up
B-re-- a]k \i\ ng  
Is hard
.


She asks me, “Why?”

Then comes the   L     o         n          g                  

pause.



I don’t have an answer for her
I think I do…
I don’t want to say
So I just stare
At her teddy bear,
Lying there
On the cold tile floor.

Its on its back,
Arms and legs spread

Like it’s  f  
                   a
                     l
                      l
                      i
                      n
                ­     g
                  
    Into a dark void,

        An unfathomable
                                     \             /
                                       \          /
                                         abyss

I don’t even know if it’s a girl or boy
But its stomach is bulging…
Is it pregnant, or does it have kidney disease?

Perhaps…
It is reaching the bottom of the pit,
Where falling victims meet poison-tipped s-p-e-a-r-s---

Maybe…
The bear is removed from time, captured in a still photo
[Paused]
During the moment of  impact
When…
Its life flashes before its eyes
And the spears begin to penetrate and pierce through its back,
Tearing, first, through the worn outer layer,
Once touched by loving hands
Then…
Stabbing through the puffy cotton insides,
Where a heart should be



   And          there
    The bear lies
       Without
      Any hope
Or    reason    to
       Live. It’s


           life



And I can only watch
          And feel
As this poor creature
Goes through its unbearable
                  Pain…

Of suffering, of dying…

On the inside,


I have no answer

Every day…
We walk

Every day…
They ring

        
***            ***
             ***                    ***
     ***      ***
      ***…      ***


Through the auburn haze of fall,
The piercing chills of winter,
The misty spring mornings…

The stubborn sound waves drill through the air,
As we trudge, scurry, and mall-walk.


***            ***
             ***                    ***
     ***      ***
      ***…      ***


Sometimes, I feel like they taunt me,
As I race to class--
My mind going faster than my body…

    s
    t i m e
C         r       ile            
   la  t  e           HomEwoRk!
      sses
           s


I can handle it.
At least I think I can…
Take it bit by bit,
Become more of a man


***!


For now, I just have school to deal with


Bummm!


And the reverberations of stress
Echoing through time


BUMMMM!!!


Oh, the bells of Doane College…

Merrill will never stop ringing

The master’s chain, a spider’s web
Leaves only stems
Bug trapped and taken
Then the fall comes
The bronze anchors drop
And splash into frozen water
Carrying the ship with them

i’m a nuisance,
warm to the touch
yet I’m bile,
releasing pungent fumes
reeking of filth
recognized but avoided
nothing
****
excretory waste
always
left behind

I moon at the trillions of twinkling lights
Scattered within an endless space.
Through holes of a blanket, they shine in the night

To fathom these ancient beings, so high
Is a custom of ours, a meager race.
I moon at the trillions of twinkling lights

We’ve pondered and gazed, so moved by the sight.
We’ve mapped and journeyed upon our world’s face.
Through holes of a blanket, they shine in the night

Seeking knowledge and truth, our minds take flight.
In time, perhaps, we’ll match their pace.
I moon at the trillions of twinkling lights
Through holes of a blanket, they shine in the night

It’s okay, we’re all the same
It’s money, power, and pleasure we crave
Do you want to play the game?

Just climb the golden ladder of fame
And defeat your foes with deceitful waves
It’s okay, we’re all the same.

Fun, it sounds, and thrilling its frame
To feel the rush of a rewarding haze
Do you want to play the game?

Come along, jump on the train
Go rung by rung, and others, don’t save
It’s okay, we’re all the same

The corporate sneers and stressful strains
Are benefits until the grave
Do you want to play the game?

Please, come and join the fun and pain
What’s real to us is not a daze
It’s okay, we’re all the same
Do you want to play the game?

The sounds are waving within and throughout my being –
They soak and seep below the skin and skull.
Into my brain, the blood infuses the hull
And breaches the mind with melodies so freeing.
Reverberations vibrate downward, beating
In time with cardiovascular booms and tolls –
A throbbing pulse, like stomping hooves of bulls
That charge through streets, to chase the fleeing
People of Spain – an adrenaline rush
Injected by vein, the song of reality.
If senses fail, will truth be cast away –
Released from the shackles of needy minds? I’ll hush
And listen and cry inside this fallacy
In sorrow and joy, I will sing and embrace the day.