—Poetry by Jean Jones, Wilmington, NC
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of
Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
THIRST
In vampire movies
the vampires call it
"the thirst"
this desire
to drink blood
that takes control
and all you want to do
is drink more and more blood
no matter who you kill, destroy, or wipe out
so my question for you is this: What is your thirst?
What do you want to do over and over again?
One of mine is food—I can definitely eat over and over again—
What is it for you? Money? Getting high? What drives you? What is your thirst?
My thirst drives me and your thirst drives you where?
What do you need to do over and over again regardless?
Get money?
For what?
To eat?
Drink?
Drink what?
Sex?
Release?
Relief?
What will it take
for you
to say No?
Not call it
not summon it—
Choose the time and place
not the other way around—
Budget the money—
Never spend more than you planned—
Result? I am not bound to it anymore—
I am setting myself free.
In vampire movies
the vampires call it
"the thirst"
this desire
to drink blood
that takes control
and all you want to do
is drink more and more blood
no matter who you kill, destroy, or wipe out
so my question for you is this: What is your thirst?
What do you want to do over and over again?
One of mine is food—I can definitely eat over and over again—
What is it for you? Money? Getting high? What drives you? What is your thirst?
My thirst drives me and your thirst drives you where?
What do you need to do over and over again regardless?
Get money?
For what?
To eat?
Drink?
Drink what?
Sex?
Release?
Relief?
What will it take
for you
to say No?
Not call it
not summon it—
Choose the time and place
not the other way around—
Budget the money—
Never spend more than you planned—
Result? I am not bound to it anymore—
I am setting myself free.
IN YOUR ROOM
You give me pools of living water
and I allow you to drink my blood
for the second time that night…
and after you drain me again
I look and marvel at your room,
this most intimate place,
where we commit intimate things with each other,
you surrender your body to me,
I surrender my body to you,
and we both lie exhausted afterwards,
our eyes looking up at your room,
this most intimate place
where we commit intimate things with each other,
you surrender your body to me,
I surrender my body to you,
our eyes looking at each other,
You give me pools of living water
and I allow you to drink my blood
for the second time that night…
You give me pools of living water
and I allow you to drink my blood
for the second time that night…
and after you drain me again
I look and marvel at your room,
this most intimate place,
where we commit intimate things with each other,
you surrender your body to me,
I surrender my body to you,
and we both lie exhausted afterwards,
our eyes looking up at your room,
this most intimate place
where we commit intimate things with each other,
you surrender your body to me,
I surrender my body to you,
our eyes looking at each other,
You give me pools of living water
and I allow you to drink my blood
for the second time that night…
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE DRAINED
Thanks to Sam for suggestions
Thanks to D for inspiration
In Dracula movies, the woman
Turns her throat to Dracula in
Anticipation of his teeth
Penetrating her flesh, his teeth inside
Her as she moans in pleasure,
But we know its not like that, is it?
In reality, she's screaming in fear
as he indulges his sexual
Appetites, killing her for pleasure,
Like most serial killers and rapists.
Its not like that with you.
You drain me, you drink me,
and it feels like Surrender;
I give as you take
Me in your mouth, drinking and draining
everything of myself, dry.
All into you, and you feed on me
As I surrender to you—
soul, mind, body—
I give it all; you take it all.
I am yours now; I am yours forever.
Thanks to Sam for suggestions
Thanks to D for inspiration
In Dracula movies, the woman
Turns her throat to Dracula in
Anticipation of his teeth
Penetrating her flesh, his teeth inside
Her as she moans in pleasure,
But we know its not like that, is it?
In reality, she's screaming in fear
as he indulges his sexual
Appetites, killing her for pleasure,
Like most serial killers and rapists.
Its not like that with you.
You drain me, you drink me,
and it feels like Surrender;
I give as you take
Me in your mouth, drinking and draining
everything of myself, dry.
All into you, and you feed on me
As I surrender to you—
soul, mind, body—
I give it all; you take it all.
I am yours now; I am yours forever.
THE DEVIL SPEAKS
Listen, I know your story.
I've heard it many times before,
You're lonely, you're sorry,
you're tired of living, etc. etc. etc.
Let me tell you something:
I am Experience, and my name means Lived, and to be me is to live
and let me tell you something,
it's not what you've read about in books.
Nothing in books exists.
If you're looking for meaning,
it's not there. I can tell you that right now.
Young girls and boys writing poems about sex and death
and what does it all mean?
Nothing. Nothing at all and they know it.
I am emptiness. I am your mirror.
I am the eye you turn away from
whoever you open your medicine cabinet,
your liquor cabinet,
your pill box, your bag of pot,
that open refrigerator, or that blank ceiling you see on your back.
I will eat, drink, smoke everything you ever knew
and I'm here to remind you
that I won't forget, I won't go back, and I won't go away.
At two in the morning, or two in the afternoon, or six in the evening,
I'm here to remind you that you're you no matter what you do.
There is no escape.
I know every damn thing in your mind,
and I know all the excuses you give yourself, all the lies you tell yourself
and others, and you know what? You and I both know they're lies.
What truth do you know exists?
Do people ever tell the truth, even to themselves?
Tell me, for I know the answer. The answer is no.
Everyone lies to themselves because deep inside no one wants to know the truth
except myself. Tell me something: When have you not told the truth to suit
your own purposes, huh? When have you ever told anyone including yourself
the truth as you know it?
What's the real reason you smoke pot, you overeat, you cheat on your girlfriend,
you cheat on your wife, you sleep with that prostitute, you overeat all the time— why?
Because you want to. You feel like it. You deserve it, you tell yourself, that's why
anybody does anything in this world. Because they want to. Anything else is a lie.
And you know what? I'm the only one willing to admit this. I'm not here to forgive you.
I'm not here to save you, I'm not here to hug and believe in you, I'm here to tell you
the truth, and the truth is, you don't give a damn about anyone else. You do what you
do because you want to, no matter who it hurts, no matter who you betray, no matter
how you destroy yourself, you do it because you want to. And that's the truth.
And only I will tell you that.
So as a result I'll be here night after night,
I'll stay with you, and remind you of what you've done,
the only one willing to tell you the truth and you know it,
no matter what others say, and unlike the others, I want nothing but the truth.
Deep down inside you deserve to be with me and you know it, and you know
why I'm here. I'll stay w/you beyond death, beyond suicide, beyond the grave
and I'll come, come for you, not like the Angel of Death you expected,
no I'll be more subtle than that. I'll tap you on the shoulder
when it's time, tip my fedora, and say, "Listen, it's time to GO," and there will be nothing
you can do about it, because I'll have been waiting, just over your shoulder,
waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, until it's time
to GO. Be seeing you . . .
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
This life is for loving, sharing, learning, smiling, caring, forgiving, laughing, hugging, helping, dancing, wondering, healing, and even more loving. I choose to live life this way. I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, 'aw shit, he's up!’
―Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
___________________
Welcome back to Jean Jones, who first appeared in Medusa’s Kitchen on 9/23/20—and many thanks for his poetry today! All of the poems except “What It Feels Like To Be Drained” have previously appeared on Aphelion online (www.aphelion-webzine.com).
Tonight (6/3) at 7pm (note time change), Davis’s Poetry Night Reading Series will move back into the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st St. in Davis) for an in-person reading on the roof by Indigo Moor and Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas. (Be ready for four flights of stairs.) Host: Andy Jones. Facebook info: www.facebook.com/events/4472007506154582/. See also Dr. Andy’s weekly newsletter at andyjones.substack.com—and please subscribe!
Congratulations to Lara Gularte for becoming Poet Laureate of El Dorado County, 2021-2023! Lara hosts the Poetry of the Sierra Foothills reading series and is a member of Red Fox Underground Poets, a longstanding Foothills poetry writing group, as well as Escritores Del Nuevo Sol, a writing group in Sacramento. For more about Lara, see Taylor Graham’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/taylor.graham.18062/. Again, congratulations, Lara!
____________________
—Medusa
Listen, I know your story.
I've heard it many times before,
You're lonely, you're sorry,
you're tired of living, etc. etc. etc.
Let me tell you something:
I am Experience, and my name means Lived, and to be me is to live
and let me tell you something,
it's not what you've read about in books.
Nothing in books exists.
If you're looking for meaning,
it's not there. I can tell you that right now.
Young girls and boys writing poems about sex and death
and what does it all mean?
Nothing. Nothing at all and they know it.
I am emptiness. I am your mirror.
I am the eye you turn away from
whoever you open your medicine cabinet,
your liquor cabinet,
your pill box, your bag of pot,
that open refrigerator, or that blank ceiling you see on your back.
I will eat, drink, smoke everything you ever knew
and I'm here to remind you
that I won't forget, I won't go back, and I won't go away.
At two in the morning, or two in the afternoon, or six in the evening,
I'm here to remind you that you're you no matter what you do.
There is no escape.
I know every damn thing in your mind,
and I know all the excuses you give yourself, all the lies you tell yourself
and others, and you know what? You and I both know they're lies.
What truth do you know exists?
Do people ever tell the truth, even to themselves?
Tell me, for I know the answer. The answer is no.
Everyone lies to themselves because deep inside no one wants to know the truth
except myself. Tell me something: When have you not told the truth to suit
your own purposes, huh? When have you ever told anyone including yourself
the truth as you know it?
What's the real reason you smoke pot, you overeat, you cheat on your girlfriend,
you cheat on your wife, you sleep with that prostitute, you overeat all the time— why?
Because you want to. You feel like it. You deserve it, you tell yourself, that's why
anybody does anything in this world. Because they want to. Anything else is a lie.
And you know what? I'm the only one willing to admit this. I'm not here to forgive you.
I'm not here to save you, I'm not here to hug and believe in you, I'm here to tell you
the truth, and the truth is, you don't give a damn about anyone else. You do what you
do because you want to, no matter who it hurts, no matter who you betray, no matter
how you destroy yourself, you do it because you want to. And that's the truth.
And only I will tell you that.
So as a result I'll be here night after night,
I'll stay with you, and remind you of what you've done,
the only one willing to tell you the truth and you know it,
no matter what others say, and unlike the others, I want nothing but the truth.
Deep down inside you deserve to be with me and you know it, and you know
why I'm here. I'll stay w/you beyond death, beyond suicide, beyond the grave
and I'll come, come for you, not like the Angel of Death you expected,
no I'll be more subtle than that. I'll tap you on the shoulder
when it's time, tip my fedora, and say, "Listen, it's time to GO," and there will be nothing
you can do about it, because I'll have been waiting, just over your shoulder,
waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, until it's time
to GO. Be seeing you . . .
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
This life is for loving, sharing, learning, smiling, caring, forgiving, laughing, hugging, helping, dancing, wondering, healing, and even more loving. I choose to live life this way. I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, 'aw shit, he's up!’
―Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
___________________
Welcome back to Jean Jones, who first appeared in Medusa’s Kitchen on 9/23/20—and many thanks for his poetry today! All of the poems except “What It Feels Like To Be Drained” have previously appeared on Aphelion online (www.aphelion-webzine.com).
Tonight (6/3) at 7pm (note time change), Davis’s Poetry Night Reading Series will move back into the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st St. in Davis) for an in-person reading on the roof by Indigo Moor and Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas. (Be ready for four flights of stairs.) Host: Andy Jones. Facebook info: www.facebook.com/events/4472007506154582/. See also Dr. Andy’s weekly newsletter at andyjones.substack.com—and please subscribe!
Congratulations to Lara Gularte for becoming Poet Laureate of El Dorado County, 2021-2023! Lara hosts the Poetry of the Sierra Foothills reading series and is a member of Red Fox Underground Poets, a longstanding Foothills poetry writing group, as well as Escritores Del Nuevo Sol, a writing group in Sacramento. For more about Lara, see Taylor Graham’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/taylor.graham.18062/. Again, congratulations, Lara!
____________________
—Medusa
Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously-published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously-published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
