Along with reams of short stories, and longer attempts at fiction, I’ve written countless poems over the decades. The bulk were written in my teens and twenties and I literally have folders full of handwritten and typewritten compositions.

I’d been threatening to put a selection into print since the mid-90’s. I remember discussing it with an old girlfriend in ’95 but a number of things always seemed to stop me. Part of that was not really being sure if I wanted to share them with the world, part was never having the time to go through what was amounting to thousands of bits of paper – ranging from typed and formatted finished compositions to hand written stanzas on the back of paper bags, or anything I had at hand when inspiration hit.

A few years ago I finally got round to sorting out a collection and published them under the title “Wild Card Symphonies”. Consisting of three smaller volumes of my work, “Wild Card Symphonies”, “Cry To Me”, and “This Graveyard Heart”, the book totaled just over 120 poems. You can buy a copy (plug plug) through Lulu on one of the links at the bottom of the page if you like what you read and want to have more.

Ride The Machine

You took me down

Amongst the flowers,

You took away my pride

And left me with this hunger.

Forever calling for something real

Only tasting what I’ve lost from you.

Running wild, do you run from me

Or do you try to escape

What you’ve turned me into?

Wasn’t I the best thing you ever had.

Well that’s a crying shame

Because now I am your last.

Noises screaming in the back of my mind

Telling me to take you on,

Telling me to take you down.

–

You took me by the hand

To lead me across your land,

Poisoned mindscapes

Containing poisoned scenes,

Dying flowers and

Memories of your dreams.

You drive me too fast

Trying to make me believe you

Convincing me that….

That it’s all true.

And you meant the words that you whispered

And you wanted the things we shared.

But now I’ve forgotten how to kiss

And can only remember the taste of your lies,

And the memory of the feelings that you killed.

(RIDE THE MACHINE By A R J Abranson, 25-05-95/18:21 + 18:27 01-01-96/16:17)

My poetry anthology, Wild Card Symphonies, is available to buy now on Lulu in both Softcover and Dust Jacket Hardcover.

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Wild Card Symphonies, Cry To Me & This Graveyard Heart are Copyright ©2015, Angus Abranson. All rights reserved.
Cover design by George C. Cotronis (Ravenkult Studios, www.ravenkult.com) Copyright © 2015 Angus Abranson
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
No reproduction in part or in whole without prior written permission from the author of the copyright owner.