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Nolan Willett Apr 2022
rather be wacky
and tacky
than your
average lackey
stuck in khaki
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
ā€œPerhaps one did not wish to be loved,
So much as understood.ā€
Iā€™ve never fully understood anyone,
I doubt theyā€™ll understand me,
And thatā€™s ok,
It might just not be meant to be.
Nolan Willett Oct 2021
A lovely tree, so carefree,
In serene tranquility
With it I would spend my night,
And let come whatever might

Red-yellow leaves, sparsely wreathed,
Life into the air it breathes
Dying breaths, it pays a price
Gives its solemn sacrifice

Itā€™s not fair, youā€™ll soon be bare,
Most will not even care,
At least for now, your leaves so bright
Make for such an enviable sight.
Lazy lines for a lazy day, 2019
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I would not like to meet my future self
He can not be as nice as my past one
Nolan Willett Mar 21
Look around, itā€™s all the same
Numb to love, and to fear
Everything, just a game
Cannot even, shed a tear
The worlds intent, to crack you apart
To stomp your feelings, cut out your heart.
Where is peace, where is serenity?
Where is hope, and where is empathy?
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I had a dream I lost my voice
And could not speak to anyone
My isolation was not by choice
And of recourse I had none
Nolan Willett Feb 2023
Patterns everywhere, but what to foresee?
Thereā€™s Innumerable things to compare,
This OCD: a familiar bee, another tree,
If I only had the key,
Could make everyone aware,
Iā€™m sure they would agree

Uneven roads,spilt coffee
How loathsome, how unfair,
All these patterns seem to be.
So many things to see;
And now whatā€™s over there?
And what does it mean to me?

Their meanings flee;
Ignoring every prayer
From this humble devotee.
So now here is my decree:
Iā€™ll renounce, forswear,
Over and over, plea and plea,
ā€˜Til someday it lets its hold from me.
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I would like to meet my true potential
I donā€™t think heā€™d be so provincial
Iā€™d like for him to be influential
Maybe even presidential
And life would not be so abysmal
Hedonistic ways not quite so sinful
To friends and family essential
Words not so banal and artificial
But instead heartening and meaningful
Nolan Willett Apr 2020
I keep a notebook,
For when I have ideas,
Someday Iā€™ll write them.
Hopefully
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
In ancient unenlightened days,
There came a man whose triumph wouldā€™ve laid
Foundations for a better world,
Our inner compassions unfurled.
For we thought we found a holy seer,
To rid our lives of all our fear,
To tell us what to say and what to think
What to do and what to drink.
He did his best,
I can attest,
To warn us of that one,
Who would see all our progress undone.
Indeed, many in our history have been
Told what constitutes sin,
Left with a hurtful scar,
By one who never wandered very far.
And our true messiah saw
This prophet for a gaping maw,
Another of the tempterā€™s tricks,
A man whose touch could heal the sick.
For he loved God more than most
But found him in the cosmos,
Our divine provenance,
Rooted in collective consciousness,
Not an oath to take or die
Or a being to mollify,
Nor any kind of credo,
But an universal ego.
Heeding logic over gullibility
He recognized the liability,
One who would see them die for naught,
And stray them from the insight they sought.
But in trying to break the cycle
He heralded its arrival,
Enshrining the sun,
Of the cursed three-in-one.
He made a martyr
And thus followed generational slaughter.
Promising sacred haven,
Causing war and famine.
For deceivers are known to appear as savior,
For them there is no pleasure greater,
In casting down the righteous,
And rendering them mindless.
And so millennia could have been spared
From some cruelty our kind have shared-
So long and so onerous, never ending-
And our pityā€™s rending.
The earthā€™s inhabitants coalesced,
No longer their souls oppressed,
Saved from prejudice,
Alas, poor Judas.
Sorry I published this a couple times I had to fix some things and I like it so
Nolan Willett Jul 2020
If we could see our destinations,
We would not trouble ourselves with the journey.
Nolan Willett Jul 2020
Everything happens for a reason,
Reasons are plentiful
Nolan Willett Jul 2020
Reminisce, sweet bliss:
The lasting worth of
A summer nightā€™s kiss.
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
If youā€™d like me to,
I would change my world view,
Iā€™d lift back up the veil,
And learn to see in Braille,
I would cut out my tongue
And leave some songs unsung,
Iā€™d go to bed at a reasonable hour
And adopt some face that isnā€™t sour,
Iā€™d work a nine to five like the best of them
Till the lights inside go dim,
Get a little overtime,
Follow the established paradigm,
Itā€™s not so big a deal,
So I will make no appeal,
Iā€™ll put on a suit and tie
And wait my turn to die.
Nolan Willett Jul 2020
Blood is thicker than water,
But blood dries and crusts up and stains
And inevitably turns a dull brown,
While water flows forever
And wipes the stains away,
And when it dries itā€™s only a matter of time
Until it rains again!
Nolan Willett Nov 2019
Coal dust, pressure-diamond,
Blue men, horse people,
Pretend weā€™re Cincinnati-an
Some old Baptist steeple
Appalachia,dying slowly
Educashion, all flunk
Accent, speaking drolly
Moonshine whiskey drunk
Class traitor, transgression
Fly-over, fat food
Pensions, Matt Bevin
Impertinent, cancer brood
Capricious, whimsy seasons
Quaint house, rusted down
Leave, many reasons
Stay, familiar town
Nolan Willett Apr 2020
I had an interest in archaeology,
Sorting truth from lie,
ā€˜Til I realized those remains,
Will someday be you and I.
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
By springā€™s birth I will disappear,
Till then and only then Iā€™ll last,
Amidst thriving plants and trees and fears
Oh, what an ironic contrast.

It would scream ā€œHe is an artist!
And we should have loved him for it!ā€
And I would remain untarnished
When I lifeā€™s pains and joys outwit.

Truly, it is miraculous,
The content and sublimity
Reached choosing to be impious,
Resolved to anonymity.

The wind ceases, the snow subsides,
The sun shows its duplicitous face.
Time has come, now nature provides
Artistic end to this snide race.
Nolan Willett Jan 2020
Dusk and Dawn,
Back-Streets and Alleys,
A portrait halfway Drawn,
The center of a Valley.

I like the In-Betweens:
Those things which have begun but not Ended,
Where things are not always what they Seem
And our belief is Suspended.

A jagged Mountain grasping for the Clouds,
Not quite there but well into the Sky
Like a prisoner Unbowed,
With a jailor to Defy.

The boring, uneventful Days,
Which alienate and leaves us Whirled.
Manifested, tangible Displays,
Of the Space between the Worlds.

Life is the greatest Halfway,
Itā€™s not so long a Route.
So I will resolve to Stay
To see it all play Out.
Nolan Willett Jan 2022
Pessimism, itā€™s been done before,
and nihilismā€™s quite outplayed.
Itā€™s the latest to be a pleasant bore,
than gloomy and cliched.
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
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And no one can judge
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
I have learned how to smile through the rain
How to glimpse all the bright lights in the dark
You cannot be harmed when you love the pain
And you yearn for more which to embark
I feel the cold winds again start to blow
The sun hides and I can see my own breath
Freezing, blinded, and not from all the snow
But I no longer fear impending death
However tomorrow, or next year goes
I will not be content to hide my face
In spite of everything, my passion grows
And I will never give up on the grace
Seasons change, cold does not last forever
Thereā€™s no such thing as worthless endeavors
Sonnet
Nolan Willett Oct 2023
Colorblind, you see in mournful grey
You speak of all you rue,
Commiserating, I try to say
For you Iā€™d paint the skies blue.

You think yourself invisible
But you are heard, you are seen
Know your fears are divisible
Try and let the grass be green

Quiet your incessant mind
Erase everything they said
Think of all your ties that bind
And donā€™t let your blood run so red
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
The door has been opened, the curtains lifted
That which is unseen now I see
And though through my life I have drifted
In woeful ignorance of its majesty
Itā€™s beauty unknown to me
My soul is now uplifted
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I remember things in an order that is strange,
I canā€™t quite seem to arrange,
Middle, beginning, and end.
I think Iā€™ve gone ā€˜round the bend.
Nolan Willett Oct 2020
Iā€™ll be your Dracula,
You know all Iā€™ll need is your heart.
You be the wicked witch,
All you will need is a hooked nose,
ā€˜Cause you already cast your spell on me!
Nolan Willett Jun 2020
Small steps,
Cover more ground.

Quiet voices,
Make more sound.

Peaceful weapons,
Draw more blood.

Ten million drops,
Unleash a flood.
Nolan Willett Nov 2019
They have forced me to the cliff,
And I am on the verge,
Now I must choose to jump,
Or my true self must emerge.
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
My disposition dour
My mood sour
My hopes far
My writing sub-par
My love unfulfilled
My benignity killed
My despair unrivaled
My hate unbridled
My dreams lost
My fingers crossed
Your ignorance solidified
Your blushing brides
Your taut careers
Your abundance of fears
Your loving families
Your dogmatic homilies
Your sole provision,
Your myopic vision,
Your happy world
Your credulity impearled
Lost to the material world.
See past the illusions ā€œif the fool would persist in his folly he would become wiseā€
Nolan Willett Jan 2022
If one is inert
And ten is a breakthrough
You and I, in concert,
Add to a beautiful two.

If red is progress
And yellow is obscene
Us two, coalesced,
Somehow craft a verdant green.

With the earth above
And the sky below
Iā€™d make a pretty dove
And you a peaceful doe.
Nolan Willett Oct 2019
We are the empaths,
Othersā€™ burdens fall unto our shoulders,
Solaced because we deal with the aftermath,
And it is our hearts that smolder.
We feel eternity,
Suffer every blow,
So they may know equanimity,
Our own desire forgo.
It is no condition to be envied,
Something no one should suffer,
Too soon it leaves you feeling empty,
And the reverse of what you once were.
Selflessness begets selfishness,
We are left hollowed out,
Left now to our self-interest,
Because for so long we went without.
Nolan Willett Apr 2020
Some few are immortalized for millennia,
But how long is millennia, truly,
Compared to when time began, newly
Forged, to the time where we
trace history to Mesopotamia?
Could it be?
That we are fools to seek peace of mind,
In the things we may leave behind?
All will be forgotten and fall into nothing;
So please someone tell me,
Why our names should mean something.
Nolan Willett Aug 2020
Poised to succeed
In all of your dreams
You have the support
And the means
Endured a painful trek
Metamorphosed from a disdainful wreck
But youā€™d rather be something else
Than a large paycheck
All the agonies
Pursued through wistful blasphemies
Have led to naught
But a sorrowful eucatastrophe
Because you have bills due
Things to live up to
Itā€™s wishful thinking
Wanting to paint the skies blue.
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
Evil isnā€™t caring more about yourself than others
But tricking others into caring more for you
Than themselves
Nolan Willett Jan 2022
Everyone you ever knew
Is really just a part of you.
Nolan Willett Jul 2020
Truth, what a grand prize,
Truthfully, I think truth is lies.
But I wear a stark disguise
Of being mesmerized, hypnotized
By all that people idolize,
of what the righteous advertise;
But truly Iā€™m demoralized, unsocialized,
Thoughts practically mechanized,
Belief has been excised,
potential unrealized,
And my spiritā€™s been vaporized.
One benefit to being ostracized:
At least I canā€™t be radicalized.
Nolan Willett Oct 2019
Reading in the library
With hair all aflame,
Everyone else looked the same,
But she seemed quite contrary.
I think it was Thoreau she had open,
A proper transcendentalist,
Like a lost soul missed
With some words left unspoken.Ā Ā 
It took just a moment to leave me in awe,
Of the sparkling flame,
Who forever in my mind will have no name,
Just someone I saw.
Nolan Willett Nov 2019
My tongue could never keep up with my thoughts,
And I stutter.
My thoughts could never keep up with my ambition,
And I falter.
So it just makes sense my works will forever be untitled,
And I shudder.
Nolan Willett Jul 2021
The wind howls today
Like it could spur me away
I will root myself
Nolan Willett Dec 2023
Canā€™t escape yourself
Mind, a twisting labyrinth
Loops in on itself
Nolan Willett Jun 2022
With the taxing Heat,
The cold-blooded sun,
In my mindā€™s eye I see our last meet,
Right before it all was done

You had a high potential,
Was unsure of its worth,
Now connection is tangential,
With everything on earth.

Persistent follies, teachless,
Sense & sensibility, notional commodities,
Consistently speechless:
Canā€™t explain your own philosophies.

And whatā€™s more,
In that wild imagination-
What do you think youā€™re looking for?
Self-actualization?
Positive disintegration?

You said you want to travel,
Youā€™ll never leave anyway.
Youā€™ll let yourself unravel,
And live from day to day.
Itā€™s so plain to see,
Just how you will regress,
How else could it be?
Living in that excess.
And in the scorching heat
Youā€™ll be left dried out,
I bet youā€™ll overheat,
Consumed by all that doubt.
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
I love the words that I read here
The ones that you leave spoken,
Your hopes and loves, doubts and fears,
The thoughts you write upon being awoken

Offering perspective,
Through a page, to see your reality,
Concocts a connection:
The power of empathy

Old, young, the chained and the free,
And especially the pariahs,
Whose words read to me
Like a personal Messiahā€™s

I read them from my bed,
Words of comfort, words of woe,
I suppose I could just leave it unsaid,
But I wanted to say hello.
Nolan Willett Aug 2021
The past is not defining,
And the futureā€™s a distraction;
So living here and now,
Is such a prudent action.
Nolan Willett Jan 2021
I donā€™t get lonely
Or, if this is loneliness,
I much prefer it
Nolan Willett Nov 2019
Iā€™ve been called a freak,
And Iā€™ve been called a creep,
But all Iā€™ve ever done is love,
And a romantic ideal seek.
Iā€™ve been called a sinner,
And Iā€™ve been called a drunk,
But what alternative do I have,
When all my hopes have been sunk?
Iā€™ve been called a loner,
A pathetic person,
That my disposition,
Causes an inevitable aversion.
Iā€™ve been told Iā€™m repulsive,
A disgusting human being,
But I very much doubt that you,
Have seen what I have seen.
So call me what you want,
Call me what you may,
For me it doesnā€™t register,
All the words you have to say
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I wish I could find
The correct words and sequence
Of them to explain
myself.
I.T
Nolan Willett Sep 2020
I.T
A simple solution
To all the worldā€™s problems-
Have you tried turning it
Off and on again?
Nolan Willett Jul 2020
Ask yourself why you doubt,
Why you fear and cast about.
You are heading the right way,
Who cares what others say?
You have no concerns to allay.

What will be will be,
All wisdoms do agree;
Like a lion and a roar,
A soldier in a war,
You will do what you are made for.

ā€œI am not afraid; I was born to do thisā€,
Your actions are not remiss,
Nor for nothing,
But for everything:
A singular meaning.

Write, and do it well,
And love until your death knell.
Mind your well-being,
Bitterness is unbecoming,
The world is on the upswing.
Nolan Willett Jul 2021
Everyday, strive to be more real,
Silencing thoughts, youā€™ll begin to feel.
All your life, denying your innermost
ā€˜Til you winded up a ghost;
But youā€™re materializing,
Corporeal, stabilizing,
Life beckons you outside
Patiently, though it knows you died,
And itā€™s so cruel, and mean, and so unfair-
but shake those platitudes from your hair,
Lace your shoes, forget your blues,
see if you can change your views-
Remember, youā€™re never someone new:
Rather, you slowly become more you
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
A lovely tree, so carefree,
In serene tranquility,
With it I would spend my day
And let come whatever may.
I donā€™t have much else to say
Today:
Just leave me be, by my tree.
I think I see something in the bark and the leaves
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