Give me back my joy
That once seeped out of my being.
Its long soft tendrils
Brushing and stroking tenderly
At those who passed by.
I always turned secretly
To watch them smile
As they kept walking.

I want to look at everything,
To do everything,
To think about all of it,
The same way I used to;
With your glowing face
Woven into my mind,
Radiating between the etched patterns
Of my memory.

I used to wake up everyday
And breathe in the love I felt for you,
I used to ****** it
From the golden sunlight
That had bounded through my window.

Lately,
I’ve been going to bed in the dark—
No,
Lying awake in the dark,
Wishing you loved me
Again.

I had a dream
That I was
Back at mom’s again.

She was walking
Around the house
Talking and smiling,
Catching me up,
On the neighborhood gossip,
As if nothing
Had even happened.

She brought out
A tin of muffins,
Blueberry,
As good as ever.
She said she would
Make more,
And started to get
Out the ingredients
While I stepped
Into the bathroom
Real quick.

But when I saw myself
In the mirror,
Things started to
Make too much sense,
Like how this was
Our old bathroom,
And we don’t
Live here anymore,
And it all started
Slipping away
Like dreams often do.

--Jack Singer

If you ever feel uninspired,
insignificant, meaningless,
or small…
just remember this:
you,
are cosmically awesome.

when you step out
into a silky night
of shimmering moonlight
beneath an array
of glittering stars,
a billion glowing orbs
a billion lightyears in the future
are waiting patiently
to look at you.

think about this:
nobody ever
has perceived existence
the exact same way
as you.
nobody ever
has had your same
thoughts.

don't you see it?
only you
have the power
to do what nobody else
ever has.

the gods shout your name
with every breath of wind.
listen to them,
look deep inside yourself,
and realize
that you
are
amazing.



-Jack Singer

Take a step
Where you never have before.
Take my hand,
Let me show you
What it’s like out there.

You and I can explore
The darkest reaches
of the cosmos,
The most colorful places
of the universe,
The strangest too.

Things that your imagination
Never could grasp fully
Like a coiled snake wraps its prey,
But only touched fleetingly
Like a seal gliding through
Layered folds of icy waters.

Our feet will tread
softly and silently,
Falling on scintillating walkways
Of balancing galaxies
Floating
Just beneath us.  

On all sides the stars will glimmer,
White and orange
walls of our corridors,
The nebulae glistening,
Like crystalline clouds
of pure and rare jewels.

Do you doubt me?
I can understand that.
After all,
who has ever

Been able to reach out
And with cupped
and outstretched hands,
Cradle it,
hold it out to you,
The absolute meaning
Of this existence,
Right before your eager face.

The warm light reflecting
Eerily phosphorous
and luminescent upon
Your cheeks,
electrically pale in the blue dusk.
Your gaze so unmistakably sparkling
With that touch of joy,
That juvenile smile
of innocence and wonder.

And what is “it”
After all?
A glowing ball of pure energy,
Molten like lava,
Shifting and liquidous and flaming,
Mercurial and lustrous?
Would it tell
of the hot and violent beginnings
Of this warped and wicked world?

Or is it a shimmering
Field of dancing ice,
Silvery and reflective
in the light of a newborn dawn.

Would we know it
If it danced past us,
Every single day
of our mundane
and daily lives?

Or has it in fact always been there?
In every last leaf
floating upon the breeze,
In every little detail
Of a spider web
Dripping with dew,
And we’ve just been too busy
To stop
for even just a moment,
And notice
It.

--Jack Singer

It takes a while,
Sometimes,
To remember
Where we put
all the useless parts
of our messy lives.

We often find ourselves
Sifting through
The scattered notes
Of forgotten songs,
Or searching extraneous facts
And useless information
Acquired over the years.

These things are scattered
Like old laundry
Strewn across our imaginary floors.
They’re left to clutter our heads
Like crumpled pages
Smudged with scrawling letters.

Each day brings more pieces
To keep track of,
Dates fast approaching,
Names that must somehow
Match the random faces,
Appointment times
And places to go,
Directions that wind through
the tangled streets.
Visions of places
We’ve lived in all our lives,
Visions of places
We’ve visited once.

And don’t forget
To make time
To eat,
To shower,
To use the toilet,
To drink water,
To exercise,
To get ready for bed,
To set your alarm clock,
To ******* sleep.

It’s a wonder
That we don’t see more people
Falling off
Or losing control
Of the madness.

Even stranger when we see those
Scurrying frantically to and fro
like nervous rodents,
Their eyes wide and concerned,
Their claws burrowing furiously
As they try to neaten up
The chaos.

I never understood those people.

Sometimes memories
Fade faster than
Whispering wisps of smoke
Rising from flickering candles.
Others tend to hang around
For a while.

But don’t think about any of that right now.
As far as I can tell,
We only have this one life
So why sit there and stare at the rain
Running down the glass?
Go outside,
Take a look around,
Let It all amaze you,
This place, these things.
Laugh and shout like a child,
Don’t be so **** afraid
To get a little muddy.
You can even track it
Through the house
If you’re really feeling daring.

You’re here to enjoy yourself,
To discover this strange place,
So quit wasting time and get started.

--Jack Singer

She was birthed
Roaring into the world
From the smoldering
Clouds and debris
Of a solar supernova.

The Solar System
Wailed with the effort
Of her labor,
Crying and moaning
Fumes
Of toxic ashes
As her surfaces
Slowly coagulated.

At first
The molten lava plains
Of her magma
Sizzled
And shifted,
Bubbled
And stewed.

Spinning,
Turning already
On her axis,
Her cooling crust began to
Take shape,
At first
Sticking
Randomly

Together
But
Later
Clumping
Like
The fusing skull
Of a budding
Fetus.

And her bright
Pink
Flesh cooled,
Shone
No more,
Replaced
By black scabs
Of brutal scarring.

Storms
Of acidic poison
Raged in her skies,
Gaseous clouds broiling up
From openings
On her scorched
And pockmarked
Body.

Oceans flowed
And they washed
Over her skin,
Cleansing her,
Elevating her to salvation.
Waves crashed
Like powerful titans
Capable of bringing
Our little world to its knees.
They rescued
Her warped form.

Groaning she rose up
Gloriously
With the act
Of greeting
The Sun.
The new and white
Star gazed lovingly
Over her child’s horizon,
And the infant,
Wiped freshly clean
Of her burning mother’s
Cosmic afterbirth,
Opened her baby blue eye
And smiled back.



--Jack Singer