whenever I was feeling a bit too
content
comfortable
cocky
I took great pleasure in watching some of my favorite war stories
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers
Apocalypse Now
Gladiator
Black Hawk Down
Generation ****
Full Metal Jacket
Come and See
and others
and if I was particularly up in the sky
I'd watch more like
V for Vendetta
Lord of the Rings
Gravity
Alien
Elysium
Rogue One
Interstellar
Jurassic Park
and The Walking Dead
and soak in all that individual suffering
and drive for survival
and quickly fall down to earth
but somehow also be energized
for the plight of the stories
was not as bad as my own
and I was not as strong as they were
yet even if just a little of that strength
rubbed off on me
inspired me
transversed the air between the screen
and my eyes
through some still unknown
knowledge osmosis process
I could make it
even if everyone else around
wouldn't

I allow myself the expensive hobby
of dreaming in this such economy
I dream I can start a company
and make it work
and it's a topic I love
and I get paid more for my work
with such money I buy even more
useless stuff
short term experiences
more collectors of dust
I dream I can even buy a house
and debt is not a problem
and I have room for me
and all my dreams
in each of the rooms
and even room for you
someday
ah, yes, I also dream of you
perhaps an old-fashioned
meet-cute
as we grow in love
I dream I resist the urge to yell
"what took you so **** long"
I will not dream so much of destinations
but of the freedom to travel
to see friends and family more often
no longer constrained
by the price of luggage
and available dates
and the ticking climate
in my conscience
that it's too late.

there is nothing more motivating
than a (mortal) deadline
and suddenly I am like a fighter jet
who has a lock-on by enemy missiles
and is desperately trying
to release all those countermeasure
flares

the phantom pain hits me
and I remembered when I did
long roadtrips across Europe
in each separate roadtrip
there was always a cost to Tachi
(the blue tesla purchased with pokemon cards)
it was a flat tire
or a scratch in the paint
or hitting the curb and bending the bumper
or a crack in the windshield
or the rims slowly grinding down
as I tried to park
there is always a cost
to traveling
and to get where I was going next
I had surgery and left something behind
not quite as paint
but deeper than that
and now the phantom pain
reminds me
I have more to go
and still a lot
to leave behind

I sit comfortably on the sofa
with the toaster strapped to my face
lights flicker through the leaks to my skin
a psychedelic spectacle unfolds before me
the so called vrchat rave scene
we all don our costumes
mine being a dope cat
with a beanie hat
holding a joint and slurry
the events are never ending
overwhelming
on this friday night scene
I join the first, it's been a while
but there are more avatars around
there's something comforting in knowing
I'm not the only one here.
as the DJ set begins
lights and particles bathe us all in
they drum to the sounds
like sand in the desert
and big footsteps vibrating
I raise my virtual paw
I can almost feel it all
as they move back and forth
crossing me like a ghost
the other avatars, shy at first
gradually
start dancing
the previously only visual piece
translated to human energy
the furries, the catgirls, the normies
all optimized avis
so we don't crash ourselves
chatting and listening and
experiencing
a shared obscenity
that is this simulacra and simulation
which is simultaneously
comforting me.

I see you care for nothing
as nothing cares for you
it's payback time
if only it were true
I never understood the appeal
of haikus
so this will continue
right on through
until you are shaken
to the core
and hopefully awakened
more than expected
in this all nighter I'm pulling
to get the point across
absence, by definition, is lacking
can you, by recognition, acquire it
without realizing how such magic
you are refusing to tap in
is self-made as well as densely paid
with a few euros worth of effort
that you discard already anyway?

i'm a beautiful sculpture of a cutiepie
hunk of a powerful figure of a man
carved of mcvegans, french fries,
asahi beers, kinder maxis, ciabatta
sandwiches, popcorn, lemon-flavoured
pepsi max, macadamias and pistachios
green and red wine, occasional carlsberg
(folköl), aglio e oglio, snickers bars,
salted lays, bashmati rice,
and cheap frozen pizzas from Willys
bought ten minutes before closing time