Be wary of those who claim to have answers
choose a side?
choose a hobby
personal and refined, put in 10,000 hours
something to be selfish about but no one ever knows
share views and expect to fail
learn moderation as a second language
tolerance so encrypted that you lose the meaning
know that your life is your life
and your views
yours and yours alone
dine with Kierkegaard for the rest of forever
all power to the sciences
but that's not what I'm trying to do

In the city
the hair is split where the scripts sit
ending on pages lined daily
people walking by dumpsters eating hotdogs and pimples
tanning in the sun.
they get plenty of light
all the time
forever isn't long enough to read the
text written for you
freewill is out to lunch today two blocks down
but no one stops at the factory

Made in America it says
Underneath my wool cap: Made in America
I’m wearing in on top of my head, leaks into all the involuntary parts
And forms a nest egg
Made in America plenty to go around, on the street and intersections
Elects to find a nest egg
Cradled by its loyal subjects
Made in America, on boats now to find other homes
Fit for travel now
Waiting to interject other nest eggs like a spider in a web
Swaying with the waves, nobody in the ocean, fish can’t understand
Made in America, like a grand BOOM outside your door
Ruined another wedding
Collapsed another home
Made in America runs your car, gets you to work, and picks up your kids
Made in America, lifted up my hat and found another bomb
Made in America, proud to be buried with the guns again
Sometimes I say it differently

I think about the town I was raised in
I don’t have far to travel
I never left
And the other day someone asked me

                                        “Where would you go if you could go anywhere,
                                                              didn’t have to worry about money?”

“Well,
I’d go down to the party store
grab a twelver,
some chaw,
a pack of darts (menthol),
some Canadian whiskey,
and two slices of pizza.
Then I’d go back home and use them all up
until next time.”

I think about my town and
smile at the monuments
I’ve created.
Although they are not grand pieces of art
that hang in a museum, or gallery
they are mine
and I keep them
perhaps too close
they smother me
and I think about leaving them
like leaving a lover in the night,
always.
Even though it is a prison
it is my prison
and if I did leave,
left the door open
and a dart burning on the porch railing
only new prisons await
no matter where
how far
how long.
And after a life of prisons,
You have to rest in one,
just one.

So, alas
Here I am in my final prison
smoking and chawing,
drinking and writing.

Cheers from prison

Your pal,

Matthew Lee MacDonald

The world shouts pretty loud, aye?
so loud
and no megaphone
no microphone
always there
never gone
running your life
your life
in a way that never seems to satisfy
so
I say to you
do it like Jackson Brown:

Thats a big 10-4
from your back door
just put that hammer down
this young man feels
those hating wheels
that keep turning round
to take me down to shaky town
all the way down to shaky town

It's the strangest thing, you know,
staring in the foyer room of walmart,
a world between worlds,
staring at the the missing persons billboard
in a little awe
in a little confusion
those that got mixed up in the wrong ****
in the wrong trip
with the wrong people
in the wrong house
on the edge
might be forgotten
by all
except their family
death at their door
mocking them
what a life in a way
but not really
too much raw
and short term - low pay out - investment
fear, death, and silence
then the most disturbing noise of all
many pass right by
in fact all pass by
heading in to what
to where?
to life,
no
that automatic door leads staight to hell
too hell
and back
to nowhere and back
all images, small sufferings hiding behind cheapness
in and out without a care
and this billboard
the final nail in the cross
no blood
too extreme and real for blood
just one, and one more
that grabs at it
soft tears coming through
eyes
eyes that care and cuddle
for the good times to exist again
poor gal
im not quite there yet
so I go inside
hoping to gain some perspective
knowing that I never will
until I see a face
one that is know
on that board
maybe then
maybe then

Charm
It's almost everything
It can let you leave alone
if neglected
if on the mend
Charm: the great divider
the great conqueror
the suspect of interest
without it there is no
dazzle
no sweetness
no progress
almost no love
Charm
the missing peice of gold in the chest
the missing item in pandora's box
Charm
it was wounded long ago
but it's not gone one only needs to
turn on the light.