Monday, May 16, 2011

Escape (Minstrel Mondays)

The dream of success, and the freedom granted through that achievement, is something that has always weighed heavily upon me.  The dream of breaking away from the mundane, and profiting from the fruits of the mind, now that's something to live for.  However, it remains elusive for me, as it does for so many others.  Here's a poem reflecting that wish, and the emotional struggle experienced in the attempt.

The harder you try
The harder you fall
But we've got to keep striving
To reach for the stars
You can't admit defeat
In the face of all that's happening
Somehow you've got to be
The brave soldier


Possible cover for a yet to be
assembled short story collection
by Martin T. Ingham

Someday it's all gonna come to an end
And you swear that it'll all come true
That your biggest mistake
Will be your saving grace
But how will that do for now
When you're left floundering
Desperate for space

When you look up
What do you see
A blazing ball of fire
Or lunar craters glowing
The truth of your ambition
Is a fading lie
Your lone salvation
Is waiting deep inside

Can you find that place
Where you might even escape
With the shirt off your back
Waving in the wind
To flee from their ambition
And journey to another land
Away from the rain and sand

I often have my doubts
If I'll ever get out
But it's pointless to sit and lie
In vain misery
Keep fighting the good fight
And dream of a miracle

*The proposed short story anthology of my work (cynically entitled "Nobody Reads Escapist Garbage") is currently on-hold, as I continue to work on different projects.  This book, should it ever be released, will hold a bunch of different tales, from a few of my earliest shorts, to sample chapters of unpublished manuscripts, author commentaries, and of course some fresh material I am still in the process of producing at the moment.  I'd like to find a real publisher for it, though I may end up self-publishing, since single author short story collections are so very hard to market.

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