Black Blood: A Poem For My Love

(Original post date: Tuesday, August 19th, 2008)

A body full of sorrow and pain
Veins filled with black blood,
Skin dry and cracked,
Bones broken
A human with no core and no soul
This is the image in the mirror
Staring back at me, at you
Once in love, and now full of hate
Once whole, and now ripped in two
Where do you begin?
Where do I end?
One half me, one half you
I will never find my way back, nor will you
We are separate, but the same
We are never going to be the same
The rain no longer warm and soft
Instead, thick droplets of blood
Replace the love drained from my veins
All I see is your broken, cracked face,
Filled with pain and guilt,
Empty of truth, empty of love
How do we change this aching, bitter, cracked road,
This twisting, widening mess,
To get back to that place?
The gates of heaven or hell opened for us,
By us, to service us
I am bleeding in my heart,
Choking on chunks of blood...
Feeling your loss,
Feeling your pain,
Aching in vain
What have we become?
A bag of brittle bones,
Blood to ashes,
Hate to fear
What is it that you fear??!!!
Why do you hate me so?
Knife so deep,
Cracked my heart,
Ripped my soul
Swallowing black blood...
I hold your face in my gaze,
Tears dripping down,
Wishing that this road had an end
The blood has turned to dust and ashes
Good-bye is all that's left
The last drop of blood touches my lips on yours
Rest
Good-bye is my final word,
Written in blood on your lips
Good-bye
Until we meet again...
Angel with gilded wings,
Who saved my life a long time ago,
Then took my life without a second thought, look or embrace
With black blood on your wings and hands,
How do you love me again?

© 2008 JB. All rights reserved.

Customer Request of the Week: Shav-ed Ham

For those of you who don't know, I've been helping out my friend at his deli for a couple of months now, and I have to say that it's been a nice change from the restaurant biz. Seriously, I enjoy my time there very much. Anyway, I promised that I would write deli related posts, so I thought I'd start off with a customer request for ham, more specifically, shav-ed ham. No, that is not a typo. Read it out loud to yourself for a second, shav... ed... ham. I figured that the lady making the request meant 'shaved' ham and was just pronouncing it 'shav-ed' because of her accent (her first language was clearly French), but no.

JB: Good afternoon, mam. What can I get for you today?

Lady: I would like some shav-ed ham.

JB: Mam, do you mean, 'shaved' ham?

Lady: No, shav-ed ham.

JB: OK (wtf??), mam, what kind of ham?

Lady: Shav-ed ham.

JB: Yes, I know, but what kind? We have Black Forest Ham, Honey Maple Ham, Honey Maple Garlic Ham, Smoked Ham, Hardwood Ham, Cooked Ham, Peppered Ham...

Lady: No, I want shav-ed ham.

JB: (OMG, are you for real, lady?) Mam, I understand, but which kind would you like me to shave for you?

Lady: Shav-ed ham!

JB: Shav-ed ham, OK. I can shav-ed anything for you, but you have to tell me what kind of ham.

Lady: Ah, shav-ed ham... that's all I want.

JB: I know that's all you want, but you need to tell me what kind of shav-ed ham you want.

Lady: (throwing her hands up in the air) Uh, enough! I want nothing.

Off she went, leaving me completely dumbfounded.

Co-Worker: (coming in from the back of the store) JB, are you OK?

JB: Yeah... Um, do we have shav-ed ham?

Co-Worker: What?

JB: Do we have shav-ed ham?

Co-Worker: You mean 'shaved' ham?

JB: No, shav-ed. That lady who just left, she wanted shav-ed ham.

Co-Worker: There's no such thing as shav-ed ham.

JB: Ok, just checking.

I dare you to go to your deli and ask for shav-ed ham. Let me know what happens.

JB