Pleading for respite
Distant junkie horror-howl
Scars rain-rattled night.
Body reviles self;
Volcanoes in blood – nature
Turns unnatural.
Surfaced vein; hand shakes;
Needle sharp into muscle.
Gale sweeps off complaint.
Sour wind strips the soul,
Tortured in foul dependence.
Storm slams trembling door.
We have no power;
Bureaucrats freeze-dry programmes:
We wait for the thaw.
Drugs dissolve bodies.
Hostile help humiliates.
Can a soul survive?
Target found: relief.
Clinics meaner than street-meets
Close their doors tonight.
Hypocrisy. This
Curse drains every drop of what
Clings to sanity.
Pity is so hostile.
Charity is VFM.
Death, perhaps, is love?
We attend the pill.
Enduring in the wreckage
The wind’s tears congeal.
Image 1: Storm Darragh (Liverpool Echo)
Image 2: Paraphernalia (Stephen Linstead)
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Stephen A. Linstead
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