Owa Tafoo Liam

paper squid in the road
triangled moon in the sky
lies&lies&lies

I can no longer
believe in myself
base self-deceiver
that I am.

I walk the halls
of this life
and peek through
closed doors and keyholes

hoping to find
someone to play with,
forgetting the lesson:
as we come into this world
so we leave it.

unfinished sonata
fades from the keyboard
a tune both pale and sweet
It was my soul once
when daylight did not make me cringe

midnight dreams of
warm strong hands
a scent other than
my own
are now so much grave dust
blown aloft by passing shades



Ah the life alone
it makes for passions
both deep and dank
drawing on the fear we
all share
and live in delusion
the better to ignore

that biting ceature
made of self-doubt
born when just a kid
borne for a lifetime
as a badge of protection
and a gnawing demon
of self inflicted hurt


Yes, I was to blame, me alone, in the end.


I believed another's ugly words,
let it settle in as truth,
it being in fact the farthest from
and it has cost me at every turn
ever since.

I sabotage before there is a chance,
for to let it happen
would risk that pain of
"this really isn't for me"
The words cut too deeply,
and yet back I go,
to do it just the same
one more time.

Those with their eyes open,
those who look at reflection
and can see enough to laugh,
a chant for the moment
of complete self-realization:

Owa Tafoo Liam.