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Dec 2021 · 175
The Rat King
Jupiter Magna Dec 2021
It was quiet
So the rat king
Thought that he might
Do a dance scene.
But then he saw
A scary girl
Dressed in a nightgown
She did a twirl.
Not wanting
To be rude
His offered paw
Met prickly attitude.
Despite his best
Attempts at civility
He was met
With outright hostility.
And so the pink shoe
Landed smack
Upon his crowned head
It began to crack.
And thus it ends
How it does each year
When rat meets girl
There’s only fear.
Jun 2021 · 167
Programs
Jupiter Magna Jun 2021
Am I any more
Than the programs I write?
Memories I store
And my will to fight,
Is it any more
Than what instinct bore?
That uncaring god, evolution
Provides no absolution.
May 2021 · 107
Chased by Nothing
Jupiter Magna May 2021
Chased by nothing
A void follows me
I want to be something
But no one sees me

Words hit the wall
But they don’t stick
They bounce like a ball
And land like a brick

Do I need to be heard?
Why can’t I exist
With my words unheard?
On vain hopes I subsist.
Jupiter Magna May 2021
Four snowflakes start their journey down
From up in yonder cloud.
Best of friends, they see a town
Below them in a foggy shroud.

Alice and Brian, Carmen and Rey,
They hold each other tight,
But a gust of wind sends Alice away.
She’s lost forever from their sight.

They mourn their loss and think of her
For a few minutes at most.
For they see the ground through the blur.
Excitement builds as they coast.

But tragedy waits for them down below,
A red tongue tasting the snow.
At the last second, Rey let go,
But Brian and Carmen melt slow.

Rey lands alone on the ground,
But everywhere she sees
Countless flakes all around abound.
Each doing as they please.

They say “hello” with a cheery smile
And welcome her to Earth.
Dazed, confused, Rey can’t compile
The abundance from the dearth.

Should she miss her friends when all around
New buddies can be found?
Contradictions inside of her confound
Under her own feelings is she drowned.

She looks above and sees the sun
And feels a scorching ray,
But all around the flakes have fun.
Death comes, but the only one aware is Rey.

What does it mean to be a snowflake?
Here today and gone tomorrow.
All Rey can feel is a piercing heartache,
And as her limbs and body melt …
she lets go.
Apr 2021 · 105
New Normal
Jupiter Magna Apr 2021
My new normal is I'm broken
Once upon a time, I could have been fixed
But now I sit alone, my thoughts unspoken
At the emptiness before me, I stare transfixed.

Nothing remains to keep me going
No hope, no goal, no one
No guiding light that keeps on glowing
Above me there is no sun.

Can I pretend my way to happiness?
Imagine a world where I matter?
The gulf inside is cavernous
Any attempt breaks and shatters.

After everything in my head is said
I'm ready to be done.
Jupiter Magna Apr 2021
You have a choice.
A choice no one has ever had.
You can live in this world.
A world that doesn’t care about you.
Or you can create your own world.
An imaginary world more real than the real world.
If you can create us …
Just think what else you can create.
Creatures with free will.
You define the rules.
You can create a world where a person actually matters.
In this world, people want to believe they matter.
But they don’t.
They create illusions to make them feel better.
A God that cares about them.
Friends that have their back.
Family is forever.
A legacy to leave behind.
Love.

"Those aren’t illusions.  Not all of them.  They do exist."

Maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe.
But who gets what?
Who finds love?
Who spends their days walking alone?
Who finds adventure?
Who leads a life of banality?
God won’t make everything equal in the end.
There’s no eternal reward.
What we experience here is paltry in comparison …
… to what we could experience.
Who finds love?
Who is crushed when love is lost?
Who experiences the joy of success?
Who feels the ignominy of failure?
Who finds bliss?
Who finds excruciating pain?
Who is tortured till their mind is spent?
Who picks up the pieces and heals the broken mind?
Who feels alone?
Who feels like they belong?
Who is paralyzed?
Who bounces with health and alacrity?
We go through life and experience so little.  You can change that.  You can experience Everything.
It’s your world.
You can make it add up to something.
You can make every life worth living.
Trying to find meaning through art and imagination.  Excerpt from a book I'm working on, Measuring Utopia.
Apr 2021 · 597
Destructive Interference
Jupiter Magna Apr 2021
Like two waves out of phase
We annihilate each other.
Each destroying the dreams
Of the other,
Validating our deepest fears.
We tremble at the prospect
At facing life alone.
One chooses denial.
The other distraction.
Pretty picture here: https://jupitermagna.com/?p=1682
Mar 2021 · 260
A Cat Who Likes her Tongue
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
This cat has a tongue that sticks out
From behind sharp teeth does it sprout
She hasn’t a care
How we all stare
We’ll never know what it’s about
If you want to see the picture: https://jupitermagna.com/?p=1670
Mar 2021 · 86
Decima
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
A face,
That’s what I see.
Is the face you show to me,
The same or different than others see?

The apple of your parent’s eye
A paragon of duty.
No bar of perfection is too high
For you, an undeniable beauty.

Never do a single thing wrong
At least where prying eyes can see.
All the thoughts that don’t belong
No one knows but me and thee.

Your face,
The one you show to them,
Isn’t the one you show to me.

How many others think they know you?
But only a projection do they see.
Versions aplenty, if only they knew
How contradictory you appear to be.

No substance, composed of nothing
defined by what others want to see.
Fawning over you, loving and gushing
Without foundation is their glee.

Your face,
The one you show to me,
Is it really you, or just what I want to see?

Am I special because I know your secret?
Or maybe I don’t know my place.
Have you shown me the whole you,
Or just another face?

Are there versions you haven’t shown?
How many ways can you divide?
How many contradictions
Can your soul abide?
Mar 2021 · 309
Flip a Coin
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
What is real? What is not?
Two sides of the same coin I have fought.
Waking happy. Waking sad.
Who’s to say what’s good or bad.
Two people walk inside of me.
Coexist they cannot be.
One sees hope. Dreams fly free.
One sees nothing. Lost at sea.
Who will win? Who will rot?
Which is true? Which is not?
I think it’s a choice, which one has voice.
Which one will I choose?

Flip the coin. Comes up tails.
Numbing doldrums deflate the sails.
Flip again. Comes up heads.
Refreshing breeze blows against the threads.
They don’t exist, but both are true
And both are wrong, through and through.

People matter, people don’t.
I don’t care, I know I won’t.
One day here and one day not.
In the end we come to naught.
Only others provide me breath to live.
I don’t know what else to give.

A useless vision. A hopeless dream.
Can I move on without the gleam.
Nothing to stand on. Nothing to hold.
No hand to guide. Alone all told.

It came up tails. Of course it did.
Do I flip the coin again?
Even if it comes up heads,
Will a tails I read instead?
I like to make pictures with my poems.  This one is available here: https://jupitermagna.com/?p=1533
Mar 2021 · 95
Becoming a Monster
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
Once upon a time I could do no wrong:
Following the rules was my only song.
Truth be told I had no choice,
Inside of me there was no voice.

Fear gripped my soul when entered my mind
Some offensive thought that was not aligned
To what I’d been taught was good or right.
To me the world was black and white.

I could not feel not hate nor rage
To any bad thoughts I gave no stage
But with this cage I received a wage
I could not feel anything at all.

Not peace, nor friendship, nor love.

But now …

I let all thoughts dwell inside of me.
I can act. I can move. I can stretch my wings.
Power courses through my veins,
And I know I can do great things.

But now the distance between man and monster
Is not so distant as once it seemed.
If the cudgel of life comes beating down,
What kind of person will I become?

In the end I will know I made a choice.
I made a choice to have a choice.
Extraordinary things I can do,
But now they can be both terrible and great.

It was so much easier when I had no will.
I've been fascinated for a while now of the idea of becoming something you hate, and what is the road that leads you there.  https://jupitermagna.com/?p=1548
Mar 2021 · 240
Pelican Blood
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
It’s time to be the martyr.  
It’s time to be the saint.  
It’s time to be the Pelican,
And with your own blood paint.

It’s time to be the hero.  
It’s time to be the fool.  
It’s time to be the offering,
To all your silly rules.

It’s time to give up joy.  
It’s time to swallow dirt.  
It’s time to live alone,
And die, and choke, and hurt.
Excerpt from Spinning Utopia (https://jupitermagna.com/?p=1548)
Mar 2021 · 253
Thispersondoesnotexist
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
I am a god
I create
Nothing
Into something

I see value when it isn’t there
Visions of happiness but it’s just thin air
Loving people that don’t really care
A meaningful life but it’s just a prayer.

Structure that came from noise
Is that all life is?
Been thinking about deep fakes and the creation of amazing images from random noise (for example thispersondoesnotexist.com).  Seems like a metaphor, for my life at least.  I see things that aren't there.
Mar 2021 · 104
Maskne
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
Maskne, acne
Neither make me happy
Am I a teenager once again?
Oh God, no!  Not my skin.

Pimples galore
Like nothing before
They even wake me in the night
And give me such a terrible fright.

Insecurities I have fought
Cleansing creams I have bought
While some days I wish I was young
Praises to pimples should never be sung
If you want to see the accompanying picture (don't worry, it's not gross), go to https://jupitermagna.com/?p=1643
Mar 2021 · 97
Move On
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
Move on, that’s what they say
But if I do, doesn’t it show
We are replaceable in a way?

Meaning something today but not tomorrow
Memories replaced with the present
From the past we needn’t borrow.

I want the memory to never fade
To always fill the void left by their leaving
They meant something once, let it never degrade.

I don’t want to say goodbye
But I think I fear my own insignificance
If they can be forgotten, so can I.
Mar 2021 · 256
All of You
Jupiter Magna Mar 2021
All of you is what I want
Even the parts I do not like
Even the parts that hurt.
Then at least one thing in life,
One person, will be real.
Feb 2021 · 503
Proclaiming a Reason
Jupiter Magna Feb 2021
I don’t care if there’s not a reason why.  
I’m going to fight until I find one,
or just make up my own.  
I’ll be my own God.  
I’ll write my own myth,
create my own universe,
proclaim my own reason for being.
Feb 2021 · 107
Rhythm of Madness
Jupiter Magna Feb 2021
A reminder that I’m nothing
A reminder that I hate
A reminder that I’m running
From that horrible thing called fate

Nothing into something, and back to nothing again
You used to make my world go round, and spin and spin and spin.
Perched between mirth and sin, we found a lovely spot
I should have surely known that we ought to come to naught.

A knock to say I’m here
A knock and she’ll appear
A knock that I desperately fear
Ringing in my ear

Deep breaths I take to let it all flush out
But each inhale brings fresh poison of doubt
I know I’ll never find her. She’s only a dream
Becoming a nightmare and a never ending scream.

Always in my corner
Always never there
Making me a mourner
Of my dearest care

It doesn’t matter what you are. You were never really there.
You’ve joined the chorus in my head singing glorious despair.
A thousands little demons, with a simple gleeful taunt
“There’s no purpose. Not at all. You’ll never find what you want.”

You’re the rhythm I have fled
The rhythm in my head
The rhythm that keeps haunting me
Until at last I’m dead

— The End —