When it rains and pours,
Thunder galore.
Is when I feel at home.
Most safe beneath the world's gaze.
Lightning strikes around me,
Thunder booms above,
But I've never been more content.
Than in the eye of Thunderstorms.

Free since 1776.
If you're a white man.
Land of the free
And home of the brave.
Black men and women property until 1868.
White Women silenced until 1920.
African Americans silenced further until 1970.
White men free since 1776.

Land of the free.
So free kids can bring weapons to school.
So free that black kids are shot for NOT holding a weapon.
So free that women can't make medical decisions without white men's approval.
So free that people couldn't marry who they wanted until 2015.
White straight men free since 1776.

We've only got one thing right:
Home of the brave.
Brave enough to continue to fight for a corrupt country.
Brave enough to fight for basic human rights.
Brave enough to stand up for what is right.
Even when the cost is their life, your life, my life.

it is not 'failing' you see,
but instead more like taste testing...

I tried it, I gave it a chance
I put forth effort yet
No matter how many times you taste the same ingredient over again
If you do not like it that fact won't change.

I used to believe that my life,
would be like a choose your own adventure book.
Where I would make a decision on page one,
and multiple throughout my chapters.

I have found that life is less of this chapter book,
and more like the board game life.
You draw a card every round but it's always predetermined.
You do not make choices on every page but five or six the entire game.
Job or school?
Risky or safe?
Family or continue?
But those cards you draw you are stuck with.
The bad ones and the good.

In hindsight, you do get something from what you cannot control.
100k life bucks, but is it enough?
Not when you're no longer playing on the board,
but living your own life.
You do not get the reward at the end to see who won.
But life lessons instead.

As much as I wish life was a choose your own adventure,
it seems more like a game played as a child.
If my life was like one of those books though,
I hope at the end of my book,
the choices I made lead to the best possible me.
Since there are no life bucks and no winners in this game.
I hope my life is worth it in the end.

The world is on fire.
The world is underwater.
If the world is ending,
I hope it does soon.

If the world is ending,
Why are we still moving?
Why go to work or school?
Why continue to live this same day
over and over and over again
just for it to be the last?

If the world is ending,
I want my last day to be known.
So I can sit in the sun, hammock,
and pretend I am having fun.
If the world is ending,
I do not want to continue this in vain.
And if the world ends,
I hope humans cease to exist.
Maybe then the Earth can be Fixed.

I wonder how long the world will last.
I wonder how long I will last.
Because we all know.
The world is ending, and fast.

What is it like to be woman?

We hold power.
But we also hold fear.

Power of distraction.  
Fear of rejection.

A man may never understand
That on the way to a predominantly male scene,
We plan our argument.
In case we are disregarded because our *******.
In case they look at our little brother to answer questions
About our own cars.

A man will never understand what it is like.
To be told to wait til you’re married.
“Your husband might want kids.”

A man will never understand what it is like.
The fear ripping through our veins as we walk alone.
Especially at night, our keys between our fingers ready to strike.  
He will never understand what it is like.

To be a woman.
To be female.

And a woman will never understand what is it like.
To be a man.
To be male.

Freshman year:
"Creepy-Crusty Freshman"
We thought we had it together,
but everyone else knew.
We were just beginning,
We were separate, naive and secluded.

Sophomore year:
Forgotten students.
Not ready for college
Yet not a new baby to coddle,
We were simple floating and following the beaten path.

Junior Year:
Most stressful endeavors
ACTs, SATs, AP tests
Do good they said,
Prepare for senior year,
"It goes by fast"
So do this and do that, but don't do that.

Senior Year:
Apply for colleges!
Don't be late! Meet the deadlines!
Senioritis.
We wanted it to go by fast and they said it would, and it did.
So fast that our last day was March 16th
Instead of May 22nd
We had no idea that we would never say a proper goodbye,
that we would never throw our caps to fly high,
that we would never dance to tacky music for the last time at our 'senior prom'
We had no idea what senior year would be.
But we now know what it was not.
It was not easy
not simple or complete,
straight-forward or whole,
Not ordinary and certainly not fair.

2020 Seniors did not get a senior year.
We did not get open houses for the masses,
Or graduation with peers from our classes.

In kindergarten we were told to stand tall and speak up, and chin up. Make friends because they'll be with you your whole school life. One day you will cross the stage with them.

But senior year we were told to be quiet, wear a mask. Stay inside, don't say goodbye, good luck on your own. You'll graduate alone.

Then
Luscious and green
Pine, oak, maple, and more
The best ever seen
Lilacs, sunflowers, and daisies galore

Beautiful


Now
Pollute, Pollute and Pollute some more
Baby turtles dying
Because of man-made stores
Consumers still buying

Corrupt