Evil is evil is evil is ...
A walking talking entity
And makes so many...
Think that they are meant to be
Superior
So they need an inferior
Race of people they can reach out to
That way they can show the world
Look what I can do
Look what I can do
Look what I can do
Without a single thought
About all the little battles
Of those people who have
So much on their mind
That their heads like a rattle
They wake up in the morning
If they slept at all
Then they hear their head rattle
As they try to get through the day
Dealing with the people who
Reach out  
To be the first ones
First ones first ones first ones
To give them just what they need
And treat them like chattel
And that way they keep the refugees
Down on their  knees
Down on their knees
Down on their knees
As they just keep on losing
Every shred of any dignity
And so they see their kids
And they battle with the rattle
Wander the streets
Of the  ever sprawling Tent City
Thinking please please please
I'm in need yes indeed...
....but not of your pity
Give me something to do
Something to do something to do something to do
Than to be in constant battle
With this rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle...

Amazing how opinions
Suddenly become facts
When the court becomes a minefield
And no one ever backtracks
They just keep on marching forward
Stomping all over the sanity
Of those who have no hope of any reward
For keeping a check on their  own vanity
They don't scream it from the rooftops
They pace themselves like a funeral dirge
Slow and steady till everyone's ready
For the real persona to emerge

Hyperdrive.... man alive
Where the hell did that come from
It was hiding in the darkend corner
Waiting for the time to be right
To emerge upon the senses of those around
Who absolutely positively haven't got a clue
That imagination is not ...just
An abstract situation
Where part timers can go to feel
Some sense of satisfaction

It's a full time job
Where the verbal grenades that you lob
May make a point or get a laugh
Or blow up in your face
But if there is dedication
To the value that you accepted
As a reward
For your part and expanding the mundane
From small talk and small thinking to....
Revelations and education and new paths
To be explored
Where the minefields have become diffused
And reality has become... so confused
By an opinion that has suddenly become
Chiseled into stone
Where you and you alone
Know the combination to
The lock........ You possess
To a strong box
Full of small talk and small thinking
That you are always finding is impossible
Impossible....impossible.....
IMPOSSIBLE.....
   ............TO  DISPOSSESS

As I move along this Jaded biway
Gathering up all the discarded refuse
Of all the people freely moving on
With the scattered discourse of their lives
I wonder if they ever even realize
The wonderous  thoughts that materialize
In the minds - of those confined
To time upon time upon endless time

Let loose through the portals
Of  rubber wheeled time machines
The half consumed french fries
And the other assorted wrappers
From the king or the colonel or old MacDonald
To await the attention of me
Or one of my Band of Brothers
Stripe  garbed  attendants on a social mission
To gather up all that is discarded
Picking up all the pieces for a dollar a
day

Serving my time for some stupid crime
That I might never have done
If I'd been given the job... Like... Perhaps
Picking up trash on the side of the road
And for the feeling of pride - at earning my own

Down that long slow slide
I could not halt
The progression
Born of pain regrets and obsession

Digging in with ****** splintered fingernails
And futile effort
Attempting to slow
By gripping the now
Ripping
Shredz of my fragile ego

Too Proud to scream
Even in this nightmare dream
So in this silence I form an alliance
Hollow promises and Gifts of hopelessness
Adorned with ribbons of scorn
Wrapped up with yesterday's newspaper
That's printed with tomorrow's headlines

As if dismissed
Today does not even exist
And I ..thought
Am I caught
Do I even exist ..as I
... continue the slide
Down into the waiting Abyss
Sliding down and ripping my ego to shreds
Will anyone miss....my memory if
In the moment that is
I don't even exist

Did I....Did I..did I

I could not quell the Manic Panic that grows
In the hollow slide going all wrong
Is that my impending never-ending fate

So that then...when...
Comes that moment of
Clarified acceptance as life
Seen through the murky haze
Of uncontrollable forces

As they become the window panes of revision
And the curtains open
To a  thought suddenly revealed
That what is sealed
Will be what was...

The Catalyst of pain
The gravity of the slide
The Ripping futility of effort
Ripping through the ego releasing true Pride

So to find my own reality my true existence
I push aside the ribbons of scorn Ignoring tomorrow's truth and yesterday's news
Finding my existence by opening the box and looking inside

And suddenly it was as if.....
..... I was born again.

Keith W Fletcher
March 9th 2016


Watching him that first day
He stepped out into sunshine
Stood staring around as if lost
Then took ten steps to stare at the sign
Memorial Hospital was what it read
And I couldn't imagine what thoughts
We're transpiring inside his head

I followed at a distance
To see what his day would bring
No thought of interacting or distracting
Just along with him I would string
He walked along for a mile or two
Just taking in the sights
And I almost started laughing out loud
As he fell backwards staring at some kites

Felt better when he took a  seat
He  just seemed to find pleasure walking
Easily he was distracted
By the birds the flowers or the kites
To these he was extremely attracted
What goes through his mind
This huge hulking man of carved stone
On the third day the sat on a bench for 5 hours

Staring out at the ocean
seeing something....
....something only he was shown

Those  4 days ...that early June
I followed him around...
... everyday

9 a.m. to Twilight's dimming Veil
So Friday morning was - as usual
8:30 a.m. coffee at the Sidewalk Cafe
Then I saw him...
.... standing at the rail!

Once I noticed him
He stepped around and approached
"Excuse me" he said " do I know you?"

"I've noticed you've been following me
But I haven't known what to do
I think ....I think... I have it figured out though"
Then he smiled a smile and cocked his head.

"I'd be very pleased if today you would walk with me
Unless you'd like to continue following along instead

"Although" he softly said " I'd be grateful
To share with you
Each wonderful new surprise
And see the joy on your face
Knowing ...
That I'm seeing it all...
... for the very first time.
Through your father's eyes!"


There are some things in life that are not to be denied
for right then and there I laid my head down on my crossed arms and I cried and I cried until  I regained my ability to talk
While this man stood stood quietly ...solid as stone. Then i said YES it is a lovely day and i would love to accompany you on YOUR walk ..thank you.

Don't be scared
Life is many tiered
Layer upon layer
Is what makes you who you are
And in my eyes you will always be
A superstar
I knew you long before
You figured out who you are...
that needs to be shared ...don't be scared.

How important was it
That makes you say it wasn't
Not that it makes any difference
It does but you say that it doesn't
When will we stop running
When we see there's no road
And when will we admit
The burden we carry is a load

Of crap
Take that
Step back
Doormat
At your feet
Doesn't mean
That the door exists
Or if it does
The key won't just twist
Around and around
Like the very sound
I hear
When we try communicating
Tainted with frustration
All in an attempt
To keep a  relation.....ship
From just passing in the night

So how important was it
That made you say it wasn't ?

Loneliness often
comes
with depression tagging along
as they conspire
to completely unwire
the security systems Within...

Their bag of tricks
has
within its mix
what it needs to affix
unconcerned
with whom it afflicts
or those it restricts
by Monumental repercussions

turning any or all minor discussions
into a world of hurt
where all involved
try to skirt.. the edge
that is crumbling beneath
those suddenly so clumsy feet
until that ring..
..so tentatively held is abruptly dispelled
Bringing
all involved - nothing solved
To a mind shattering halt
With none at fault

Just a slip a loss of grip
to fend for themselves
as they each reach out
To clasp onto
with an anchoring grasp

Desperate to pull themselves up and out where they will gasp
and often weep
While looking on
is loneliness and depression

Patiently waiting
for the outcome to provide
new clients
As  sadly they have come
to a reliance on us
when our stubborn Pride
Undenied ..yet set aside

When we abandoned those in need
in order to succeed
In saving ourselves....

Did we......?

All the color
Drained away
From around
My monochromatic core
Becoming an abstract memory
Spreading
In a screaming ,raging silence
All across.....
....This sad and pock marked floor

In shades of grey
I make my way ...past
The last ....ornamental
Bit of sanity
I find..... before
I slip into the mist
Of uninspired ,hard wired
Usurpers....
.....of all
That lay ahead
Where dreams die
As the ordained
Squeeze hard ..then discard
Any evidencerary consideration
Left
Beyond the veil
Of the awaiting mist
Obscurity wilting away
The ubiqitous absence
That latest wisp
Of wide appeal ...for those of us
Who allow ourselves
To be drained of all color
Amid the abstract disregard
Of who we were in our own way
Conceding to become
unhearlded
retreating ghosts
Of monochromatic grey
Unadorned bits of sanity
Saluting as we pass by
On our own ....on our way
Not even credited
With the abstract decor
Left behind us ....
On the now even sadder
Pock marked floor

As it hears the screaming ,raging silence
As it's echo fades away ,lost ,ghostly pale
Absorbed ....
By the grey mist....
..... beyond the awaiting veil !

Roaming around the outskirts
Of a ghost town in my head
Somethings in there ..that I fear 
Like the others who all fled
I watch all day and listen at night
For the tell--tale sign
Sometimes I hear the hollow thump
Of a heartbeat other than mine
So I know its close
I can smell its breath
As it hovers over my trembling core
So close to death is that load of ****
Each time I draw it into my lungs
And my will is gone....
As I am drawn
Back to my weary watch
Of the ghost town in my head
One by one they all walked away
When they saw I chose **** instead
Of those I used to love.
Shhhhh... Did you hear that?

Call me a dreamer
Because I believe
Things can be better
Then what we achieve

Call me a dreamer
Because I'm inspired
Believing I can pull us
Out of the pit we're mired

Call me a dreamer
For not giving up
When all that I see
Are things being corrupt

Call me a dreamer
Believing there's hope
That we can crawl back up
This slippery *****

Call me a dreamer
For not giving in
To the dizzying effect
Of how they always spin

Call me a dreamer
For what always seems
To be an assault on me
For my believing in dreams

Call me a dreamer
For the thousands of days
I patiently made my way
Through this maddening maze

Call me a dreamer
For believing someday we will create
A world without anger
In a world without hate

Call me a dreamer
Because I give a ****
Call me a dreamer
Because that's what I am

You were not a profit
A margin set wide
Applied in sleight of hand
Applications , as all implications
Imply that we have begun
Ripping apart at the seems
While dispatches twine
Like a run away vine
In, around and down the middle
of all those dead end truths
and cobble stones
Wherein lies
those alternate routes
The endless drone of what
I...DK - is the disquieting noise
Made....when...the rubber does not
Meet the road!
All success in a business sense
Requires a bit of hustle , some muscle
Applied by the leverage gained
Maintained by liberal false promises
Cloaked and contained
in the conmanservatude
by blind faith idolatry
False pride and emonumental
Brigandage and deminionization  
Demonization and Condamnization
That spread like some rare disease
Across not only our own nation
But around the whole misbegotten world
So no profit upon us obliques
Any more than will be
visited upon those resolute parallels
Who seem so blind, walking along
All of one mind,  and inclined to
Absorb the blows, sing the praise
I do not know how they cannot see
The ship would sink , the markets close
Without them as his orphan
His common stock slowly slipping away
Diminishing returns are not his concerns
That lays more to the valuable blue chips
Because it's easy to see facts are facts
Took you and me and our hard earned common cash
To pay for those inherently smarter  2% ers income tax.
Someone has to and its not just us snowflakes paying..
   Oh forget it! they still can't hear a word they themselves are saying
  They can't hear us
Donald the DeDuck tion  
Spent extra for sound proof glass on the clown bus.

As I came through the door
Taps the cat  meowed at me
As she crisscrossed the floor space
Staying a foot ahead of me
Glancing into the big closet or tiny room
Whichever ... Dad called it his study
"Hey dad " I yelled at the back of his head
" His quick glance meant "hey buddy"
I noticed moms face on the computer screen
'Oh!"I snapped " mom ... Hey we miss you "
"I'm not talking to your crotch "she laughingly barked
"Sit down ... Move the camera or move your *** Trent"
I compromised by doing all three as dad took a break
The face of someone I truly loved sat there
Looking at me
From over  three thousand miles away.
Three thousand miles away!
"Hey baby " she said in her cooing voice " How are you?"
"Got a job at Dannerlans ... Part time" I proudly engaged
"Don't let it interfere with" ...she couldn't stop and she knew...
I guess my stupid grin finally clued her in as she trailed off
"Half a world away and I'm still mom I guess. Dad musta.."
"He did ... Same thing.. And I won't. But what are you...."
"Don't you dare Trent " mock rage crossed her  face
As a few octaves fell out of her voice and I already knew
Here it comes.....a tsunami all the way from Japan
Putting my nose right to the camera and pushing on
I repeated "tsunami mommy  tsunami mommy  san
What can you do about it . you're way over there and I'm..."
" Gonna get it so bad .. When I get home mister "
:You're gonna look end up looking just like your sister"
"Oh ....Kay...  "I haltingly bounced her words round my mind
"I DONT HAVE A SISTER."
"Exactly"
Then I saw it... Set up and now....
Confusion and pride had my ammunition... just the facts
Dad arrived at that second with a coke for me and his beer
"Did you hear her ?" I asked him
" threating to make me a girl"
As I gave up the chair I heard that cooing soft voice sorta ....
..........GR OO ooowl ?!? While still softly cooing  "oh no no no...
Too good for you Bud...Buuud...Buddy?   You'll just disa..pear!"
Dad laughed first - drawing me in as I reluctantly let go.
"Nice try dear.... but you lost it coming round the outside corner"
What do you mean outside corner ..it was right over but too low
"Bye mom"  I said "got some homework to do " they were merged
Gone now for three month and three more to go .poor dad
His staunch had wilted within forty eight hours of her departure
But let's all pretend that you
never noticed the droop -a bit sad
Poor poor  dad ... Poor poor dad  I chimed as I climbed the stairs
He won't make it another three months . .. Very easy
I  haltingly caught my words as the downer that they were
As I scooped the elegant Taps  from the floor " but they'll make it "
I whispered into her ear. "Won't they girl? "Her answer was a purr

I'm thinking of joining the red cross
That's good...gets you out and about....
In the ...nei..bor....
"Okay .. Whats yet to be told ...spill
"They asked me to run the admin office" She
So you'll have to travel for a while  that's ok" (He)
"The whole admin office for foreign.... "  She let it trail......
Allright so you come back weekends
Ain't that far....to... (He)
      .......... ...Japan ....(She)
Dad........didn't  have any words to say
And the staunch started peeling away...right then and there
The love they shared
Might be compared
To historic qualities
Romeo and Juliet  sans tragedy
Bogie and Bacall  for longevity
Tracy and Hepburn for loyalty
Burns and Allen for ..for the comedy
So I knew.. as..  anyone else who  
Saw him day to day decline
That she was on her way home
By seeing the force of nature
He suddenly became
A human dynamo in preparation
For the reunification.

I walked through the front door
Sharon at my side and lacey in tow
"Go tell your brother to get in here "
So she yelled out the front door
"Trenton Dean Robertson get in here!"
Sharon and I met eye to eye
Bossiest little Seven year old....
"TRENTON now!"  I  yelled  out
"You better do what sis said"
He was now ten and tended to wander about
"I'm here "he said as he appeared
"Come on sis I'll beat you in...."
The last bit muffled
As they closed the basement door
And descending down the stairs

We both glanced into the closet
For that's what it really was
Dad sitting at the computer
And mom was on the screen
So I toted my load of groceries
As Sharon leaned in to say" hi "
And once we had supper going
I went to mix a drink and as I passed by
Dad said "son come here
Your mom wants to talk to you "
Besides we've been chatting  forever!
Then he whispered "I gotta go to the loo"
"Hi mom "I said as he departed
Leaving me to warm the seat
I'm not talking to your crotch
She said for at least the millionth time
There on the screen was the face
Of someone that I loved
Who never made it home that year
The flight was destined for history
Crashing into the Himalayas
Taking everyone on board
And the staunch became so rigid
And reality was simply ignored
He handed me a coke and opened his beer
Before resuming his vigil at the computer screen
That was his reality....his fantasy... and his hex
Some might say an old adage to sum it up
"IS IT LIVE.....OR IS IT MEMOREX?"

AS I drifted from the room they were merged.







..

When you're standing on the edge
Of tomorrow
And there's nothing as far
As your eye can see
So you ask yourself a question
Like so many times before
Where do I go from here
Is there an answer to how do you
Get back home when you've
Burned all the bridges
And you're walking all alone
Is there an answer to ....
               ...where do I go from here
When you've used up all the time...
           ......you can borrow
You seem to be caught up in life's
Forever revolving door
No one else seems to know the answer
To the question you've asked before
How long can this go on.....?

So you find yourself
On life's lonely highway
Miles and miles
Of endless eternity ahead
You see it all
In an awesome silence
The words rebounding
Throughout your head

Where - - where - where
Will the road lead me
Why have I been led to here
When will we know the answers
To the questions we hold so dear

I remember
I remember
I remember the day you reappeared

And I wondered
And I wondered
Why I never noticed that you had disappeared

What is it that makes us
Go so far around and out of bounds
In order to
Prove to you
And you to me
That we just don't... Really
Give a ****

I expected
I expected
That this one was going to be the last

Cause we're sinking
We're sinking
This emptiness between us has gotten so **** vast

That I know
That I know
Crashing and burning whenever we say words so unkind
That we end up  living and dying
On handouts and borrowed time

Floating around so aimless
Empty and nameless
Caught up in all the sameness
That comes from finally seeing
Finally seeing that I was being
Guilty of thinking of myself as blameless

I remember
I remember
I remember the moment you reappeared
It's funny how the choices we make
Changes the view
Of how it is I look at myself
And that changes
The way that I see you.

As I stand here .
Casting no shadow
It's either high noon
Or total darkness
Either way
I see it as if
It's all out of tune
In its starkness

This adventure we're on
through this space we Transit
where compassion seems
to be all shadow
And sadly non-essential
to this Garden of Life
we are growing
that is Bane of music
or sunshine
a treeless desert
Of lost hopes
or even any
realistic design
for any future
we would want
we will need
were hoped for
Nature has been threatened
by the whims of those men
who have no notion
of what will happen
if they allow the oceans
to rise up and dog our steps
into a future
into a world
that we will never  again
recognize

Ain't got the time
To explain anymore
Where I will be....when
I exit through that door

Its' not for you to care about
So go ahead  scream and shout

   I learned to not listen a long time ago
  When it turned out that you were not somebody that I used to know
But now I am afraid that I'll end up doing the same
thing to me
and then who the hell would I have to blame


I won't let that be my fate
But I got this feeling that
      I've waited too late
To draw the line that can separate
to draw the line that can separate
who I once was and who I am today

Implicate-evaporate
  Hesitate ...
...till you replicate
One To stay and one to go
One to think  
And one to know

We won't be able to cooperate
  Nor will we be able to collaborate
  Just another dead soldier they choose to decorate
And the next time we see me will be when we open up the crate
And that is
Way way too late to change my fate

I'm going where I'm going when I exit out that door
And where I'll be is...
just not for..
...you to know

But I just got to go...I got to
While there's even a chance

Even in the garden of inspiration There will be no second chance..
..to redo that first dance

So don't always wait for the invitation
To step up...to step up and not miss
That awkward and electrifying build-up of the first kiss

What glory will be won by implication
That creates some obstinate need to win it
If you surrender raise the white flag and are still late by 1 minute

Will you be able to dispel the inclination
That persists in what if's.... you had done this
Or might some ironic twist allow something else to miss

Even In The garden of inspiration
Where dreams of  butterfly parades
Lends color and pattern and beauty that never fades

And the artistic squirrel renders artistic deviation
By showing off the scrolls which he carefully unrolls
Depictions of treeless wastelands
beyond his controls

As the squirrels all gather  to witness his creation
A sad vigil they sit the branches where so often each one dances
I stand chastened by guilt felt
the pain in the eyes - as each one glances

From the barren depiction to me and at our symbiotic relation.  
We destroy forests, water... air ....
taking more than our needs
This line of solumn tree dwellers
give back forests by hoarding seeds

So even in the garden of inspiration..
..I cannot see how it will all work out
When the squirrels all stop dancing  
And the butterfly parades wilt in the world without shade

Even in the garden of inspiration I can't see past the destruction and decimation
To what should be our greatest creation

And I wonder - if we even care
To really really really look at the state of disrepair
We have allowed ourselves to take for granted
What the animals and birds and fish allowed us to share.

Ive had my fill
Of every ill
That the world
Keeps trying ...to instill
I've had my fill
I've had...I've had...I've had
I've had my fill

Keep telling me lies
Even though ...
You realize
That you no longer
Even have to try and hide
Them!
Behind .......a thin disquise

I think that means
That the primed machines
Are ready to go.....
.....so....
They don't care if we know
Which way the future leans

I do believe
That there are those
Who do conceive
Of just ...
..one more heave
And that will take it
Take it all the way
All the way down
To the ground !

Where others wait -
With a rope
To quickly quash...every hope
And celebrate
Once they have it bound
And all tied down

Watch and learn
From those who spurn
All the things that we hold dear
As they tell us
whats what
Then turn a deaf ear
And it's then
as they twist and bend
And rend the truth

By attitudes and platitudes
They separate us ...Into classes
All the while
They clinch their teeth
To hide the smile

Apprehension encouraged
By descending deeper
and deeper
Into dissention
Convoluted amplituded
Learned from those
With whom ...
...they colluded
Those enemies of the free
But still...you may be
One of those who still denies
What is RIGHT ...
.....In front
Of your eyes

Just so you know
When that sun has set
Don't waste time waiting
For the light of dawn
If you bought the darkness
Then thats the ...
...the future you will get

I've had my fill....of every ill
That the world keeps trying ...
....to instill !

would I






If
I thought I'd never know.
I'd
Know
. you
In everyway I can.

I fell through a crack
In my own self conscious
And landed in that place
Where the ego launches
Misguided missiles
Of intentions unknown
Into those far-flung realities
Outside of any known zone

In those concentric orbits
I found a unified vision
Where any truth I've accepted
Now leads to a pending collision
Of acceptance or exclusion
Far beyond the realm of reason
Is the dimension of expanding doubt
Where Universal doubt executes truth for treason

And all relative reality collapses
Like a pinpricked balloon
To be absorbed into the maelstrom
Torrential meteors slamming into the Moon
No longer to be free roaming projectiles
The occasional visitors ,visions or omens in the night
But a contusion seen for millennium's by those
Thinking beyond Earthbound realities by seeing the Moon as more than just light

And fell through a crack in their own self conscious

I heard the alarm call
As the fool turned around
And I felt that I knew him
At least I've seen him around
Then I jumped on a highwire
Where I balanced myself
Trying to make it a performance
Never to be seen anywhere else
But I saw in the distance
No one below me could see
It wasn't something that I could ignore
I recognized it ....as a reality
So I fell into the net that
Existed not.. a second ago
Then I heard the band start playing
As I began to run down the road
When I looked back behind me
The crowd began to grow
They were following along
As if I led a parade
With the band mixed among them
Never stopping the song that they played

I couldn't lead them all into
What it was that I saw
It was my opposition
It was my cross to bear
So I had to go in
Had to go in all alone
In spite of my fear
For any hope of remission
Was in facing it down
In spite of how it appears

When I looked back behind me
I found faith as I saw .......inspiration

In the choir that I heard
As the crowd closed around me
Singing in loud voice  to the song
That the band  blasted out
With everyone singing harmony
As they all knew every word

So ain't it time we all start singing ?

You may not have
the Sword of Damocles
hanging
over your head
or a gathering
of monsters
under your bed
but that does not mean
you have not a shred
of worries to ponder
or things you should dread

sometimes...
... when the road seems clear
is that time
to deal with
some thing you
may secretly fear
at a place
and at a time
of your own choosing
unless ....of course
.... your only true fear
is that of sometimes losing

for there and then
you will have
given in
to those
never-ending battles
seemingly never lost
while treading water
awash in a war
none ever win.

What is seeing
Without vision
Or Hearing
Without comprehension
Can one feel sympathy
Without compassion
Or passion ...without
Dealing with the doubt
That always ........seems
...to come along
Saying
Somethings going to go wrong
Something Something.........Something
IS GOING TO GO WRONG !

Then you find yourself
Holding back as you wait
For the impending attack
Of DOUBT
To the point
That you lose sight
Of any hope...
..That could be....
Inspirational
But that beast is..
..insatiable
Once it finds a way inside
Where it then
Starts to screaming
Until that sound becomes
The ......only.........reality
So consuming
Like a shadow
Blocking out your view
Always..looming over you
Making everything you do
Seem like its
Just another rerun

That's when many
End up .....walking out ...out..
..Out the door
That is an example
Of the way
We always trample
All over our own vision
By ...accepting
Failure
As an alternative decision

But .... You know
As dark as this all sounds
I actually find failure
Is a companion
I always rely on
Like an old familiar shirt
That I always try on
Knowing
That it won't fit
Then.....and only then
Can we really move on
Trying on those new shirts

That are...Once acceptance
Is realized
As the path to victory
And is just waiting
To be seen with vision
And heard
With comprehension
And compassion
For the you that....
...you've Just left behind
That is how ......You fail.....
........To SUCCEED .

I feel lost
Like I've been caught in a riptide
Tumbling over and over
Unable to breath-to hear
Trying desperately to see

Feeling a crushing pressure
On my chest
A panicky desire to breath
To breath   to breath
But somewhere inside me
There is .......
A small soothing voice
Saying
" Not yet.....not yet...not yet"

Relax...let it roll
Relax...let it go
Relax...pretending you don't care
Relax relax ......relax
Float up and free...
Emerge......NOW!
Now breath.....Breath in the fresh air
Okay- I'm floating
FLOATING

But I'm still lost
Out in this vast ocean
Far away
From the security of the beach
I can see ...I can hear
What I've been missing
Now it seems
So far out of reach

Should I wait ....in hopes of rescue?
Or should I swim.....
....towards the shore?
Do I even know if it's where
I might have come from?
Is it somewhere I've never been before?

I'm not lost...am I
If I can see a landmark?
I'm not lost if it seems familiar
I'm not lost...if I just float here...
...just where I am?
Having just now....managed...to surface
Coming up to breath some air....so
I'll take a little time...to enjoy
The choices
That I now have ahead of me

Now.....
That..I'm on top
Now ....
That I'm floating
Now that I'm there ...where...
I can get that first...
....glorious
Gasping ....rasping...grasping
Everlasting...
First....breath...of fresh
FREE .....LIFEGIVING....BEAUTIFUL
WONDERFUL AIR

So now breathe and believe!
Breathe.. breathe ...Breathe
You have plenty of time
One breath
One breath at a time
One breath
One breath at a time...so .....breathe.

don't ...
Don't!!
I said DON'T...
..you..look at me...like that.
I'm tired of it.
NO!
No!
Yes.. I know
But..it takes time
And I always feel
Like...I don't have any left.

Stupid as that is...
That's the way of it
The black and white
Stark view..no grey of it

Who...
Who gives a...
...second thought
To what..
What..what..
First you were taught!

I do..
I do...it's true
Much as I like ...like..
The ability to lie...
..to myself... l'll be okay
And if I'm not....well..
Hell!
I'll just lie about that too!

It's not that I don't know I'm lying
I know....and then I think...
..that    i   know!
And then it happens ...always
A distaction
By the real world....
... around me!
Ihaveto rememberto getback...ba...
Back to work...daydreamer!!!

Come on says the fat man..wearing a necktie
Managers haphazard shirts..and
Belt soooo tight  " god that must hurt!"

"WE NEEDED ...those fries " he squawks in authoritarian strain"two minutes ago!"
I know...i know .....

Far beyond the Shadows reach
I Lay My Body Down
As Sunset Looms a ghastly pale
Upon the shuttered town

So far down the virulent scale
Of lesser evils looming
So for seemingly ages now
All walls intent to be entombing

Watchful eyes from darkened rooms
Peer surreptitiously through frayed curtains
Fear grips the solid throat
Of once hardy men - now deemed uncertain

No refuge holds least some disregard
For want of necessities embolden those
Who scurry forth with furtive eyes
In search of sustenance before the shadow grows

One touch of this spreading darkness vines
Will pull a soul from its human host
When sunsets waning light slices through deadwoods tines
Though not since death fortook the once forest green
Has even one succumb to this horrid fate
Of that they fear the most... And yet
It hovers over as a most fearsome ghost

All I really wanted
Is someone who needs me
That's all I really want
I play the game
With such precision
But I don't enjoy the hunt

You come around
With your fancy persuasion
And try to stay awhile
You tried to be
My judge and jury
And put my love on trial

Don't try to cross no burning bridges
Don't cross examine me
Don't try to cross no open spaces
Don't try to cross wire me

I'll come to order
When I'm good and ready
Don't try to make me rush
You know the answers
That I'm gonna give you
Won't really tell you much

Take what you get
I'll give you that much
To keep you satisfied
I  have no defense
When it comes to hurtin
I keep it locked inside

I've got no defence
Whe n it comes to  hurtin
The prosecution rests
You bound me over
As your own solution
Even though I had confessed

Don't try to cross. no open spaces
Don't try to cross wire  me
Dont't try to cross no burning  bridges
Don't cross-examine me !!

I really shouldn't drink this
Its gonna **** me dead
But who's to say.... that ...
....That ...would really be so bad
So.. Until they prove otherwise
I'll have my little drink
It doesn't really taste too bad
And yes.. I realize its pink!

They worked really hard
To make it
Think of all the time they had
Takes a lot of ****'d persistence
To make a drink that bad

I resisted for a long time
But temptation got the best
So now you know the story
Its just like all the rest
I tremble now with withered hands
That slowly turn to dust

I write this down while I can
While my sanity I still trust
I found a shade  -- a rarity
In this barren land

I lay my bones on the ground
To make my final stand
Can't get up to go again
I have this evil thirst
I've really gotten rotten
Since I took my first

I know it's true
What at the first I said
About how this evil liquid
Is gonna **** me dead

But ..still
I lay here in the shade
As the days get dry and hotter
BUT...at least...I have
An ample supply
Of that GLOWING HOT ...PINK WATER!?

Don't know why I never noticed
Must have been trying hard not to see
What was right there all along
It wasn't until I started to tumble
Head over heals all the way down...down
To the bottom of the sea of love..I flounder
Where I lost my breath and began to drown

Like a flash of angry blinding light
I saw the damage done by every single fight
Then I didn't want to see..what it was that I saw
What I suddenly saw was,the writing .....
                 ......the writing on the wall
It was written there plain and simple
It was right there for all to see
I must of been blind to the truth
I must of not wanted to ever face it
Not willing to ever see eye to eye
All those demonic little letters
That made up just one message
And all it said was ...........good-bye
GOOD-BYE !

I have wasted time wanting
And wanted time to waste
Passed up those good intentions
Intending to stop back by
At my own perceived convenience
Convenient perception is hindsight in reverse
And when I sought to make it better
My thoughts but made it worse

             I'm so sorry
       For all those things
I never saw
For what they really were!

I can't..just can't avoid
Running into my own shadow
As I dance with myself
Whenever your aura is concerned
Hard to understand why
I feel so strong the attraction
Or why you put up
With the ridiculous stories I constantly unfold.
And I do listen for
Even the tiniest bit of recrimination and never have I heard a hint
For pushing you too far
So what random spin or role of the die led me to your acquaintance
And...and I voiced my affection
A little hint - not any overt abstractions
I would never ever want to be
associated
With the kind to emanate an infraction
I think you understand and I want you to know
At least from my point of view
You are.... like
the best chocolate
a sweetness
an addiction
that just makes me
as nutty
As a peanut butter cup
I would if I could
you know.....??
the line rhymes
so I've said enough
love you ....for
....that way that you are
An infatuation...my..  
Hey...!
Who got their aura ..
...all over my imagination?

The window to my soul
Is a boarded up hole
Where no light ever passes
And where no one can ever go
The pathway to my heart
Is blocked by decay
Burnt bridges and potholes
Left to block my way
The pathway to my life
Is forgotten and overgrown
Where I found myself
A spot
Where I can be alone
With all signs of my passing
Like all signs of my existance
Washed away like cobwebs
To reappear over night
So fragile is my structure
So fragile is my life
So fragile
Is a single moments passing
When it is the one..
...That you
Never should have missed.

I lost my way just the other day
On my way back to where I been
No hint or me was there to see
As the world continued to spin
When I turned around
I hit the ground
Like I fell from some great height
I knew all along
That something was wrong
When the darkness
Lived in the light

They hold our fate's
At the starting gate's
While the lifetimes tick away
As the signs of the times
Are the bonds that bind ....us....
To the coming day

When we'll look in vain
At the passing train
No way to get aboard
Can't stop time
In a haunted mind
Where the shadows of the past
Are stored
The open doors
Of your ever mores
Beckon to your very soul
As if to scream
ITS ALL JUST A DREAM

As you struggle for control
You ride the rails
On the crimson sails

Dyed from the flood of your blood
On a futile search
From up on your lofty perch

FOR YOUR BODY..
...FOR YOUR BODY ...LOST ..
...IN THE MUD.
YOUR BODY...LOST IN THE MUD.!

Give me a reason to hang on
That's all I'm really asking for
Don't tell me that you don't want to hear it
Or that you've heard it all before

Give me a chance
To save the romance
That's headed out the door
Or don't you care anymore?

Can't you see that
Hanging on to nothing is nothing
Hanging on to nothing is nothing...
... at all

So hanging on for ....too **** long
Will surely let us fall
Give me a reason to hang on
Or let me move on to solid ground
Sometimes it takes a little more patience
For all the answers to be found

Please give me a break
To save this mistake
From ruining our only hope
Or don't you care to cope?

Can't you see that
Hanging on to nothing is nothing
Hanging on to nothing is nothing...
... nothing at all

And hanging on
For too **** long
Will surely.....
...... Surely let us fall

Can you hear me
From where you stand
Can you see me
For who I am
Can you feel me
From a distance
Can you ******* ...
.....Bitterness over resistance
Can you smell me
Burning when I'm not

How much distance is there
Between wrong and right
Or do they stand so close
As to block out any light
How many chances are there
To see what you don't
Before it's better to face it
The fact that you won't

Can you understand me
If we speak a different language
Or ever know those across the room
If we're unwilling to build a bridge
Can you ever really reach out
To those you cannot touch

Are we sure the effort
Would never amount to much
Then we'll fear the unknown forever
As each withdraws inward
With every endeavor

To find out
To remove doubt
To understand
And not demand
To meet halfway
As we relish the grey
As a starting place

To be as one
Two be as one
Two be as one to be
And to gather together

To be two as one....
To gather together
Ones to want to be
Together too

It starts with me and you

I'm a recovering optimist
Climbing in and sometimes out of my cold storage locker
Do not come around here with any warm feelings
Was the hastily scribbled sign written with a dried out marker
on the front door

That I only open when  I'm feeling miserably happy
But only to those young people
Going around pedaling those little pamphlets
That they will give  you for free if you buy their religion
I tolerate this formal declaration of war until they top off my half empty glass

That's great that's great I say rising to become an a hole Usher
Need no flashlight just a glare in my eyes to get them moving
My sudden appearance like I had just leapt from a locomotive
To run up ahead so I could throw that track switch
Happily back on with the sudden Direction Change
Bringing my voice down into a Sinister whisper

You are no longer able to  make my life  more painful
With all your smiles and polite Behavior
So gather yourself and all but one of your pamphlet and go away
Oh yeah ! And don't forget your savior

Slamming the door hard right after they cleared it
But the slamming door Jarred loose a smile on my face
Fortunate was I in killing it before it became full measure
It never got further than just an Elvis Presley type sneer
Then I wrapped it up in that Watchtower pamphlet
That I wadded-up into a ball and I kicked it around the room
Until I kicked that half-smile and  Love and hope filled brochure all the way out the door

As happy in my anger as I could remember... so nice of them
Just what a recovering optimist needs are  cheerfully miserable Pretenders
Who go out seeking to raise up other people's spirits

I noticed they always  send out this young nerds
Who are unlaid and over  prayed
Surrounded by bright smiling faces
So much hope Joy Faith love and optimism
A place like that would make me as painfully miserably happy
As I could ever hope to be if I allowed myself hope
But here lately so much anger and misery in all the people around
That I no longer feel all alone in the world and that makes me so happy I just about want to **** myself

And get the hell away from me with all your bitter anger and acting ******.....
.... can you not see that I am a freaking recovering optimist?.

Keith W Fletcher
Nov 27, 2015


Deny that you try
to be
Something that you're really not
And you will find
That the downward spiral....is infectious
With no cure for it
And no serum
To protect us
The spiral will go viral
Spreading like wildfire
Across ...the dry-parched
Landscape
Slapping you down
Trapping you with the sound
Of
Your own voice
Crying out from the wilderness

Do you really want to obsess ...
....on something...that
you don't really need to possess
Is is really so important
That you'll give up on yourself
To become a mannequin
Dressed up and standing in..
...the window
As
People go walking by
Glancing at you as they go

Do you think they really know?
Do you think they really care?
About all the things...you....
.....decided ..to sacrifice
In order to get yourself here

Nobody has to be the perfection of
A false identity
Unless
There is nothing else
That they can see
Is... as ...important as
The fantasy
That they keep building up
In.the wilderness
Where they hear their own voice
Calling out.....come to me....
Come to me --come to me
And I will show you who it is....
That you are ....supposed to be
And I will.give you everything
THAT.....YOU......DESIRE

If you can grab it ---you can have it
Then you can stand
In the window
As people keep on walking by
Believing that
You are
Someone to admire
But the dry parched landscape
And the downward spiral
Of all your false dreams
Is always being wiped clean
By the spreading wildfire
While the people ..just keep on
Walking by.....going places
LIVING REAL LIVES
While the mannequin in the window
Keeps watching
From the same spot
Still denying
That they're trying
To be --something that...
They're really not
Something that they're really not.