Darkness is a jungle
A twisted dying land
Its soil is our actions
The blood is on our hands

But if you travel through
The darkness of your soul
A new-found understanding
Will make your light side whole

Neglect it at your peril
Ignorance is its might
But a careful cultivation
Will let in the light    

      Tame your darkness        
         Or it will devour us all

Coming all ages
A horde of minds
Riding on the dust
Of society
Brined

Thoughts and ideas
Canned in jars
Fermenting for ages
In abandoned
Bars

Drink the vinegar
The flavor lasts
Of old innovations
And dreams long
Past

Lick your lips
**** your teeth
Letting history hide
What lies
Beneath

Dressing up in starlight
Mingled with the mess
Of all that that's good and wholesome
Finely coifed tress
Look at me and wonder
Where I came to be
Don't fear the lovely lady
Marvel at what you see

We can only feel smart
By comparison
Even if the comparison isn't real
So we filter reality
Like our eyes are the mouths
Of Baleen whales
And our ears
Are covered in cheese cloth
Then mold what comes through
With the spit in the corners
Of our minds
And craft
A wet dripping pile of
Proof
That we are good
In the gaps
Of other people's failings

Do you really know me?
Or do you know the self
You created
Out of clay
And paper mache?
Forming a joke?
A caricature?
That's so beaten down
They're afraid
To rip apart
The lies
And come forth
Like a babe
Anew?
Fresh and gleaming
And free?

I hurt
But part of me hides
Leaving me to carry the burden
Of trauma untended
I should respect that
But I'm the one left
With the garden
Among the weeds
That they refuse
To ****

Am I writing this poem
Because I have something to say?
Or because I feel the need
To get a certain amount of words
Down before I stop for the day?
I think it's a bit of both
Clawing my brain
To scratch it just right
For arbitrary rules
That wake me at night