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Ryan Frisby Oct 2016
I stood at the sink today
Warm water on high
Washing away paint
Like it was therapy –
It was.

It swallowed me up –
The motion of peeling off
Gooey used-to-be
The possibility of being something else –
Paint.

Like peeling off my own skin
I was ripping off layers of being
What if I didn’t? But what if I did?
What if it was? But what if it wasn’t?

As I stood at the sink today
I watched trees dying out the window
And it was really something spectacular
Falling one by one –
Decay.
Ryan Frisby Oct 2016
The city
First fire
Then an ashtray

The hysteric
Rat race
Fabricant fanatic

The best fantasy
Ban fear
Fiery free

The Canary case
A trash can
Transiency aches

Three faces
First near
Then far

After years
The absence
Terrifies her
Ryan Frisby Sep 2016
i'm trying to
clear my throat
so that i can
hear myself
when i speak
but my voice
it's getting weak
because the wires
connecting my
heart to brain
have been breached
confused now
about what it is
that i seek
reaching to find
a cause but
i can't find
any leaks
i'm just trying
to remember how
to stand upright
without feeling
completely deflated
bring me back
to elated
a place far
beyond jaded
it's easier to
see there how
everything is related
no clues to fill in
no puzzles to solve
when i find
my way to
the center of
myself
i'll find my
resolve
Ryan Frisby Aug 2016
i'm trying not to feel
stupid
duped
used

i have a history
of being subjected to
those roles

in romantic endeavors
that always result in
me losing trust in

myself
not other people
but i hope

that i'm wrong
about you
and that i'm simply

projecting past
experience onto
present tense

but something has
changed in our
interactions
Ryan Frisby Aug 2016
i wished about you
on a shooting star tonight

not about you really
i guess it was more about me

more about finding a way
to see through the cloud
of my feelings

more about trying to wrestle
my innermost demons
reconcile them with reason

more about wishing
that whatever the outcome

of you & me
i'll find a way to stay
happy and free
Ryan Frisby Jul 2016
the world is burning down
ignorance the flame
hate the accelerant

passivity the water
you don't throw

bewilderment the catalyst
that pushes you to flight instead of fight

the world is burning down
institutions we once believed in
are preventing people from breathing

the world is burning down
schools are teaching our children
to be xenophobic civilians

the world is burning down
a system we once thought had merit
is so broken we don't know how to repair it

the rug of democracy
pulled right out from under us

using your voice
is your one opportunity to make a choice
but they silenced us with all this noise

sign on the dotted line
with both hands tied behind my back

establishment didn't want a revolution
they came up with a solution

one candidate a fear mongering *****
one the robin hood we've been waiting for
one in a position they bought and paid for

the world is buring down
they locked robin hood out of
the water supply

now we've got two choices
suffocate in the blatant flames of hate
or smolder slowly at the hands of powers that cannot relate
Ryan Frisby Jul 2016
a mile wide
and an inch deep

that's the kind of stuff
that will get you stuck
up **** creek
without a paddle

without a paddle
what is one meant to do

you understand
the motions
yet have no feasible way
to implement that knowledge

and now everyone is looking
at those stuck in the creek
in boats that all have a leak
as if it's their fault
what they were given
was faulty;
useless

trust me
here is the truth in this:

until we're working on
going an inch wide
and a mile deep
in a boat that can
sufficiently carry you where
you need to go

where you come from
will always determine
if you get caught
in the undertow
of a system that
only cares about you
if you were winning
their game in the first place
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