Other Adam Isom
ShadowLands

Off to the races
Every day
Huffin and puffin
In shadow land

There’s a fish
So polite
He wears a top hat
He tucks me in at night
And there’s my long lost cat
Eyeing Mr. Fish
He’d make a tasty meal
If he weren’t shadow

And so I drift
Into the waking world
The world of work
The world where skin cells age
And teeth don’t fall out
They crumble
Slowly
And spirits still abound
They’re just not friendly

Let’s take a peek inside
This dream
Within
A dream

Why does my shadow
Tease me?
I’m running too fast
To catch it
Even when I sprint
Towards it
It’s faster
It’s light on its feet

It’s off to the races
But I stand still
It taunts from the finish
As I huff and puff
To blow the damn THING
Down
Blow it to the
Ground
But shadows
Can’t be blown
Around

Why do the clocks
Betray me?
I thought we were friends
It sits there judging
Measuring minutes
Against me
I can’t win
I’ve lost from the start

It jumps in the water
Its pace so swift
The rate of its progress
A minute for every
Minute that it ticks
And there I am
In the back

My dumb arms have forgot
What is a breastroke
Anyways?
Is it something I can talk about
At work?
See this is
Why I am behind

Why do to do lists hate me?
I dare you to say this
Five times fa-ast
When-I do to-do items
From to-do lists
It’s two times
Too overdue

Every time
I pull out
A mirror
The black spot
Seems to get
Bigger and bigger
And bigger and bigger
And bigger and bigger
And bigger and bigger
More loathsome

(da da da’s)
(da da da’s)
(da da da’s)
More consuming

I wonder if
I can peel it offbn
But I don’t know what I’ll find
Does the trash of my mind
Like proverbial gum
Have a seven-year date

Like when you owe something
And you don’t pay up
Shoot yourself in the
Foot
Then howl blind rage that
Knows no
Bounds
(wordless ascent F-A-C)

Let’s head back to Camelot
For it is a silly place
And I miss my kitty cat
Who only knows the shadows now

And so I drift
Into my fantasies
Where candles burn
Always
Ideals and pure things
From my life are stored
Distilled to drink
Like whiskey
And sometimes I get drunk
And I get giddy

So I’m ready to
Go back
Inside
The dream
Within
A dream
It’s off to the races
Every day
The dream
Within
A dream