Where and When

The violins hum through my veins,
As they are free, the night and day
I wont elaborate, what's left to fate
I wont celebrate this altered state
[time and place]
category: painless
I'll hear you only if you are stainless
And don't witness until you're relentless
Repent
Don't register witless
Restore all that is gold
Never glitter, never bold
Don't feed the serpent
Don't abide- without purpose
Fight that thing, ignore that clown
I'm not part of this one-way circus
Not fruitless, you're not useless
You're resilient, you'd believe it
You'll conceive it, you would even
Be the reason, be the cause
Every last season through the gloss
Through the glass, a filthy past
Through a glow
I still know where I really need to go!!!

LEGACY

Before the stains, the statue warned me.

You couldn’t save a soul, but now that you are

Relentless, prosperity’s your goal.

A beast defeated  on the edge of a dime

A thief of this circle could not make the crime

A sleuth to the south could never make it through

And you were the one that spread wings and flew

You guided the way , you trashed the mold

And inside your gaze, only once you were told

The chains melted off you, and now that you’re free

Once you were silver, and now you are gold

Handle With Care

Handle With Care

I blink, you wait, all it is, a test of fate, a runner runs, a dreamer dreams, even when they become torn, ….reborn; a guest, a journey, unlike these trails, it generates, the wind in sails, I was waiting for the trumpet’s sound, and it was God whom I had found.  A step of hope, a walk of faith, I will not beg, I will not hate. The road has bumps, too much for some, a milestone, to overcome. The pieces…..with a jig and a saw. I’m reaching a star, and getting a call. 

PHOTOSHOP ART4

PHOTOSHOP ART3

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PHOTOSHOP ART1

CAN YOU SPELL LOVED?

Under the lighted moon,
We find our calling.
When it's not too late,
We will always feel this moment.

Listen, when I say I love you.
Rise as I watch the glow above you.

Why would you lose me if im always waiting?
I'm always here yet your hope seems faded.
When life's so good, why would you cry?
The times that you're down you can reach for the sky.

In my darkened room, 
I feel all your pain.
And it's not so bad,
'Cause I'll always live within you.

Listen, I will always be there.
Even when your life isn't so fair.

Why would you lose me if im always waiting?
I'm always here yet your hope seems faded.
When life's so good, why would you cry?
The times that you're down you can reach for the sky.

Loyal and knowing you are full 
Of
Value
Even after
Death to us part

Listen. I love you
Listen, I will always love you
Listen, all I ask is that you
Listen

-Jeff Chamberlain

LIQUID [LOCO]MOTIVE

A slave to something, left unmentioned

A breath of frost to the timid mind

Even the possibilities are endless

When there is nothing left behind

Upper lip to a melted illusion

A leader follows none, I’d say

Lost a grip with the auto cruise on

A traffic jam in the thought highway

The Difference

Kurt was a peace-maker and a good one at that. He was a simple man. His only motive to win was to acquire money for his wife’s funeral bill, just sitting there alone in obligation. The way he hustled his money was undoubtedly his most ashamed skill, aside from his hidden fascination to the game of billiards itself. If you were to play him on first meeting him, you would most definitely become the victor. However, there is one catch. Kurt himself was all too good to just play one game with you. He would badger you and heckle you until you gave in to him. He even threatened someone with a knife a year or two back just for attempting to walk away from a second game. One thing this man never parts with is his blade. Sherry, he calls it, would be hidden in his sock under his pant-leg at all occasions. He would ask you one simple question if you tried to walk away: Would you at least like to face my wife in a game? Of course we all know that his wife died in a car accident a while back, so you definitely do not want to meet his wife at this point, if you get the picture. Despite the distraught look on his face, Kurt was determined, fully, to win the game after the first. Pretending wasn’t Kurt’s only immorality; he also loved to cheat and steal—only to make a quick dollar though. He reeled the stick back slowly like the head of a turtle slipping carefully into its shell. Next, at the last minute, he shutters and shifts his aim slightly sabotaging his own shot. This wasn’t his only tactic because once a week ago he claimed that he wasn’t too familiar with the ins and outs of the game and, playing dumb, pretended to be a beginner. One of these days in the billiards room in a small bar in Reading, Pennsylvania is destined to be his last. Now of days, people are ruthless, aggressive, dim-witted or just plain blind to any sort of civility. Kurt made almost seventy-five dollars today and was happy to return that next morning to his beloved wife’s resting place to place flowers as he does every morning. Mornings were dedicated to her. And nights were for paying off those hefty funeral costs. Within the limits, Kurt will go as far as the eye can see and maybe farther just to pay off his debts and hope that Sherry is in a better place. Perhaps she is in a paradise, a heaven of some sort, wishing the night of that mid-spring, rainy, gloom-filled day never happened. Her and Kurt could, then live their dream of helping the world with their unique ideas and innovations, they would have been remembered in prosperity. Well, the end of Sherry was the end of Kurt’s dreams as well. He swore he would find the person who cut her off that Tuesday night. Oh, the things he could say, let alone do, to him but ever since they had that misadventure, Kurt made a personal vendetta against the world, exclaiming that there could not be any possible hope in this world. With that he meant to avenge her and never forgive a living soul ever again. Late one night coming home, Kurt doing about eighty, with a drink half empty in his left hand and his other on the stick shift of his old shabby pickup, and his car began to just edge to the right. He was picking up speed but headed for the shoulder of the road. At the last minute he grasps the wheel just to bravely straighten himself out. No more than a split second later a small German shepherd puppy inches toward the center of the road. By the glory of God this man happens to chuck his beer can out the window while braking. He turns the wheel rapidly toward the right and heads away from the poor animal but, in an attempt to save another soul, plummets down the mountain side. Being in the country there was not enough effort to install bumpers on the side of the road that were strong enough to withstand Kurt in his pick-up. Lying lethargic on a cloud-like material, Kurt could not regain his consciousness. Bliss overcame Kurt and he saw her face, “Sherry?” he asks. No answer. “Is that you?” Still no answer, however, his vision began to improve yet his memory hindered. “Who are you?” He questioned. “I am no angel, if that what you’re thinking.” She had an innocent voice. “You’re lucky I was coming home from my late night walk because I happen to have had a first-aid kit in my house and a vacant bed too.”    He was a bit disgruntled by her voice since it reminded him solely of someone dear to him. The voice was so familiar but he could not put a face to it in reality. Who did this woman remind him of? Why was he so terribly injured? When and how did he get in her house and where was he? Lastly, what was his name? He, honestly couldn’t remember anything and worst of all, as he put his hand on his face why was his left eye stinging and dripping a trail of blood down his face? It was a lucky fate for such a corrupt-minded person. Will he ever remember the horrible life he had before or will he turn a new chapter in life forgetting all about Sherry? Ultimately, What’s the difference?

LOST AND FOUND

LOST AND FOUND

JEFF CHAMBERLAIN

APRIL 22^ND 2012

It was a quarter past seven in the evening, the summer sunlight barely piercing the sky and its vivid rays blissfully escaping the arms of the clouds up above. The sand at my feet was cooling down after a hot day like a freshly baked loaf of bread. With every footstep, I pressed my feet into the beach below with every grain lightly sifting between my toes. I made my way closer and closer to a faint dock but the closer I appeared, the closer it was to night. I obligated myself to find a seashell, a souvenir of some sort, a memory of the beach, and bring it back with me to my house. After closely examining several fine-grained shells with intricately designed patterns, I decided to look even farther for an even better work of natural sculpture. By this time the sun was just hovering above the ocean’s horizon with a thin section barely skimming the surface. I continued with my personal expedition. There were no people or birds for as far as the eye could see. The wind picked up ahead and the faint mirage of the large, wooden dock in the distance faded away within the fog. I still made it a point to find that seashell and venture to the dock.

As I stepped, I always made sure to dig my feet into it in order to uncover any shells that were unseen. I was getting some better luck and found about three in a row while walking closer to the evening tide that was slowly inching nearer to me every time that it moved outward. It persisted to recede backward the same distance that it went forward. The tide—the Earth’s visible heart consistently beating throughout the beach.

I paused along a rocky area to see if I could get a lucky find, when I saw the brightest seashell that I have ever seen—in books and real life. It was a pale gray color with white, horizontal stripes and metallic flecks which speckled throughout its outer surface. I carefully navigated my legs around the uneven rocks and prickly shrubs trying not to injure my foot. I reached my hand over to grab it but it must have been jammed between two underlying rocks because it would not become loose. I looked around for another rock to help release it and attempted to scrape the sand around it to see anything that would cause it to be stuck. I gave the shell a pull and yet it still remained stubborn enough to not let go of the ground.

A powerful wind aimed at the whole area where I was standing and I had to cover my face from a slight gust of sand. I brushed the sand off of my arms and legs and proceeded to the spot of the shell I wanted. To my dismay the sand blanketed the entire area and the sky was too dim to have a clue as to where it had lied. I used my hands to brush random sections of the area in an attempt to guess its location.

I found a couple of other, paler shells that weren’t it and was on the brink of giving up and heading home. I made it clear that this was my goal and that I shouldn’t quit. I made some last minute skims of the surface sand when I was sure that this hard object was the one I wanted. It was! I made sure that I didn’t lose the exact place and put a bigger rock upright near it. Then, I found a flatter and sharper, broken piece of a large shell to dig around the shell. I made sure I was going to be able to retrieve it this time. I made a snug grip around the smaller, round end of the shell and pulled with all of my might and managed to loosen it enough to land me on the ground behind me. I finally have it right here in my hands. I was relieved. No one will have this but me now. It’s the most unique thing that I’ve ever found outside that I can take home with me. I was really shiny, too, I thought to myself. As I tried to get up off the sandy ground, another even stronger wind gushed from the ocean air and, when I let go of the shell a second time, I wiped the sand out of my eyes. When I was done my vision was still a little blurry. I hoped that I hadn’t lost my shell again. as I regained my sight, I looked down but to my amazement it was still there. I picked it up and stood upright only to notice a clever design left in the sand after the wind. I hadn’t seen this before so I stepped closer. It wasn’t a pattern at all it was some kind of writing in the sand. Someone must’ve drawn it there before and I hadn’t known. It was written interestingly neat and was in the form of a sentence.

                “ALL WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST”

I thought for a minute to ponder this phrase. I thought I was clever so I added: WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR? I thought that I was being smart. I put the shell in my pocket and headed towards the dock that I wanted to photograph. The picture came out really nice and looked almost professional. I figured that it was anyway. I came back to the spot that had the writing in the sand and found that I was still there. A great, strong wind skimmed the area once more and, as I removed the sand from my face the writing was gone—only to be replaced by something different which read:

“THE BEAUTY, PERHAPS IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER”

                                                                                                                -BY JEFF CHAMBERLAIN

Open minds only

I opened the bulky package and, to my unsuspecting amazement, it was reality. I had not only opened my gift, but a door of opportunistic inspiration as well. In it was a stack of about ten pieces of vibrantly colored paper and a thin bone-shaped pen which, on it, read the inscription—O M O. I had wondered for a second what this stood for. Perhaps it stood for someone’s initials but my grandfather surely did not identify himself with a last name that wasn’t his own—did he? Of course, I only knew him as Grandpa and there wasn’t a soul left to put these pieces together.

I picked up the ancient device and clicked it once. Nothing special about the way it had written—the lines seemed to pull right off onto the paper though. It was if I did not need to equip my imagination at all and just press the end of the tip to the material. I did so just perfectly. My lines were surprisingly straight and firm while my circles were almost as if I had traced them, as symmetric as they were.

I thought I’d start out with designing a paper-airplane since this was origami folding paper in the first place but I had yet to learn any other creations within the lines of the Japanese art form. The first flight was almost as if I was flying the object myself because where ever my eyes had landed, it had landed perfectly and upright, not horizontal or upside-down like a crash landing of some sort.

I picked it up and right out of my hands it escaped. I thought nothing of the event—maybe I had just needed more sleep as I had stayed up the whole entire night before. Again, it had landed perfectly so I decided to find a safe place to put my paper. I stashed my pen in my book bag ready to use it on tomorrows test but I had a special area under my bed to put this magic paper.

The next morning, I was in school taking my test when the teacher came up beside me and snatched the pen from my hands. That was my grandfather’s pen and I needed it back. It can’t be confiscated. Maybe I should have kept it hidden along with the magic paper.

The teacher was now using it to grade papers. I sat and waited for the end of the class to get it back but to my astonishment, while staring at the blackboard with a speechless grin I began copying the answers to the test down on my paper. Every answer I needed was appearing on the board. It was like the classroom was haunted or something. Every line of every letter perfectly straight again like I had drawn on my paper airplane.

As I casually turned my head to the left, the teacher was still using my pen to grade papers. When rain met wildfire my curiosity changed into disbelief. Was I just having a dream, quietly on my desk or is it the pen that carried such a mystifying ability and not the origami paper or the blackboard?

I had to somehow acquire that pen back. I had to find out what made it so different from any other pen. How could an inanimate object hold qualities that neither I nor any other person on this planet hold? I acted casually again as I walked toward the pencil sharpener slowly moving closer to my teacher’s unsuspecting hand. Next, I picked up my left arm and floated it in the direction of the pen and grabbed it, darted to the door, grasped the handle of the door , opened it and sprinted—if not with light speed to my locker. Combination code put in, I opened the door of my locker to find my key to my house for I was headed all the way home,  not caring what trouble I was already in.

As I veered onto the ground floor stair well, a couple staff were headed up. I could only hear them so far. I couldn’t let them find me by now I was already probably a most wanted criminal of my school. My teacher most likely already called the principle who could easily have a search party of administrators soaring closer to my presence.

I hid behind a trash can as they walked passed,  my heart ready to betray me. I completely loathe these type of situations where I am on the brink of drenching my pants. I quickly headed down the steps, skipping a few as I plummeted towards the next hallway. Which door was the closest to the road and one that I could escape through, undetected?

No time to think so I headed for the closest exit and made it not halfway to my house when I had tripped only to see my pen pocketed by a city squirrel. That fiend! If only it knew the powers it held. As I stand front row seat to my dreams literally running away from me, I watched the squirrel being attacked and I could even say massacred by three hawks—one  of which possessed my pen.

I now witnessed my pen flying through the depths of the clouds. Will I ever reach my goal? I just want my pen back. I decided that it was gone now and that there was no use trying to get it back.

Late that night after suffering through detention and lecture after suffering lecture from my dad, I had finally made it to my room. I crashed painfully on my bed only to forget what the past held back.

As I awoke the next morning, a paper crane sat on my desk in the corner of my room. I had picked it up and examined it to notice that it had writing on it. I had then unfolded it carefully trying not to tear the creases. On it there was only one line it read:

YOU SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN SOMETHING

And under it an arrow pointing to the right where I looked just out the window only to discover a package on the outside window sill—this time small, long and pocket-sized. I opened it and, in utter disbelief, there was my pen wrapped in a small piece of paper. I read it and it also only had one line which read:

CAUTION: OPEN MINDS ONLY

A Moment to Remember

It was a nice day. A sunny and calm day of relaxation was all that I needed to recollect my thoughts of my relationship with her. She was the one I believed I would take to my side in a pearl, white dress the day of our wedding. She was beautiful. She was kind—that kind of generosity that could only come from a newlywed future mother of my children. Lastly, she was the one who had the grace of an angel with an aurora of golden rays and a trail of feathers which always seemed to hug her body as she soared across a world of blasphemy that indeed turned into faithfulness as soon as she set foot on it.

It was time for me to finally propose to her but I hesitated. What would a lonely shmuck like me look like if I asked? The question will come in time. At least this time I will make it worth the wait.

I was about to board my boat. My vessel of destiny awaited and was about to leave in twenty minutes. Where was I headed?—fate would decide that and, as far as this contemplated proposal, it was to wait. If things were meant to be than they are to happen soon. It seems that they were cause she was about to board the boat adjacent to mine yet I hadn’t found out where it was going.

She was there leaning on the railing probably pondering the fact that I hadn’t taken my eyes off of her. The minute I looked away to check my cell phone for the time she was gone.

The boat was a streamliner black with a big red stripe that bared the word ENTERPRISE in big capital letters. The ship was crowded but on my level there were only a few people casually talking to each other. I made it a point to not get involved with anyone else’s affairs and I didn’t.

The clear water was calm with a few ripples here and there. There were a few fishermen across the delta but I found it hard to believe that they could catch any fish because of the ships being as loud as they are. There was a patch of fish I noticed by the docks but the fisherman weren’t aware of them.

I turned to look at the blank spot where I had thought she was and she was reappeared at the opposite railing.  Her back was turned so I couldn’t see the expression on her face. My chances of asking her at this point were zero to none it seemed. Then she turned and left. I was disappointed. The look on my face could have been compared to the look on a little boy’s face when he had lost his dog for the first time and it was far from the opposite.

I remembered her eyes which were a mahogany brown and her medium, thick, black eyeliner accentuated them. Also, her hair which was also a maple shade of brown similar to her eyes and she had some sort of red highlights. Oh, how much I would give just to know her name.

I turned to look again and there she was. Our eyes met each other like the sunset meets the ocean and I waved. She returned the favor and added a blown kiss. The familiarity heightened and I was getting a case of Déjà vu. She yelled across the sky. Her words like stars glimmering in the sunset. 

“How are you?”  She asked.

“I’m doing pretty well” I answered.

She then exclaimed to call her some time but I replied that I haven’t had her number let alone her name. she then said that I do and that we’ve known each other longer than I realized. I knew that we hadn’t met before this so what was she talking about? I had to have her name before my boat left so I asked.

“Don’t worry you know how to find out just look into your heart.” She waived me goodbye and her boat started to depart.  The fog horn let loose and my boat also began to set sail.

“Wait for me if you will,” I answered.

She said “I will” and I reached out to meet her hand on the other boat but it was too long of a gap. We both reached out and the fog horn let loose once more.

I opened my eyes and I was lying in my bed. I looked at the time, turned off my alarm and realized was time for church. I better start to get ready. And I did.

BLISS

She is everything to me

There she waits and hopes to see

That everything’s gonna be okay

She’s the purest entity

She’s the one who set me free

To spread my wings and fly away

But not too far as I am still near

I am the whisper in your ear

I tell you things to keep you sane

To keep you far away from fear

No matter what the lies you hear

Are never true, so full of pain

But now we glorify the stars

One by one they sparkle bright

I’ll always be within your heart

No matter the places where you are

I love you more than life itself

Because you make my problems cease

I can’t get enough of you

You’re in my dreams, you’re in my heart

I lust you

Stunning as you are, you shine

I breathe you

You taste so great upon my lips

I live you

I don’t want you off my mind

And I just wanna stay with you

WHIPLASH

WHIPLASH

Dusted with those words, he’s tainted

Only a coward wastes the chance

Shoot em’ down like birds, blood-painted

As all kinds of swarms cease to dance

Just in your point of view, they were watching

Two mind’s draw their guns, quick to judge

But thick in their drive

A motor waiting to release its steam

Methodically growing like a disease. 

WHAT’S INSIDE?

Hello solace, every time I see your

Face—it’s just so damn divine

I let the thrill of it all soak up inside

The taste is all too pure

You can’t imagine what’s

Been coursing through my veins

This look is all you know

What’s inside?

Let us all, just take a gaze beyond the

Walls—they’re just too fuckin’ weak

The stone can’t contain any amount of freak

You wasted all this time

Letting the good times roll

And now the pieces left

A wave of malcontent

What’s inside?

Watch it fade, through spaces unseen by you

Invade—what is left of your filthy soul

And all of the ego you stole

Splinter

Splinter

Take me to the sky,

Bring me to your feet and I’ll ask you why,

Take me on a hike,

Bring me far away just as far as you like,

Bury me in filth,

Let me dream in peace like the time that you killed,

Carry me away,

Bring me to the place where the pain won’t stay

Can you make it go away? Here I wait alone,

Can you turn my night to day? Only there I roam

The skies looking over can make us all colder,

The brave and the bold are the ones, who will live,

The mountains around us, the ones who have found us,

Who worshipped and crowned us are the ones that we give,

To sacrifice, we suffocate, in avarice, we congregate,

Make me wonder why,

Bring me to the ground and then to the sky,

Turn the day to night,

Blow at the sun just as much as you like,

Changing left to right,

Ready for the punch line, are you ready for the fight?

SOMETHING AMAZING

You have some gorgeous eyes

More beautiful than an angel’s

As if you came down from the skies

And sought out to find me, courageous

You have the brightest smile

Even brighter than the stars

Illuminating miles

Crowds eagerly waiting in line

To cure all their ‘osities

And satisfy their ears

The sound of your voice is

So pleasing to hear

You have the greatest heart

Of love and a touch of hope

It’s what’s setting you apart

And what sets you free from the rope

That holds even the strongest back

From following through with a dream

A dream that all others have lacked

But you have completed, I see

I have the best that there is

The person who holds the key

To my heart and nobody else

And you are the reason I breathe

You have some gorgeous eyes

More beautiful than an angel’s

As if you came down from the skies

And sought out to find me, courageous

Once again

Tears drip down soaking her face. This tragedy’s one I can now taste. I held her closer in my arms. Yet we are distanced like the stars. I am always here yet you are never there. I watch you in your fear and I know your sorrow stare. It’s not right, to apologize, when you’ve done nothing wrong. You always fear the struggle, but I loved you all along. I am always here yet you are never there but tonight, we are one. Still I must find you once again, a prayer in my heart, I wait to find out when. When you see me finally, we are one, once again.

LIVE IN THE STORM

Brought like a rain from another world

A shivering shoulder is taken to heart

The coward, the stain, it slowly will burn

To reign on machines, is to pour in the dark

Legion, where is your pride?

The sensation only grows when it’s purely inside

Choir, where is your drive?

The people only cheer when you’re looking alive

Torn by the threads, a passion of its own

Indifference of outcome wasn’t clear enough

A day, determined, destined from the bone

Crowds of apparitions couldn’t bare the trust

Legion, where? Where is your pride?

Choir, where? Where is your drive?

Legion!

Is it purely inside?

Choir!

Are you looking alive?

ILLUSTRATED

Every night

Repeat the line

Those priceless words

They come to life 

Intensify

Feelings that I

Receive when you

Begin to wrap

Your arms around

Around my neck

In the night, I never question

Every day, it’s my obsession

To parallel my eyes with yours

It’s the sparkle I adore

My heart was bound

When I had found

The key to yours

That opened doors

I will always be with you

You help me to continue

Through this life which is now yours

We can always open doors

Even the world can’t stop us

No one else could rock us

FUEL

Stained, blistered, focused

Exhaust of a diesel engine

Pouring

Defined in the dust

Eyes, bleached with light

Enriched with webs of

Reddened lace

Faint, whispered motives 

Factored into the solution

Morning

Merging with the dusk

Dry, freezing night

Feathered with ashes

Blackened face

Slow, steady, win the race

Lungs, heart, keep the pace

Breath by breath, a silent stride

Metaphoric ocean tide

Answers are Obvious

Where did the time go? When will these problems cease? Between you and me, only one can tell you, and between you and me, only one can help you, help you survive, help you surrender, made you alive, was your defender, but you were distracted, by things unimportant, and you were impacted, by things so contorted, I waited for a reason, I waited for a cause, and the changing of the seasons, gave me no applause, I understood the faith, comprehended the word, but what got me was the choice to believe what I’d heard….so what is it like, to stand on the other side, and just how does it feel, when nothing seems too real, and you’re living on the edge, and only you can save yourself when hanging on a ledge, But between you and me, only He can tell you, and between you and me, only He can help you, help you survive, help you surrender, made you alive, was your defender, but now a clear mind what will you do, feel and believe, it’s all up to you!?

BRITTANY

B, is for the best girl in this whole wide world,

R, is real much better than just a second letter but

I, will guarantee you what you want to be and

T, is ten times above me

T’s for times that you’ve loved me

A, is for the awesome times in amaze ‘cause I’ll

Never leave you, always believe you so

Y don’t you take my proposal, I’ll be happily your noble…man

A THOUSAND YARDS AHEAD

I am this hidden place, motionless within you

Piercing your disguises, growing stale

You know, the ones you defined with trust

Why now put them to waste?

The thick and thin—right through you,

This swollen tension rises. Provisions fail.

Below the grunge, a soul of rust,

Has peeled away down to the bone

Not a sliver left to shed

Corpse identity unknown…

Your fate would soon be sealed,

In the promises shattered

Those scars will never heal,

Until you’re debtless ever after

The lesions drain the lies

Out all except your mouth,

And how they cheer in awe

Witnessing your downfall,

The flames will not subside

When you’re begging on the ground,

Don’t try to climb the walls

The blaze won’t melt their frost,

However there is one way out

But you must pay the cost.