MAT BYERLY - POEMS

mat byerly graduated from Robert Morris University with a Bachelors of Arts in Applied Mathematics, and he is a M.F.A. (in Creative Writing Fiction) dropout. He has a short story published in Adelaide Magazine’s Spring 2017 Edition called “Boys”. He is currently working on his second novel as he seeks for a publisher for his first novel.

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                                                  Afraid

I’m afraid of nothing:
Not afraid of your fists,
Not afraid of your gun,
Not afraid of your car,
Not afraid of your collective,
Not afraid to talk,
Not afraid to fight,
Not afraid of death,
Not afraid of you.
 
I’m afraid of everything:
Afraid of your thoughts,
Afraid of your words,
Afraid of your opinions,
Afraid of your hypocrisy,
Afraid to talk,
Afraid to express,
Afraid of life,
Afraid of you (mainly what you’re thinking).


                        Heroine                                    Villanelle
 
Relapsing but don’t need your therapy,
I’m a thief; I need to steal your heart,
Heroine, please can you save me.
 
Sun hits the tar, I can’t see.
Smack me a kick start,
Relapsing but don’t need your therapy.
 
A myth trying to find sobriety.
My arm’s looking like Pollock’s art,
Heroine, please can you calm me.
 
Could be a hero but do you wanna be?
I just need this blood sucking dart,
Relapsing but don’t need your therapy.
 
Brown sugar, my secret recipe;
This junkie’s never felt so smart.
Heroine, please can you tame me.
 
Heaven needs to hear my plea,
Feeling so high, but falling apart.
Relapsing but don’t need your therapy,
Heroine, please can you kill me.
 

                                               Day – Mare


I feel like I’ve been sleepwalking,
Doing things that I can’t remember.
Feeling moments that morph so real,
It’s a foggy haze, waking with a black eye.
That’s what makeup’s for anyways.
 
I feel like I’ve been out of body;
The body of Christ can’t help me now.
So I play the hand I was dealt,
Waking up from the coma called yesterday
as I connect the dots to the function.
 
I feel like I’ve been on hiatus;
The shows still run, living their normal days.
We’ll laugh; we’ll cry; we’ll move with the motion
of futile emotion to cause a daily commotion,
But I feel like being drowned in the ocean.
 
I feel like I’ve been lost in the haziness
of my mind that I cannot break and every
single moment seems gone as if I’ve never
lived a moment of my life, just a daydream
that seems so tragic; we’ll call it a day (night)mare.

                                         Configuration
 
I am the Machine
Convoluted in nature
Overrun the overture
I am minicure
With these hands like giants
Around my neck
But I’m not like that
I am a prisoner
Trapped.
Suit and tied, lied
Now I’m in defensible
Bullseye'd backed
Walking like a corpse
Like I never dreamt it would be
My hands are tied
I can’t cry
 
I am the Human
Emotions come
Leaving me emotionless
It’s timeless relentless
Cowering me, the shame
I’m flawed
A game marginalized
But it’s not worth being played
I am a sphinx
Staring at the pyramid
Then they spin
And I lose control
I bleed gasoline
I bleed gasoline
I bleed gasoline
I am.