2 poems by Scott Cumming : “The Layer Between Us” & “Ear Worn”

The Layer Between Us

You answer the door
in just a shirt
not long out the bath

Eyes fixed to yours
All I can think of
is the simple layer
Separating our intimacy

My feelings remain the same
not in that way
Frayed, creased
Stretched and stressed
like the shirt you’ve thrown on

Knowing my mind
is the difference
Between shouting and screaming
and revealing my doubts and fears

More chance of me
Looking down
Initiating
than ever explaining.

Ear Worn

Blocked up
Suez Canal style
Underwater hearing
Sound drowned

Hearing aid
Sends submarine transmissions
Hard to distinguish
Noises fighting for attention

Laying beneath the shallows
Feel the glinting of the sun
Upon stinging eyes
Choked up throat
Choosing to drown
When it would be easier
to reach out
and pull myself up

Hard enough
to deal with damaged thoughts
Crap scientist chemistry
Let alone
being blocked like an old sink

Faulty plumbing
Throbbing
Behind the eyes
Until the blood vessels evaporate
And the aura appears
With an armada of pain not far behind.

Bio: Scott Cumming unsuspectingly went to see Garden State wearing his Shins tee. He has been published at The Daily Drunk, Punk Noir Magazine, Versification, Mystery Tribune and Shotgun Honey. His poem, “Blood on Snow”, was voted the best of Outcast Press Poetry Things We Carry issue and nominated for a Pushcart. His collection, A Chapbook About Nothing, was released in December as part of Close to the Bone’s First Cut series. Twitter: @tummidge Website: https://scottcummingwriter.wordpress.com/