Conversations with Skeletons

By Kirk DeMatas

Join author Kirk DeMatas on a journey back in time as he visits the seemingly autocratic world of the past in his new poetry collection, Conversations with Skeletons. Written over a three-year period, the poems chronicle the radical reenactment of past experienceseffectively dialogues between DeMatas and other versions of himself. This collection represents a gruelling exercise in psychological dissection through poetic discourse. DeMatas confronts the sources that feed his fears, his anger, his lasciviousness, and his insecurities, all with the hope of finally exorcising the metaphorical demons clutching his soul.

Accompanied by stunning photos by Tosin I. Arasi of TIA International Photography, the poetry written for this collection is occasionally raw, often intense, and always extremely revealing. Conversations with Skeletons collects one mans conversations with his personal skeletons.

Confronting the Grief of Years

On my thirtieth birthday, I woke to the sound

of bones rattling inside my closet.

The vibrations rapped against my naked eardrums

and lured me into the realm of the blues.

My consciousness rode the sound waves like a sea bird

scanning an abyss for some nourishment.

Beguiled by this rhythm, I understood the trap,

just as Josef K. does in The Trial.

I could hear the scratching against the heavy door,

and after what felt like one year, I stood.

My hand became a benevolent dictator,

ushering the darkness into the light.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475934236

Kirk DeMatas

Kirk DeMatas is a poet and artist living in Toronto. His first poetry collection, Wordspeak, received positive reviews and media coverage across North America. He continues to collaborate with various artists on video poetry shorts, music,film, and dance. He is currently working on his third poetry collection.

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Copyright © 2012 by Kirk DeMatas

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-3424-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-3423-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012911173

For

Myriam, Arthur, Samuel, and Joseph

Contents

Introduction

I. A Boy’s Miseducation

Confronting the Grief of Years

As the Godfather Rises and Sets

Sophismata

Shadow Games

Halder Crescent Crush

Scraps in Your Eyes

Warfare

I Paint Bruises

II. A Youth’s Discovery

When Lambs Feast on Forbidden Fruit

I, Asmodaeus

The Jaws of Temptation

Chimera

My Eyes Would Rather Scrape the Floor

Fistful of Memories

Into the Arms of Fate

I Watch, and Deep Down, I Repent

Adam and Angie

When a Virgin Spring Falls

III. A Man’s Awakening

Blood

Grave Rapture

Falsus Amor

Shower

Eyes Devour Me

Siren

Virtual Love

Grave Dance

Truth as a Main Course

Root

Growth

Ode to My Present

Acknowledgments

Photographing Skeletons

Notes

About the Author

Introduction

There is something about a closet that makes a skeleton terribly restless.

—Wilson Mizner, Playwright.

In the autumn of 2008, a dear friend of mine told me that her marriage was coming to an end. She was heartbroken. She had poured so much of her love and herself into this relationship, and now she, wearing her love for this man as a badge of honour, was thrust into a world of mourning. It hurt to see her suffer, and so