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4AM-
a boy runs across
the four-lane roadway,

eyes like rare stones,
face burlap-creased,
jean shorts, a dolphin backpack
meant for someone smaller.

I track in my car,
take the exit that curves
around an abandoned encampment.

I find cement steps,
but the boy is gone.

Only smoke remains:
a hooded figure curled
in a doorway of a derelict building,
an empty tent split by knife.

The world recedes,
layered, unbroken.

another vision settling
into the mind,
a thick silence I fold
into the others.
Once you give
the heart
the job
it's supposed to do
you start
thinking you feelings
“The pain will fade”
The wind whispered
“It’s not yet the end”
Breathe in the warm scent
Of sunlight between leaves
Lost in the gardens
Of my spiraling mind
Wade through the ponds
And see the fish
Smiling from the depths
Painting reeds
On your ankles
Climb the towering
Wisteria tree the centerpiece
Each petal a thought
Climb to the clouds
And emerge from the fountain
Dripping with blood
Birds fly from the labyrinth
and lick the flesh
From your bones
Now free to sit
Or wander the endless
Crumbling walls
Consumed by Ivy
To look for the path out
Of which does not exist anymore
I don't want to eat breakfast
Or watch my favorite show
Don't want to eat lunch either
Or take walks in the snow

I don't want to watch leaves turn
Or take trips to the beach
Don't really want to read my books
And I don't want to teach

I don't want to take a bath
Don't want to call my friends
I don't want to play in rain
My gosh, this never ends

I don't want to change my clothes
Or pet the neighbor's dog
I just want someone to say
How long this will go on

I don't want to meet new friends
Or see old ones, either
I don't want to see anyone
Or to be lonely, neither.

And I don't need to be in love
I don't want a new car
Today, I just want to be done,
My life has gone too far

So tell me that it's over now
And that I can finally sleep
Then slowly watch me fade away
Pray the LORD my soul to keep
I'm just so so tired. Everything is so heavy.
Although I sleep so sound at night
In my mind rumbles an endless fight
Each side believes that they'll get more
Make no mistake: this is war.

In my mind, I live alone
Inside a house of cobblestone
There are no neighbors, and the fight is violent
But inside the house, it gets too silent

The thunder clashes with the ground
The demons fire off another round
Angels strike them with their bows
So round 'n' round the battle goes

Why they fight, I cannot discern
The demons cheer with each soul they earn
Lost souls gather to find their way
Falling victim, becoming prey

An angel falls, a demon dies
Such things happen when fighting lies
Each side is right, but both are wrong
Both cry out their battle song

The truth of war, the why they fight
Is sealed up in a copyright
Action stars and movie scenes
To drown out the righteous screams

An angel saves a soul at last
The battlefield feels so less vast
A total of souls saved was seven
They were blessed to get to Heaven

Angels and demons call a truce
The victim puts away their noose
For once at last, peace is found
Thus ends the savage battleground

Then the darkness comes back 'round
Just when they found their common ground
It starts again, just like before
Make no mistake: this is war.
I blended what it's like fighting mental battles in your head, with how the world is around us. Both affect each other, and that, in itself, is a war of its own.
Jake Genet Aug 18
Sit with me,
    On a grassy hill,
        Away from everyone,
            And let me pull you in.

Hold my hand,
    Stare through my eyes,
        And let it take us together.

Tear our minds through the back of our skulls,
    And across blues and reds,
        Purples and blacks,
            Stars and skies.

Embrace the shifts,
    Look beyond the whole,
        And listen between my static.

It's beneath this veil,
    Underneath the cracking mask,
        That you'll see me.
Shane Aug 18
A painter paints a canvas full of pictures;
A picture paints a moment trapped in time.
A poet writes a poem to be pictured;
A poem paints a picture in the mind.
Jessica Aug 17
As I see it
the sky above us
the dream below

Each possibility to begin
the infinite
searching the two rivers
that cross in the imagination
your mind builds the bridge in the dream
only later you know what it means
Jake Genet Aug 17
Within forest and thicket,
    Atop shaped stones and carved cliffs,
        Lies a concrete cabin.

Inside cement walls,
    Between wooden boards,
        Under timber and granite,

Hides a lone window.

In silence it opens,
    To a world between the rest.
Think quick.
Step through only now,
    As the window sinks back to asphalt.

Jump into my unknown.
Peer through thin curtains,
    Between gnarled wood and paved stone.
Down bone and brain.

Into a moment,
    A dreamt world amongst the stars.



A still black sea,
    Reflecting night sky's stare.
Alive as one, without wind, or tide.
Zero sound. No marks of man.
Just you, walking on dark.

But the universe watches from above,
    And with silent malice it reaches for you.

The stars speed closer as the sky leans in.
    Faster and faster,
        Racing, falling, its silence howls,
            Trapping you in-between.

As the black sea and the dark skies meet.

Lie down, face up.
    Feel the gap close as the two become one,
        And you'll see through everything.

Past stars, lonely moons, speeding comets.

To the invisible man behind.
Mark Wanless Aug 14
my mind is flustered
undisturbed beyond belief
and the echoes fall
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