Metal Orange

or

Requiem for a Dream

Spring is frozen.

Wrapped in wire,

Cased in wind,

Damned in metal and chains—

(this has to work, this has to work)

Tied up,

Jack-in-the-Box,

Slam shut slam,

Trip on lead post,

Toss to the seas,

Watch black box fall.

Listen to moaning guts tighten and contract,

Tighten and contract, tighten and contract,

Then guts stop moaning.

Then guts stop.

Then he's happy—he's so happy,

Shiny-happy, dancing down the street,

Picking flowers, singing songs,

Like an idiot he's so damn happy,

His mask comes off and he can see again,

See something else besides metal orange,

Day in, day out, metal orange,

His eyes stung red with metal orange,

So much it hurt to blink, to move, to think

Of anything—anything at all!—

Excepting metal orange.

Summer's fallen.

Breathed in hard,

Breathed out fear,

Desperate on rooftop at night,

(this has to work, this has to work)

White-eyed,

Little black fox,

Shoot to kill,

Trip on lead post,

Fall to the rocks,

Watch black heart fall.

Listen to squelching lungs tighten and contract,

Tighten and contract, tighten and contract,

Then lungs stop squelching.

Then lungs stop.

Then he's happy—he's so happy,

Shiny-happy, dancing down the street,

Kissing kittens, sing-a-longs,

Like an idiot he's so damn happy,

His mask comes off and he can see again,

See something else besides metal orange

Day in, day out metal orange,

His eyes stung red with metal orange,

So much it hurt to breath, to eat, to hate,

Anything—anything at all!—

Excepting metal orange.

Winter's fortune.

Hand scarred,

Heart charred,

Seeing four corners of World,

(this has to work, this has to work)

Blood tear

Stupid old pox

See bird run

Trip on lead post

Fly through the sky

Watch black night fall.

Listen to sobbing eyes tighten and contract,

Tighten and contract, tighten and contract,

Then eyes stop sobbing.

Then eyes stop.

Then he's happy—he's so happy;

Everyone's laughing, everyone's singing,

Everyone's just okay all over,

Like a person he's so damn happy,

His mask comes off and he can see again,

See something else besides metal orange

Day in, day out metal orange,

His eyes stung red with metal orange,

So much it hurt to breath, to love, to see,

Anything—anything at all!—

Excepting metal orange.

A/N: (stares wide-eyed at the two pages of text; eyes slowly shift towards audience, who, after a three-second pause, begin throwing various household appliances) Gack! (dodges toaster) I'm really, really sorry about that guys! The apology being for:

1. The ridiculously long break (to plea my defense, last week was tech week alias "Hell Week" for the school musical of which I am a part; try having your average school day go from 8:00 AM-12:00 AM—it ain't pretty). If I'd known Thetard (director; kleptomaniac; grand ol' bitch) was going to go so damn gung-ho on us I'd have posted a warning about it on the A/N for Animal Instincts. Until then, all I can do is plead the fifth. (sweatdrops),

and

2. The awkwardness of this chapter. Really, I'm still not that pleased with it, and I've edited the thing like five times. Robin...is a character of which I know very little, really. Mostly my heart bleeds for the boy, which I think comes across in the poem. But still—and I'll admit this now—the characters which take up most of my in-depth wonderings are BB and Raven. I want this collection...random...thingy...to have bits of all the Titans in it; but, yeah. The Rae/BB/Rae-slash-BB poems are probably going to be the best. That, and I feel bad about having Robin kill himself. Normally, my poems aren't this fatalistic; it was just the only way to really end the poem, since the Slade vs. Robin game of cat and mouse never seems to really end. Now that I think about it, though, it doesn't seem like something Robin would do in the first place. OOC...woo... But then again, they've tried to kill Slade how many times now? Jeez...I'd get a little frustrated too. In any case, I wanna update something so.......and now I'm rambling. (sweatdrops)

Review, and you get a virtual cookie! And my love! And a virtual cookie!! Come on...what's better that love and a virtual cookie? ...Don't answer that.

Thanks again to all who reviewed last chapter (I think that was Sunny and...PirateChick? Sorry, I don't have the internet hooked up up here; I'll check in a sec), and I promise I'll have an update for you probably in a couple days, so check back soon!

With love and Franz Ferdinand,

Protagonist Hiro