I was in this horrible place several years ago

Then my own personal demons cast me out, but not this time.

When you’re trespassing in the land of ghosts,
it’s best to be aware of your surroundings.

Madness dwells, the air is filled with it.

As you stand on the fetid ground
It splits open under your feet
Separating, becoming molten like lava and blood.

I am not afraid
I will not back down
I will not fail you this time
I promise.
This time it ends!

Being too stupid to realize I’m afraid
I go right back into the heart of madness.
To silence the screams of the past.

“Soon, very soon I must try again to put a headstone on my grandmother ‘The
Saint’s’ grave”
Where have I heard those magic words before? Sheer genius, What a great writer.

As with all good stories it starts with a tale of woe.
I read this on the internet, so of course it has to be true.

“The place is trashed?”
My brother, my grandmother, my mother
All buried there.
What do you mean the whole place is destroyed?
Headstones smashed, acid poured
Some dug up
I know I’m already going to hell
For having desecrated a grave
But this outrage?
My own dead brother?
I have to know.

Phone number called
no answer.
Go onto some internet site instead
There I read lurid tales
That fill my heart with dread.

No choice
Back there I go
Into the teeth again

Trepidation fills my soul as I pass into the desert sky.
I travel south to north.
Miles pass, heat grows, fear persists.
Arriving on the face of the sun
I feel the presence of the being
That chased me from this place years ago.

The God Damn black birds fill the sky
The wind blows gales around me
My eyes fill with sand
Turning my tears to hot mud on my face
I was born while my mom smoked a cigarette
The ghosts of this place
Just close your eyes and listen

Sweat drips lady smiles
Come in, we’re open. How can I help you?

“Do you not water?”
“Sorry sir. It’s a desert you know.
We’ve had supply issues.”
Wind howls souls shriek
Stop smiling or I’ll bloody your teeth
“Of course we’ll put granite over her head
Just have to pay us in advance.”

I can still hear her lost soul
Scream through time
Through dirt
To put out the fire
I’ll pay anything

Waves of heat shimmer across the desert floor

Bodies float in this shifting world
The grave looks like a wound in the sand
You can taste the dust of the past in your mouth
Nothing about this ground is sacred
Just watching for changes in the light

I walk through the ruins of lost dreams
Despair, broken hope
The air moves then stops
Breathless in the shimmering heat
Eyes darting watching for ghosts
Police cars, changes in the light
Looks like I’m too late
I’m already on fire

The ground flinched again
I stagger seeking balance
Where I stood nobody cared or noticed
Dirt like ash fills the horizon
Like a silent movie
Looking into the distance of the burning sky
Grandmother lies dead waiting
Waiting on me

Buildings broken, glass on ground
People broken sleeping in the glass
The city broken still stuck in it’s past
Each block grows worse
From where I stood I could see
Right through to the other side

Lying there broken in the whiskey bottle glass
It’s me just like the rest
Life is built to break
It’s temporary
Sidewalk cracks move like ice
You can look both ways
Just don’t look up

Chino in the summer
The heat makes crazy the mind
Tight dress to deflect the grim occasion
“Can I help you?”
“I need you to change the past.”
She said “No.”
Sold me a headstone instead

Here lies the past
May it now rest forever in peace
All the ghosts have died
Or gone somewhere else