Black Skies
Secret whispers fell from the sky
Diluted in the puddles on the empty roads
Dreams rode the waves that crashed upon the shore
They broke apart as they smashed upon the jagged rocks
Ideas burning flesh from bones
Empty hearts filled with charcoal
Hatred breeding the glorious cowards
Now mothers of tomorrow’s generation
An avalanche of darkness covers meadows of delusion
Conquered barren skulls with not a moment’s last breath
Left over gods with no sermons or lectures
No spells, no tales, no disciples, no rōnin
No bee hive, no vessel, no fuselage, no urn
No power exchange, no bound wrists,
no unseen ward, no conversation spoken
No mausoleum, no resurrection,
No temptation, no river birth
Just the black skies
Which now cover this earth
© 2024 David Greg Harth
2024.07.31.17.28.00@130BklynNYC
The Beginning
I find it most difficult to start
But once you start, everything falls into place
Sorting things out
Organizing tasks
Repeating false memories
Playing a song for the morning swans
Inevitable fears cancelled
Enveloped cash memories
Planning estates
Meal preparation
Canceling the services
Coming to attention
Ocean waves crashing
Couldn’t compare
Couldn’t comprehend
Found something to eat
Complaints written down
Asked for a gun
Got sweet plantains
Asked for an extension
Got a wooden box
The most difficult part is starting
The hardest part is always the start
© 2024 David Greg Harth
2024.07.30.11.41.00@130BklynNYC
Among The Forgotten
Questions left unanswered
Always a mystery why he left so soon
No written note or epic story to read
Just scattered belongings to piece together
Questions left unanswered
He was alone and lonely
She was the very cloud
Swept him into a rescued eternity
Questions left unanswered
Sometimes actions cannot be prevented
No matter the day of the week
Or time the sun rises
Questions left unanswered
Each community slightly more empty
An art world untouched
Never forgiven but always forgotten
© 2024 David Greg Harth
24.07.20.18.48.58@130BklynNYC
Mr. Mr. Clock
Clock strikes 4pm.
Clock came racing down.
Didn’t know the race was on.
Didn’t know the dust had settled.
Didn’t know my scent was left lingering.
I was just seated. Alone. Lonesome. Lonely. Single.
Retracted.
I was just seated. Honored. Guarded. Walled. Single.
You came along. Brought your broom. Brought your dust bin.
Here we are and the clock strikes 4pm
In love,
My heart goes –
Tick Tick Tick Tick
In love,
My heart goes –
On forever
Because I’m the man without a clock.
I’m the man without time.
Because I’ve been bought and I’ve been sold.
I’ve been living on borrowed time.
It’s 4pm.
Time to get wed.
© 2022 David Greg Harth
22.11.11.15:31:30@130BklynNYC
List of 10: Concerts I’ve been too
1. U2
2. The Who
3. The Rolling Stones
4. Nine Inch Nails
5. Bruce Springsteen
6. David Bowie
7. James
8. Leonard Cohen
9. Pete Seeger
10. Madonna
Note: Concerts are listed in random order, not chronologically.
© 2022 David Greg Harth
22.10.14.17:43:27@130BklynNYC
Just Like That
And just like that
The loaf of bread is gone!
No more crumbs
No more bread
No more for you
No more for me
Just like that!
© 2022 David Greg Harth
02.09.08.15:15:55@130NYC
Untitled (New Year’s Day)
It is New Year’s Day.
What did you do?
Just the other day?
I sat in the center.
The epicenter.
Where 7th meets Broadway.
Where the neon lights are.
Where the movies are filmed.
I sat there.
All day long.
Handcuffed myself.
To a chair,
To the lamppost.
Right in the center.
The great big clock,
Behind me.
Coke in front of me.
I have never snorted.
About to now.
Corporate Surroundings
I wish I had a fuck on me.
I wish I had a smoke.
I sat in the center.
Chained to the chair.
To the lamppost.
I sat all day.
As the clock neared midnight.
I pulled the trigger.
Still handcuffed.
My thoughts now on the lamppost.
© 1998 David Greg Harth
97.12.31.00:00:00@NYCUSA
98.01.01.00:00:00@NYCUSA
Mayor Scott
This plague has come upon us
It’s no common New York rodent
And I know you’ve witnessed a lot
Bullet holes and gentrification
Cracked sidewalks and burning houses
Nothing previously made you transition to the Lord so fast
In the end it was deadly COVID-19
That guided your journey past
A dozen years of conversations
Neighborhood discussions
Wishing wells and grilling smells
Firecrackers and insanity pleas
Seen you daily at sunrise
and you’ve seen me daily at dusk
Seen you dapper
and you’ve seen me somber
Seen you filled with laughter
and you’ve seen me with my love
Gardening yards
that were not yours
Hugging children
that were not yours
Helping elderly
that were not yours
Fending crooks
that were not yours
Hellos & Goodbyes
that were always ours
Good days & bad days
that were always ours
You’ll be missed
Oh, great Mayor of the block
May you rest in peace
Oh, great Mayor of the block
© 2020 David Greg Harth
2020.05.03.18:09:31@130BklynNYC
False Artist
“False Artist”
I am a false artist
I am a fraud
A fake
I’m a scam, a cheat, a dupe
Bogus and phony – Shit
I am invalid
I’m such a fake fucking artist
I’m a coward
With knees shaking at the entrance
Graphite on my fingers
The scent of oils in my mouth
Angst of the unaffordable
Torn and twisted of what is attainable
Gutted
Drenched in tears
Claimed to be without fears
Often lying in pain from my man made disease
Studio walls close in on you
Art supplies come crashing down
You sink in the quicksand
Swallowing your last stand
And you give up
So easily you surrender
Because you’re a fake fucking artist
Making up deadlines
Drawing portraits and lines and lines and more damn lines
Coughing up blood
Oozing a better symphonic plea
Born in Canaan
Got hit by a landslide and walked once more
My spine raddled
Spew forth the nightmares of encephalitis
A snake’s autosarcophagy has become my wet dream
Poisoned by the hollow promises of 213 feet
I am a false artist
I am a fraud
A fake, an invalid
© 2019 David Greg Harth
2019.09.24.12:06:27@130BklynNYC
Broken/Fixed
Temptation of sorrow elevated me to great spans
It was the crusade that kept me afloat
Ferocious venom from my inner beast
See me thrash, and see me live
I marched on
Like an unclaimed warrior
Chivalry was my badge of honor
Midnight trysts were a common theme
Rich stories of being lost on the streets with ghosts
Often seen abandonment as the only option
Through the strongest tides pulling me
And the howling winds pushing me
It has been an exhaustive search
Twisted side arrived
Seated in the round with compassion
Repeating sparrow sung my symphonic song
In pride, I march down the witnesses’ aisle of disbelief
Letters penned, calls made, paintings painted
Hunting for a waltz in the city of music
Pierced through until the end
Swallow my limited time
Release the paired doves
Call out the sun and call out the moon
Announce the truth and close the books
The scorched chariot waits for the both of us
Her lips reeled me in
Her mind seized my heart
Her hips peeled back my senses
Her empathy captured my everything
I’ve been broken for over four decades
But now that she is with me
I am no longer broken
I am fixed
© 2018 David Greg Harth
18.07.10.13:35:50@1CTSQWLICNYC
These Hard Earned Tears
Infant eyes intimidated reason
Incubated empty dreams into emerging concepts
Grown out of lust and melancholy
Howling wind filled vacant hearts with rage
Chasing love on the storm’s wave
Echoing pleas from the drowning sea
Treading each territory with new hope
With constant loss and destroyed visions
Testimonials will recall the tale
As it was told and as it was captured
Surrendered to the fulfilled dream
His leman has the evidence
Last flight never forgotten
An abrupt end executed from desire
© 2017 David Greg Harth
17.09.06.13:31:04@1CTSQWLICNYC
The Fall Of Heaven
I.
The rickety rackety of the train kept me up all night
Rickey rackety, rickety rackety
The train would sway back and forth
As we catapulted straight for long stretches
Rickey rackety, rickety rackety
Then, grasp onto your seat!
We’d almost be jumping off the tracks
As the train would bend around a sharp curve
The blinds would titter tatter, titter tatter
Wind rushing inside the rail car
Swooooosh!
Rustling my hair about with dirt and dust
Dirt and dust
II.
Twelve flights up
I would gnaw at my restraints
Attempting to escape
This internal prison where I was held hostage
Vanquish out the demons that would possess my mind
The bondage was ironclad
I’d scrape my fingernails on the wooden door
Edging splinters deeper beneath my skin
Peering at the intersection down below
Hoping for an interrupted fall
Scolded for stroking
Living on yesterday’s potatoes
III.
Behind the teacher’s desk
We exchanged gifts for Valentine’s Day
I gave her a tiny box of sugary candy with pre-printed messages
Various colored hearts with words I never wrote
She gave me a much larger box in the shape of a heart
With individually wrapped chocolates
Each with a different delicate presentation
And unique taste memorable impression
And I wore blush for that photo
And I wore blush for that photo
Can’t you see?
IV.
Walking back empty handed
Along the long gravel road
Hands bloody
My forehead dripping
Precum at the tip of my –
Walking aimlessly
Trying to locate my plot
Helpless before the sun rises once more
I’ve had my faults
And I’ve given my apologies
I’ve had my excuses
My lies and presumptions
But this dedication
After my heart was demolished
© 2017 David Greg Harth
17.02.21.17:52:00@200VeseyNYC
Birds in Flight Die in the Night
// Razor sharp
// Hard edge
My finest suit for the occasion
Jacket on the hanger
Tie around my collar
Tightly around my neck
So stiff
I’ve been collecting the finest pads
Some favorite handmade books from Third Avenue
Never had a chance to put pencil to paper
Typed up words for the audience to read
Sleeves pushed up
I cut four inches
From the base of my wrist
Through my square
Forming a straight line upwards
Tomorrow’s papers
Buy a copy
For the world news
Infinitely a legend
On the 26th
Wish I had a sparrow
To sing me a song
On this very night
© 2016 David Greg Harth
16.12.21.21:52:00@130BklynNYC
Love’s Executioner
The empathetic one with oar
Was silent with purpose
In destiny I crossed the river
With an obol in my mouth
To join my mélange of lovers
Winnow down the truths
For there was an eternal one
That my heart belonged too
She made me evaporate my lies
And surrender my soul
She was the nectar of my strength
And my last destination
In death’s paradise
I love, love, love.
© 2016 David Greg Harth
16.09.19.10:07:14@200VeseyNYC
Abandoned
High fever set in for the second time
Thought we were in the clear
Threat of infection is still highly imminent
The passage out was a long and tedious one
Carried on a stretcher along the rocky sodden path
Each awkward turn sent a tremble through by bones
I felt my brain violently pound against the inside of my skull
Knocked around like an embryo in an uncontrolled free fall
Scattering between the tall oaks, maples and firs
Sunlight would reach my face on occasion
Dense fog seemed to levitate from the ground
Dangerous path becomes blind
Scent of fresh rain dripping on bark
Damp fallen leaves unearthed by a trenched march
Pine beds lining the exit strategy
Unclaimed fibers itch my skin that I can not scratch
Random insects land on my face that I can not swat
I feel the warm trickle of blood ooze out of my wounds
My palms sweaty with unknowns
The snaps of twigs beneath their boots
Rattle hollow echoes between my listening
Voices howl and crackle in concise misguidance
These bearers with sheltered hearts
Fighting for my own mortality
Every effort to keep me conscious
I have become an alternate once more
Reflection did not accurately portray
Sharing water with the ghost of her
Detached, I am at my finest
Lost, I am catapulted
Deep realms of forced solitude
Amongst the forest floor
Selected for departure
The hunting wolf follows my trail
Picked up my fallen limbs
Hot coals placed in my mouth
Lost and gained
I am slayed
© 2016 David Greg Harth
16.06.27.14:35:35@200VeseyNYC
Repeat Silence
I.
I stepped off the westward train
At a station unknown
Walked north into my silent retreat
Among velvet dirt roads
Nothing in front of me
Everything behind me
This is what love does
When we were together
I begged you to open up to me
We fought
We loved
We were stuck in a pattern on repeat
Pattern on repeat
You left me
Yet your parents blamed me solely
My parents stateless
Children in wonderment
Was it I at fault?
Been blamed –
Take responsibility
The serpent visited your dreams before I arrived
Took you on the darkest passage
Nothing saved, nothing learned
II.
Mourning comes and goes
The echo of your voice never leaves
Let’s see where these dirt roads lead me
I’m walking to the arches you’ve always wanted to see
Nothing in front of me
Everything behind me
This is what love does
I once drowned in my sorrow
Judged no more
Bound by no one
My footprints unseen
III.
People sometime wonder why I don’t own a tuxedo
I find it hard to explain
Yet,
Your dress, and my tuxedo still hang together in the garment bag
We were to go away that weekend
Attend your best friend’s wedding
But we never made it – did we?
Pattern on repeat
An unforgivable leap
Nothing in front of me
Everything behind me
This is what love does
Oh, so deep
Pattern on repeat
© 2016 David Greg Harth
16.05.24.10:17:44@200VeseyNYC
Skin & Bones
"Skin & Bones"
All she ever was
To my silent majority
And catastrophic heart
Skin and bones
And skin and bones
And skin and bones
Contemplating spine crushing
Chastity locking
Ego stroking
Couldn’t be at yesterday’s benefit
Couldn’t be at the reception
Couldn’t be at the morgue
Skin and bones
And skin and bones
And skin and bones
Rrrrrrrrash
Skin and bones
Scrape
Scrape
Up off the floor
Scrape
Skin and bones
Scrape
Seasons come and go
Scrape
Lessons to be learned
Skin and bones
© David Greg Harth 2016
2016.05.17.15:53:17@200VeseyNYC
May 22nd
Silent pursuit
I look to the future
Reflections of you and me
Once strangers in passing
Now hand in hand
No introductions
Just secret glances
They’ll wonder how
Not me - certain
From the very start
I was in love with you
For an unwritten time
I have become ooze melting
Into an oblivion of paradise
Deep within your heart
© 2016 David Greg Harth
16.04.16.07:32:06@130BklynNYC
I Once Asked You
I once asked you
If you loved me
You said yes
I once asked you
If you loved me
You said yes
I once asked you
If you loved me
You said yes
Three times of love,
And the sparrow
Is shot dead.
© David Greg Harth
16.02.28.20:51:00@BalticSea (Tallinn > Helsinki)
Five Years Too Late
Five years too late
Our love affair
Seems to coincide again
I find myself
Crossing the Baltic Sea
North once more
I left my heart behind me
For a moment’s gaze
Is about to become
A debauched reality
Without awareness or reason
She emerged from the sea
As my canopy of Eden
And poison to which
I surrender
There is something about
These fluid waters
Creating an ignition of
Craving to dedicate
A bonding word said
Remember my name
I’ll find you again
For your allure
Is what carries this current
In your direction
Descend into
The madness
You are my cure
My hope
And my only love
© David Greg Harth
16.02.28.20:40:00@BalticSea (Tallinn > Helsinki)