Something/Me

Something/Me

by Plaridel Batatan, Jr.

There’s this little demon hanging over my head

She calls herself vain

He call himself insane

It thirsts madly, as it thinks it was madly bled

There’s this tiny horn that slithers on my scalp

She digs from skin to skull

He lays poison and in my thoughts he skulks

Tick-tock, tick-tock, it sings and yelps

There’s this minute spirit perched upon my shoulders

She hisses her whispers and chuckles her riddles

He spins wretched tales and false solutions

From the bottom of my belly, I can feel them closer

There’s this little evil gnawing on my back

She pushes abruptly, lifting limb after limb in hate

He thumps me into lunges, forcing the pieces to break

I think I’ve awakened them, as my very sanity seems to crack

There’s this little demon

This tiny, evil horn

Who roots itself

Within

Me

Why Should I Be Afraid?

Why Should I Be Afraid?
by Plaridel Batatan, Jr. 

I've spun a million tales
Of regrets and mistakes
They're not the tales I want to tell

I've sung a million songs
Of aches and breaks
They're not songs I'd like to sing

I've written a million letters
Of disappointments and failures
They're not letters I want to send

But then upon my brow, upon my heavy temple
A lingering thought, like a dancing whistle
Disrupts my daily sulking

Why should I be afraid?
Why should I hide?
Why should I whimper away?

If I confess in my bitter letters
The sweetness you bring in my life
Why should I be afraid to let you know?
 Is not the world shrouded with too much hate?

If I confess thru weeping songs
The joy and delight you bring to my mind
Why should I be afraid to let you hear them?
Is not the silence of the world today overwhelming?

If I confess while I spin twisted tales
The way you bring me to the straight and narrow
Why should I be afraid to let you see how I've changed?
Is not the indifference and constant conformity in the world tiresome?

Then again, I should be afraid

I should be afraid, because you don't know
I should be afraid, because you won't know
I should be afraid, because you'll never know

I am afraid because I can't let you know
I can't let you know because I'm afraid