitting in his chair
getting drunk, getting drunk
belt raised in the air

beat the small child
drunkard in the night
I must pray, I must pray
ready for the fight

Jesus, missing
in the dead of night
empty prayers, empty prayers
not a god in sight

dark rum father
skulking past my door
run and hide, run and hide
bloodstain on my floor

five o'clock strikes
daddy and his drink
contemplate my suicide
pain gone in a wink

Rattle in my Head

Half past two in the morning
Worry Rattle in my head
Belligerent children's toy
Popping
     in/out
          /in/out
Waking me from the edge of sleep
Mutinous little creep
Warring with my mind
Rat-Ta-Tat-Boom!
Like gunmen out of the trenches
Marching on my raw nerve
Stomping in and out of memory
With heavy boots
Hollow wooden floors
Boisterous booming voice
Echoing in the rooms of my brain
A dull headache lingers
Mewling on my patience
Try the cold side of the pillow
Wrestling with blankets and stress
Both relentlessly unyielding
Rustle and tussle
Sweat and sticky
     Spine stiff in spasm
          Skin scratchy on stubborn sheets
Head itches
Worry
The morning is close
The birds annoy me
Chirp! Chirp!
Each sound
A hot knife on my senses
Each a little stab in my headmeat
My thoughts unmarshallable
Skipping
     Hither
          And thither
     And hence
          And yonder
     And up
          And over
Rattle tattle
Baffoon-like noise in the silence
Cavalcade of cacophony
The worry rattle
Castigated by the approaching morning
For my inability to tame my own head
Get up!
     Get up!
Fear of a crippled brain
When I need to perform tomorrow
At my peak
But my brain...
Shake and bake
All flavour and no substance
Woken artificially by vitamin B
     And coffee
          And red bull
And worry
And that damn clock in the night
tick
     Tick
          TICK
Fucking TICK!
     TICK!
          TICK!

-o0o-

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

Fun with Code

So it would seem that I have no idea how to code even the most basic HTML and in the process have managed to lose all my old settings. In the meantime please enjoy the sudden shift in blogger themes as I slowly return to old settings over the next few days.

Have a great day.

Regards
Charl Landsberg

-o0o-

The Clicking Eye (Third Rewrite)

So with loads of coaching and encouragement from the editorial team at eFantasy Steampunk this is the final version of "The Clicking Eye" that's being used for the magazine. I want to give a big and warm thank you to the team at eFiction and their Steampunk division. I wish you guys the best of luck with this new adventure in the Steampunk genre. If you are not aware of eFiction you can find them on their website http://www.efictionmag.com

I have included a section here of my poem "The Clicking Eye".

"The Clicking Eye"

I met him by the shores of Crete
     where we sailed East to Lebanon
     by caravan we travelled North
     and spent a night in Chalcedon
He'd been a scholar in this town
     before the Thracian wars began
     he lost his eye in Istanbul
     and since remained a bitter man

An amber stone with cogs and wheels
     now haunted this old vagrant's stare
     it saw through shadows, flesh and bone
     and shone a light of ember glare
...

-o0o-

If you want to see the rest, please do yourself a favour and grab a copy of eFiction Steampunk. You won't be disappointed.

Regards
Charl Landsberg

Oblivion

For a moment
     just one

I thought you
     You
          of all people

Could touch me
     lay a finger on me
          shatter me
     as others have done
or at least tried

But you are not
     in their league

People far more impressive
     than you

Have assaulted my heart
     emotions
          sensibilities
     the very middle of me

And yet I am here
     and they are forgotten
          as you one day - too
     will be

Go
     be relegated to oblivion
          obscurity
     where you belong

-o0o-

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!