Call me an animal,
Don't stand between me
And a fresh cut of meat

Hard to believe, we're the same mammal
In a stand-off, with one who bleeds
But not like me

Of that same air
Our lungs take in, we both breathe in
Scents of a different breed

**** your homogenies
Don't need a lecture on my biology
And you can keep your philosophy
If it comes from a book riddled with prophecy

Wicked kind of dichotomy.
In a country that pushes for peace
But funds war,
Who is it for?

Not the ones fighting
Not the ones dying

Life sometimes sunny, rainy or snowy
But what of those cloudy days
When we are too depressed to dress

How do we interpret that which befalls us
When it is dark above and an ill wind blows in
What do we rely upon as our barometer

There a myriad of reasons for when the weather changes
Maybe health is being a messy storm and a dichotomy of ailments
Or your relationship resembling a twisting tornado

A lost job or business failure a hurricane to the future
Droughts in our lives igniting all types of addictions
Failing grades a tsunami of disappointment

Postpartum a wall of sleet not easily navigated
Mental illness a torrent too easily dismissed
Marriage troubles a cyclone bursting forth

Loss of love resembling mesmerizing howling winds
Death a lightning rod striking into the soul
The past a swirling sandstorm blinding us

Andreas Simic©

“It’s all in your head”,
On repeat to forestall entropy,
My mind’s in two places at once,
Needing more -
Incessantly yearning for more,
Yet overcome with gratitude
That I should receive anything at all.

you are
syntax and semantics
phonetics and phonology
you are
written and oral
formal and informal
you are
past and future
now and forever
you are
identity and heritage
togetherness and uniqueness
you are
simple and complex
imperfect and perfect
you are
language.

Memories of you
are dust-specks in sunbeams.
Capricious ghosts that flicker and dance

in warm liquid gold.
Elusive and volatile. Liable to cascade at a
glance.

In time they will settle. I will not,
for a while.
I will sit with ghosts. I will let them dance.

It's really great to see you again -
But who are you exactly?
With an uncanny likeness to someone I once knew.
A traitor of culture and face.
A soul come adrift.
Where do you wish to be?
You've always desired more,
Yet I see your future clear.
An empty carcass devoid of what gave you self.
A voice soft-spoken and bathed in envy,
Lacking cognizance and perpetuating hedonistic acts.
A departure from your familiar figure with a ghastly outstretched hand
Requesting I become like you,
Abandoning oneself and
Embracing thy disarray.

when hope drains out like a soul moving out of a body,
it is difficult to walk a path with purpose and steady

when love becomes a baneful burden,
there goes a slit in a wrist, and deep, dark eyes swollen

when faith blurs and requires mere senses to see,
death waves at the doorstep, and life seems to does flee

when the demons take over,
I am dragged down to hell
into the deep pits, seemingly detrimental forever
but I am a dichotomy that neither likes fair-hell or farewell

IA ☕

I am a dichotomy
Caught between the best of me
And what feels like what’s left of me
After years of insecurity
I am caught in a dichotomy
Wondering if you’re using me
Or if you’ll set me free
I want to believe that you’re good for me but
I can only see the warning signs caught in between the breaths I meant to breathe
I am at war
I don’t know if I can count my trauma amongst the casualties
Or if they remain my true enemy
An enemy like darkness, like you, a vacuum which absorbs all light but the rays needed to illuminate your face
Because around you I am blind
Stumbling through broken words and empty lines
Searching for meaning with no concept of time
I am merely painting signs in the hopes that this time you’ll see
Because it’s too dark and the air around you is hard to breathe
But the pain is bittersweet
With each inhale brings recovery
And each exhale lets me find release
I am bound and I am free
I am confident and also weak
I am brave but I am cowardly
I am a dichotomy
Because within me lies more complexity
Then simple character traits which are assigned to me
I will not be chained to simplicity
Another nobody screaming into a void of uncertainty
Because I am a dichotomy
You cannot contain me
I defy reasoning
I have the power to unleash words like demons and in the same breath profess love and if you’re listening
You know that
I am more than a man, I am an idea
An idea that maybe the greatest power is found in dichotomy
A dichotomy like you and me
Through the darkness and the light we proceed
Because we were never one without the other
In this dichotomy we believe
In this prison we are free
Encaptured by the dichotomy of you and me.