He pushed the weight of the world
To the top of the milky way
And he leaned, and he sighed
As the world rolled away

He put the globe on his shoulders
As he prepared to climb again
He shrugged and it shuddered
Spreading fear to little men

Igby! Igby, my boy!
I feel it coming down on me!
This pressure, this weight!
Why can I not be free?

Some weights are corporeal
Like the dumbbells at the barbell
Tabs overflowing, drinks and meals
These simple weights are easy to quell

Then there are the really heavy ones
The ones no eyes can see
The ones that drag us down to earth
That make it hard to flee

Our words and obligations
All form a lofty load
We are all carrying something
Along our personal roads

And our roads, they go forever

But, to where?

No one knows...

The sunflower reaches up:

Tall and proud

Vainly striving to reach the sky:

A Sisyphean task.

For the wind batters;

Bruises as it nears.

Faces forced to bow.

Stems snapped like broken backs.

Nevertheless, they still believe.

Winter comes: a forced retreat.

Petals wither and fall.

Reduced, reused, recycled.

No longer of interest

To bees, birds and we

Who only see the first

Flush of beauty.

Returned unto the soil.

My tears are
saltier than the ocean’s

My heart is
heavier than Sisyphus’ rock

My secrets
that I buried beneath my
skin has turned into scars

My body is
but a graveyard

For every second step was erroneous,
             I thought I'd reach a new height
of understa……….

Then I'd decline to a lower point
                     of where I was before.

Never gaining enough elevation to
see past the predicament I find myself
           causally stepping forth upon..

Felling like Sisyphus, always trying to
gain a truth only to find out that a step
            could make me fall more than before.

Only wanting to climb this ladder of life,
       but deceit and snakes keep me from
gaining
              ground...

Life is a ladder and some runs are always precarious,
   do we step lightly, or do we tread upon the next to
only find that it was the broken one..

A low rumble in the distance
The ground trembles and turns
My knees betray me
The earth quakes
The rumble grows louder
A dust cloud draws near
A cacophony of hooves and heavy snorts
I blink, and they’re upon me
A stampede of hogs
Trampling me
Stamping me down
I contort
I cry out
I bleed
Mangled, through swollen eyes
I watch the mob reach the horizon
I’m left broken
Tattered, bruised
And coated in slime

I snap back to consciousness, and I’m sitting up in my bed.
That’s the third time tonight, I think to myself.
It’s dark, so I listen.  A powerful snore echoes beside me.
My drooling, snot-faced daughter has snuck into my room again.
I wipe her excretions from my shoulder and scoop her up.

Navigating the dark, circumventing the tissue-laden floor,
Taking extra care not to startle the guinea pig this time,
I clean and cover her up, then gently kiss her forehead.
I linger and brush her hair aside. Snorting loudly, she turns.  
With ballerina grace, I tiptoe over Barbie Dolls.

In the kitchen, the dishes overflow from the day before.
Cleaning till I’m exhausted, I ascend the stairs to my room.
A familiar rumble fills the hallway. The hooves crushing my ribs.
On my side of the bed, my daughter in a drool-filled, snotty puddle.
These dishes are getting done tonight, I think as I scoop her back up.

One must imagine Sisyphus ripped.
Shoulders like Boulders.
Quads like God's.
He was literally doing Olympian training!

No matter how much strength of yours is kept
It always comes back down to whom you know
For every time you think you are adept
The caws of meritocracy doth crow

Americans have dreamt in dreams of gold
High hopes upheld with promises of clout
By working hard there’s fortune to behold
Lest lack of means cause gatekeepers to doubt

Yes, push that rubble up the sacred hill
To watch it fall and tumble to the depths
For all eternity it is your will
To pay with sweat and blood for all your debts

Perhaps if only there were something more
To lifting destitution from the floor

My heart is a stone
Rolling slowly uphill
At an easy, steady pace
They say life's not a race
They say you're never alone

But it's all just useless, I know
Gravity grips hard with each step
This treacherous ***** grows steep
And helpless, I sow what I've reaped
As I plummet back to the valley below

Pulled two directions by my heart beguiled
I climb, fall, climb, fall, climb and fall again
Still longing for you, for those days long gone
And still trying like hell to get past this, move on
My feeble heart forever stuck in this Sisyphean trial

loving you is like
                                              far
          ­                                l l
                                    i
                         ­      h
                           p
a rock rolling u
or catching a f
                         a
                            l l
                                 e
                                     n
                                            star
just know that i tried

losing you is like
endless rain on a sunny day
st!ng!ng pain from the ultraviolet ray
destiny denied

if the world is made of
red and blue swipes
then why not just be
purple all of the time?

if i don't need love
or musical pipes
then you can find me
lost looking for rhyme

my baby never sang a song
to fix whatever might be wrong
you think your boxes have the key
but a quick coupler isn't me

loving you is like
a (myth) that never did exist
or a (woman) in this world trying to resist

losing you is like
learning i could fix myself with my own strong arms
turning fields of barren land into fertile farms

into the ease i'm free
so call me when you understand
how to please all of me
how to be more than just a boy-man

i'm glad it's over.

my mother's father is not yet buried
and yet he breathes no more
another boulder to be carried
up the hill forevermore