I'm so down to earth I’m 6 feet under
Here the sounds of silent thunder sing me to sleep
The torn clothes, never worn, keep me warm
Like a baby in a laundry basket full of rags
Tags ripped off
What a waste of money how much did it cost
It took too long to realize I was lost and I am now one with the dirt
Stains on my shirt
I dream of my legs going somewhere important
My lungs are a meter stick and my breath is a child too small to ride
It just doesn’t reach
Teach the kid to stretch I’ll smile from my state of rest
Keep drinking your milk kid
Maybe you won’t be the man too short to live
Powerful enough to break a strawberries heart
A rollercoaster is a good start it teaches you how things will be
Unless your me, just lay still on the ground
Hear the ringing sounds but don’t analyze what it means
Because behind the scenes of these stained glass windows
Is the 2018 year-round gun show
The bullet missed my smile by a mile but it must have hit a parallel universe because once again I am one with the dirt
The elements sing me to sleep
Quick wit lies, open eyes keep me alive
And when the shovel comes I won’t be ready to leave
I've faked my death for a quarter lifetime of peace
I decompose piece by piece
I'm so unbreakably sane that death hit every ***** but forgot about my brain
Meaning I'm no longer in pain but I can think about what it feels like
From now on I’ll stay high as a kite
But the oxygen diminishing dirt wont let my geeb light
As sober as a drunk man that lost his liver then found god
From now on I’ll be high on death
Until the lower mantle steals my last breath

I was never a lost boy
Traumatized by the event of you leaving me
I had always known what it was like to love someone enough to let them go
It’s no wonder why I always had a love for yo-yo’s
You see, they showed me that every time you would let them go
They would always come right back to you
I remember
The first time a girl fell in love with me
She told me that I was the closest thing to perfect
But she was not ready to be with me
I asked her what does it mean to be ready for love
You see, love does not hit you when you’re ready for it
Like you’re in a ring with professional boxers
Letting you spar with them
Though you will never be prepared for the first time
a haymaker to the jaw knocks you out cold
dazed and confused like you saw it coming but
didn’t know it would hurt this bad
I remember
The first time a girl fell in love with me
And made me feel like I didn’t love myself
You see, my father never taught me how to love a woman
I had to teach myself that kind of thing
Suddenly I lost my love for yo-yo’s
You see, I learned that I was bad at letting go
I would look into the mirror and see a boy
Who had never boxed a day in his life
But the bags and blisters under his eyes told stories
of fights that were almost won
but you should have seen the other guy’s face
no, these were stories of the times my yo-yo wouldn’t land back in my hand
instead it would hit me in the face
they can all see your scars, boy,
but don’t ever let them see your tears
was the only lesson my father taught me
I remember
The first time I fell in love with myself
I was in a room with no mirrors
And a box full of old yo-yo’s
With letters from all that took my love for granted
Including myself.


“for all that took my love for granted, including myself”

kaileb w.

I could tell you how lies are my only truth,
And how betrayal is  success’s only route,
But you’ll call me crazy, you who believe in salvation
Without proof.
I like you once believed, in the angels and all things bright.
But for everything, there’s a price,
I paid mine, and I have the blessings for which your heart still cries.

It’s like the devil laughs at me every time I pray,
Because right after I say amen,
I go right back to sin.
Tell me, what is this salvation you speak of,
When all my heart knows now is the darkness that consumes from within?
Enveloping my soul in lust and deception,
Drowning my pure thoughts in anarchy and perdition.

Alas, not all storms can be quelled.
At least, so say the demons in my head.

The static speaks my name and it's driving me insane,
the night's stars are it's eyes and I watch it right back.
Shadows cast on the blame, but still lighting up the pain,
I'm covered up under the skies with a veil pitch black.

The silence overloads my brain, and each thought's wasted in vain,
with a million possibilities that will never occur.
I am shackled with a moral chain, but it supports me to refrain
from a sense of humility that I can't ever deter.

I find each locked door more outrageous,
and I'm left like before, wondering if I'm contagious.
Why would they comfort me instead,
of putting a gun straight to my head?

The static speaks my name with pronunciation it can't obtain,
if white noise could stutter it'd probably have quite the drawl.
Questioning if I should feel shame, if I'm a painting or a stain,
or just a curse you mutter like graffiti on the bathroom stall.

I find it all dizzying and real dangerous,
I'm wondering if my misery is contagious.
Why would they comfort me instead,
when they could just leave me in my bed?

The static shrieks,
the floorboard creaks,
the river's dry but the faucet leaks.
The static shrieks,
years came from weeks,
I live in quiet, only silence speaks.

I plan my life in different stages,
I wonder if my strife is contagious.
Why would you comfort me instead,
of letting me follow the path you led?

A day of love, a day of hearts:
Valentine's Day, twenty eighteen.
The day started out like any other
But ended in a horrific scene.

Students in Parkland, Florida,
Shared their valentines today.
A former student entered the school
To celebrate in a different way.

An AR-15 assault-style rifle
Was that student's valentine.
Killing and hurting students and teachers
Was his version of "Please be mine."

All it takes is a single person
To drag a special day through the mud.
Roses and hearts with Cupid's arrow
Lie on the ground, splattered with blood.

Are we failing our people here?
When shootings occur, we ask for prayers
Instead of taking appropriate measures.
What a sad state of affairs!

Most of us enjoy our day;
Our lives return to normal tomorrow.
Valentine's Day for people in Parkland
Forever will be suffused with sorrow.

-by Bob B (2-14-18)