Where Parallel Lines Intersect

there are moments here
when the real is not real
allowed to be more honest
allowed to blatantly feel
with no need to conceal
or steel myself for the blow
take every flame as a refining fire
every stroke as a strengthening blow
every admonishment as not my own

this is then a real world
and the real world, built on lies
hides its spies in network ties
but maybe i can find my own way out
by not going my own way
by not giving in to tired doubts
to live without regret
to not bet my future
on the security of practicality
logic a necessity only for those trapped
by needless insecurities

the instability of the real
is what makes it a question
the answer is not the goal
the journey more than a direction
the census has been taken
and we are over-populated
devastated by a species who've given up
on dreams, but mostly
on themselves

the unreal is more real here
and i can see plainly the world
to which i do not wish to return
yet i yearn for the interaction
the meeting of the worlds
some semblance of synchronicity
a verisimilitude of cognizance
a right and left shoe
walking the same street

did you forget?

did you forget the name you'd claimed on your way to slay the lame
drowning in the surest shame, but seeking to blame some pointed pain
a grievance ever aggrieved, bereaved of peace by seeds
in rumor's plantation where a generation enslaved still bleeds
and needs mending, attending every chance at upsetting
a balance of regresses, impressed with remorseful regretting
bloodletting, meddling with the unsettling uncertainty
that certainly deprives the mind of signs of a certain urgency
and casts a curse of worse reversal than tide's own tick-tock turning
with blessed bilateral belligerence from a deep-set down-sized yearning
acceptance in a clan of burning ashes to trash, acceptance the accepted cash
to run with ones and fives, taking dives that thrive on the blink or wink of forty lashes
credit for the masses to bash in brash brassware where what's worn may never wear
for the reflection there, though still quite fare, alights such blights, no fair delight to care
much more than that formerly in a different hat of pushes, pulls, and proud back-pats
in fact to attract then where there was what now is not what you're at
but some cat, with batted, mismatched patches snatched the pearls of pretty girls whose world was whirled
and in that swirling, twirling madness did a sad depiction of some new eviction find straight lines' reminders curled
the blinders unfurled, flag-like at half-mast, down-cast and huddled in puddles of broken stained glass
shattered by the axe of taxing trials for tradition, legalistic prohibitions of some mindless morals' mission passed
with colors flying black and white, written on grey pavement with sidewalk chalk like a children's game
and the schoolyard bully comes out to play, and on his way to slay the lame, still screaming the name you claimed
more like slanderous blasphemy, you wield it till its worn
without meaning, without scandal, your tortured truth merely a mask for style and a tattered textile torn
with a curse on your lips in the name of what you're after
you can be sure your reward now is laughter, but the end will show your master
and until your crusade is defrauded, be now afraid that the fear you have lauded will earn no great merit
and you too will share it, and in this earth not inherit
for one so sleek is not meek but a giant
and giants will fall and be so surely silenced

Time...

there are moments
we've falsely categorized
into seconds
which spread, ripples in the stream
web-like cracks on tinted glass
scratch-marks on a lifespan

the star we orbit
hints at speed
events in order
one after another
but perhaps
the deception is in the nuance

the frames of film
separated by the spaces
between the captured images
between the moments of portrayal
in that vital space
hides meaning and verse
consciousness

but perhaps there is one image
and one alone
constantly and consistently
erased and remade
existent in the exactness of its similar nonexistence
persistent in its scope and
complete in its form

memory, then,
would be the spaces in between the frames
where there is only one frame
and the conscious mind
perceives only that frame
present-tense
whereas there is such a necessity
for depth, and such an automation
of cause and effect
in perception
that, though there is nothing but
present-tense

the end, in effect
justifies the means
using the mean
of the present
to frame a context
past-tense
therefore inventing the idea
of cause

then labeling
present-tense
as no longer an end
but the means
to frame
a further effect
making what is a cause
for all that could be
in the absolute abstract

for there is only the moment
clocks a deceitful ploy
for a species seeking order
with shadows and ticking sounds

and in this present moment
we find meaning
through full confrontation
standing at attention
diving in most utterly
drowning in recognition
of the futility of holding a moment
such as this,
which is all there is

we then perceive this moment as passing
as if its erasing and remaking is something
that happened or will happen
and in this perception
there is anxiety, there is fear
there is mortality, and dread
and desperation, and despair

for then what is the possibility of forever?
what is eternal?
our temporal selves only know of how we perceive
the comings and the goings of happenstance
but true atemporal existence
(if such a thing can honestly be demeaned to be called "existence")
is this

I AM that I AM
said the maker of time
eternally present
an eternity without beginning or end
comings or goings
regrets or fears
an eternity
that pays attention
that dares to stare
steadfastly

and without
regrets
or fears
the moment
becomes more than an observed point
along the way to something more grand
it becomes an all-encompassing
existence

for when there is no past
and no future
but the moment
and those with whom to share it
the spaces our regrets and fears create
between the frames
tend to blur and fade
and time itself gives way
to selflessness
till the eternity
which dares to stare
steadfastly
is the only moment
and in that moment
there is only
love

Shatterer

I've met you here before
In that place where memory recalls
Closing the cabinets and shutting ever door
Turning all the locks and straightening up the halls
Walking into the living room
And sitting by the fire
Into which regrets are thrown to their doom
And I exhale every single desire

But I've met you here before
You always act as if I should expect you
Though I had no notion you'd implore
Me now to call out some villainous truth
Intoxicating eyes
That catch glimpses of nostalgic thought
Wounds with which to surprise
And supply a case of which I knew naught

Oh, yes I've met you here before
A victim I've made of you somehow in sleep
With your buckets of bitterness in store
And your wealth of wondrous woes to weep
My guilt, like a switch, you flick with such ease
Disclosing dark secrets of my midnight madness
Then I, scrambling like a trained beast to appease,
Run wild tricks to tame your tears and saturate your sadness

And now I meet you here again
A place I had long thought forsaken
You bring my God-damned past like a friend
Bringing bread to the hungry, though I've had my fill

Singularity

Today I saw the future of earth inside a plastic box
and a forest of mannequin dolls with hearts like clocks
corporations ruled and democracy was based on stocks
and inflation, it rose like the seas that we froze,
and do you suppose it was a dream or not?

Today I saw the children of my children’s children losin hope
they’d been starvin on the seeds of reapin’ all that we had sown
the machines of our greed and thoughtlessness had exponentially grown
in a singularity of woes, getting lost in all the things we own
but do you suppose in these fears i’m all alone?

Today I saw the world as a grave for the almost dead
but a blind man walked by and told me to think of other things instead
there’s so much to look forward to, he winked behind his mask and said
and who really knows where this whole story goes
and do you suppose it was all in my head?

Today I saw the mind of the last human genius getting trashed
downloading his consciousness into the creation that was erasin his past
ludicrously lost we all were struggling to care, much more to act
and it just goes to show that with all the things we think we know
well in the end I suppose, it’s all worth a good laugh
what do you think of that?

Overwhelmed

I don't care what you wear
And I don't think your hair needs fixing
You look amazing without makeup
You look gorgeous tonight

I can't find the words to say
Fumbling in my pocket for something to hold
I'm overwhelmed, but you tilt your head just slightly and smile
And I forget what's going on

Am I your knight in shining armor
Am I your jester or your bard
Are you a princess that needs saving
Are you a lonely traveler like me

Is it easy for you to say it
'Cause sometimes I'm still scared to breathe
Still surprised when you whisper those three words
I never thought that you would say

I don't care what it takes
This distance will not last forever
Someday I'll hold you in my arms again
And I will never let you go

Anxietas

Blatant disregard for will, I fail
My shaking hands prevail
This racing heart, I can't stop beating
Myself up, just wait for bleeding
Tension and the bitter break
Miniature earthquakes in my veins
I'll watch as your eyes forget my name and glaze
Suck the life out of this spinning room too late
As I fake my way through another well lit mistake
No escape for the weak
No condemnation for the wicked
I am found upon the principles of your callous indifference
All is lost to you like similes, similar to these soliloquies
Alone in my epiphanies, exhausted Mephistopheles
With my own home-made hypocrisies
It's got to be monotones, a homily of policies
Bereft of any laws or order
I am only two feet shorter
But you look up to see me fall
To trip, to cry, to care, to crawl

Industry Standards

face your fears, turn the lights out
i wanna know if you can live without
with the carpet pulled out from under you
everything you've been told is too often not true

when the silence is a symptom
you're a victim of a system
constructed under lies
and the promise of brighter skies

they say if you work a little harder
they say if you're just a little smarter
they say it's not hard to get big and rich
(if you know the right people and know all the tricks)

so i'm sorry i've dragged you in
made you think that you could win
i suppose i was like you
just a sucker who bought it too

your contrary motives

your eyes blind
another perfectly defined line
but at least you're looking fine
make me believe you're mine

don't want me to stare
then why did they put writing where
you say you take so much care
to hide but still want to draw my eyes there

'cause i don't think that you
get all the things you do
to guys like me, yknow it's true
then give us all the blame that's so undue

we are our response, you see
but you've become what's wrong with me
don't celebrate the way you bleed
than choke me for trying to breathe