Never

They all made the same deal,
For immortality,
It's never the same as you imagine,
When gi'en th'opportun'ty,

One will never want for money or luck,
Except for his child's love,
She will kill herself in a thousand ways,
The last, well, he didn't look up above,

Just death and murder and murder and death,
Now look at where they are,
A misfit crew with no real direction,
Yet still traveling far.

There's never time,
To even think it out,
One moment sitting waiting around,
Next, someone's calling your name with a shout.

See You Tomorrow

Your silhouette hunches,
Lasts the life of a smoke,
Soon you will disappear back through the door,
We're probably both broke,

Swallowed up by the roofs over our heads,
Peace only these moments,
You, warmed by the red ember in your hand,
Back-light illuminating my torment,

If this darkness could never go away,
Where we wait life's restart,
Blessed with the freedom to consider it,
Creating our own art,

You with your fire,
High above my sorrows,
Let's promise, should this night last forever,
We'll both fix our wrong-doings tomorrow,

Artivism

Everything is green,
Does that mean a new start?
If ever Nature did teach us something,
It's the nature of art,

That no matter the era that you're in,
Life can be expressed new,
Sure, it's the same message in a fresh skin,
Chronologic'lly relevant to you,

Just like the theory of evolution,
You must take what is best,
Nurture it and use it, but it is not,
An unexpected guest,

It's e'er been known,
There's nothing to bemoan,
Nothing revolutionary in it,
It's only dangerous if left alone.

The Good Ol' Days

I'd like to say step back,
Back to the good old days,
When love and equality were normal,
Before media haze,

When we weren't told what we should think 'bout,
When injustice was clear,
Race, gender, beliefs didn't mean a thing,
Encounter and pet a bear without fear,

When people would go without luxury,
To afford others meals,
Community was 'bout mut'al support,
When we strove for ideals,

That had been, right?
I'm not imag'ning it?
Else we're telling ourselves that's what we want,
While we are striving for something diff'rent,

Time To Go

I don't have much time, now,
None of us really do,
At least, not when you stop to think 'bout it,
It's not all that imbues,

There are also those things that erase time,
Joy, love and excitement,
If you are lucky, they will pay the bills,
Else your mind is osc'llating betwixt them,

A constant distraction from what is real,
Joy, love and excitement,
This ain't a problem, for a moment of one,
Is the whole sentiment,

Of what life is,
You can die after that,
The rest is just striving for it again,
Or forgetting you were ever that glad.

The Tough Questions

Where's the social justice,
When you're traversing beds,
Discovering treasures that are not there,
For hours and hours on end,

When protesters born in another land,
Beaten at the White House,
As a cam'ra shot sent back to Turkey,
To remind the world just who is the mouse?

A useless gesture appropriated,
Yes, that is what I said,
We keep talking about needing to talk,
Everyone's afraid,

Of saying boo,
Well, that's just what they want!
While they manufacture their own consent,
We don't fight back 'cause we're convinced we can't.

Debate

If you are divided,
On what 'tis you should think,
You are at least a step closer to truth,
Than a nudge and wink, wink,

Than a rash response to a discomfort,
An aversion to work,
The kind of time needed to understand,
To stand up to the evil that e'er lurks,

That aims to pit human against human,
So divided we fall,
Stifled as soon as we choose to speak up,
By other made people,

Taught to be small,
Minded being called out,
Confused into thinking about ourselves,
Then paralyzed by subsequent self-doubt.

Reconciliation

You understand others,
By walking in their shoes,
Feeling the pain that's rooted in their past,
A bomb set with a fuse,

Hidden under a thin layer of soil,
Like it's not even there,
It doesn't take much to expose the wick,
With roots exposed, they will now live in fear,

Others can now see how to set them off,
Trust me, there're those who will,
Out of the fear of exposure themselves,
You must kill or be killed,

So don't change shoes,
They tie their own tighter,
Instead of respect they hurl out insults,
Instead of making love, they make fighters.

Indian Horse

There are things that are wrong,
That's what his body knew,
Without his family to tell him so,
His mind hid it, in lieu,

Pushed him instead to the happy actions,
Hockey distracted pain,
But then even that was taken from him,
The prejudice of the whites was insane,

He was forced fight instead of playing,
His only freedom lost,
They told him that he had a chance at life,
But left out at what cost.

What would you do?
Numb the pain with drinking?
Try to escape from this world of abuse,
That called you names as it watched you sinking?

The Comers

When my dad was eighteen,
He came from Italy,
Lived with his Paesan' in St. Catharines,
For moolah liberty,

It wasn't hard to work in construction,
Basic'lly wop country,
Still the foreman yelled you better work hard,
There's a ship coming filled with more of ye,

This was the treatment of the new comers,
By the newly arrived,
Who'd already displaced the existing,
Indigenous one's lives,

Systemat'cly,
Stamped white into their kin,
While ensuring they'll never be equal,
Ident'fied by the color of their skin.

In Bloom

He tore his dress away,
It was ne'er meant to be,
There were too many demons in his brain,
They cloud up what he sees,

Then there's the one sat behind ev'ryone,
Plugged in somewhere unknown,
The connection was made through other ways,
So he could still play completely alone,

The crowd didn't know what they're looking at,
Still couldn't look away,
Felt what was happening was important,
To all their future days.

They still look back,
It doesn't matter who,
Ev'rything was smashed as matter of course,
My god, how this planet could use more youth.

My Eyes!

I can't stand the backlight,
My eyes have revolted,
Thank god I learned to type back in highschool,
S'os to lean back my head,

I close my eyes and the light still pours through,
My brain is now hurting,
If screens were not so integral to life...
But why e'en muse, there is no refuting,

If I could just get away for one day,
Nay, let's make that a year,
To be among what we just call nature,
I could 'gain be a seer,

Of what there is,
Not what is presented,
There's enough to look at without pixels,
Just shut it down if god did not send it.

The Ideal

There'll be the perfect storm,
Of outrage and action,
Incredulity aligned 'cross the world,
And every faction,

A global foot put down 'gainst injustice,
Condemning the rich few,
Supporting a system that needs the poor,
Building the chains with which they are subdued,

Who would probably do the same if let,
E'en just for avengment,
But mostly because when your comfortable,
You think you deserve it,

Not that you don't,
But so does ev'ryone,
So now we ask ourselves, are we ready,
To organize such an equal nation?

Happy Anniversary

Fifty-one years ago,
Or is it fifty-two?
A young man married a younger woman,
Now, what is he to do?

It wasn't long ago he was thinking,
"We can finally live,
Done with this life's responsibilities,
To you, love, your rewards I can now give,

You no longer have to care for others,
Let me take care of you,
The struggle, the toil, your sacrifices,
We can start fresh, anew."

But then, she died,
He is left with his guilt,
Alone, he tries his best to speak to her,
He can almost hear her bright, smiling lilt.

Her Journals

You used to write of birds,
The thoughts that they must spawn,
Free as they are from the human follies,
Of selfish ambition,

There is naught to prove they're any less deep,
A cocky presumption,
That our blundering grope for some meaning,
Shows we possess some greater perception.

"But what," you said, "do we have on the birds?"
Content in their motions,
If any faith at all can be granted,
To our observations,

Which are oft base,
Grounded in aversion,
More than likely we're observed from on high,
An example of nature's perversion.

A Meditation On Hal Niedzviecki

This one is truly tough,
For't speaks to soci'ty,
Not whether the left has become fascist,
Or fears controversy,

Certainly if one wishes no offence,
There's two needs that I see,
First that the speaker has good intentions,
Then, th'list'ner must believe his amity,

Wait, there's more to it than just those factors,
Such a world must exist,
Either as an ideal or what we want,
Where there's no prejudice,

Not one doubter,
T'upset the apple cart,
Either we're all in for the perfect world,
Or we should chalk any such thoughts to art.

Down Below

The bottom of your breath,
Provides you an escape,
A moment where nothing is happening,
Where nothing is too late,

Where you exist 'tween you and you one day,
Like waiting for a plane,
There is all you will do when you arrive,
Not yet real, but existing on a plane,

There is e'er the chance you will not arrive,
Things out of your control,
Fear of alighting where you want to be,
To then answer your soul.

"So, where to now?
You're who you wished to be,
Now that you are no longer traveling,
Do you think you can comfortably breathe?"

Hidden Figures

I sometimes cry at films,
Get caught in spectacle,
Usually the surmounting of odds,
Threat’ning what’s respect’ble,

The allowance of one to live freely,
Why is that my trigger?
Born maybe in the most lib’ral of states,
Plus I am white, also male, go figure,

There is no battle I am forced to fight,
Near the truly oppressed,
Nor would my fights ever lead to bloodshed,
If I e’er chose to press,

Which I have not,
Because, well, I don’t know,
My heart bleeds for those who have overcome,
Surely for it’s a courage I wish show.

The Drop Off

Not sure if this is sketch,
Standing outside this store,
Waiting for someone I have never met,
It is new age rapport,

The last stanza will tell if this was wise,
Digital rendez-vous,
But the sun is out and people around,
There isn't much this guy could really do,

The only real risk is the merchandise,
Will it do what it should,
Am I buying something that is stolen,
From someone who's not good,

Well there you go,
He was such a nice guy!
Though I shouldn't have asked him out for beers,
That is out of the scope of online buys.

Too Much to Do

Will I shower today?
That is a great question,
It's not the default in my daily life,
Has your respect lessened?

For there was a time when bathing was rare,
Yes, and so was long life,
But it's qual'ty not quantity we seek,
Like a metal on the edge of a knife,

Or like paradise by the dashboard light,
Soap will affect your taste,
You will lose the oils that give you your smell,
The time will make you haste,

Yet still you judge,
Bathing's ushered in health,
At what price have we bought this steril'ty?
Hasn't it washed away our sense of self?

Snoozing

Hard to get out of bed,
Though body's not in pain,
Sleep hours were in line with what one should get,
The day's prospect's the same,

But there is something about seclusion,
Like walls are protecting,
You from the inevitable outside,
Still, you're trying to dislodge from time's wing,

To institute a minor hiatus,
A regroup for your brain,
Mixed in with your schedule anxiety,
Making your problem plain,

You are human,
You have human problems,
The universal ones of survival,
Mixed with injustice, thoughts and emotions.

The Gap After The Down Breath

Didn't know where you were,
But hoped that you were near,
It is strange, but if I thought you were gone,
I'd have no strength 'gainst fear,

I know that's what you lived with all your life,
You wrote enough 'bout that,
But would you have changed your life 'nother,
Or spend any time of life looking back?

Well, you would and you did 'cause you told me,
I read your diary,
Both personal and a guide to living,
If that you act'lly be,

I'll never know,
Nor do you want me to,
True joy rests in finding your pers'nal path,
Maybe it's enough I fin'lly found you.

What You Are

It is day three of four,
The rain's supposed to fall,
It will be a sign for some of cleansing,
For the guilt in her soul,

She will walk into the past to the times,
She has cringed to think of,
Take herself by the hand, pointing forward,
To see the future self that she will love,

That the moment from which they now view her,
A step along the path,
Was maybe not necessary, but was,
Is what the future hath.

It cannot change,
But would you if you could,
Risk changing the person that you are now?
Then you've bigger problems than all your shoulds.

Accept You

Look at your future self,
Walking along ahead,
You may not catch up to him, but you can,
Follow in his footsteps,

Just make sure he's someone you want to be,
The future's not one path,
But if you are, summon him back to you,
For, my friend, there are questions you must ask,

Or rather, an assessment you must make,
How does he make you feel?
It is time that you confess to yourself,
That who you are is real,

You're no one else,
There is no way to be,
Like molecules of water seem the same,
There is only one of each in the sea.

Mind Palace

The warehouse was massive,
Curiosities stacked,
Why I thought to go was a good notion,
Is still an unknown fact,

Surrounded by an angry, confused mob,
I soon feared for my life,
Until it was clear they'd no direction,
I picked out one to represent my strife,

We agreed we should all sit down to talk,
Soon their tumult was clear,
They refocused themselves to reorganize,
I helped myself to beer,

It was a mind,
If the metaphor's lost,
Whether it was mine or someone else's,
Is a thought that shows that the meaning was lost.

Correspondence

It's not the quantity,
Of the minutes you spend,
How many have you wasted just thinking,
'bout what's going to happen,

A future that's truly unknowable?
C'mon, you know what I mean,
Trying hard thinking you know what you want,
Leaving ev'rything around you unseen,

Looking back to understand the present,
The two do not relate,
'cept so far as the former defines you,
Orchestrating your fate,

You never know,
Mostly, it is just you,
You choose what it is that you focus on,
Which defines where it is you're heading to.

The Toxic Rupture

It's not the destruction,
That's unavoidable,
The death and pandemonium just are,
And irreversible,

It's who is around when the dust settles,
To then clean up the mess,
How they treat those with lost and broken parts,
Are they dismissive or use tenderness?

Do they show that despite life's cruelty,
There's still love to be found,
That what it does is unpredictable,
But on you they can count?

Y'know, like a rock,
Virt'ly unbreakable,
Not moved by the whims of the sky or sea,
Refuge when factors are unbearable.