Nobel pieces
First place slot
Hard workers deserve those
Or so I thought
How long have I been faking?
Movie always in the making
Center stage
Should I gauge success?
Never truly felt impressed
All on the shelf, trophies of trophies
At the cost of a fee...

The light
It burns!
Why do people like this?

I'll get a life
Where can I find one?
I've chased a dream spun by folly
Fate is not cruel, it is my own psychology
A soul cannot be satisfied by numbers
For those at the summit
Jump off to the base
Peak to perish, garish to cherish
Consecutively nightmarish
What face do I perceive?
Is this really me?
Caught up in the feckless and reckless
Ignoring all the life
I have wasted over time
Was my time truly mine?
Or am I a slave to bloodlines and deadlines?

CEO?
"Not a real job"
Manual labor?
"Go get educated"
Stuck between two boulders
With no strength to lift both

Back again
For a hangman's gambit
Will today be the day
Where my blood runs cold?
For the apathy surrounding me
Infects me to the bone
Becoming a drone
The atmosphere, help me, please
So thick with pressure
It strives to choke me
Going for broke, is this a joke?
Things fall apart
But, like this? In a fit of mischief?
Seems to happen so frequently
Makes me wonder
When will it come to me?

Infinite
Eternal
One lives forever
The other is known forever

Learn to survive
Discover how to live

Placed on a pedestal
Eyes on you, reticle
The words from your lips
Become objects, remembered by many
Yet forget who spoke it
Put onto a stage
Everything becomes a haze
Parade for the savior
Festivities for the mentor
Who came up with one idea
Which they didn't even like
Falling from grace implies never being disgraced
Idea, object, turned to a phrase
Until they move on, then set it ablaze

Structure brings stability
Yet it chokes creativity
A hero's journey
Tell me which is more human, you or me?
Bowing down to ideals
Mixing up what is real
Shining bright in the light
Until you see them in the shadows
Enclosed in weeds
Exposed by greed
Until they decompose
All they will do is bleed
Freed from need
Proposed to flee

A piece of nature
So natural
Behaving supernatural
Cutting down genius with a sickle
Fickle rage for temporary stages
Bringing relief and tears behind the scenes
Primal, urge for survival
How are animals thought to be reliable?

How can one brain
Ponder the existence of living?
So many humans on the Earth
Yet most are a predicament
Easier to break than breathe
A melody with no reprieve
On auto-pilot to prevent the riots
My eyes see through
But the vision is twisted, I feel distant
These eyes, they realize, the truth of demise
How can I act surprised when the truth is inside?

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?

Parasites of peace
Thrive on conflict, past turmoil
Modern banal spoils

There are good people in this world
Amidst the marionettes
Wielding bayonets
Destroyers of sunset
Consequences that cannot be offset
Amidst a cold sweat
Pacing around a threat
Easy to forget
The world burning like a cigarette
Amidst all our debt
A duet, ancient and unfurled

Easy as pie?
Harder than fudge.
Difficult to come by:
A judge with no grudge

Cast to the river's depth
Punctured on prevalent pieces
Stone and flesh come to one
Commander has fallen
Leader’s reign comes to an end
Not by human hand
By chance
Roll fate’s dice
Taking up the mantle
Emotions soon dismantled
Feel like an imposter
Invading a title I never deserved
Everyone’s got their doubts
There are many routes
Down to the grave
Avoiding grief at all costs
Last time I led
Looked for bodies not men
Time taught me
Chance is the way of life
Brace the spirits of the men
Recognize the wishes of the women
“Welcome to paradise”
Who’s paradise is this?
Not one I pursue
Slung around wrists
Cold metal I was raised in
Leading brought me trouble
Now I end where I began
On the wrong side of life
Corrupted mind
Purified heart
It’s all I can muster
Fresh out of luster

fading
faster
happy memories
pushed out
in favor of lesser replacements
is this what it means to live?

Do good and good things will come
Who made such fabrications?
Nations are not built on causation
Those at the top see no effect
Treating currency as friends because of no affection
Frustration builds and liberation kills
All we know how to do is 180 rotations
As our hope gives way to aggravation
Our names will never be remembered
As we break like dolls from an altercation
Isolation grows, burning like insolation
On a road of trampled corpses
Will we finally learn the simplest lessons?

Why waste time?
Hoping for better years
Oh, please
Issues remain the same
Beasts can never be tamed
Too long
Steeped in disappointment
So it's time to just accept:
Pain can't be fixed on the clock, appointment.

Is it me?
Or, is it just me?
Struggling garbage
Something broke inside
It is different each time
Tough times rot the core
Never able to weather the storm

Not for fame
Nor for glory
He does it all
Because he can.

My skin and bones
Left to the dogs
Stripped clean
Of freedom and flaws
Because now, none of it matters
I breathed in life, now I am a life
The reaper called my name
In gentle reassurance
Searched for purpose, years wasted
Now it is clear, the truth I have tasted
Anxiety dissipates
Life is now what I generate

Shot
Bruised
Sliced
Broken
I refuse to give in
To my limits
I wish to go beyond them
Mom
Dad
Thanks for believing in me
You're why I proclaim
To this day
I am still a hero
Good and evil vary
But a hero...
Always saves the day
I can't be the one...
...To change that!

Nothing stays the same
Even when it's meant to last
If the opposite is what you proclaim
Look inside at the change you have amassed

Once we say hello
Time shall progress
Until one of us
Falls down below
For the flow moves so slow
From a memory
To
a
tableau

Being humane equates to permanent pain.

Remember when life made sense?
Care never knocked at the door
Doorbell is broken
From the high dive
Reality cannonballed
Now everything is twisted
Mangled from the start
I'd like to understand it all
Let it be for now, but...
Can I still swim away?
When my arms
Don't want to exercise
Tired from the trials
That set me up to collide
Into havoc and mundanity
I remember when life made no sense
Everyday.

He was a fine child
But, no longer
He killed and hid the ruler
And asked God
"Are you with me? Or am I a fool on the mountaintop?"
The wind howled
But provided no answers.

Dividing eyelids
To prevent worse violence
Relent, no more room to repent
Attempted wine, they call me Dionysus
Attempted drugs, they fear me, crisis
Identity or economy?
Pulled from the same ***
Tried that too, brought me dreams of rot
Always looking to escape
From a life forced on me
Free to exercise the right to live fondly
Question: where is the exit?
How can my life be free when the choice isn't present?
Ignore my presence, at your own disgression
Knowledge is a cure for ignorance
But in the pursuit, watch for the suits
After my treatment
All I desire is gone, for good

Why must I be so downdraught?
Is it the ash in my hair?
Malevolent people?
Ego bigger than a steeple
Calling me sheeple?
Can only be a sheep with a shepherd
The only one we have is predatory:
Leopard
If life is soon to be a myth
Will we be regarded as legends?
Or just a speck in the universes' blessings?
Cosmic blink
From the eye of the divine
Since I was nine
I knew my existence could never be defined.

Hive of humanity
Bursting with vanity
So many bees
Always debate about the queen
Bloated
Plethoric
Excessive
Depressive
The state of things
Brings tears to me
Yet distractions give comfort
While the sky burns red
Quite oxymoronic
Never a sight, never more iconic
"Too big to fail."
Said the Roman Empire
Now we walk on their remains
Cleansed by fire
Puppets with no clear puppetmaster
Strings attached, who is the owner?
I see why people become loners
Donors of patience
Only have enough time
Before the world corrupts and detains
After the discourse halts
Who will remain?

Children hate adults
Adults deny children
The root of all evil:
Envy with no solution
All sides despise when the other thrives
Jealousy makes envious the ones who deny being free
Let me paint a picture on a smooth canvas:
Children want more than mere satisfaction
They want to adventure, create, and stay far from irate
Adults venture, prostrate, and gate
With the same events, day-by-day
It's a wonder how any love to stay
Squandering potential
With the mental fitness
Only an obsession if it makes no cash
Otherwise, a hustle, all of it is sad
How can adults defy the false guidelines?
Lines on the ground dictate our rarity, devoid of clarity
Placing our rewards on the mantle
To justify our pulse, an equal intake relation
No more salvation
Adults crave freedom
Children possess it
So we squander their development
And put it up to the elements

Knock on the window
No one heard
From deep inside
Too immersed
Guests aplenty
Where was my invitation?
Possibly
This is a wake-up
Ten years too late
Choices I've made
Pile on high
Try to get close
Yet by the end
Driven further along
Went from a name
To a thing
What did I do wrong?
...
What if it was never a fault
To take as my own
Faithful without a cause
Shot in the dark
No bullseye today
Every day is an attempt to learn
Today...
I've learned in the world
Signs of indifference
Showed me the difference
Between friend
And loose end

Standing on a cloud of smoke
Orange light floods the sky
Around me is nothing
But something...
Something is still here
An owl
Tall as I
He has a name
But I can’t remember
Playing was all he cared for
It was what he lived for
I waved to him
But he did not wave
Instead I saw
His piercing eyes
Soften
Suddenly cried
Another light surrounded him
My eyes cried as well
He is gone
Yet from the clouds
Onto my feet
Laid a doll of an owl
I picked it up
Hugged it tight
Placed into my pocket
Carried to the very end
Now today I see
Where my heart landed.

We want peace, no more war
But, pawns already in motion
Kings are established
We never got this far
By bowing down to a tsar
Yet, a journey needs an ending
Closing act, here comes the facts:
There are no epilogues
In this world, you're done, leave it at that
Leaders play Chess
Soldiers play with toys
One embraces strife
The other sends away life.

Strength of a lion
Soul of a saint
Wish I had both
But all I do is faint
Can't handle existence
Even though I exist, I feel transparent
Look through me, see the fear within me?
----------------------------------------------------------
Ot­hers see men as men
All I see men as are wolves
Men and women alike
To be human is to be in a bubble
Blind to trouble, avoider of struggle
Chasing after pleasure by running over heads
The scales have broken, balance bespoken
--------------------------------------------------------­--
But, am I any better?
Never initiate the imitator
All you get is replication
Let these words fester in a letter
For to remain deranged is to be estranged

Plastic smiles
Surrounding me
Around the world for miles
Falsified liar's glee
You can show off your teeth
But beneath your eyes
I've found what's underneath.

Crackling light
In the shape of a knife
Unexpected, unruly
When it shines
It brightens the world
Yet, in its joy
It may bring harm.

Consider what you are
One who is able-bodied in life
Knows their place
Even when it is displeasing
We may have choice
But not over all things.

The armor is raised
As I absorb the sun's rays
No cracks will crumble
No stabs will suffice
I shall live and die
Stuck in the knight's abstract mind
Pieces fall
Just to build new ones
Even on the surface
Iron maiden guards the heart
Can't guide my mind
When the neurons decide
That the world was not made for you
Now I sit and stare
Man of tin and sin
Whispers, all I hear:
I will never leave you

Awaiting an answer
Keen anticipation
Founded in curiosity
Yet when the answer is known
It is not the truth
But someone else's truth
...
What has happened?

The world
We always strive
To unfurl the confusion
Making it a better place, one where we all thrive
Becoming compassionate survivors
Here's the first step:
Did you say thanks to your bus driver?

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

Taxes
Deadlines
Evictions
Payments to meet
Grocery store exclusive meat
Up to ten dollars
Wish I could eat for free
Like the birds
In the park
Deer
In the backyard
Bats
In the darkness
If only their life was easy too
Gotta think about living
By that, I mean surviving
Protecting family with your biology
No fancy tools used to get to the same end:
Death.
Was it always like this?
Crying over the thought of tomorrow?
May be mature, but I thought it was a gift
The more I'm aware
The more I wish that my mind was bare.

Lionize, demonize
Always on two different sides
Never truly realize
The damage it does
To the inside
Bundle of philistines
I have foreseen the end of me
Not of body, but memories
Much too late to intervene
Ivy cannot grow without a source
But when eyes have turned away
It is too late, only soul remains
Tired of autonomy, praying for a lobotomy

Save the planet
Save the trees
Save the ocean
Yet...
We have yet to save ourselves
Acknowledge our fragile nature
When we cannot accept our own nature
How can we save anything?

Up
On a hill so high
I'd touch the heavens
If my soul could qualify

Oh, you trapped my soul
Locked it in the jailhouse
I came here a man out of time
Today a parasite
Clinging onto the walls
Wrapped around the bars
Stone walls are my friend
Prisoners are my family
Orange jumpsuits for a uniform
Carving the lines into the granite
What time is my parol?
Tastebuds conform to the slop
No one believes my cries
This verdict isn’t mine
I never did the crime
I must have been framed like a picture
Tricked by the trickster
My lawyer was in on the plot
Helped no one but himself
Oh, you trapped my soul
When will the day come
Where I leave behind these walls?
Somedays I think
This is where I belong.

Waiting for a train
That will never come
Left the station
Disregarded the nation
Chance to fight
For peace
Safety
Sanctuary
Denied.
By the one thing to deliver me
Into corruption
Soon to be snuffed out
By me.
Others may not agree
Yet this is how it shall be
Eliminate all
For their empire to fall.

If I became
The king of the universe
Would I care for those who reside in it?
All power, all in my palm
Able to reset everything, to dust...
...
If I had a family
Would I care for them?
If I had a son...
Would I want him to live?
If I had a loved one...
Would I care for their single ounce of affection?
If I had anyone...
Would they care about me?
Can I have a typical life...
If I know the reality of it?

Stars, planets, asteroids, comets
All know their place
So, why am I the stranger...
Amidst a crowd of friendly faces?