James Barrs

Test Failed
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Unwanted by a profession, friends and loved ones,
Unimportant to the happiness, productivity and longevity,
Unneeded for passion, pleasure and love.
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She wants you as a candle,
Not as a light bulb in a lamp.
She wants to go to the drawer
And pull you out when
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Sing about how you're glad
To be alive, survive.

Don't admit that death entices,
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When I get this close to you
I can barely catch my breath
When you touch my hand,
The electricity skips my heart
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Drunk again, inside poetry,
A little swimming in excess.

Ancient labyrinth. Someone
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What if the best you have to give is gone?
What if the rest is just downhill?
What if even the good times, weren't so good.
What if your heart isn't empty, and no one cares?
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Restless cannot contain the spring
compressed, caged, wanton. twitching
limbs, windy breath, unattainable. Imprisoned
in nervous thoughts, fears, skin. fight for admiration,
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You left your smell
On my pillow, long ago.
I lived for days on your
Scent alone.
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Struggling toward possible rewards,
Knowing failure means my life in vane,
Slowly washing down the drain.
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The lightning covered days have come,
The end seems nervously near,
The frightened child ran home,
The smell of fear is present here.
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Horse Songs

Every once in a while,
I feel it's over.
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Sometimes you just need to say something,
a little peep to let the world know your still here,
be cautious with that squeak, the wolves may be
listening. Then again, so to may be the friend,
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For what it's worth,
In this grown old stage,
I once loved.
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Incomplete! Just like the novel,
Last chapter torn out. Unfinished
directions, in a foreign location.
Of all the possible interventions
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I began to think of myself as Thoreau in the wood
Isolated by choices, which does not make it any better.
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she said; couldn't we just stay like this forever.
but the like this, was me alone and her with others.
Couldn't we just stay like this forever.
where I don't love you
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All the motivational sayings tell us
Regret nothing, do not fear failure.
What if all your decisions in life
were in fact regrets and fears.
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I hate this ancient theatre,
The play we are all a part of.
The roll I have is trivial,
This roll played before,
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