Joseph Childress

I face
Worst case scenarios
On a day-to-day basis
I basically live it
Though stern and livid
Most of the time
I tend to get timid
Too much decision making
In tumultuous situations
Besides,
I’ve been waiting for a vacation
Tedious work becomes insidious
To the inside
After a while
And my wild imagination
Becomes destructive
If it doesn’t get to play.

Joseph Childress

Construction
Some people
Put
Their worth
In the hands of others
Let them
Decide

Others fight
Off
With words
Or get
Disturbed
By interruptions
In class

Why reply
With what I believe
Are the makes
Of I
When it’s
Construction
Is still
In progress

The finished
Monument
Will stand
Before all soon
And no one
Will question
Its greatness.

I thought I saw an Angel crying,
Up there within the storm clouds.
Her tears falling with the rain,
Her sobs hidden by the sound of thunder.

I thought I saw an Angel trying,
So hard to understand those she protects.
Never seeing in the folly of so many wars,
Wondering why there is the need to fight.

I thought I saw an Angel dying,
From the lack of emotions down below.
Her heart torn by the hatred being formed,
As she felt the love flowing far away.

I thought I saw an Angel flying,
Soaring up on beautiful wings.
Because she was never giving up hope,
For she knew we still had far to come.

Joseph Childress

Soft words
Are usually preferred
During pillow talks
Foolishly
I foolheartledly
Brought hard words
Harsh
& Disturbed
Which
Hardily makes sense
Since
Your sentiment
Didn't deserve
The sediment
Provided
From my concrete heart
I argue
Our argument
Was all my fault
I dumped asphalt
On the sandy beach
You provided
For our sweet retreat
You retrieved
My roughness
And smoothed
The edgy conversation
Tamed my
Toughness
And soothed
The painful consternation
You could
Ease the temperament
And impatience
Of anger management patients
All the while
Showing
The peacefulness in his
War within
Finding righteousness
In his right to yell
You respect
His freedom of speech
But with each
Negative comment
You seek
To find
The positive content
In the layers beneath

You see the beauty
In the mess
Like an abstract painting
Made for the
Artistically elite
My poor sense
Of creativity
Is lifted
From your richness
I dropped
Destruction
But always
Pick it
Back up
Like bad habits

Rehabilitate me this
Last time
And I promise
I’ll never
Cast a shadow again
I’ll shine
In every way
I direct my attention

Hopefully
Its not too late
But knowing you
My lateness
Will be welcomed
Like a homecoming
You seldom
Look at my faults
And not find
Greatness

I love
You
Don’t care

In-diff-er-ent
Isn't paid
Much attention
In my apartment
We’ll
End-if-her-rent
Isn’t paid
In our
Department
But who cares?

Separation
Doesn't
Always cause pain
And pain
Isn't always
The cause
Of separation

We just
Happened
To drift away
Like
Messages in a bottle
Off the coast
With no intent
Of being found
Our lonely islands
Are crowded
With shadows
Of friends

We forget the darkness
Because at least
We no longer
Burn each other
With our angst
And anger

We remember
Everything
Except rations
Of ourselves
We left
Like t-shirts
And underwear
Tangled
In each others
Laundry

Then throw
Them away
Find them
Another day
in the exact same place
We excavated them
The returnment
Of our undesirables
Show fate’s
Sense of humor
But
Only a stubbornness
Such as ours
Could devour fate
And disavow
The vows
It set out
To make...

We
Will
Never
Be
Again
Never
Again
Will
We
Be

Sums
Up the sum
Of each halves
And the total
Is something
The totaled
Hearts
Can live with...

I cant wait to show
My contempt of court
Contemplated much more
Thank lord
The latter was chosen
I swear to him
My swears wont be as
Offensive
As the unmentioned
Alternative
Of this present contemption

My hand told lies
Like prosthetics
As it handled the bible
Like an oath
It would take
If it weren’t for the one nation
Under god
Underdog
Dodging the law
Of the land
Biting the hand
That feeds him

Hunger strikes
Like a match
Thirsty for air
The explosion of emptiness
Fills the stomach
The feels
Become more ill with each filling
Like mercury deposits
Positioned
From molar drilling

A mouthful of ailments
Spewed across the room
For the judges consumption
But the cancerous banter
Spread like foreign bodies
And the jury took injury

The whole world
Agrees
You’re the most hated
Alive
The “not for long” followed
Like the gavel
As it swallowed the courtrooms
Silence
A sentence of death was relayed
Without a period
Of contemplation
As my great contempt
Of court
Is overshadowed
By the ******
Committed by a jury of my peers
Reenacting
The passion of Judas
While I’m crucified
In the name of my father
By men who shoot
The messenger

Remember me at my worst
And my best
Will always inspire
Death is not as bad
If you can give a few truths
Before you expire

Each step
In common sense
Makes you more
Like the rest

Moment’s uncommon
Can become commerce
If you’re immersed
In what it’s birthing

Unearthing
Un-earthlike belongings
On your person
Is illegal
Only in the laws of earthlings

Case in point
Anyone can chase and point
The obvious, obscure
Object erected
In what once was a pattern

But to shed a lantern’s light
On each instance
Is a dim-witted decision

The whole picture
Is much larger
Then man made flame’s
Can harbor

Alters
Are needed
When Altars
Are constructed
In place of
Church of thought

Irking’s small as these
Have potential to be
Crusades on uncommonalities

The worst casualty in war
Isn’t death
It’s birth
Death ends
Birth has potential
To grow into something worse

History dictates
The future’s fate
****** masquerades
As bright ideas
While ideal massacres
Take place
In front of our face

Who chooses
To be the flaw
In this perfect picture
Of hell
And shed true light
Like halo’s over
The well

I warn you
Or whomever
Should play womb
For dissent

Society’s mob
Makes martyr’s of those
That fight the current

Headless
Portrays an ironic display
Of the punished
Mindless crowd’s “Hurray!”
In the kingdom
Of dumb kings
And followers led astray

We
Against the world
Whose truly
The underdog
When the power
Collected
Once connected
Is strong as
Einstein's intellect is
Atomic Explosions
Can knock
Earth of its axis
Tragic
As Allies v.s. Axis
World War Two
As the world wars

Two of us, Just the
Justice, Just us
Just is the only reason
For breathing this season
This isn’t even
Surprising
The way we rise higher
Than the sun in summer
Some are confused
The way we fuse together
Regardless of the weather

Whether autumn falls
In August
Our arduous tasks
Seem to leave
Like leaves
Once we’ve changed hues
Exchange whose
Fallen
As we climb
Scale mountains
And reach a level
It’s peak
Wished it could reach
The climate change
Doesn’t phase
What it doesn’t know
The snow below
Forms as the wind turns
Winter
Looks at us green
With envy
As we exchange hues
Plush meadows
Lay vast across the plain
Simply put
It looks similar
To the vane
Looks as we stare
At each other
To share vanity
And make it fair

The stars
Watch from above
At this pair
That showed the earth
How to love
Regardless of despair

Last night I had the strangest dream
An Angel came and took my hand
She opened her wings and we flew
Forever high until we reached Heaven
She showed me to another world
Unlike the world far down below

Children played, black and white together
All races and creed walked side by side
The lion walked with a baby lamb
A little three year old girl giggled
As she rode on the back of a white wolf
Up above I could feel the sun shine down

I saw John Lennon and Bob Marley laughing
John Wayne in talks with Buddy Holly
A mouse and cat played gently together
This whole world was a marvel to see
No ocean but fish swam in the sky
Dolphins swimming next to the sharks

The Angel turned and she spoke to me
"Please do not judge our God", she said
"Those little children tormented to die"
"When down below in the world of yours"
"Will be reborn here and be at peace"
"For God can not stop the evil below"

I understood, for all the bad that we see
Of people who suffer and the things we do
God will never tresspass in our dormain
The souls will be reborn in this perfect place
To begin anew and to always be protected
Away from all the hate and bathed in love

I awoke and wished I could still dream
And I knew I would return there once again
When the right time came for me to go back
So until then, I will walk in this place of ours
Knowing that Heaven is now waiting up above
While down here we are all living in Hell

I closed my eyelids.

a unique space-time I've
created. A new world with I
               and you,
and in it we're us;
pseudo pagans
               adjust
in my multiverse of could-have-been's
wannabe's and forget-me-not's,
there's a million wormholes back thru

it's a glittering new world
where we're happy forever
               (embalmed)
present-perfect continuity
we'll never need to question or worry
               of it
because it'll be ours to [edit]
a spiritual instagram. sorry for the link.

I'm a believer.
our story is brick-bound & pyramidal
it's worthy of true realness
I'll never let that faith fade.

and all I have to do is stay asleep
seal myself, artery by nerve, in this bed.
eyes closed but moving underneath
               (forever)
and here I'll lay; 1,000 years on
entirely petrified. a fossil of trust.
everything/everyone I had known - gone
               forever.
fleshy eyes, solid as stone now. Blissfully
(always) unaware of their end. No matter the time,
my (      ) still eternally & happily
               in dream.

The darkest night eclipses the brightest stars
Eons in solitude
Addled by a sky steeped in navy
Ships with no direction
The soul drowns
Sinking deeper by the hour, by the minute, by each passing second
As it is engulfed in the tar of a languid existence,
There is a vision in spirit awash in a burst of light
Luna bathes all who see her, who trust her
As the darkest soul, full of dreams undreamt
Is blinded by light's quintessence
Yet, at once able to see the truth that is now exposed
And with eyes wide open, naught but a glimpse was caught
A glimpse of an angel

Joseph Childress

Concrete benefits, nature of the jungle
Cities and suburbia, survival of the fortune
The owls growl now, no more asking “Who”
The town runs wild, the eye watches the jungle

Abstract revolution, power of the people
Mafias and militia, conquering division
Rebel of the mind, hands still chaining
Gangs grow larger, conquering the people

Misogamist marriage, fatality of the lovers
Polygamists and virgins, electrically connected
****** innuendo, pushing and pulling
The pace moves quicker, bindings of the lovers

Unthinkable thoughts in the valley of a dream
Inventive venting on impossible creations
Utopian physics,  disavowed in the matrix
The strings vibrate, the theory of a dream