First responder
Fast cars
Flipped and dismantled
Colliding into each other
Spontaneous
No plan for such an occurrence
Future's snuffed
Thanks to one
Desire
Adrenaline induced
Just need time
To tell the families
Still difficult
Despite numbness

The world begins
When I open my eyes
The world ends
When I close them.

Idealism, the evolution of optimism
Idealists need to remain cautious
So their wings
Do not burn

Staring
Hollow
Controlled by a box
Of science
To slay, the silence
For today is a day
Nothing else or more
Tomorrow brings chance
That no one will take
How can we live
Under false pretense
Dispensed intensity
Shattered bones
Not loud enough to tell
The secrets of a generation
How can we live?

We all have a canvas
Let me describe the pieces:
For one it was stolen
One it was broken
One had a heart
I asked if it was for her
Or for those who saw it
One had a crown
On a king most reprehensible
One had a faded landscape
It was how he saw the world
Or what he wanted to make it
One had a dream
But I didn't have the heart to say
That I could never see it
One had a fiend
They called it a "self-portrait"
One was blank
They were afraid to be one thing
Reduced to an exaggeration
One had an old man
Clinging to past days
With a love free from sorrow

All things
Man has created
Founded
Organized
All things
Which are dual
For moral
And immoral
Purposes
As we push forward
The possibilities come further
Into our future
While good and evil
Evolve
Like all things

Everything we create
An extension of the mind
So when disconnection occurs
Pain and pleasure intertwine
The world goes into decline
While business increases, for the hotline

I can comprehend
The fear of life
Yet upon such an hour
No flesh shall disgrace
Serenity
That arrives
When the moonlight
Divides
Awoke early
For a single purpose
One beaten down
By circumstance
It's all chance
Nature, such an enemy
Purging those who care
And who never knew you
I pray that one day
Dreams will be fulfilled

We know why it rains
The clouds colliding
Suffocating the sun
Bringing forth life
Pouring over our heads
While we focus on strife
Our life is rife
Knife in hand to cut away the darkness
We know why it rains
But it never did anything
To stop it from falling

Down below
Entrenched in a trench
Of barnacles, sea cucumbers
Denizens of moist seas
Lies a single figure
In the form of a statue
The symbol of a man, looking toward the sky
Hopeful expression, rusted by nature
An idealist at rock bottom, lying to himself, in wake

In a world
Full of darkness
The light has abandoned us
It's up to ourselves
To make a new light
Artificial, but functional

Treated like a goddess
Slaughtered like cattle
Was she ever enough?
No one will know
Until it's too late
But of course
She had to jump out
Protecting someone else
Till her oxygen ceased
Yet why...
Did the goddess choose me?

Rage, anger
Compulsion to yell
To scream at the sun
Drowning serene ambiance
With vibrating violence
Held under lock and key, so long
So many thoughts cloud my perception
Deep breaths cannot cure the sickness
So today, I yell
Tomorrow, it continues
For the future, more
For the past was a bore
But now that I am
I wish that I was not

Lakeside view
Frozen over by a layer of ice
A blanket of fog
Dancing with the air
It is cold, yet...
Is that a bad thing?

Done with all my tasks
While the clowns trade masks
Cast into a casket
Older than Damascus
It seems like today, probably tomorrow
All people do is what they have to
But never what they want to
Confined to the clock
Always in a hurry
Rushing for the door; bottleneck
Rush hour, every hour
What notion are we trying to elect?
No time for a party
No place for a break
All I see is busy feet and hurt soles
Where is the soul?
When will life become gold?

Housing the deranged
Protecting the estranged
Isn't it quite strange
That we treat the broken
But never prevent the downfall?
Sanity runs away
For the ones who live in dismay

Why must my friends always run?
Do they have no place to be safe?
What happened to their home?
Has it been stained by hate?
If only I could say to them
You have one life with no reset
We were never equal
The dealer poisons our hands
But with the cards we have been dealt
We no longer have to dwell
For our welts enhance our strength
I know that you want to go back
I wish I had
But as the seasons change from bright to gray
All we have left is today

When I open up my eyes
Look forward to you
Need no caffeine
For you revive me
Today you seemed happy
S t r i k e !
In came the doubt
Is this the path you want?
W a i t !
Why are you asking that?
You’ve gone this far
Close to the end
On the precipice of success
Don’t go back
To what ruined you
Inside you want to go
But I wont let you
Swear that it’s no good
The hurdles have been cleared
Yet when you jump over one
You create three more
Wish I could be your hero
Zero possibility
But how about
I knock the hurdles down
This wasn’t here before
Stop building up defense
For a threat in your imagination
Listen to me faintly
Cry for mom
Yell for dad
Whatever gets you out of this
Trip toward tragedy
You question the world
Daily
Why can’t you accept yourself?
Oh how I wish I knew
To save you from yourself
It’s not your fault
Life is just this way…
For now
Strike down the illusions.

Under the mouth
Under the muscles of his eyes
Take him not for granted
He may look like us
But surprises come when least expected

Death of life
Death of nature
Death of standards
Deaf to the world's cry
If no one cares
Why should I?

As the seasons' change
So too do circumstances
Joyous, full of vigor
Bursting with vim
Next:
Asking for no more days
Especially today
Next:
What once died is given new life
Where does time go when our soul remains sole?
Next:
Fatigue, across the tri-state
World in a dry state, routine or temporary?
As the seasons' change
So too do circumstances
One day we dance
The next we change our stance
For life is more than a first glance

Please, reveal to me
Lake of contemplation, my
Twisted visage

Living through illusions
Becoming disillusioned
Leading to exclusion
Delusions and confusion
Packaging hope into an infusion
Marketed as inclusion
Executed as intrusion
Running into seclusion
Transfusion, hypoxia to asphyxia
Left with no ideas except extrusion

Debris on the shore
They said everyone was poor
In faith
Fortune
Now fate crumbled our luck
Bunch of shmucks
Running amuck
"When will help come?"
"Who will save us?"
The ones in their tower
Debating on how to solve a problem
That kills people by the hour
Come sit and cower
What the fathers wanted...
Balance of power
Hurting us more than needed.

I honor the beach
Yet abhor the heat
Could it be, personal preference?
Or no longer, enjoying warmth?

Solo
Then I paired with you
Together
Now you stray away
Broken
Need to put you down
Solo
Again I am

Words are forgotten
Actions are remembered
Hence why the most change
Comes after disaster

"Keep up the good fight"
"Push on through"
Easy to say
When your body has no hiccups
Flaws dormant within me
Much more than skin deep
"Normal" has lost its effect on me
Never bow down to a standard
That fluctuates on the preacher
---------------------------------------------------
I'm lost in the rain
With no umbrella for the pain
Drives me insane, was I ever sane?
Maintained my domain, packed with uncertainty
My name is the only truth I can ascertain
When it rains, it pours
I feel it within my pores
Please, give me some rapport
---------------------------------------------------
Will it always be like this?
Waking up to a sun which I've grown numb to?
How long have I been like this?
Am I really me?
Does anyone know who I am?
Sending up a flare, no sign of a liferaft
Tripping over baggage I never knew I had
Listen to this S.O.S, I am in distress
---------------------------------------------------
Befo­re my name is spoken by P.I's
I wish I could regress, decompress
No one to impress, pure life enjoyment
Fighting for a reason to justify our existence, why?
What is this?
Is it my fault?
I wish I could've prevented this gestalt.

I shouldn't have said that...
Ruined her day
Did the pain make mine?

Toxic sassafras
Poison to the bone, yet still
I desire it so

Peel back the flesh
Smash through the bones
Of enemies misunderstood
Merely
Piece of firewood
Tossed to the pile
Sicker than bile
Such a juvenile...
How did this come together?
No questions asked
Do what
I thought was good
Now it's not
Reduced to an ocelot
Cater
Toward the mass extinction
So many more
Go off to die
Mementos
Turn to memories
Remove this career
From around my neck
Diplomats reveal flaws...
...yet I extinguish them
But are these flaws
To the universe?

The most dangerous person
Doesn't wield a gun
Brandish a sword
Or **** back his fists
But someone who displays
Excitement, mixed with nostalgia
On one hand, a turnaround
On another hand, a catastrophe

Goodbye to your joy boy
The sun shined bright
Touching the peaks and valleys
Now your optimism turned into an ism
Believing in love that never appeared
Cease your activism
The human race races toward racism
Check the algorithm and listen to the rhythm
Observe the mechanisms of our narcissism
The sun shined bright
Until we blotted it out
So play with your toys
They make excellent decoys
Until they employ and destroy your ploy

Crimson minds
So divine
Tantalizing
Fantasizing about infighting
As we question what exactly drive means
Today is a mistake
Tomorrow will be moronic
Never iconic

Writing words
About cash and fame
I could lose it all tomorrow
None would question it
-----------------------------------------
Substitution
All they say is "you are special"
That's what got me into this mess
Expectations driving me deranged
Off the cliff with a heart of hate
No dream is ever worth this
Chasing after dreams, always been asleep
Swept off my feet by reality
-----------------------------------------
In the deepest heap, I'm nothing but a sheep
When all my layers have been removed
All I can do is weep...
All I can do is sleep...
All I can do is reap.

Paradise
Like succumbing to a spell
Touring heaven

We all wonder
What it means to grow up
Child to adult
Free to spree
To live and leave
Yet when one becomes old
The rest become kids
Flesh with more scars
To hide the young heart
Dented iron, a sign of wear, tear
Tear stained faces in twelve different places
Adults don't exist
Because their fun can't coexist
Dead to the soul
Ripe for the picking
Listing out accolades in spades
Just to go home
Stare into the mirror
What face is this? Why does it feel fear?
If I am a success, why can I not feel?
Child of mine, locked inside
I can't hear your voice
Is it yours or mine?

It's hard to ruin
Something you enjoy
Until someone else comes along
Turning joy, to quick decay
Watching as the allure fades away
To grey

Restless spirits
Emerge at night
Not looking to scare
But for a fight
Maybe one day
They will find peace
I do not find them scary
All I feel is pity
Specters dream of sleep
We sleep while alive
We are restless in death
No matter the stage
It seems to not go our way

Resident leaders
Citizen turned schemer
Lifting a finger
To guide others
Yet, let's list facts
Every resident
Becomes a percent
Numbers take precedent
Yet still in debt
Paid for on borrowed time
Labeled on a list of lies
Will it end with our demise?
Not quite sure
For it's where freedom lies

High altitude
Brought to a bigger status
Here comes the panic
Higher reputation brings a sobering mutation
Babbling turns to quotations, fame incarnate
Afraid of heights, embodied in metaphor
How can I rise with a fear of heights?
Making new flights to forget the time
A daily ritual, commonplace
Fusion of melancholy and lazy days
Afternoons turn to night
Nights turn to days
I can predict these things, they keep going
But the waves drag me under
Awake till moonlight, it's cold outside
Thinking "maybe this time", like the day before
Every day is disarray, how do I get away?

I weep for humanity
The pain
The sorrow
The heartbreak
The bloodshed
Cold realities
Unearthed from years of living
I wish, one day, we could no longer suffer
But, to live is to suffer
And to suffer is to live

Why do sea creatures
Wreak havoc on ships?
Is it an invasion of territory?
Establishment of dominance?
How do they perceive our attempts at transportation?
Many kinds, from distant nations
Folklore may sound fake
But the struggle reveals some reality
Nature versus our evolution
Invading territory turns life into a horror
If only we learned
From our own species glory
We may label oceans
But from the commotion
They are the ones whose loss breaks into emotion
A cycle of locomotion, a home called an "ocean"
So once the guardians come out
How can we act surprised?
Asking "Why do you disturb our home?"
We reply "Because we need more for our home."
The struggle persists, no matter man or fish.

Even in death
We want to look alive
Glimmering and stunning
For no one to witness
A mummy is only alive in the likeness
Never in peace, can we rest?
Fashion and fame, left behind in legacy
Easily dismantled in the face of jealousy

Walking
Down life boulevard
Not a care in my head
Certain that I'm uncertain
But it's alright
As long as we all...
Jason
Rhys
Sylvia
Lily and Silver
Go down to the boardwalk
Soak in the sunlight
Until the day
It hides from our sight
So, my friends
Same time as always
As for me
Vacant is what I'll be.

Losing interest in accommodation
Of cash and rapport
A fortified compound
No rehabilitation for the whole nation
Surrounded by wilderness
In the thick of bliss
Bars covering up the truth
What's the prognosis?
Secrecy arrives once love dies
Time flows clockwise
Questioning the enterprise
Becoming neutralized
Turning away from the truth I recognize
Personalized, traumatized
Mesmerized by thoughts I overemphasize  
Symphonies of praise
Bring to me no gaze

Tribalism, factionalism
To describe our modern world
Takes only two words:
Despondent reconciliation
Across the whole nation
Affirmations can't solve stagnation
Rather be a ******* crustacean
Watching as the world lacks declaration
Manmade abomination
A search for civility led to hostility
"Our way is peace"
"Follow our law"
Same agenda, a different vocation
Sitting on the side exclaiming:
You brought your own damnation
Yelling for compensation

Concrete
Concave
A con of all
In a carnival
Hollow has no equal
A thrill ride with no sequel
Wait a couple of years, rebooted
Those who booed it will soon salute it
Extended from the mind into beautiful ruin
On a beautiful day
We all tell beautiful lies

Peak from the skyline
Out into the open atmosphere
Oxygen arrives
All I see
Pink in the sky
Beautiful essence
Taken for granted
Stop.
Stare at the beauties
Plural
Much more than just one
It all has a charm
Ball of furious fire
Romanticized endlessly
Sure, it may all be particles
Atoms in motion
Only if you suppress your emotion.

Love is essential
What can it manifest as?
Desire or joint love