Originally published in unMuted Ink (Inner Child Press, 2012), page 138. This piece is revisited here in audio form.
From the page to the mic — a dark, defiant spoken-word journey through broken wings, survival, and refusing to surrender your voice.
Audio collaboration: FinalE for Poem Star Studios
Fallen Angel — Alternate Melodic Version
Fallen Angel — Original Written Composition
I roam these streets
with broken wings,
a matchbook,
and no cigarettes
just hell’s heat
and God’s silence
ringing in my ribs.
My mind need an escort
I’m distorted,
half-aborted,
never whole,
surrounded by spirits
but my sins?
Mine alone.
Trust is overrated.
They never understood my ways.
I’m the liaison to nothing good
and nothing waiting for me home.
Landing cut my feet open.
I pace graveyard soil
until the stench of worms
becomes familiar
and then I see it:
my own tombstone.
My name etched
like heaven mailed back
my existence
marked “return to sender.”
But this ain’t my ending.
Evicted from heaven,
avoiding hell,
purgatory stinking up my path
I grab my emergency kit,
break the glass
before I read the warning label,
and breathe backwards
because my wings
ain’t ever healing.
I pull a feather,
stab my thigh,
and write my final apology:
“I didn’t fail You
more than I failed myself.
Blind? Never.
Broken? Maybe.
But silenced?
Not today.”
I lost heaven
but kept my voice.
Often wrong,
never uncertain.
Rid me of my body
if You must
but the LAST of me?
Highly unlikely.
I shout loud enough
to raise the dead.
Fight till I got no arms
and no throat.
Bleed forever
kerosene soul,
tarred wings,
and anybody want it?
Come get it.
Not helpless
hopeless.
But mission-bound
all the same.
Vampires don’t re-bite
the already infected
so to hell with it.
I dig up your bones,
make a cane,
and limp down the road
with seconds that feel like years…
I am a fallen angel
still walking
this Trail of Tears.
~~ IBJB 🎙️
Composition & Audio Credits
Original written composition and concept: IBJB — Jamie Bond
Original publication: unMuted Ink, Inner Child Press, 2012, page 138.
Audio versions:
- Fallen Angel — 2:04
- Fallen Angel — Alternate Melodic Version — 2:34
Audio production and alternate treatment: FinalE, Poem Star Studios.
Both recordings belong to the same original composition family. The alternate version represents a different musical and vocal treatment, not a separate original written composition.
The written poem presented above documents the original words supplied for the audio interpretations.
