PLAY FOOTBALL ON FRIDAY THROUGH MUD AND THROUGH SOOT, wake up the next morning you're missing a foot. Hop yourself through a hoop game, your Saturday's grand, wake up Sunday morning with only one hand. On Sunday you're crying, these thoughts you despise. Monday rolls around, you've lost one of your eyes. On Monday you eat comfort food for relief. Go to brush Tuesday morning―bare gums with no teeth.

What's happening here? Oh what sorcerer's curse? One foot and one hand you could handle at first. You dare not speak words lest your mandible burst. And you mustn't have ***. (Losing THAT'd be the worst!)

So you lock down all actions, your life paralyzed, but there go your earlobes, biceps, hair, and thighs. By evening on Thursday you fear you'll be dead. One week to the day you wake only a head.

So you roll down the stairwell and "head" for the doctor. When you pass by the park children use you for soccer. Deflated and bruised, when you roll by the courts, the basketball kids rub your face on their shorts.

At last the Doc's office! You wish you had cancer! At least in that case there'd be some easy answer. Doc looks at you sideways. He's smug and quite snotty. "Just what would you like sir, a prosthetic body?" He writes a prescription for pain medication―shoves the script in your mouth as he calls his next patient.

You roll down the boulevard, scalp over chin, back to your apartment to let death set in.

Arriving at home with the pills in your mouth, you find you're not alone, someone's there on your couch.

Your Father! Your Father!

He says Hello, Head.

But this can't be your Father 'cause your Father's dead! This can't be your Dad. Look his eyes are aflame! And he just called you "Head." Your real Dad knows your name.

He sees you're no dullard (though battered and weak). His skin changes color as he starts to speak:

I'm the first fallen angel. I equate with upheaval. You know me as Lucifer: Master of Evil. It is I who enacted this tragic infection. See one week ago Jesus pulled his protection. All evidence says that the Lord thinks you've sinned. I know not your transgression―that's between you and Him. But for some unknown reason He's left you exposed, and to exploit this new opening I am predisposed.

So let's make a deal! Acceptance makes you whole! The price is quite nominal, (you guessed it) your soul! I'll restore your body. You'll forever be proud! You'll be richer, more handsome, and better endowed! You'll have women, a mansion, the respect of your peers, remain youthful forever, wisdom beyond your years. And if you decline, well,  for you, that's a loss: to be the main ingredient in my 'Special Eternal One-Eyed Head Soup with Maggot Sauce.'

So what do you say? The decision is yours. A millionaire's life or worms eating your pores?

You think of your Father. How he raised you in church. The love of your Mother. How she valued good works.

Then you think of your body. You were an athlete, a dancer.

So you open your mouth and give Satan his answer.

It's night and the cloud is heavy with storm
Rain will be here soon, my mother hurriedly
Put away the chickens in their wooden castle
An a few baskets to trap water for tomorrow

The first pebbles drop, hitting the rooftop
Like nuts and bolts from the mechanic village
We rejoice as Heaven empties her stream
And it rains plentiful filling seven big baskets

Then, the hissing starts from a near distance
Our windows clap to the rhythm of the wind
Then the quarrelling begins, the wind wouldn't
Stop hitting our windows and damaging three

Why didn't you shut the windows? My father screamed!
That's the end, he said no more, we slept in the cold

The river moves steady along
Down the stream the water flows
In the course set long ago
Parts of the river flow peacefully
Places where the fish swim
And people gaze onto the calm creek

In some places the water flows to a sudden drop
Where the water roars down the fall
Splashing below the cliff
Then flowing normally again
Moving steady along
Down the stream the water flows

On another region of the river
The water rushes through rocks
Through gorges and pits
The water roars in the Rapids
Here the fish don't come
For they know there lies danger

I see a fish lay dying on the rocks
Rejected from the dangerous rapid
How I am like the fish
Thrown from the once peaceful stream
Onto the dry rocks with no help
How am I not like this dying fish?

From the once-peaceful stream I have been thrown
Rejected by the violent rapid
On these rocks I now lie
With no one to assist
But along the violent river lives a man
Of whom I do boast

The man gives living water
Water that heals
Water that gives life
Water that resurrects
On the dry rock I laid
Until the man dropped me into a bucket with that water

The water wetted my scales
And my gills welcomed the oxygen
As I could breathe again
The water was sweet
And it was clean
Cleaner than the muddy river water

Then he poured me back into the ***** river
But the clean water remained with me
And I swam along the river
Never to fear
For I had living water
And will never die

I sat in front of the toilet
Suffering through this painful toil
My legs straddling this porcelain hellseat
My arms hugging and latching on
I then feel the sensation in my mouth
And I feel the saliva gathering under my lip
The terrible nausea in my stomach increases
Until my body lurches forward
And my stomach releases its wrath

After three or four repetitions
The sickness is gone
And the toil is over
After all the pain and suffering
The toil and snare
My stomach is settled
All is well
And I will continue on
Without the pain of this nausea

How my life is like vomiting
One moment, all is well
One moment, life is good
But the next moment my stomach churns
The next moment I am pained
My once-peaceful life has fallen
And I dread the anxiety of what comes next
I know that in moments my pain will increase
In moments, my current pain will be nothing

And just as I *****
I go through momentary pain
It feels as if it will never end
And then just as I cease to *****
My trials also cease
My hard times will reach an end
And my stomach will no longer pain
My life will pain no longer
As the ***** has passed from my system

Until another time
I am done dealing
For like ***** is my life
Passing painfully and quickly at times
Ending times of anxiety and fear
Showing the end of my pain
Then coming and going again

My ship is sinking
The ship I built is falling into cold waters
The ship I steered is being swallowed by the sea
My ship sinking
My men are dying
And I, the captain, will fall with his vessel

This vessel has run her course
And she is accepted into the icy water
Where the men will surely die
As their lungs fill with water
Few will survive the icy tide
And I, the captain, will fall with his vessel

In the cold open ocean
Hell has been realized
As I hear horrid screams
And see floating corpses
The men of this mighty ship
Have fallen with their vessel

I, the captain, has ran his ship to her death
Where she will fall into icy waters
Never to sail again
Always to be lost at sea
And I dream of a land
A land I will never see

When my body hits the water
I feel cold for but a moment
Then a numbing feeling takes
And I float in the lukewarm water
Never to walk or breathe again
I, the captain, has fallen with his vessel

Then I sink into the lukewarm water
Struggling to breathe again
My lungs ached, my body pained
And I knew I would not breathe again
In reflex, I inhaled
And in came flowing waters

My lungs filled with water and salt
My throat, mouth, and lungs sting
Stinging with the burning of the salt water
Until my eyes shut
Never to open again
As I, the captain, had fallen with his vessel

We fought hard for the hill
We held fast for our ground
But the enemy raged still
We knew victory may not be found
As we began to fall on that hill

The war waged on day and night
Our adversaries taunt us
Enemy attacks create a fright
The memories of battles hunt us
As we lost the battle in the night

Our enemy chased us to the sea
A massacre on that ******? shore
On the beach we begin to flee
To avoid all the blood and gore
We boarded ships to sail the sea

Our ships were filled with blood
Our fallen friends lay still on the floor
Our ship sailed red from the flood
Our troops could take no more
Our regiment could shed no more blood

Our ships sailed across the sea
Sights were a secret to keep
The war was too much to see
I began to drift to sleep
As we sailed across the sea

As I slept, a dream I dreamt
A nightmare of my own demise
A battle where my fortunes spent
Where my whole arm dies
Still I’m terrified by the dream I dreamt

I remember the terror in that dream
Like a defendant in a courtroom scene
Guilty of a crime it seem
No one to trust, no friend on whom to lean
I could never wake from this dream

With ****** hands I sat in jail
My victim was my own heart’s fate
To my torture, justice prevailed
I’m tortured by my cellmate
All of my days spent in this jail

One day a guard came with a key
He opened my cell door
He set me free
But like a monster with blood and gore
I was trapped without a key

I saw the sins of my life
All the men I’d killed
Just to take their wife
All I’ve done and I’ve willed
Has incomplete this wretched life

Like a rock tied to my foot
Sinking to fast in a raging
My lungs and water meet
My sins bear fruit, I see
As the stone weighs down my feet

Under the salty water
Sins sting my soul like eyes with salt
My breath begins to falter
The penalties I deserve become a vault
As my lungs fill with that water

In this dream I wash up on a beach
It seems I will never die
That the end is where I’ll never reach
No matter how much I’ll cry
Until I finally died on the beach

I woke up from this nightmare dream
Lying in this dark ship’s hull
I walk out to glorious sun beams
And over the dream I mull
Then I lived the terrible dream

I’ve seen all the sins I’ve made
I looked up and asked the way
All the pain on my heart has been laid
Then blue skies turned to gray
And my way was made

At a port we met a man
Said he would sail a ship across the stormy sea
When we made it to our land
Our enemy ruled all that we could see
And we followed the foreign sailor man

We made our way across our homeland
Through the lands our enemy had taken
In the weeks since we’d left our cherished land
The fate of the people seemed forsaken
As we saw what remained of our once-beautiful homeland

From the shore, we could see the hill
The foreign man said we should march to that place
The memories of that fateful night lingered still
Days went by and we still race
To that steep bloodstained hill

We journeyed across our war-raged land
Fighting with our enemy attackers
The man from the port, that foreign man
Saves us from these ****** matters
Fighting through pain for our land

On our way to the hill
We fought many battles along the way
And made our way not by our skill
But then some blood to add
It seemed the battle once again ended at the wall

The foreign man had been killed
Our battle seemed to have been lost
As if enough blood hadn’t already been spilled
The morning next was cold with frost
The hope for the war seemed to have been killed

But when all hope was gone
And our pain began to rise
When our enemies were bearing down
He came back and ended our demise
And all fear for loss was gone

Things had become good again
Good for the first time since the beginning
The sad things of the world became a gem
The once hopeless battle now winning
All things were become good once again

He returned from the dead
He defeated our enemies
He stood in our stead
He became our remedy
Then we powered ahead

We charged up the hill
Toward the great mountain peak
The journey was filled with thrill
The foreigner led us, the weak
And leads us upon this mountain still

He saved us all
From the wrath of our adversaries
From the sin of ourselves

I see the work of my hands
I see the results of my will
I set my eye over the lands
I know I was too weak on that hill
I didn’t realize the journey’s demands
The pains in my side remain still

I set my foot upon that path
Over my shoulder I saw my pain
I run from the Monster’s wrath
If his way is made, I will be slain
There on my arm, I see the ****** ****
It seems this journey will be in vain

The Monster haunts me in my dreams
He follows on this path with chasing
No matter how loud I cry, it seems they won’t hear my screams
No one knows just what I’m facing
I run until I see flowing streams
And find my love, we’re embracing

From this dream I wake
The truth in this dream I dread
With this Monster, my will may break
But on this path, I will tread
And I will walk until I ache
On the path my Father led

I wander down this lonely road
In this deep dark wood
As I walked alone, my pace it slowed
Until I stopped and stood
By the streams that flowed
And for a time, all was good

The fire I had built begins to smolder
The smoke from the dead warmth rose
The night then grew colder
I thought for sure I would be froze
Then I saw the Monster over my shoulder
I can see in his eyes, my fear shows

I run hastily away from the Monster
He chases me through the dark
I know he leads me to slaughter
If only I could create a spark
In the darkness, I would no longer wander
Then maybe I might hit my mark

The Monster leaves me at sunrise
My pain vanishes with the light
My soul is calm like sunny skies
For a time, all is right
But as soon as the sun dies
There comes the pain of night

My night is filled with torment
And my days filled with fear
This journey is filled with lament
Oftentimes I fear the end is all too near
It seems something I cannot prevent
And the injuries I’ve acquired are all too severe

The pain is too great to continue down this road
Knowing the Monster is on my back
The weight I carry is too heavy of a load
The courage to continue is something I lack
But my Father gave me guide with the words he wrote
And with each encounter, I defend the Monster’s attack

Every night I see I’m not on my own
I’d be dead if not for my Father
With each fight, each night, I’ve grown
I no longer wonder why I bother
At the end, I’ll approach my Father’s throne
And the Monster will be but a scoffer

Still the Monster haunts when the sun is gone
It’s as if I’m stuck in his box
And I can never move on
Because still the Monster mocks
Weak. I feel as weak as a fawn
Yet somehow as strong as an ox

It’s a strange feeling
Being torn between pain and relief
Yet both are healing
It’s hard to hold to belief
When everything is reeling
When it’s always about a new leaf

Still I feel the pain from the hunt
The Monster always drawing blood
He’s always just steps behind, though I’m in front
I tread through deep mud
Only for him to catch me with his heavy brunt
Now I’m caught in this painful flood

Constantly I cry for my Father to save me
For someone to take me from my misery
But what I wanted was not what He gave me
A man came and was my victory
For my evil, He forgave me
And why He did is a mystery

He defeated the Monster on my part
He took on my pain and we limped down the path
He felt the pain I held in my heart
He experienced my pain from the Monster’s wrath
He had been with me from the start
Always interceding on my behalf

He acted as my brother
He defeated my tormentor
He cared for me like my mother
He dwelled in the pain left by my torturer
He was sent by my Father

The glorious morning
The peaceful night
Why anticipate for the paper view fights?
These guys aren’t Mohammed Ali
unless they got better records than I see
He would knock them out like one, two, three
He wouldn’t even have to have his eyes open
But why won’t theirs open?
Oh now he marks his territory for the millionth time
But sometimes you have to reiterate yourself again and again
That’s how he felt
From the days of early youth to the day he could wear his own belt
You can’t surpass him easily
I’m still looking for a contender
You can tell by the looks of the Bartender
Waiting for the old tapes to render
He shakes his head while he wipes off the ***** cups
Wishing he could make up
For his past mistakes
On quitting boxing
His grades were below the Mendoza line
He reassured his Mama that he would be fine
But little did he know this would set him back further than a state fine
Reading between the lines and not over them
He became one of the common crayons in the box
But a little darker than what we hoped for
And now he’s got the memory of the Prison Guard knocking on his door
Letting him know he can come out for recess
But all he wanted was to be the best
He hated the white walls so much he redefine the word detest
He just ended up like the rest
That at that moment, he wished the prison guard would shoot him dead
Numerous attempts of trying to take his gun
The consequences were the antonym of fun
He had miles and miles to run
Before they let him go easy
But that whole time was far from it
He just thought heavily while he heard the horrible sounds
Why do I feel like I deserve to be worse off than the people laying underground?
Will anyone bother to play a game of lost and found?
Just like those kids in those cliché films?
It was great relief to him when he was starting to think better thoughts
But he knew he had a lot of ocean to cover
It was the space time continuum for him
The Enterprise had more to bargain for than the high prizes
Seeing his own waters rise
Not to any of his surprise
He woke up franticly in the middle of the night
Hyperventilating, panicking
Knowing it wouldn’t be alright
The nightmares were wrapped around his mind so tight
It felt like two anacondas gripping him stiffly
He could escape
All those transgressions he made
Were coming back from the graveyards he once dreamed of in his wake
Right from the lakes
He couldn’t even eat the smallest portions of Frosted Flakes
Without breaking down like an old building
It’s thrilling for the mind
But only for it to let it all out
It wasn’t easy to overcome
But it took plenty of years of therapy to rewrite the story that he really wanted to tell
Telling the world how hard he consistently fell
No big deal, just a few scars and small quiet thoughts
But nothing worth a horror plot
It seemed like his worst days were behind him
To take that literally would be logical
A word many of his peers did not understand
They were either locked up or already dead
He overlooked the warnings of his teachers in school
But he just became another victim of Mr. T
I pity the fool, he chose to be an inept tool
Not the dull ones you buy at a department store
But the ones that need repairs and somehow make their way out
With no improvement at all
It can be pretty apparent why our proposed empires fall
The pitfalls can engulf us extremely
If we don’t handle things supremely
If I never had the guidance I received, where would I be?
Not writing these rhymes
Not telling you the times
Regardless of my previous struggles, I think everything will be fine
He went from prisoner to bartender, which may seem like it’s crossing the line
But knowing his past, the way he was doing time
He was just thankful he had a job
Now, who wouldn’t?
That’s the question I want to see answered
It’s going to be crickets for a long time
So I might as well stay here until I hear one
Because there’s no chain to be undone
Nowhere left to run
Let’s rebuild the lives of those who had nothing to begin with
Because if you were put into that place, I don’t think you would handle it too much better than them
Your life is amazing compared to them
But it’s not the cleanest gem
There’s still a few black holes here and there
But you shouldn’t mark out the reasons to care
There’s a lot more wisdom to be shared
The rest is up in the air
I don’t expect anything from the world
But I just expect better from people
That’s what encourages people to become teachers
So you can do better than they ever could
Instead of being caught in the middle of the hood
Being dangerous, mental and misunderstood
That’s the worst way to be as a human being
We’re just looking to help
Hoping to make an impact
More so than a meteor if it wiped out Earth entirely
But these kids do so when they decide to slash a cop’s car tirely
What’s that under your shirt?
A gun?
Well, Momma isn’t going to like this
You should be thrown in jail but I’ll bestow a probation
And an immense amount of community service
This isn’t a play, so I won’t rehearse this
So tell your Momma like it is
And change your life today
Because with this type of activity going on, there won’t be a Sun to look up to
There won’t be a freshly cooked meal by someone who deeply cares for you
There won’t be anyone who can take you to the Zoo
On days and weeks repeat
There won’t be a fresh batch of wheat
Sliced for you
In the requirements that must meet
Or the brand new sheets replaced weekly
What life will I live if I continue to play with fire?
Will I be unemployed and be stuck from hire?
Because that’s what happens when you play with fire
You get burned
Not from these verses
Not from these lines
But the way you go about your actions
You’re paying a permanent fine
That won’t ever wash away
So choose the lighter side today
Maybe people will overlook the bad choices you made today
And go along with their days
Like nothing happened, still entrenched in the back of their minds
Seemingly impossible to find
Going onto their morning grinds
But nowhere close to what you’ll be doing when you pay for your poor choice
The game of chance isn’t forgiving
It will take you over and pay it’s bidding
Keeping the smokers from quitting
The cheating players from winning
The happy pill participants from grinning
And the aspiring cookers from grilling
But I know that’s not the biggest culprit
But as long as I know it
I’m not going to bring it up again
We’ve seen that printed before
My central themes pop out galore
Not giving the other side too much more
Now I’m trying to experiment a little more
And not be the broken tools in those department stores
And trying to find what excites me more
Than the same old drag
That floats in a plastic bag
I’m starting to loathe people who think I’m a couch gag
I’m really not into shows like JAG
They just don’t resonate with me like they should
Some things are triumphant and grab me more than what most things ever could
And I reference them like I should
I don’t always follow the classic formulas
It’s not like I never could, but I see it as I never should

Squint scurried.
From rooftop to rooftop,
He skipped and he flipped as he
Scrambled amongst the tiles,
The blur of slate was his domain,
As, through the haze of reckless speed,
The slowly revolving City
Did imprint upon his vision.
So that as his sly lids descended
Its outline he admired;
Its screaming centre he desired.

In the end even Squint cannot run forever.
So he will slow, and shade his eyes,
Catch his breath and gaze and sigh.

And when he’s had his fill of the sights and the smog.
Down he slides amongst the pipes
Of better folk; of harder folk,
Of those with Proper Names
Like ‘Welder’ and ‘Melder’
And ‘Roland’ and ‘Fairer’.
Names that came after a ‘Mr’,
A ‘Lord’ or a ‘Sister’.
Names that one Day he would have for his Own.
For in the Glass City, Names were always changin’ hands.

Squint.
Not much of a Name,
Even for one so young as he
It would seem he would deserve
A Name of much more worth
Than simple, humble ‘Squint’.

But Squint lived up to his Name.
He may look young and full of fun,
But crouch on a wall and you might just
Be appalled to see that not a moment after
Squint is left alone, his eyes will glitter.
And if any Man’s flesh could ever express such malicious scheming,
It was the writhing face of our humble Squint,
Once his eyeballs set to gleaming.

I stand in a crowded parlor of stain-glass windows.
Surrounded by Rainbow Christs crowned in hemp.
In the corner sits Lao Tzu, in a tweed jacket that wreaks of mothballs,
Talking mildly of quarterly earnings reports with Buddha.
The former Joseph Smith Jr. just got new gauges.
She smiles, her braces flashing in the smoky room.
As I enter, a crumpled and toothless old man introduces himself as Muhammad
And politely inquires as to whether I want any cookies.
“They’re snicker doodles” he says, “I made them myself"
Meanwhile, Moses and Abraham hold hands preaching
“Down with God and Bill O’Reilly” over a game of pool.