This world
Is a place of wonders

Living things
Inhabiting every tiny corner

Each day filled
With extraordinary feats of survival

Each creature
Striving to reach maturity

Desiring to leave behind
More of its own kind

Life
Everywhere
Single-mindedly struggles
To endure
To reproduce
To survive

A celebration of being
Dancing through the fearsome storms
Unrelentingly
Living

It’s Friday again
Another week
Draws to a close

I am still here
And so are you
We made it through to this moment

We can smile
As we relax together
In our quiet home

Ready to enjoy
Some free time
To restore ourselves once more

Is the deck rigged?

Isn’t the planet’s wealth
Controlled by just a handful of...men?

Isn’t the daily race
To grab a tiny part of this wealth
The only race on offer?

Isn't running the race
Exhausting the runners?

Not racing, means losing,
Badly

If only I could grow my own food
Then I could live

If only I could cultivate my own land
Then I could live

But then would I not
Build my own walls
To protect what I had grown

Or would I be willing to share
What I had created

Is the deck rigged?
Or do we rig the deck?

This extra blanket
Lays heavy on my body
Keeping me held down
Not wanting to get up

This extra blanket
Clouds my thinking
Telling me that the brightest of days
Are not worth living

This extra blanket
Is sometimes so weighty
That I carry it on my back
For hours before casting it off

This extra blanket
Cannot be seen by anyone else
Except
Myself

This extra blanket
Is woven each night
By the machinery of my mind
Taking me by surprise every morning

This extra blanket
Is not my friend
But until I understand its origin
I will have to bear its burden

Being who we are
Regardless of what we are
Dancing
Playing
Unaware of anything but ourselves

Hair scraped into shapes by elders
Shoelaces half tied
Faces stained with tears and sweat
Resisting the mould
Until the mould
Creates…us

Society
Built
Fixed
Strong
Surrounds us

We are stones
Thrown repeatedly at walls
Shaped by them
Wishing one day to break through

I am gripping the sand with my toes
Experiencing the cold wind on my skin
Watching the grey undulations of the swell
As I leave my clothes behind

I am at the water’s edge
Striding boldly through the water
Diving under the surface
Kicking my legs hard

Gasping as the water hits me
Pushing forwards into the deep
Breathing hard to survive
Thinking of nothing but the moment

I am out of my depth
Going deeper
My skin burning with the cold
Fully awake
No more confusion
One with this experience

Your face is melted
I try and read the signs
But everything has gone...strange

I am feeling hot
Tired, suddenly
A visitor in a foreign place
Only able to understand
Half of what is being said

I am smiling
Attempting to hide my weakness
Hoping that I can get through
Without being noticed

I want to be alone
But the lights have come
Strobing across my eyes
Tearing my perspective
Like paper

I get home
Walking older than my years
And fall to bed
Worrying
Until the safety of sleep
Takes me elsewhere