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Michael Marchese Sep 2023
In bastions
Of Athens
In bathos
Unmentioned
We learned of my most
Civilizing
Pretension…
But miasma in the streets
The prices spike for gas and eats
And aisles full of the deserted
Still put ***** in the seats
Armada fleets
Exacting trade
By any force
Of commerce mightier
Than people it extorts
And it aborts its own last rites
To feed the richest
Their reports
And still under my aegis
My supremacy elitist
Representing staunch
And solely
No conviction
More egregious
Than my appetite
For sleight of hand
Subliminal starvation
My addiction to
The revenue’s
Casino reservation
To the totem
Status hierarchy
Token virtue’s
Price,
So tag the flag
Like body bags
And watch me wage a war
On rights
Michael Marchese Sep 2023
We are every bit as worthless
As the dirt is
But it grows
We just impose
And peddle
Influential
Genocidal droves
Is all we ever will accomplish
From the reaping
That we sow
Our own destruction seeds
Implanted
In enchantments of a scene
With ease
Entranced
By what askance
Dehumanizes us,
Machines
Michael Marchese Sep 2023
I work in the future
And thrive in the past
I live in the now
For I’ve mastered this class
Armageddon
Armed conflict
Is messy and grim
Is maniacal
Viral
Beheadings to spin
For extinct
My distinction
From that which
You cling
To popularity
As currency
Concurrently
A shopping spree
And I am just an old,
Fossilized,
Unwritten history
Predating
And presaging
Starkly raving
Of the grave
For I have been there
I have seen it
I have marched
In its parade
And I will be there at the end
To watch it all go up in flame
And in the eons passing by
They will assign me
A new name
Thanks to my lovely, thoughtful and very sociologically-oriented girlfriend for the “popularity as currency” line. Love you Evi
Michael Marchese Sep 2023
Try to keep me from my students
I’ll be back with retribution
Execute
My education
Like an edifice
From ruin
For consumed
In long entombed
Devoid of purpose
I collapse
Without a point
Through which to put it
On this page
Within my grasp
I am aghast,
Must teach the class
That this divides us from the beasts
But has the power
To unite us
As a species that can speak
Michael Marchese Sep 2023
Eviscerate
Take from me
Leave me defenseless
Who knew
A mistake
Could become
So portentous
Incenses
Ineffably
Target acquired
But seldom is I
The object of my ire
Michael Marchese Sep 2023
At least for now
Can claim a living
Earn my girlfriend’s hand
Forgiving
Me for daily
Disappointments
Knows my pointedness
Is poignance
Shrouded,
Hidden
Not for long
I soon reveal
To her
What’s wrong
As if she wasn’t
Here already
In my head
And heartbeats steady
When her voice
Dispels
And quells
All levels of
My inner hells
Then only
Inner peace
Resumes
Where formerly
It just entombs
Michael Marchese Sep 2023
And I will never ******* matter
To a soul upon this dying world
Seems like it’s always ending
And into the setting sun I’m hurled
From once again
At pinnacles
Of hubris
I am circling
To unearthing
Tragic flaws
A cause
For which
The struggles worth it
Though a better off position
From what happens
For a reason
Must reveal itself in time
Or I’m
Deprived of my completion
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