Sustainability

The brief bursts of joy we’re lucky to get
Can help offset those times we fret
The warmth of a smile can be preserved
To soothe us when our luck has swerved

Deny your desires whenever you can
And never expect, be preemptive or plan
Accept that which happens and do what’s required
To try and transcend whatever’s transpired.

Universal

The spectral glow of starlight calls
My eyes to gaze in awe
At splendor when that old sun falls—
Creation’s twinkling maw.

Dying

Is innocence fleeting?
There is no defeating
The silvery soldiers advance
You can purchase a pigment
Your win just a figment
Of a fool with a fanciful stance.

Sacked

Everything we see
Anything we hear
Really has to be
Questioned for the fear
That it’s all untrue

Today they can make
Their lies seem real
But it’s often fake
So never kneel
Because they tell you to

If we can’t trust
Our ears and eyes
It’s time we must
Demand goodbyes
From politicians and their crew.

Emptiness

If you dispose
Those would-be woes
You’ll never know which way it goes

So let it play
Out, you may
Find that things turn out your way.

Setting

We did the gig as planned
And played on that hill all day
Till the sun went down on the band

The crowd got out of hand
As we laughed and sang away
We did the gig as planned

On their sprawling family land
The breezes made the tall grass sway
Till the sun went down on the band

The scene was truly grand
And I wished that we could stay
We did the gig as planned

Upon appointed grains of sand
And played songs that made them feel okay
Till the sun went down on the band

They asked us back for next year and
What else could we possibly say
We did the gig as planned
Till the sun went down on the band.

Offensive

We aren’t led
We’re ruled
Lies are fed
We’re fooled

It’s not right
We’re bled
If we don’t fight
We’re dead.

Servitude

He felt he didn’t matter to the world

He was just here to do the tasks
No one wanted to do
Because he wouldn’t wear the masks
That others squinted through
He refused to play the games
The discontented played
Devoid of any noble aims
Or markers to be paid
He was just a simple soul
Most comfortable alone
Impatient to achieve parole
For having duly shown

The world still mattered to him.

Carnivorous

The weakness you deny
Gets stronger by and by
Until it’s hard for you to fight it off

You'll never fix a flaw
You ignore, it’ll gnaw
Away at you, despite how much you scoff.

Vacillation

I know more than I say
Well, at least I think I do
But doubt is always in play
For what is really true?
I guess it all depends
On who insists it’s so
Don’t be swayed by friends
That say more than they know.

Cathode Ray

There was a guy who watched TV all day
And ate his meals on a TV tray
And everyone called him Cathode Ray.

The doctors got a big surprise
When harvesting their bawling prize
For Ray had technicolor eyes

And though the birth was quite routine
He’d fuss and make an awful scene
Unless he saw a glowing screen.

Every day Ray sat and stared
At all the empty nonsense aired
But never even remotely cared

About his lost lethargic lot
His TV dinners were nice and hot
And in the end – he got the plot.

Vernal

I saw a golden gull today
Go soaring overhead
It was garbed in a sparkling ray
From a sun fresh out of bed

It seemed as though that brilliant ball
Rose taller than it was
It sprang to spin towards the fall
As something vibrant does.

Exemplify

I don’t live for accolades
I just want to be a kind man
There are no holy hand grenades
Just changes to the plan
So never mind your stellar grades
Do what good you can.

Dispatch

They show an explosion or two
And tell us the world is at war
Complete with a dictator who
Will soon be outside our door

The hawks have come home to roost
On corpses collected in stacks
The body count needed a boost
It’s a good thing they cooked up a vax

If nothing reported is true
Then why do folks get so upset—
They’ve learned to spark outrage on cue
How long before you’re why they fret?

Dejection

You need it sugar-coated?
Okay, here you go:
You’re wonderful (whenever you obey)
Although I could have gloated
I'm not too thrilled to know
That freedom is so meaningless today.

Burnt Out

How much pleasure offsets the pain
Of pacifying the petty and profane?
It takes a fair amount (or so I’ve heard)
Excessive use will ultimately drain
Those who feel consumption is preferred.

Vaporous

I watch the jets release
Their toxins without cease
And hear the droning sound
Of engines on the ground
As lines across the sky
Make me wonder #why

Then pity those so lost
They think it’s just exhaust
Because some suited fake
Said ‘That’s what planes make.’
It’s easier to say guess so
Than see through smoke they blow.

Hindsight

When looking forward all I see
Are blurry blobs of what may be
But gazing backwards helps me find
The clarity I left behind.

Inquisitors

I think of all the atheists
How quickly they’ll bow down
When the government declares itself divine
And how they'll tell the realists
To kneel before their crown:
Hey, you do your truth, I’ll do mine.

I try to be an optimist
And seek some common ground
But those who buy the lies feel elevated
Oppressors of the populist
Will scream for every pound
Of flesh they feel is not initiated.

Land of Cotton

I watch it come down
Like the corners of my mouth
That form a deep frown—
Time to move south!

Shameful

Inspiring words have been said
So much their meaning is dead
You constantly voice your desire
But most deeds actually require
Some action to put them to bed

If ‘fierceness’ is what you proclaim
Despite being laughably tame
Then why do you sheepishly stand
Like a beggar with an open hand?
Your shallow sham assures your shame.

Curriculum

Welcome to the Academy of Apathy
Where thought is not allowed
We made education a travesty
Ensuring you’re programmed and proud

Our bleary-eyed parents unconsciously
Release their young charges to us
Where they are instructed religiously
To never make much of a fuss

There are no facts left worth debating
Just falsehoods we’re fed by the rich
And if you feel I’m instigating
Then you have purchased their pitch.

Drawing Board

Remember that suit I proposed
That can lift you like no other look?
Well last night my whole house shook
From a wind that howled a horrid hook
Like a dreadful dirge a demon had composed

And immediately my mind began to think
About the clothing that could be a kite,
Such gusty weather would be a delight
Propelling me all through the night
But so far my designs are only ink.

Constructive

I wish I had a secret to share
That would make life worth living
But I don’t

A way to disregard despair,
Like telling you to be more forgiving
But I won’t

If only I could somehow make
The fleeting seconds last forever
But they’re scant

Or soothe the all-consuming ache
Of doubting each endeavor
But I can’t

Imagine if a billion hearts
Convulsed with pure compassion
But they’re still

Whatever drive belief imparts
Your life is yours to fashion
And you will.

Presence

Please let me stay aware to the end
So I may honor both foe and friend
And savor every precious breath
Before I finally face grim death;
Please let me see one final sun
Ignite the sky when day is done
A spectrum of color, my parting gift
As my wayward soul transcends the rift.

Ideal

It almost seems normal today
The sun is just shining away
And the crystal blue sky
Makes it hard to deny
This hope that the world is okay.

Off-putting

We haven’t seen yet
How absurd it can get
But don’t you fret
They’re working on it

When a smile’s a frown
They’ll make up a crown
Demand we bow down
And swear upon it

They’ll make a yoke seem
Like a gem studded dream
Or we’re part of a team
Don’t don it!

Taking the L

Everyone hates to be wrong
Denying with all of our might
That time we veered from the throng
But sometimes it’s worse to be right.

Standardized

Have we finally reached
The point past return
Despite what they preached
We've seen how they spurn

Our rights and our lives
To cater the whim
Of evil that thrives
As times become grim

Unless we decide
That we’ve had enough
And that we won’t hide
From threat of a scuff

Politicians must take
A test to detect
If their words are fake
Before we elect.

Impoverished

He bought 3 tall boys and 2 packs of smokes at 8 am
His voice all garbled from excess phlegm
He wore a black mask to protect his health
The sense we really need is lacking in wealth.

Sophistry

“You can trust whatever I say.”
Said the girl that was born as a boy
Perhaps the lie would hold sway
If he still had some balls to employ

Are we programmed to buy the obscene
(accept or you'll be ridiculed)
By fibs puking forth through the screen—
Progressive or thoroughly fooled?

Damnation is handily sold
Like liquor, care for a fifth?
The greatest deception they’ve told:
That evil is merely a myth.