“Dumb Pain” by Alexei Jawlensky
the time before pain
when fingers of birds
groped the poisonous skies
when fish walked on legs
from the fiery seas
I was man with a roar
in his thunderclap chest
a leviathan skeleton
smashing down mountains
in powerful moments
exquisite of truth
the time before pain
when the brain was
uncivilized stone
bleached by victories
tearing uprooting
huge primeval trees
used as clubs to beat
earthquakes on
cooled molten ground
sending signals creation
had proved quite sublime
the time before pain
oh so brutal and lovely
removed now by eons
too far to revivify
leaving me modern
but broken by hands
with seductive new
powers of mayhem
elite among healers
and murderers deaf to
my screams in the night
(originally posted January 2014)
Poesy plus Polemics 
I love this, would you mind if I shared it?
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I’d be happy for you to do so
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Cool 🙂 I like to check before I go ahead 😀
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Powerful images carry the feeling. Fine poem.
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thanks, professor
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yes . . . i know the feeling too . . .
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so sorry to hear that
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Been there, done that, lived it, hated it.
Great poem!
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thanks very much
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Dear friend, Thank you very much, I was really happy to have been following your blog. I’m still a lot to figure out, and here I can only say that you are an awesome blogger, full Inspiring and hope you can inspire more readers. Thanks and greetings compassion from Gede Prama 🙂
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I appreciate your kind and thoughtful comments
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The last part pierces me yet again, reminded of your pain. It’s easy to say, “imperfect people make mistakes”…but somebody still pays the cost. I’m slamming into this harsh reality once more, concerning my early abuse–by faith and will, I forgive, but the scars have well imprisoned me.
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I’m so sorry for the linger of your terrible experience experience
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It affords me poetry, so there’s an up-side.
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magnificent as usual, Paul. particularly liked the last stanza.
seductive new powers of mayhem: a line that ignites the imagination with a sensual contradiction to chaos.
murders deaf to my screams in the night: heartbreaking and terrifying, sir.
thanks for sharing, loved it. best wishes from baldy
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much appreciated
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sorry, misquoted your porem, a typo i assure you.
murderers deaf, not ‘murders’ deaf
oops!
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So heartbreaking. I am so sorry. The poem bespeaks your experience so poignantly.
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it’s the life I live
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Reblogged this on Poesy plus Polemics.
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Love all your work. Always of a high standard. And thanks for reading my stuff.
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thank you kindly
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Reblogged this on OUR POETRY CORNER.
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thank you for sharing my poem with your readers
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The things that torment creative, independent thinkers and philosophers are beyond the grasp of regular people.
It is out of the depth of thought and sensitivity that there is a partial enlightenment and awakening. But it seems that the sleeping ones suffer less due to their inability to see.
Ours is both a curse and a blessing.
And yet the totalitarian powers that be continue to strip our freedoms as we speak.
I think I must be onto a poem . Do you feel it? Maybe for later…
Peace and Love,
Annie
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poetry allows one to confront their torment – and for that I am grateful
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Hi Paul. Mighty nature always the master! Thank you for liking my poem “Caressed!” Best Wishes. The Foureyed Poet.
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many thanks, malc
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I recall this, wincing.
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when I look back, it seems I write entirely too much about pain
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No, I disagree–you write so well, Paul. You could probably pen about a clogged drain, infusing it with multi-leveled erudition, plus lofty angst. And I would comment “WOW”…even though I likely would be lost in your facile gift of superior language. But there you go…fans don’t have to comprehend to appreciate 🙂
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it’s as if the pain itself speaks with a language all its own
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Yes–I recall that, from when mine was uncontrollable…though I doubt I could have written poetry during that time. You channel yours well–and I suppose to some degree, that’s what I’ve done with my depression, a horrid pain of a different color and species.
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without medication, I’d be in a deep hole
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I still take some–but I cut back dramatically after I became dependent on the BIG ones and lost several years of my life in a narcotic haze that might have killed me. I’m so sorry for your situation–which from your writing almost makes me feel the agonies with you.
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Exquisitely powerful poetry.
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whatever power it has comes direct from the subject
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Fantastic site and what a beautiful poem
Sorry I have been so long to leave a comment
Thanks you
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I appreciate your kind words very much
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