Jan. 21, 2009 6:00 AM
Ok so I realized that I had wayyyy too many singular poem topics in this part of the board and I decided to consolidate them (well, the most recent ones anyhow).
I aim to continually update this original post with all of my works that I feel are worth sharing. If you'd like to see them all, even the ones I'm not so fond of, you can visit my poetry collection by clicking here.
I apologize in advance for the wall of text I am about to assault you all with. So anyway, here goes!
------------
Transparency
Try as I may I fear I will never
Obtain the answers I desperately seek
Despite a constant pain I endeavor
To persuade a broken, muted man to speak
I feel as if my words may never reach
The soul I love who lies trapped below
A terror he will never attempt to breach
And a past of which he can never let go
I close my eyes and sink into a strange
Place somewhere between denial and fear
Where it seems certain things will never change
And I will be left with nothing but tears
In all my life I have never felt so lost
Yet for this love I would pay any cost
-------------
Wreckage
Your eyes, like gasping breaths they puncture me
Their warm gaze a synesthetic overload
Leaving me to stumble about blindly
As my heart flares in a body hallowed;
Torn open by an unpredictable tide
My feelings flung upon the rocks to dry
You are my beacon, all reason aside
The single star in the blackened night sky
I am being pulled forcefully up toward
The warmth and light you provide from above
And every day I wake to move forward
In endless pursuit of your gentle love
Yet somehow all along I've always known
In this journey I was never alone
-----------
Crystallize
From inside this window I can see
Tender snow flakes tumbling from the sky
Rolling softly in the blistering wind that seems
Omnipresent, that will never leave me be
I press my hand against the glass
And the shocking cold stirs in me
Feelings I thought I'd long forgotten
That I'd left to exist only in painful memories
There are people outside in the streets
I can see them standing clearly
But the pane has become frosted
And their details have gone blurry
I want nothing more than to reach out
And know that they are real
But the life I'm living is nebulous
And my feelings are upheaved by doubt
The wind howls and tears at the door
As if its speaking my frustrations out loud
I've been frozen up inside for so long
I don't know how to feel warm anymore
There's a snowstorm raging in me
In which I have all but lost my way
I followed my heart in pursuit of safety
Only to be led so much further away
But then a sudden, stirring love breathes
Upon my frigid, crystallized soul within
And though I feel frightened and fractured
I know I have no choice but to let it in
------------
The Missing Piece
Are you lost or incomplete?
Have you simply stumbled
Unable to stand on your feet?
Do you feel as if the world
Has turned upside down?
Have your secrets unfurled?
The damages you've been dealt
And all the things you've stifled
Are things I've often felt
I know you're lost and hurt too
But at this moment we're holding onto
You need me and I need you
When our fears are released
Everything else will fall into place
Around the missing piece
----------
Aurora
On the banks of the sea with you I stand
In awe of the morning's soft horizon
My palm wet with the warmth of your callous hand
Our spirits by the mild light enlivened
The water's surface looks like a glass sky
With the weight of the world toiling below
And much like the things you hide away inside
Time itself seems to lose its steady tempo
But when our surroundings crawl to an end
And there is nowhere left for you to run
I will be there first and foremost a friend
To help you stand before the setting sun
And though my heart may continue to plead
I will starve it off until you are freed
----------
Arizona
The rain patters softly on the windows outside
Punctuated periodically by a blinding light
Everything is being washed hastily away
As everything I knew vanishes from my sight
My life stretches on ahead, infinite as the streets
I’ve no reason to cry, the future is bright
But I want nothing more than to turn around
To be held again and know everything’s alright
My lungs burn intensely as if they were on fire
And I can feel salty saturation stinging at my eyes
But I have to keep on driving in this direction
If I ever hope to come out of this alive
Along with all of my shattered memories
I’ll keep all these things I fear on the inside
Locked safely away in the only place I’ve left to hide
In that final moment; that bittersweet goodbye
-------------------
Mirage
The sun is shining through the open window
Casting its soothing rays upon my face
Which I rest on your chest like a pillow
While I’m wrapped tightly in your strong embrace
I’ve never felt as safe as I do here
Sheltered from all of the cruel world outside
Where all your whispered words sound so sincere
As if there’s really nothing left to hide
And as we lie in a pleasant silence
I’ll quietly take up your hand in mine
Though our lives may be at quite a distance
By this moment we’ll always be defined
But as I drift into peaceful sleep it seems
In turn I have been torn from this sweet dream
----------------
The Hidden Mesa
There’s a path ahead, folded into darkness
That almost seems to reach infinitely
It overwhelms me; I feel so anxious
Yet I press on, stumbling forward blindly
Into the dim light ahead that beckons
With the tempting illusion of safety
But as I ascend this blackened mountain
Of my own buried insecurities
I can feel their dead weight clasp my feet
They are clawing, screaming to be set free
And will not stop until they are replete
With the acquisition of my body
But somehow, as I am sinking deeply
I trust that you will be there to save me
-------------
PHANTASM
I’m standing here in solitary silence
Watching as the world comes crashing down
In waves of dust all around me
A heavy rain of splinters and concrete
Whose drops rumble but make no sound
I feel as if time has stopped and
Is being stretched and drawn
Until space itself seems to scream
Torn open by the Sun’s piercing dawn
Like an ethereal, spatial canopy
That I have become lodged between
I’ve slipped through a black hole
Into the shattered sea of purgatory
Whose violent, thrashing tide
Continually tears rifts and stitches seams
Through dreams and reality
The waves, like jagged shards of glass
Slice through everything in their path
Leaving gaping wounds in space-time
That bleed through the fabric of life
And drip down the thread of mankind
From which we are all entwined
------------
Two Minutes
As bombs drop from the sky
There’s panicked silence in the streets
As we all move into lockdown
Our crashing footsteps like drumbeats
WAR IS PEACE
We’ve no idea why we’re running
Or who it is we’re running from
But its absolutely crucial
We avoid the incoming maelstrom
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Without strict guidelines and
Someone to tell us what to believe
Our feeble, incapable minds
Will surely begin to unweave
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
For reasons we cannot explain
Our hearts are filled with hate
And as we stand before the TV screens
We’ll scream and dictate:
WAR IS PEACE
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
-------------
The Nightmare
I awoke covered in a cold sweat
Paralyzed and yet never more alive
With a rushing howl in my ears
As if I had fallen from the sky
Landed back in so-called reality
Where I can see nothing but you
And yet you could never see me
Its the last place I want to be
Shut my eyes, drift back to sleep
Fall through time into my dreams
Where I feel safe and whole and where
You’re a recurring theme
For now I’ll keep dreaming
But I hope that when I wake
It will be to anything besides
This agonizing heartache
------------
The (Im)Perfect Design
Preach the good gospel
With a blood stained sleeve
They’ll never know you’re a fake
Chasing after empty beliefs
Do the facts and fallacies align?
Its all a part of the perfect design
Do the lies and deceit align?
Can you still distinguish
Your freedom from mine?
Its all a part of the perfect design
Is opportunity for change
The promise of salvation
From the iron grip
Of a crumbling nation?
Do the PR and media align?
Its all a part of the perfect design
Where is our compassion?
Where is our empathy?
We can’t keep living
Buried under our own apathy
Do your thoughts and mine align?
Can you be bothered to stand
Take life up in your hands
And destroy the perfect design?
---------
United Insubordinations
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
Have been married to ancient scripture and prophecy
Then filtered through the dirty, tainted lens
Of right-wing and religious hypocrisy
Enraptured by the television’s cold glow
Enslaved by the masses to the horror of the daily news
We’re being enticed by the fleeting promise
Of a peaceful, unattainable vision of tomorrow
We’ve been herded into moral slaughterhouses
Led blindly by those in power to believe
That with faith in our God and government
There is nothing we cannot achieve
There is only one thing that they can see
And its surely not the solid ground beneath their feet
Yet as full of themselves as they may be
They’ll continue gorging their fat faces on our deceit
Ever hungry for power and human innocence
Much too high and mighty to ever admit
That with every passing day our future
Continues to look more and more like carp
But we’re still here and paying close attention
While you send the rest of the world into a frenzy
And when they come to tear you down we’ll be there
Assisting in the destruction of your tyranny
We’ll deface your sacred books in effigy
And the sky will burn, churn black with the soot
Of all your failed ideologies and idiocy
As your battered faces greet our collective boots
-----------------
On Faith and Loss
Close your eyes, whisper your pleading goodbyes
Because when this era comes crashing down
We’ll all be caught in the camera’s eye
Forever framed in history’s countdown
Where all of our petty beliefs will be
Forgotten at once; lost and burned away
As we all, in a rare show of unity
Are enveloped by a wave of smoke and flames
Where at last our hearts and minds can be free
From all the misleading ideologies
That have preached for ages a false glory
And a nirvana that will never be
But when men and Gods are no longer bound
Can a common ground finally be found?
-----------
Infidel
The sky is alight here, shining brightly
Rays of light streaming through the massive clouds
An awe-inspiring sight of beauty
Whose origins are wrapped tightly in shrouds
Painted by great philosophers in broad
And sweeping strokes of ambiguity
Yet its all I’ve ever known of this God
Who is said to be watching over me
A shapeless specter who is everywhere
And yet nowhere as far as these eyes can see
But there must be something powerful out there
Far beyond my own mental boundaries
I’m drifting, losing myself here somehow
So please, if you’re there, let me feel you now
---------
NOTE: I do not traditionally write pieces that are very close to my personal life or that are very direct representations of my feelings, but this poem was a necessary exception to that general rule -- this was something I needed to do for myself.
The Preincarnate
Who is this child that stands
Sweetly smiling in my mind?
I can see his boyish features
But they are stuck; confined
He’s distant and foggy
Shrouded in a thick mist
I know he’s there; that I’m there
But did I ever really exist?
He’s trapped between then and now
Locked away in a past life
That I have spent years trying
To convince myself was real
I want to reach out and touch him
Feel his face against my skin
But he’s blocked by a mirror
Reflecting repeatedly to no end
With every wavering step I take
Toward the enveloping glass
His innocent face begins to blur
Fade into my fractured past
Yet as you turn again to cinders
Someday I swear to you
When I am stronger
I will break through
------------
The Refuge
I lie here with the sea washing over me
Seen only by the waves and sky
Its soothing and peaceful to think
Of how things have come to be
In my mind’s eye I look out to see
The setting sun fusing with the trees
Casting delicate rays upon my face
Before disappearing upon the warm breeze
The ocean stirs gently against my skin
Reminds me of our time together
Of late nights laughing and talking
About memories made to last forever
The sky swims beautifully above
Its colors vibrant and full of spirit
And as I inhale deeply I am not full
Of breath, but rather of vivid love
I think of you and every time I smile
Full of the joy of life itself
And after years of feeling lost and alienated
In you I’ve finally found myself
--------
Left Behind
I stand alone on the scorched, barren beach
Watching the vultures circling above
Upon warm thermals far out of my reach
Who yearn to descend and remove me of
What little life I have left to cling to
My uncertain future has been sutured
To the decomposing, cold world wherethrough
I have found myself so lost and cornered
As the sun sets on the smoking horizon
The air is heavy with a dead silence
Which creeps into the delicate bastion
Where I must sleep in your humbling absence
Its been months since I’ve seen a human face
Somehow it feels like they’ve all been erased
----------
Raze
At the end of it all, after the lakes
And oceans have turned to decrepit rust
The barren land that appears at daybreak
Will be swept away; turned to ashen dust
By gales that would swallow our fragile homes
And transplant them all like forgotten seeds
Before burying them in waves of loam
Upon which fractured time itself would feed
Leaving a sand swept relic of the past
To rot beneath the soil where it once may
Have withstood the elements and held fast
Against the inevitable doomsday
As the famished future turns on us all
Is it really to blame for our downfall?
---------
Shards
Look to the magnificent, burning sky
With clouds born of an acrid fallacy
Whose rain devours flesh like blood thirsty lye
Leaving behind a palate of beauty
With which we can simply paint what we see;
The crumbling pillars of society
Cast in murky browns and caustic greens
Among the leaders who laugh open; coldly
From their thrones of a false empathy
Where our soiled palms cannot ever hope to grasp
The threshold of a brighter reality
Beyond which our shackles may yet unclasp
Here among this strange, discordant union
Was evolution the true solution?
-----------
Obsidian
This darkness threatens fragile sight and sound
Its presence omniscient and all-knowing
As it hangs ominously over the ground
With wispy, abstract wings ebbing and flowing
It moves swiftly, causing the Earth to shake
Gnashing at the sky with serrated teeth
Thrashing about as its senses awake
And suffocating all who breathe beneath
Billowing from the soil's every swollen pore
It fills the air with a sulphuric stench
Of rotten black pus from an open sore
And folds its dark wings like a wounded finch
Yet as it free falls from the blackened sky
Its swan song brings ashen tears to my eyes
---------
Body of Light
Cold and delicate I drift through empty space
Lost behind a fragile membrane of illusion
I’ve been gone so long I can’t remember
The features that once made my own face
Among eerie silence and vacant black I lie
Upon my back in the abyss’s creeping tide
Whose muted waves are entrancing song
Crooning beautifully as they sweep me along
In single file toward the swirling obsidian mass
With eyes that feel their way through time
That have penetrated deeply into my mind
As if they were rigid shards of broken glass
Frozen here in a symphonic natural stasis
My mind springs angrily forth from my head
Casting cascading rainbows of incendiary light
Cocooning my vacant body in an ethereal aegis
A sudden liquid warmth flows over my husk
Undulating and pushing forcefully upward
So as to push me out and over the threshold
Of the asphyxiating weight of dusk
I’ve sailed beyond the horizon’s borders to find
The solace of the vibrant life I’ve lost
And though I have already ventured so far
I will not rest until my heart and mind align
-------------
The Sky is Falling
The sky is opaque with a heavy weight
Spilling over its black cradle above
To destroy the things man has created
In its many labors and toils of love
It cascades across the tumbling lands
And consumes entire cities hungrily
Washing away the dried blood on their hands
Leaving wreckage in its wake so ghastly
A divine deluge sent from the heavens
Like a great blackout; a liquid eclipse
From which there is no single safe haven
As dawn breaks on the apocalypse
The stars and sun will meld in a macabre play
Of human ignorance, failure; decay
---------
UNITY
From the farthest corners of the vast Earth
Humanity has spread its reach
Conquering tumultuous oceans
And scaling the highest peaks
The human spirit cannot be dampened
And our will cannot be held back
Yet still we feel its necessary
To draw borders and raise flags
Despite many ages of conflict
Of wars threatening to tear continents apart
We are all still connected by
Our common, beating hearts
Yet there are those who have
Lost sight of what bonds us
Who live under a delusion of hate
Gorging on prejudicial bias
If only they could clear their vision
Open their eyes and truly see
That living their lives so blindly
Is nothing more than paltry
In life apartheid is anathema
Contrary to our beliefs
That as humans we are entitled
To be completely free
We all have our struggles
And the right to disagree
But we should be striving for
Unity
------
Oceanic
The light filters down through the surface glassed
Illuminating creatures that glide by
Whose scales and hides radiate as they pass
Tucking away the beasts who hide inside
But deep beneath where piercing light cannot see
And where heartbeats are suspended in time
Lies a murky world tangled up in weeds
In slow motion, its existence sublime
Guarding the treasure with which men would tithe
Its eyes and mind manifested inside
Vast beings feigning death that are really alive
Yet here far below human eyes and ears
Rests the very source of every human's fears
---------
ANDROMEDA
Look to the sky
The sunset is burning
Where the clouds and sea
Lie together in parallel sleep
A ring of fire
Eclipses the sun
And now the battle for
The heavens has begun
A premature night
Perforated by thousands
Of shimmering lights
That will never mend
A celestial fusion
Of particles and mass
A galactic collision
Happening too fast
Everything's burning to ash
All around me
In this car crash
Of pinwheeling galaxies
A panoramic vista
Of flames and broken glass
Resilient as humans are
Not one of us will last
Ashes to ashes
In the final blast
Dust to dust
We've become the past
---------
The Solemn Deluge
Pensive and vast
Is the frigid sea
As it climbs the mast
The bodies and brass
Are her passing fee
Pensive and vast
The sinking ship in bronze cast
Has made her hungry
As she swallows the mast
This vessel will not be her last
She'll never let them be
Pensive and vast
Her starved current rising fast
Now grasping at me in glee
As I climb the mast
I know her crushing mass
Will ravage me
Pensive and vast
As I fall from the mast
-------
A Rite of Passage
When I was a child
After dark I'd lie
In bed pondering
What would become of my life
Wrapped tightly
In my mother's arms
I confessed to her
That I wasn't going far
Just have hope she said
And above all else
Keep your chin up
And walk proud
But like a mosquito
Buzzing in my ear
This nuisance would not leave
Instead clinging to my fears
Feeding off my luscious panic
And growing insecurity
Feeling as if it were
Sucking away a part of me
Six years have passed
My pest has long since died
Yet I'm just as scared
And I know inside
No matter the given
Amount of love
Hope is just another phase
I've already grown out of
----------
Today the Earth Stands Still
Today the Earth Stands Still
Despite the sounds of many
Things outside your window sill
Seven gunshots contribute to kill
One man whose sins are plenty
Today the Earth stands still
The sounds echo over rolling hills
But do not disturb any
Things outside your window sill
I decided to swallow a blue pill
That cost me a pretty penny
So today the Earth stands still
Airplanes bomb paper mills
The ashes falling are plenty
Snowing outside your window sill
Experiences are nil
When injustices are aplenty
So today the Earth stands still
Suspended just outside your window sill
---------
I aim to continually update this original post with all of my works that I feel are worth sharing. If you'd like to see them all, even the ones I'm not so fond of, you can visit my poetry collection by clicking here.
I apologize in advance for the wall of text I am about to assault you all with. So anyway, here goes!
------------
Transparency
Try as I may I fear I will never
Obtain the answers I desperately seek
Despite a constant pain I endeavor
To persuade a broken, muted man to speak
I feel as if my words may never reach
The soul I love who lies trapped below
A terror he will never attempt to breach
And a past of which he can never let go
I close my eyes and sink into a strange
Place somewhere between denial and fear
Where it seems certain things will never change
And I will be left with nothing but tears
In all my life I have never felt so lost
Yet for this love I would pay any cost
-------------
Wreckage
Your eyes, like gasping breaths they puncture me
Their warm gaze a synesthetic overload
Leaving me to stumble about blindly
As my heart flares in a body hallowed;
Torn open by an unpredictable tide
My feelings flung upon the rocks to dry
You are my beacon, all reason aside
The single star in the blackened night sky
I am being pulled forcefully up toward
The warmth and light you provide from above
And every day I wake to move forward
In endless pursuit of your gentle love
Yet somehow all along I've always known
In this journey I was never alone
-----------
Crystallize
From inside this window I can see
Tender snow flakes tumbling from the sky
Rolling softly in the blistering wind that seems
Omnipresent, that will never leave me be
I press my hand against the glass
And the shocking cold stirs in me
Feelings I thought I'd long forgotten
That I'd left to exist only in painful memories
There are people outside in the streets
I can see them standing clearly
But the pane has become frosted
And their details have gone blurry
I want nothing more than to reach out
And know that they are real
But the life I'm living is nebulous
And my feelings are upheaved by doubt
The wind howls and tears at the door
As if its speaking my frustrations out loud
I've been frozen up inside for so long
I don't know how to feel warm anymore
There's a snowstorm raging in me
In which I have all but lost my way
I followed my heart in pursuit of safety
Only to be led so much further away
But then a sudden, stirring love breathes
Upon my frigid, crystallized soul within
And though I feel frightened and fractured
I know I have no choice but to let it in
------------
The Missing Piece
Are you lost or incomplete?
Have you simply stumbled
Unable to stand on your feet?
Do you feel as if the world
Has turned upside down?
Have your secrets unfurled?
The damages you've been dealt
And all the things you've stifled
Are things I've often felt
I know you're lost and hurt too
But at this moment we're holding onto
You need me and I need you
When our fears are released
Everything else will fall into place
Around the missing piece
----------
Aurora
On the banks of the sea with you I stand
In awe of the morning's soft horizon
My palm wet with the warmth of your callous hand
Our spirits by the mild light enlivened
The water's surface looks like a glass sky
With the weight of the world toiling below
And much like the things you hide away inside
Time itself seems to lose its steady tempo
But when our surroundings crawl to an end
And there is nowhere left for you to run
I will be there first and foremost a friend
To help you stand before the setting sun
And though my heart may continue to plead
I will starve it off until you are freed
----------
Arizona
The rain patters softly on the windows outside
Punctuated periodically by a blinding light
Everything is being washed hastily away
As everything I knew vanishes from my sight
My life stretches on ahead, infinite as the streets
I’ve no reason to cry, the future is bright
But I want nothing more than to turn around
To be held again and know everything’s alright
My lungs burn intensely as if they were on fire
And I can feel salty saturation stinging at my eyes
But I have to keep on driving in this direction
If I ever hope to come out of this alive
Along with all of my shattered memories
I’ll keep all these things I fear on the inside
Locked safely away in the only place I’ve left to hide
In that final moment; that bittersweet goodbye
-------------------
Mirage
The sun is shining through the open window
Casting its soothing rays upon my face
Which I rest on your chest like a pillow
While I’m wrapped tightly in your strong embrace
I’ve never felt as safe as I do here
Sheltered from all of the cruel world outside
Where all your whispered words sound so sincere
As if there’s really nothing left to hide
And as we lie in a pleasant silence
I’ll quietly take up your hand in mine
Though our lives may be at quite a distance
By this moment we’ll always be defined
But as I drift into peaceful sleep it seems
In turn I have been torn from this sweet dream
----------------
The Hidden Mesa
There’s a path ahead, folded into darkness
That almost seems to reach infinitely
It overwhelms me; I feel so anxious
Yet I press on, stumbling forward blindly
Into the dim light ahead that beckons
With the tempting illusion of safety
But as I ascend this blackened mountain
Of my own buried insecurities
I can feel their dead weight clasp my feet
They are clawing, screaming to be set free
And will not stop until they are replete
With the acquisition of my body
But somehow, as I am sinking deeply
I trust that you will be there to save me
-------------
PHANTASM
I’m standing here in solitary silence
Watching as the world comes crashing down
In waves of dust all around me
A heavy rain of splinters and concrete
Whose drops rumble but make no sound
I feel as if time has stopped and
Is being stretched and drawn
Until space itself seems to scream
Torn open by the Sun’s piercing dawn
Like an ethereal, spatial canopy
That I have become lodged between
I’ve slipped through a black hole
Into the shattered sea of purgatory
Whose violent, thrashing tide
Continually tears rifts and stitches seams
Through dreams and reality
The waves, like jagged shards of glass
Slice through everything in their path
Leaving gaping wounds in space-time
That bleed through the fabric of life
And drip down the thread of mankind
From which we are all entwined
------------
Two Minutes
As bombs drop from the sky
There’s panicked silence in the streets
As we all move into lockdown
Our crashing footsteps like drumbeats
WAR IS PEACE
We’ve no idea why we’re running
Or who it is we’re running from
But its absolutely crucial
We avoid the incoming maelstrom
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Without strict guidelines and
Someone to tell us what to believe
Our feeble, incapable minds
Will surely begin to unweave
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
For reasons we cannot explain
Our hearts are filled with hate
And as we stand before the TV screens
We’ll scream and dictate:
WAR IS PEACE
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
-------------
The Nightmare
I awoke covered in a cold sweat
Paralyzed and yet never more alive
With a rushing howl in my ears
As if I had fallen from the sky
Landed back in so-called reality
Where I can see nothing but you
And yet you could never see me
Its the last place I want to be
Shut my eyes, drift back to sleep
Fall through time into my dreams
Where I feel safe and whole and where
You’re a recurring theme
For now I’ll keep dreaming
But I hope that when I wake
It will be to anything besides
This agonizing heartache
------------
The (Im)Perfect Design
Preach the good gospel
With a blood stained sleeve
They’ll never know you’re a fake
Chasing after empty beliefs
Do the facts and fallacies align?
Its all a part of the perfect design
Do the lies and deceit align?
Can you still distinguish
Your freedom from mine?
Its all a part of the perfect design
Is opportunity for change
The promise of salvation
From the iron grip
Of a crumbling nation?
Do the PR and media align?
Its all a part of the perfect design
Where is our compassion?
Where is our empathy?
We can’t keep living
Buried under our own apathy
Do your thoughts and mine align?
Can you be bothered to stand
Take life up in your hands
And destroy the perfect design?
---------
United Insubordinations
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
Have been married to ancient scripture and prophecy
Then filtered through the dirty, tainted lens
Of right-wing and religious hypocrisy
Enraptured by the television’s cold glow
Enslaved by the masses to the horror of the daily news
We’re being enticed by the fleeting promise
Of a peaceful, unattainable vision of tomorrow
We’ve been herded into moral slaughterhouses
Led blindly by those in power to believe
That with faith in our God and government
There is nothing we cannot achieve
There is only one thing that they can see
And its surely not the solid ground beneath their feet
Yet as full of themselves as they may be
They’ll continue gorging their fat faces on our deceit
Ever hungry for power and human innocence
Much too high and mighty to ever admit
That with every passing day our future
Continues to look more and more like carp
But we’re still here and paying close attention
While you send the rest of the world into a frenzy
And when they come to tear you down we’ll be there
Assisting in the destruction of your tyranny
We’ll deface your sacred books in effigy
And the sky will burn, churn black with the soot
Of all your failed ideologies and idiocy
As your battered faces greet our collective boots
-----------------
On Faith and Loss
Close your eyes, whisper your pleading goodbyes
Because when this era comes crashing down
We’ll all be caught in the camera’s eye
Forever framed in history’s countdown
Where all of our petty beliefs will be
Forgotten at once; lost and burned away
As we all, in a rare show of unity
Are enveloped by a wave of smoke and flames
Where at last our hearts and minds can be free
From all the misleading ideologies
That have preached for ages a false glory
And a nirvana that will never be
But when men and Gods are no longer bound
Can a common ground finally be found?
-----------
Infidel
The sky is alight here, shining brightly
Rays of light streaming through the massive clouds
An awe-inspiring sight of beauty
Whose origins are wrapped tightly in shrouds
Painted by great philosophers in broad
And sweeping strokes of ambiguity
Yet its all I’ve ever known of this God
Who is said to be watching over me
A shapeless specter who is everywhere
And yet nowhere as far as these eyes can see
But there must be something powerful out there
Far beyond my own mental boundaries
I’m drifting, losing myself here somehow
So please, if you’re there, let me feel you now
---------
NOTE: I do not traditionally write pieces that are very close to my personal life or that are very direct representations of my feelings, but this poem was a necessary exception to that general rule -- this was something I needed to do for myself.
The Preincarnate
Who is this child that stands
Sweetly smiling in my mind?
I can see his boyish features
But they are stuck; confined
He’s distant and foggy
Shrouded in a thick mist
I know he’s there; that I’m there
But did I ever really exist?
He’s trapped between then and now
Locked away in a past life
That I have spent years trying
To convince myself was real
I want to reach out and touch him
Feel his face against my skin
But he’s blocked by a mirror
Reflecting repeatedly to no end
With every wavering step I take
Toward the enveloping glass
His innocent face begins to blur
Fade into my fractured past
Yet as you turn again to cinders
Someday I swear to you
When I am stronger
I will break through
------------
The Refuge
I lie here with the sea washing over me
Seen only by the waves and sky
Its soothing and peaceful to think
Of how things have come to be
In my mind’s eye I look out to see
The setting sun fusing with the trees
Casting delicate rays upon my face
Before disappearing upon the warm breeze
The ocean stirs gently against my skin
Reminds me of our time together
Of late nights laughing and talking
About memories made to last forever
The sky swims beautifully above
Its colors vibrant and full of spirit
And as I inhale deeply I am not full
Of breath, but rather of vivid love
I think of you and every time I smile
Full of the joy of life itself
And after years of feeling lost and alienated
In you I’ve finally found myself
--------
Left Behind
I stand alone on the scorched, barren beach
Watching the vultures circling above
Upon warm thermals far out of my reach
Who yearn to descend and remove me of
What little life I have left to cling to
My uncertain future has been sutured
To the decomposing, cold world wherethrough
I have found myself so lost and cornered
As the sun sets on the smoking horizon
The air is heavy with a dead silence
Which creeps into the delicate bastion
Where I must sleep in your humbling absence
Its been months since I’ve seen a human face
Somehow it feels like they’ve all been erased
----------
Raze
At the end of it all, after the lakes
And oceans have turned to decrepit rust
The barren land that appears at daybreak
Will be swept away; turned to ashen dust
By gales that would swallow our fragile homes
And transplant them all like forgotten seeds
Before burying them in waves of loam
Upon which fractured time itself would feed
Leaving a sand swept relic of the past
To rot beneath the soil where it once may
Have withstood the elements and held fast
Against the inevitable doomsday
As the famished future turns on us all
Is it really to blame for our downfall?
---------
Shards
Look to the magnificent, burning sky
With clouds born of an acrid fallacy
Whose rain devours flesh like blood thirsty lye
Leaving behind a palate of beauty
With which we can simply paint what we see;
The crumbling pillars of society
Cast in murky browns and caustic greens
Among the leaders who laugh open; coldly
From their thrones of a false empathy
Where our soiled palms cannot ever hope to grasp
The threshold of a brighter reality
Beyond which our shackles may yet unclasp
Here among this strange, discordant union
Was evolution the true solution?
-----------
Obsidian
This darkness threatens fragile sight and sound
Its presence omniscient and all-knowing
As it hangs ominously over the ground
With wispy, abstract wings ebbing and flowing
It moves swiftly, causing the Earth to shake
Gnashing at the sky with serrated teeth
Thrashing about as its senses awake
And suffocating all who breathe beneath
Billowing from the soil's every swollen pore
It fills the air with a sulphuric stench
Of rotten black pus from an open sore
And folds its dark wings like a wounded finch
Yet as it free falls from the blackened sky
Its swan song brings ashen tears to my eyes
---------
Body of Light
Cold and delicate I drift through empty space
Lost behind a fragile membrane of illusion
I’ve been gone so long I can’t remember
The features that once made my own face
Among eerie silence and vacant black I lie
Upon my back in the abyss’s creeping tide
Whose muted waves are entrancing song
Crooning beautifully as they sweep me along
In single file toward the swirling obsidian mass
With eyes that feel their way through time
That have penetrated deeply into my mind
As if they were rigid shards of broken glass
Frozen here in a symphonic natural stasis
My mind springs angrily forth from my head
Casting cascading rainbows of incendiary light
Cocooning my vacant body in an ethereal aegis
A sudden liquid warmth flows over my husk
Undulating and pushing forcefully upward
So as to push me out and over the threshold
Of the asphyxiating weight of dusk
I’ve sailed beyond the horizon’s borders to find
The solace of the vibrant life I’ve lost
And though I have already ventured so far
I will not rest until my heart and mind align
-------------
The Sky is Falling
The sky is opaque with a heavy weight
Spilling over its black cradle above
To destroy the things man has created
In its many labors and toils of love
It cascades across the tumbling lands
And consumes entire cities hungrily
Washing away the dried blood on their hands
Leaving wreckage in its wake so ghastly
A divine deluge sent from the heavens
Like a great blackout; a liquid eclipse
From which there is no single safe haven
As dawn breaks on the apocalypse
The stars and sun will meld in a macabre play
Of human ignorance, failure; decay
---------
UNITY
From the farthest corners of the vast Earth
Humanity has spread its reach
Conquering tumultuous oceans
And scaling the highest peaks
The human spirit cannot be dampened
And our will cannot be held back
Yet still we feel its necessary
To draw borders and raise flags
Despite many ages of conflict
Of wars threatening to tear continents apart
We are all still connected by
Our common, beating hearts
Yet there are those who have
Lost sight of what bonds us
Who live under a delusion of hate
Gorging on prejudicial bias
If only they could clear their vision
Open their eyes and truly see
That living their lives so blindly
Is nothing more than paltry
In life apartheid is anathema
Contrary to our beliefs
That as humans we are entitled
To be completely free
We all have our struggles
And the right to disagree
But we should be striving for
Unity
------
Oceanic
The light filters down through the surface glassed
Illuminating creatures that glide by
Whose scales and hides radiate as they pass
Tucking away the beasts who hide inside
But deep beneath where piercing light cannot see
And where heartbeats are suspended in time
Lies a murky world tangled up in weeds
In slow motion, its existence sublime
Guarding the treasure with which men would tithe
Its eyes and mind manifested inside
Vast beings feigning death that are really alive
Yet here far below human eyes and ears
Rests the very source of every human's fears
---------
ANDROMEDA
Look to the sky
The sunset is burning
Where the clouds and sea
Lie together in parallel sleep
A ring of fire
Eclipses the sun
And now the battle for
The heavens has begun
A premature night
Perforated by thousands
Of shimmering lights
That will never mend
A celestial fusion
Of particles and mass
A galactic collision
Happening too fast
Everything's burning to ash
All around me
In this car crash
Of pinwheeling galaxies
A panoramic vista
Of flames and broken glass
Resilient as humans are
Not one of us will last
Ashes to ashes
In the final blast
Dust to dust
We've become the past
---------
The Solemn Deluge
Pensive and vast
Is the frigid sea
As it climbs the mast
The bodies and brass
Are her passing fee
Pensive and vast
The sinking ship in bronze cast
Has made her hungry
As she swallows the mast
This vessel will not be her last
She'll never let them be
Pensive and vast
Her starved current rising fast
Now grasping at me in glee
As I climb the mast
I know her crushing mass
Will ravage me
Pensive and vast
As I fall from the mast
-------
A Rite of Passage
When I was a child
After dark I'd lie
In bed pondering
What would become of my life
Wrapped tightly
In my mother's arms
I confessed to her
That I wasn't going far
Just have hope she said
And above all else
Keep your chin up
And walk proud
But like a mosquito
Buzzing in my ear
This nuisance would not leave
Instead clinging to my fears
Feeding off my luscious panic
And growing insecurity
Feeling as if it were
Sucking away a part of me
Six years have passed
My pest has long since died
Yet I'm just as scared
And I know inside
No matter the given
Amount of love
Hope is just another phase
I've already grown out of
----------
Today the Earth Stands Still
Today the Earth Stands Still
Despite the sounds of many
Things outside your window sill
Seven gunshots contribute to kill
One man whose sins are plenty
Today the Earth stands still
The sounds echo over rolling hills
But do not disturb any
Things outside your window sill
I decided to swallow a blue pill
That cost me a pretty penny
So today the Earth stands still
Airplanes bomb paper mills
The ashes falling are plenty
Snowing outside your window sill
Experiences are nil
When injustices are aplenty
So today the Earth stands still
Suspended just outside your window sill
---------
XD
