Paul Tristram- Two Poems

Striper

He did it all to himself
little cuts and slashes
all over his face
and I mean
like 100’s of them.
It really looked awful
and from a distance
well, he just looked burnt.
Red, pink, purple and blotchy.
I asked him why he had done it?
he had answered
that it was to show the world
just how unhappy he was
with the world.
I had replied
that whilst I applauded
his effort and dedication,
I simply did the same thing
but only half-arsedly
by sticking 2 fingers up in the air.
He then explained
that it was a little more than that.
Each little scar represented
a day since his Ex
had left him for someone else.
“Oh well, you’ve really taught
her a lesson, haven’t you,
cutting up your own face like that,
I bet she’s absolutely gutted!”
I stated shaking my head
as the Screw on the landing yelled
“Lock up on the 2’s!”
and I walked in disbelief to my cell.

© Paul Tristram 2014

Going Nowhere Fast (Life Owes You Nothing!)

To be sat permanently in front of your TV
is really not the best place to be!
Life is really not a spectators sport.
It demands participation and interaction
from the individual involved.
You were given a body that breathes
and a mind that thinks and solves puzzles
(Problems!)
and a short amount of time upon this beautiful,
amazing and magical Earth to enjoy.
All the tools that you need are inside of yourself.
If you do not like a certain aspect of your life
then change it.
If you do not like your life at all
then change all of it.
Sometimes the trick is not in finding exactly
what you should do But in the fact that you are up
and moving and doing something, anything.
Doing boring things will sap your energy
and make your life boring, they should only ever
come into the equation when they involve payment.
Stay in amongst your miserable walls if you want?
Whinging and moaning and as uninteresting
and yawn worthy as a bag of vanilla wallpaper
and you will reap exactly what you have sown.
Yes, you will be proved right in your pessimism,
I promise you that, you are not remotely clever
for it is a self evident and obviously futile road
to have travelled down, the old saying
‘Cut off your own nose to spite your face.’
springs to mind.
You can always find a reason to stay in
and not do anything constructive:
‘It’s raining and I can’t be bothered.’
Well, I have news for you: Life can’t be bothered
with people who can’t be bothered with life.
It’s reciprocal.
This sort of thinking is the wrong way around.
You need to be thinking of reasons to be doing
something not avoiding doing something.
So, you did not have a nice time in the past?
So what, welcome to the real world,
you are not special or unique in this at all.
Your Mother didn’t love you or not enough,
you were bullied in school, your Ex left you
and on and on and on and on and on…yawn.
That was Yesterday and Today is Today!
Pour all of that crap into some form of artwork
if you are not artistic then join a gym
and take it all out on punch bags
or write it all down on some paper,
have a little ceremony and burn it all.
If you are Spiritual, pray or get smudged.
Do whatever it takes and leave it in the past
once and for all, stop carrying a heavy bag
of other peoples crap around on your shoulders.
I am going to let you into a little secret:
You are only a victim if you choose to be.
Bad things happen to all of us, it’s life.
Whoever has hurt you in the past
and in whatever way?
Be happy in the knowledge
that they have gone from your life today.
And if they have not gone, then Leave yourself,
Throw Them Out or call the Police.
It really is that simple!
Or you can sit there and complain
about how complicated it all is
and that it is not as easy as it looks.
Well, Congratulations: you have just Doomed
your foreseeable future to being
both Complicated and Uneasy.
You will make mistakes,
learn from them and then move on.
You will pick the wrong partners,
the quicker that they are gone the better.
You will have negative people around you
who will gossip, backstab and continually
put you down and hammer your self worth.
They are poison, remove them from your life!
Especially if they call themselves ‘Family’
There is no Law that states that you have to
speak to anybody even ‘Family.’
Remember that Positive family members
support and care while mean, spiteful ones
are your happiness’s enemies, get rid of them.
If you are then alone for awhile
then simply be alone for awhile if you have to.
But work to replace them with caring,
supporting and un-judgemental people.
No one is perfect, everyone is flawed.
Forgive yourself your imperfections.
Trust me no one gets through this life unscarred.
Do not always stand directly in the firing line.
Find yourself quiet, safe places to go,
like the beach, the countryside, a mountain,
a sincere friends home.
Take lots of deep breaths and relax, slow down,
re-charge and then get back into the middle
of it, whatever your middle of it might be
and shine harder and brighter each time.
Failure is not an option
whilst Success is within reach
and that is always the case
as long as you are still breathing.
There is no such thing as bad luck.
You did not miss the bus yesterday
because of bad luck
you missed it simply because you missed it,
luck had nothing to do with it,
there will be another one along in 20 minutes.
Whinging, moaning and complaining
merely confuses and clouds life’s picture
and dulls our daily work blade.
But unnatural self-doubt is a cancer of the soul.
be always aware of that creeping disease
and nip it in the bud whenever it raises
its un-useful, ugly head.
Remember: Life owes you nothing but Time.
You owe it to yourself to fill up that Time
wisely, constructively and full of goodness.
Spring is in the air, can you not feel it?
I will see you out there somewhere
on this ever changing Battlefield
and Playing field of Life.
You cannot miss me,
I stick out like a sore thumb.
For I am one of the Few
who are Steadily but Surely Winning.

© Paul Tristram 2014



Paul Tristram is a Welsh writer who has poems, short stories, sketches and photography published in many publications around the world, he yearns to tattoo porcelain bridesmaids instead of digging empty graves for innocence at midnight, this too may pass, yet.