You can throw us poets down the stairs
catch us behind your steely glare
teach us that poetry is antiquated
and act all sophisticated
but lyrics will enter your head
dance in circles and hover over your bed
when you sleep you will dream
and your rhymes will come clean
and they will carry a theme.

You can toast a wine glass
to your victory over rhythmic words
but time and time love poetry will fill a class
teachers know it’s not absurd
teenagers will be rebels and they will rap
to music talking over a beat
and their poetry is not crap

poetry is all around us and we come up with it everyday
whether written or spoken
it always will be used in advertising slogans today
and when the silence is broken
remember that poetry was used to convey stories years ago
and the poetry of those stories we know
will stick in your head
like a needle sewing a thread.

Testing patience is never-
ever a good idea
no matter how great you know a person
you don't really know them
until they snap

And when they snap
their true emotion-
not the fake answers they always give
are shown and feelings are hurt

But can you really blame them?
No, I think not- not when
you are the antagonizer
and this is their self-defense

I'm starting to believe
That I don't have a choice,
Living in a world where I don't have a voice.
So I'll build up my defence;
Running away from a world
Where you know you'll end up alone.

Now I am going,
Imagining the biggest adventure unknown.
Wondering how to make it home to the clouds.
Now I am wanting to grow,
Trapped in a world that's so undecided and cold.

The world could be your playground,
Just listen to the child inside calling your name;
She's lost and so scared.
So let down your defences.
Stop running away; maybe disappear for a little while.
Just take your time to find the reasons.

Just give me time,
I'm the worst and deciding my choices.
Wondering if I can find a reason to carry on.
I feel like I don't belong here,
No longer wanting to stay trapped inside my own dark mind.

Now I will be going.

I stole some underwear on a whim
but also cuz I didn't have much money
more than most tho

Someone told me they stole cheese

People put avocados through as potatoes cuz they're not affordable

I knew someone who paid for about a third of the bras they took and stole the rest so that they would be a more affordable price

Maybe things shouldn't be cheaper but wages should definitely be higher.

Our hospital is dying with the people within,
the concrete flakes like dying skin.

We spend $3billion dollars on defence annually.
I saw 'we' when I never chose that, I would never agree to it.
They say 'defence' when it's an imperialist war project by the West.

I wonder whose suffering is propping up whose suffering and
how all that suffering is propping up someone else's profit.

I wonder how sufferers might forge some sense of solidarity
and overthrow the poor mongers, the war mongers together.

There's a fence all around me,
It keeps people away,
It gives me space of my own,
It keeps others at bay,
I constructed it myself,
It's the price I must pay.

It goes up for a mile,
While still touching the ground,
People have searched for a way in,
But one has never been found,
It's an impenetrable barrier,
That no sledge hammer can pound.

Does it make me feel claustrophobic,
Or does it make me feel secure,
Once I knew all the answers,
But now I'm not so sure,
Shall I make a hole in my fence,
Shall I fill it with a door?

Here I am stuck
In a defensive retreat,
I once so craved victories,
But I feared more a defeat,
Should I tunnel under my fence,
Should I dig really deep?

Should I stay here in my cocoon,
Or should I go out and explore,
Should I try again to embrace life,
Even though I failed once before,
Shall I cut an hole in my fence,
Need I bother fill it with a door?

My fence was to keep others out,
But it is both friend and foe,
For it also keeps me in,
When all I want is to go,
Shall I place explosives around it
And wait for it to blow?

All right you win, I'm coming out,
Waving a white flag up high,
I hope I fare better this time,
'Cos I'm reaching for the sky,
I'm taking off my lead boots,
This time ... please help me to fly!

The worst
Place to be
On a battle field,
Is taking cover
From the man
Firing at you with
Blank rounds.

She caught me harmless
while my defenses were down
she likes to make me happy
and steal away my frown

Trying to open up my heart
so she can take a look inside
asking me to share my emotions
when there is no place left to hide

She makes me take of my mask
just to reveal my true identity
but it just makes me feel awkward
for me there seems to be no serenity

Once again I listen to my own thoughts
as usual they don't make any sense
instead of cleaning out my closet
I'm actually creating another fence

I was a prince charming, my armour impenetrable.
A long line of defeated boys lay slain by my side.
I was untouchable, untouched. I was loved but I refused to love.

My mother died in front of my eyes, 22 years on she still treats me like a child.
She's still trying to make me into something better than anything I'll ever be.
That way she'd have something else to look at when she looked at me.
No longer would my father ghosts linger upon my features.

I built my self a fortress, a cold heart guarded by a switchblade tounge.
My army of lies made sure nobody got too close.
I used 'casual' to wage war against myself in beds all over town.