These long days I need to sigh
And take things breath to breath
Some days I escape to forget
My appetite's multidimensional
Even though the love is mutual
What happened to the ages lost?
Was today just waiting in the wings?
Motivation is like a ***** word
My lucky coin can't buy nothing
But nothing else can buy it back
Time to rise and shine
And get the wheels back on track
Watching cable TV
It screams a blue and red dichotomy

Blend to purple
Black and blue
What am I supposed to do?
Black and blue
Those aimless zombies missed the mark
But their shot rings true

In a state of disbelief
In a land of disagreement
I'll hang my hat on tempting fate
Knowing well I'll never get a second chance
I'll melt the polar glaciers
With the laser focus of an errant glance
These lost days I need to find my peace
And speak my piece
Let the dogs up off the leash
The fighting spirit runs wild and free
No mental fitness guru tells me who to be
Or what to say
I have a mantra I repeat
Again and again and again

I test the muddy waters
And dip my toes in
But the verdict is lukewarm
I steal the honey all for the money
District the bees that swarm
Why else, of course
Blend to purple
A royal cordial

Black and blue
No guru gonna tell me what to do

You’ve recalled what it’s like to be cold
in this blustered autumn wind
your fingers may be privileged
to flick a switch on central heating
and ignore the insistent, shivering world
while it continues to divide and burn

Quit your childish, mouth breathing,
shirt buttoned up wrong nonsense
and as a grown human
witness the others around you

Sometimes they cook and talk different,
sometimes look and worry too,
but as has been said for centuries
blood is always red
and there are way too many ******

The ones truly coming to take your lives,
your jobs, your holidays,
your houses, cars and sweethearts
speak on TV, Facebook, Twitter and the rags,
demanding you fear the folk
whose hearts and hands are desperate
to protect their kin, like you

In their money nests
the few snooze and giggle at your
wasted weight and misdirected roar

Bring it to bear

Morphisms ignored
You seed sour schisms
Divide & bleed
Bluster-concealed claw of iniquity
Blink & you'll miss misdeeds
Bleak greed breeds alacrity
Mimic predators
Crack fatigue
Shoved in your leaking maw
Sweet as a fatal flaw niggling
Raw needs wriggling
Impelled again to begin again
Fresh meat, feed me, let me sin again
Defeat just past the next win
But when
Actions unsating swiftly flow
Satisfaction ebbs
Objectifying friend & foe
This spluttering glut will not quench
So‽

You loved her in the womb,
Until you saw her face,
Then you decided she was an ugly baby,
You loved the story until you saw the person,
Then you decided you don’t believe them,
Because of their Race.
You wanted them teaching your children,
Until you saw their sexuality,
Their appearance their beliefs their eyes.
You loved them until you saw who they love
And how they choose who and how to love,
Then you decided they weren’t worth hearing.

You decided that they Are crazy.
You decided that they belong in a box,
Because we know “how to deal with people like them
How to fix people like them”.
But what you don’t do is listen.
You are so quick to change your opinion,
When you judge with your eyes.

You are so quick to tell call them worthless,
And to say, “YOU’RE FIRED”,
For believing something you didn’t.
You are so quick to ostracize them, to hate them,
To say that something is wrong with them.
Because you judge with your Eyes,
And forgot your heart.

Copyright Ashley Marlow ©

Vagueness encircled
Fragmented aspiration!
Vagueness crafted
Fadeout the dream of living!
Vagueness designed
Slaughter the humanity!
Vagueness contrived
Maneuver division!
Vagueness persuaded
Project masculinity!
Vagueness indorsed
Homicide creation.

So disappointing
what my windows
to the weary world see
i blink
and i blink some more
trying to clear
the melancholy mist
holding back
an ocean of tears
i try not casting stones
the only stone
i should be throwing
is the callous heart
barely beating
in my ice chest
i need to throw it back
in the pool
of humanity
watch the ripples
reach shallow shores
where integrity drowns
in high tides
of unsound rest
may these undulating motions
stirring small waves of love
penetrate walls of indifference
overcome all barriers
brothers and sisters all
gathering arm in arm
arriving at our destination
full of hope...

~Steven