When there are profits to be made
the corporation's will sway
politicians to the warring ways.

When people believe
there is more to be gained
from war then from peace
more to be gained from bullets, bombs,
body armor, commodities, and unmanned planes
then it will always be easier
for the sick, slick, and sleazier
war profiteering *******
to trick this submissive
population into being dismissive
of the artists and other peace makers.

When there are many takers
big spending capitalistic money makers
instead of scientists, poets, singers, and songwriters
it is almost impossible or at least improbable
that we will live to see a free and non-warring society.

But if we can change a few minds at a time
if we can see change expand from me
to you and beyond
Finding such influence expanding exponentially
that is when we will see
a better world waits for us
if we can change enough.

No lie can live forever
Cause liars always die
Leaving the next generation
To waddle slowly to the truth
Letting honest hearts free to fly high

There were times
I believed the lines
Of songs that said
There was love for me

Hoped that there was
Some happy family
That wouldn’t dare
Strike me
But would care
And accept me

There were times
When I wrapped myself up in
The illusions
Of religion
Thinking
Perhaps hoping
That god would stop the pain
Coping with the strain
Of trying to sustain
A positive personality

There were times
When dreams
Could carry me on
When anger made me strong
And I still had some hope

There were times
I knew my mind
Knew who I was
But the world spins
Times keep changing

And the old me
I don’t know him
I’m just a strange river
That keeps flowing
Sometimes shrinking
Other times growing
But never stopping
Just going and going
Wherever the times take me

I cannot feel free
From being tightly trapped
Tethered to my safety
Safely sequestered
From the dangers
That I once enjoyed

Like looking backwards in a car
Seeing the past flash by
Seeing nature fleeing
Instead of rushing towards me
Watching the night sky
As I lie in the back window
Each twinkle a small pleasure

Like a midnight bike ride
With very little light
In the night sky
Seeing bright white lights drive by
Temporarily blinding me
Pupils constrict
Then dilate again
And I see like the cats do
With minimal moonlight

Like loving someone
And finally asking them
If they want to be more then friends
Heart racing breath waiting
For what might be pleasurable
Or devastating

With pleading eyes
Skin bruised
And reddening
Wet bedding
From tears
Or a little ****
The little boy proclaims
You should not want me

With purple lips
Bleeding thighs
Lonely hell scarred eyes
Fingers nails black and bitten
The young girl cries
You should not want me

With twenty years
Then twenty more
The time worn
Character
Knows
Despite the light
That others show
And being that they
Are mostly slow
They will not want him

Till in time
Each story finds
The final end
To a lonely life
And the only lover
That always wanted them
Was time and the rotting

We were supposed to be stoics
Standing tall and stiff as boards
Working hard till the shift is done
And don’t let anyone
See us weak
See the tremor when we speak
See the droplet form
See the weight of life
Shake us till we cry

We were supposed to be tough
But when friends die
When our children cry
When loved ones leave
We cannot always be
That ******* macho

A man could use a hug
A man could use a kind word
Sometimes we need a tissue
For each issue that makes you break
Takes a stake to your heart
Crushes us, crashing through to
The fragile being inside
The macho man can break
Just as easy as any mother
Baby brother, little sister, or other
After all we are only human

You will not watch the videos
Of the police brutality
See the finality
Of their violence
Blood spilled
Another man killed
Spine severed or choked out
Swearing and pleading
Crying I can keep breathing
And you can’t stand seeing
The darker truths
So you turn it off and walk away

You will not look at the pictures
See the children gutted
Cities busted by bombs
Clusterfucks of killing
Legs split open
Jaw ripped wide
Eyes glazed
You are not phased
Because you turn and walk away

You do not hear the hungry child crying
Or see the woman bleeding from the beating
Of one who claims he loves her
You are not disturbed
Because their sobs remain unheard
And the bruises and broken bones
And the cold broken furnace
In that ******* broken home
Doesn’t mean thing to you
Because you can’t see it

Well, I hold those horrors in my head
Plant painful points of ink
So you will be forced to think
Instead
Of ignoring
Cause it is to agonizing or boring
I write it down so it can be found
But the truth is that you will
Mostly likely ignore all the horrors until
They become the reality of someone
You love

Someone told me
My poems sound like they're
Written
Two hundred years ago
By an incomprehensible lunatic
To which I can only reply
"Whitman or Emerson?"

Watch the withering wax work workers
Plastic people who barely move
Barely groove love to lose
Not knowing what they are choosing
Just smoozing and boozing
Darts, beer, and harder shots
Then it’s hangovers and back on the clock
What a shock
The cycle goes
Work and party
Work and party
Work and party
Till the hardy
Cannot swallow another shot
Till time cracks the clock
And all that they got
For a lifetime of work and parties
Is an open coffin

My love was the darkness
Sitting beside me
Promising nothing
While softly chiding
Saying that we will walk
The shadows together
Not forever
Cause we are not that clever
But in the moment
As flickers in eternity

Oceans part each stolen heart
forgotten boat with wooden oars
that never hopes to revisit their shores.
Waves running to catch nothing
reflect the infinite star lit sky.

Lovers leap to their watery death
risking on a feeling for something they left;
A sparkle, a dream, some sort of remembrance,
hope that love will finally give us
the peace we were always denied.

Because our love wanders lonely
sand in toes exactly where who know,
singing sad songs somewhere on the other side.

The beauty that held me hostage
Was scaled dreams
Fire breathing armored wings
Green eyes glowing in the night
Green fire
Green streaks across the heavens
The beauty that held me hostage
Was a vicious predator
Ripping its prey asunder
Limbs and bones crunching
Chomping violently
Nipping at me closely
Turns me ghastly almost ghostly
To know such beauty
Could be the end of me
All it takes is one misstep

I dreamed of sharks, spiders, and vampires.
Scary things,
dreams that tricked me into
overcoming my fears.

I dreamed of space and oceans
vast expanses that trudged
the depths of darkness
tethered to my loneliness.

I dreamed of having grand adventures
while being chased or flying free.

But in the best moments
I dreamed of love
and you were there
floating inches away
lips never touching.
Hands intertwined.
Hopeful and inspired
In my own dream time.