Pettiness runs deep in our species,
Humans are nothing but a disease.

We're all naturally racist,
And we're also full of hatred.

Division runs rampant through unity on the break
Torches flare as rage flickers smoldering kindling to flame
Erupting the perpetual boils that fester beyond infections wake
Fearful that lives saved are endangered for propagandas sake
Nay, the divisions that split rip to shreds the patriotic fabric
Shorn to threads amiable friendships that broach enmity
Between brothers bound by blood shared
Bleeding red in concealed unison given to each at birth
As mighty Gaia trembles under the weight of shrugging Atlas
Beseeching the old gods to return to former glories
Resting lonesome Olympus from its divine pantheon
To quake and shake the shared foundations built
Atop mountains of lies stacked one after another
Before the heavens part and holy Elysium repels
The hearts of both men and women who dared divide
A house unified on sacrosanct liberties inherent
Gifted to the corruptible souls of humanity
On the premise that justice should be for all
That hold the highest values inviolable
By any that would rabble-rouse the masses to forgo
The established law of the land on such flawed premises
Where words hold greater authority than actions convey
And peace is but a pipe dream puffed in perfect rings translucent
Fading before the light has a chance to cast dark shadows
Imperfect in their reflection yet somehow flawless in impression
Oh, if only we were not like that famous allegory
Confined to our own individual caves
Then maybe our eyes could open wide and once again
Let in the truth that we have for too long allowed to blind us in hate
Perhaps the fates would halt their furies
And end our shared torment avoidable
Unifying a once noble people to again stand proud
A beacon to a world begging for freedom
Clearing the fog of war and lighting the path
Back to the house we once called home

By L.R.Thompson

He broke his neck thirty years ago
I break mine more with each
promise of keeping you in my life
but Ian Curtis is on my mind a lot,
grieving for souls I will never know.

Some of his songs are so sad,
like hearing the premature
snap of his bones

Cannot help but resent
how clever society is
to glamorize the unglamorous,
even I am aware
the flowers upon graves are not just for
aesthetics, but we are still always trying
to cover terrible tragedies
with beautiful things.

Am I just as guilty?

I cheat on you with him.
His spirit through my headphones,
hoped if I listen intently
the narrative changes.

purple marks on your neck
just that weekend you
taught me what a hickey was
and how they felt good

yours’ declare ownership,
not declarations of love.

You walk into art class,
purple painted across your throat.

If love could save Ian,
had I lived in the mid-seventies
he may very well have lived forever
and his throat painted by love,
rather than the bruises of a noose.

The letters I wrote you were in vain,
my mistake quoting those Smiths’
songs:
Morrissey is an *******
and so are you.

I still
am too scared to
wonder how far I am willing
to go
to reap the benefits of sorrow.

"New Dawn Fades"
tears into my heartstrings
feeling responsible in
the prevention of another
suicide

I grapple onto
what a savior complex was,
your dead father
the tracks on your arms made me cry
but I thought it was stupid.
It made me hate myself more
why could I not learn to undo
my drive to save anyone,
but myself

The phone call
where I broke up with
you and you
pretend to
overdose on the speaker

One of us had to grow up,
had to make it out alive
And I love you again,
every time Ian's ghost
sings Isolation.

And I leave you there,
sure, to end the album
after the final song.

A wise woman once told me
Anger is no trustworthy emotion for a poet.
Thus has my hot heart's spring gone dry:
Pain and fury sapped it,
Soft tissue stripped and bitten from without
And within, leaving only smoldering bones,
Teeth dulled and nails blunted;
Calcified soles to carry me
Through desert darkness,
Where at last brittle, broken
They fail. No more strength
In clenched fists,
Nothing
But hope in a desert of light,
To join there those equal to anger,
No longer its slave.

nationalism
interesting concept

it gives me eyes
yet constricts my vision
it cuts to the root, precision
a careful incision

distill patroticism
bathe in schism
schism of the past
no victory every lasts

build rafts
pay tribute to the past
but build the ******* rafts
appreciate your ancestors craft
but realise patrioticism is relative
we all have a past