A battle, a war — my hopes, my peace,
A storm inside that feels to never cease.
Pain in me, like winds that break all that goes,
And reason? Is it there? Nobody knows.

The dreamer, or the dream that wakes?
The mind that gives or the one that takes?

To struggle within is to be alive,
A flame that fights just to survive.
If war was not within me, would I still be me?
Or just a shadow, drifting free?

So let there be winds strong to tear and spin,
For even torn, I rise — and win.

the sun is as hot as spaghetti
steaming with a sauce
served with a side of sizzling hot cherries.

my tie is so tight I cough in silent h's
and I'm sweating
my pores shooting out like a fountain
and my face, like an umbrella in the rain.

no time to think
no time to reason
"Ding, Ding DIING!"
I jump like I was slapped on the cheek
my beard itches, my right eye twitches
"What the F* is this?"
I write out the first words that come to me
"Ding, Ding, DIING!"
but I'm not done writing
I look at the bell,  "you f*king ****"
and I jump again, like there was a puddle before me
my head is as hot as popcorn
no, even hotter
and you can hear it pop
from the front and from the back
"Ding, Ding, DIING!"
i jump again
it's me vs. a bell.

A natural yet cruel reminder,
That we all have a hidden number.
Of decades, or years, or months, or days,
Left on this world, before we fade away.
“Grandpa had a fall in the middle of the night”.
And you start praying that he can win this fight.  
“Grandma has cancer and it’s terminal”
And you start hoping for a proper miracle.
“Your uncle Ben can’t walk without a cane”
And you start blaming God for all this pain.

Fail safes, like preventive measures;
What percentile are you willing to lose?
You will lose them all.
Don't arrest you family
To the error of your decisions,
Take my advice
And don't take anyone with you.

if the lines of code
that capture all these thoughts  
somehow bubble up
in a distant pool
in a plasma of pixels
in a far off river of an era
and spill out into the world
let it be known
that i am doing my best
i am fighting the good fight
i am here on the right side
the lovers’ side
and let it be known
that i’ll do my part
to burn it all up
if i have to

I will soak my mind in kerosene
and strike the match with my teeth;
I will burn myself to the ground
a thousand times
before I will become
the worst of my natural beast.

Only when there are no options
will the stinging vines trap me there
in the ditch of dark consciousness.
Only then will the mud at my feet
finally seize the rest of me
and feast on my warrior bones.

September 2024

few love to sing our Anthem,
almost demanding an operatic
persona, a skilled voice, capable
of great range, but it is a story,
about one man’s imprisonment,
and that phrase:

”Through the perilous fight”

always reminds,
even in peace,
we are forever,
engaged in battle
to be a light among the
nations, a shining example,
and the perils thereof
when we err,
mistake the,
of course!
of
our truest course,
and go adrift

but!
look around,
many, not few,
placing their hand
over the heart,
words reciting,
that’s how I
know, we
yet, still,
want and pray
to be a great nation,
a light unto the world

If THEY cannot rebuild this country with love, empathy, and compassion—

If THEY only destroy communities, tear apart families, sow distrust, mislead, interrogate, gaslight, condemn, and grow fat off OUR fellow humans—

If WE cannot trust OUR representatives, those in power, OUR system of law, OUR doctors, OUR teachers, and the people who hold OUR lives and those of OUR loved ones in THEIR hands—

Then what kind of world do THEY seek to create?

THOSE MEN, draped in their wolfskin suits, armored in dollar bills, wearing false masks of humanity, do not deserve the power they wield.

If this is the system THEY choose to uphold, one that thrives on exploitation, suffering, and deceit, then let it crumble. Let it burn.

And from the ashes of this failed system and flawed government, WE will rise. WE will rebuild—not with greed or oppression, but with unity, justice, and the courage to do what is right.

This is OUR country, OUR problems, OUR responsibility to make it right.

WE will not bow. WE will not be broken. WE will not stand idly by as THEY feast on the labors and suffering of OUR people. The time for change is now, and it belongs to all of US.