Art Lab

~ A.R.T.L.A.B ~

Through an oversized, biohazard signed door led 

Into meshed-fenced pen, beneath an ambient sea of red 

Made of reinforced steel; towering at least eight feet high 

On a full moon cast night... under a May, spring sky 

Feeling euphoric buzz rise… of a chemical daze 

Waiting eagerly at door of a private party rave

A.R.T.L.A.B. it was called... now a legendary rave

Down an alien-headed, welded staircase was led 

Into dark bowels of a warehouse; techno lair daze 

There, a wall of music hit me… fractured by strobes red

Blackwashed floor, walls and windows; UV-painted sky 

Where both Hippies and Punks danced away the night... high 

Floor’s thundering vibration... all minds and spirits high 

Hard Trance beat, penetrates… intoxicates the rave

Thick white smoke bellows... creating atmospheric daze 

Floating hands; angled movements sequenced… elation led

Eyes ablaze and mouths contorted; cheeks blushed... blood red 

All arms raised in air… serpentine in lightwave’s sky 

Soaring now on music… with Lucy in the sky 

Levitating in moment... on dopamine’s high

Strangers all-embracing… encircling spotlight red

Everyone loving each other… art, culture, rave!

Mere rats, to the music’s Pied Piper… DJ led

Riding the undulation... into oblivion’s sky 

Across the dance floor... wide-eyed constellation sky 

Frenzied stomping feet… dance in a hyped,

marching daze 

Quickening to crescendo... from the decks we’re led 

Bursting into applause and waving glow sticks high 

Bouncing floors, pulsating walls, of a 90s rave 

Abstract, gurning, ‘Dali’ Faces… eyes all blood-shot red! 

Suddenly from basements darkness… lazor pointers red 

Unwelcome daylight pierces dance floor… rude dawn’s sky 

Police in full riot regalia… storm the rave 

Lovers huddled in corners… now in panicked daze

All scrambling to seem sober… to dispel their high 

Ravers, still dancing, but in handcuffs… outside led! 

Hedonistic youth’s daze… faded, now sunset red… 

Today, frequent calmer sky… as age quelled the high 

Now, in only dreams rave, halcyon days… once led 

©  2022 - Violet Moon Poetry #sestina 

Sound

Why do we try colour the air with words?
Pigments of touch through proprioception learn
Phonetic symphonies of those unheard
Tones, pitch and shades of their vernacular
Has eighth sense now of empathy been lost?
Has aurigraphy lexicon replaced
our innate primal instinct... at what cost?
Regressed through knowledge, whilst sixth sense
defaced
Like the waves. all sound ripples, crests and falls
In rivulets, cascades, pools... deep maelstroms
An ancient pasigraphy sequenced call
distracts from our bodies' vibrations hum
Our harped halcyon ambience unfolds
Auras visceral perceptions penumbra
Geometries cymatic patterns mould
Truth… essence always lies in the umbra
Sand grains reveal sound waves as mandalas
Chladni's plate shows frequency visualised
Trope….. pareidolia reflects stellar
through sequence, cadence.. all materialise
Establish sacred space and third eye's lens
Through mindfulness mantras. filters hone
To feel wonder's symbiosis ascend
Witness... become…. creation's rhythmic tone

© Debbie Razey 2022 - Violet Moon Poetry

Small Patch Of Sky

Small Patch Of Sky

One by one, we all fall down like dominoes to the serenade of clowns 

To routine’s domestic well... become vestiges of ourselves 

Rigid whispers hold the vague essence of lonely patterns

Psychotic laughing, pierces dusk’s void... I am a woman, I’m no toy 

I am not to put upon a shelf or to hide in your closet’s stealth 

I‘m not cream in your coffee...  not just a stagnant destiny 

I am me, I am free... I stand rooted like foreboding tree

I am not here to crisis manage all your indiscretions 

Your absent-mindedness... apathetic, chaotic damage 

Not made to adorn your arm... to make you feel better about yourself. 

I’m not, even in humour, your metaphoric ball and chain 

I am not your comforter… to soothe your tempestuous rage 

Nor am I twilight’s shadow cloak, to hide your self-destruction mode 

I am me, was all along... it isn’t me who has forgotten

You do not define me... you don’t get to choose what’s on my mind

I’m not yours to shout at, scorn and warn… I will not heed your commands 

Different plane, undiscovered land... maps, compass will only get you lost 

Tonight’s murky lonely, blots my skin... love now a mere bitter frost

On debris’s garden bonfire... flames struggle to eviscerate 

I am me and now I see... through kaleidoscope’s hijacked screen

I now see your true light, not the one projected… which gave you might 

All along… love I thought I saw; came from me; it was not yours

Sacrifices were all mine... you made me feel unworthy of your time

Yet wanted me waiting... pristine and pretty at the finish line

Whilst staccato cooking… washing pegged in military painted smiles  

I am me, no longer fooled... marionette’s dance is so cruel 

 

Now my turn on centre stage…  you can wait, if you wish, in wings

Although spotlight feels scary… I’ll not be denied destiny

I’ve been silent for far too long... now I’ll sing my truth... soul’s song 

My form‘s not sleek, battle grazed, but like Lazarus… I return

Yes I’m broken… I am weak, but in me find the words you seek 

I am me, I am poet… I’m mother’s, wife’s, daughter’s sonnet

 

You see, from me words flow… like an avalanche of powder snow 

I have been told I am Sage... yet I know naught, have felt deranged

For solace, to me others come… but I’m more... I’m skin and bone.

I am alive and I have lived... now ‘me’ I finally own

Estranged… severed; from cut-out paper-chain men ... I cut free myself  

I am me, I am alone... helping others has been my call 

Is it too much, to want to feel more than mediocracy? 

Loved, truly adored, for not what can give… but for who I am 

Taboo! Please… what am I to you? Am I precious … your soul mate? 

Do you savour still my taste.. does true love, I speak of, exist?

Like moon and night, to love... to be loved, peacefully coexist?

I am me, I am sad... for the time squandered, the love we had 

I feel such pain… not just mine, but from our world now gone insane

I want to be happy… to feel safe, begin again anew! 

I don't want to be rescued; I want to be discovered… found 

To live simply, to breathe joy, poetry, music, nature… life 

To bask in moonlight… transcend like water to be moved and fly

I am me, I am light; I’m sensually passionate... I have fight

Yearn to have mind stretched, feel thankful… I need love… and to feel free

Wish to be seen as home, mystery and sensuality 

As I rake the lawn-littered leaves… tidy up my scattered mind 

Pray confidante moon... manifests my confessions within her tides 

Gather… bid starless sky adieu… wistfully blow kiss to moon 

My oasis from the chaos... half an hour gone too soon 

So I return inside… to what I’ve become, what life demands 

Reluctantly reduced... amber glow of ethereal hue 

Love my children, as moon doth stars... but do they know who I am?

Want again to illuminate love... rain possibilities  

Flow free… like waves imbrue inspiration... creativity 

I am a walking sky patchwork; I am mother, woman... me

Am I, on star cycle alone… or will in other… find a home? 

More than this slate-tinged, beige… small patch of sky

Where in clandestinity… I marvel at the moon maiden’s divinity   

Wanting to be more than I am… a better person; someone whole

Freed from anxiety, manmade constructs… be my own Calliope   

Night now shrouds my lego house; where beneath… I still… dream alone 

 © Debbie Razey 2022 - Violet Moon Poetry