Here lies a poet
who drowned himself in his own *****
Here lies an artist
who painted pictures with syllables
and couldn't keep
the ones he held dearest close to him
for fear of what MIGHT happen

Here lies a passionate priest
of words that fell on closed eyes
and ears already filled with noise
Here lies the black heart of a wordsmith
who died a penniless pauper
because he didn't do things
the way proper

Here lies the bleeding soul
of a man who could
hear lies
for miles and miles
and turn truth onto them
even if it broke his own back

Here I lie all broken hearted
I came to win big
but turned more into a wind bag
Who knows?
Maybe in my next life,
I'll take up sailing

C'mon, man!
Rip it out of you,
throw it on the floor,
and stomp on it.

Cake the hole with
***
Liquor
Netflix
and a wickedly nihilistic view
of how the world works.

Watch the blood gum up
and sputter out the sides
with each step
A sticky right foot
A broken sternum
and a soul all but gone.

What are you doing today?
I'm busy watching the devil
get his due.
I'm wasting worthless, wilting words
on eyes full of planks.
Devious minds
full of tedious pranks.
It's like the whole world stopped
because some ******* broke the crank!
You asked me a question,
but I draw a blank.
Lips in a straight line
devastated by an entire lifetime
wasted building the future
With a chainsaw and a
cooked goose ice sculpture

There's nothing left
but a tub full of rainbow colored water.
There's something about smoke and mirrors
that makes the smoldering hole
in this heaving chest just a little hotter

It's a festering infection
when you're stuck staring
into a lonely crystal ball.
Reaching out for feeling,
but there's no loving
touch to turn it off.
Just a bunch of empty words
and a liar in a mirror.

Year at a Glance
By Steven L Herring

I see a sea of violence
riding a wave of hate
set to crush
set to destroy
Pistol-lined pockets
The nuclear option tastes
like metal in the mouths
of the innocent
as we take to the streets

I don't know about y'all
but the excitement is scarce in me
I'm not to keen
on getting blood on my sneaks
Media wars by media ******
cut the path
to peace in pieces
and all I hear is a vacuum
******* sanity out of the air
Rusty razors
tainted with nair

Breakout!
Skin crawls with virus
Hot pokers pierce the iris
TV
Feeds me
My eyes rolled out
of their sockets
to that tune
by love and rockets
I'm alive, but for how long?
Gotta feed a firing squad
fifty copper jackets
harvested from the hearts
of the ghosts of innocents past

Outcast
Stressed out
Stretched out
for all the world to see
Disfigured and on display
We screamed,
but masks muffled our airway
Patient's color grey for days
Streets worn and black
Center lines jagged
Petulantly painted
by a basket case wonder
This lonely road rages on
Let it spill into the sea
LET IT SPILL INTO THE SEA!

Locked
cocked
and itching to rock 
Ready for an attack
of modern made wack-ness 
I already waged war once 
when I ripped my heart 
out of the blackness


Destruction!
I'm a killer son!
Y'all didn't know
Laser-focused aim
with words waiting to go!


Bullets don't fly slow
and they'll land true
like planes on a glide *****
While you stutter and stagger
I'll be in the breeze
because your words don't matter
begging on your knees


You can censor me
but I know my enemy
and I see you as a frenemy
it's plain to see
and easy like 1, 2, 3


I don't need to leap tall buildings
I got tnt!
I'll burn it down like a village
in a DMZ!
Take a break
for some cake
Yeah! 
Y'all know me!


Both barrels loaded!

Empty the Armories or Empty the Arteries
By Steven L Herring

The gun in my hand
is warm and bright
Rectangular box filled with evil
to light up the dark night

Mourning in glory
My ansible
to reach across the stars
telling even strangers my troubles
through the dim light of parked cars

I'm all thumbs on the trigger
but the cartridges are cocked and locked
Hovering over a pseudo-nuclear option
and the guilt gives way;
brain blocked

Come, clarity!
Soothe the savage beast in me
I don't level playing fields
I'm the creator of craters,
Blowing holes where love used to be

Carpenter of caverns
Lying just beneath the surface
Empty
The best thing
that ever happened was when I
dropped the magazine to the street
and made the chamber safe
Easy!

And now for my next trick,....

There are dry spots in mourning
Terrible moments when 
the tears stop flowing
and the nose 
stops
running
And all you feel 
is numb nothingness 
mixed in with a blank stare
and an emptiness that almost
consumes you


It's not that you don't care
After a wave crashes to the shore
and before the next one rolls in describes it well
A lull
A break before being picked up
and pushed under again
to fight for air


There's a dry spot this morning
as the rain falls to ground
I hope I don't stay here long
I'd rather ride one wave in 
and be done with it all at once,
but that's not how it goes
No, my friend 
So keep fighting
We will press on till the end

The Conqueror
By Steven L Herring

There's a darkness
in the city lights
Heaviness sprays
like a firefight
Products
marketed and sold
boldly undercover of night
cast a shadow under lamp

Watch them scurry
Back into the shadows!
Back into the dark!
Fools will suffer fools
Makers make marks
As sure as the sun will rise,
the Son will set wrong to right,
and we will get our due.

A spider spinning down
On his face a frown
but when he landed on my arm,
through war's teeth sickly said:
I was cold, you gave me warmth
I groan with hunger
I will eat you
Crush the spider
Under palm and wear
his guts to dinner!

**** the life
right out of me
It tears 
the life
right out
of me


Happy
I'm happy
I swear 
I'm just
so ******* happy


Tear it down
We'll build anew
but all my parts
are broke in two


You never listen 
anyway
But I don't have
a lot to say
You never listen 
anyway


Your mouth,
it lives on
interrupt!
Your tongue
and lips
they flap away


But I don't 
have a lot to say
and I know
your answers 
anyway
so i don't have
a thing 
to say!


Not to you!
Turn your back
it's okay
I'm most at home
when you walk away


And I don't have 
a lot to say
No, I don't have 
a lot to say
All I have 
is hate to spray
so I don't have 
a lot to say
Trust me
It's better that way….

Plague of Hearts and Minds
By Steven L Herring

Alone
I've always felt it
Crowded rooms
Human-filled hallways
Bars brimming with patrons

Everywhere empty inside
I could look right through
solid mass and see nothing
but emptiness and black

But now that we're altogether separate,
Trapped in our rooms
concealed
Carrying our will to live gracefully
like a burden in our hands
I now relish in the fact
that we're all here together
All of us willingly weeping
Shrouded
Crowded under the same
black
cloud

Ominous in danger
Dangerous together
I see you
slyly smiling from
across the room
and our eyes light up
while our mouths,
masked with paper and cloth
crack a secret smile

And all of a sudden
we're not alone
We suffer together
under the same black cloud

Burned Out
By Steven L Herring

I wish I felt
something other
than backwards right now...
Like when you put your
hoodie on wrong…
Staring at the back of it
like ******!

But you can take
the hoodie off…
This feels permanent
kinda sorta…
The world is on fire,
and I'm watching it burn
from the comfort of my recliner

And I'm so numb to it
I want all action or all quiet
And I don't even really want to
hear about your riot!
Burn it down
or shut the **** up man!
I don't believe in words anymore
Feed the sloth
until he pops
or put the pigs on a diet!

There's a power in presence…

I've heard that said before

And some of mine is mine to keep

But if I give some to you

When you're at your lowest,

Then my smile will light up

The darkest of nights

As I watch you climbing


There's a power in presence

And so I'll be there when you're

Near the end and I'll motion 

You to me because we all know

That it's not how you start a race

It's all about how you finish it

And you will finish it my friend

We'll see this through together

Because there's a power in presence

And I will be there to the end

My sweetest friend!

Power From the People Y'all
By Steven L Herring

Born a battery
Watch me work
Take my cash
Never
Not
Once
but every time!

You're a bottomless pit
and I'm the ****** you created
Fed visually
Programmed for greenbacks,
but then robbed
It's a stick up
No one makes it out alive!
Shoot the ones sans masks first!

You push drugs!
Amphetamines are for kids
Sell me a house that I can't afford
PLEASE!  
Make me serve under your iron fist!
Puppet or pawn?
Depends….
Who won the election again?