Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Kathryn Rose Mar 2018
Imperfect child, imperfect man
Shouts from his father looking down with shame
Stuck in his head like demons in the flame

Giving the love he never found
Making family out of friends
Desperate for a full heart

Always searching
Never receiving
Depression looms
Trusting the demons in reality
Holding on to something he can't see
While paper crowds his home
Hoping paper will block the void he feels every day

Happiness existed
Only in the city of lights
Torturous summers, capable winters
She broke his dream

Immediate recognition does not come
Perseverance fading quickly

Screaming child inside him
Eternal college experience of brotherhood, beer, whiskey and Vegas trips
Living through the joy of children

Desperate to find a woman
A woman that won't die
A woman that won't disappear
Someone he won't disappoint
if I
saw Norah
Jones this
time while
they'd freak
out and
lost their
marbles that
never cried
again Saturday
Night when
I thought
never to
get rest
with her
I care
to date
A Norah Jones Story
Valerie Feb 2018
we are a generation of sedation,

discursive, empty, godless children,

raised in the age of social media,

where the height of our emotions

lie in our 'thoughts and prayers',

and the best we can do is a touch of a button,

a share, a like, a tweet, a reaction documented,

rumination we pretend we've borne.



is it our intrepid numbness to it all?

after all, we are best known for

the plight for attention and validation,

or rather yet our entitlement and our narcissism,

terrorism doesn't have a face unless i see it,

and it begs the millennial question,

are we just a bunched of depressed sociopaths?



or is it because we are the privileged 20%,

nestle in the fringes of developed nations,

with our precious technology and our internet,

unbeknownst to a third world, a third world

we mourn according to how it benefits us.

after all, don't forget that in an emergency,

there is always 'thoughts and prayers'.

-
William Marr Jan 2018
feverishly feeding oily coins
into the hungry mouths
of the slot machines

a cook from Chinatown
blinded by the splendor of the casino
has mistaken them
for the children he left behind
in the old country
where they refuse
to grow up
Mike Hentges Jan 2018
We stand in line for a delayed plane airport stale oxygen recycled through our mouths. This is work.
“It’s gonna be fun to watch.”
We’re popcorn on the sidelines. Your sorrow is our television and soon we will fly to vegas. Because our white ***** make us bulletproof. Make us able to say things like “It’s gonna be fun to watch.” Instead of saying things like “I’m scared.” And “I can’t believe this is happening.”
The conversation continues. This is work.
“Those females sure do have a way about them don’t they?”
I wonder myself a coward. Does the upstart stand over the 60 year old? He’s a short man.
“Did you see that one?”
They’re talking about *****.
“Oh how could I miss it? He’s helping me find my wife, you know?”
What is the proper response to a sexist wink? I awkwardly smile. This is work.
Plane boards.
Takeoff.
Landing.
Slot machines in the airports.
Lights.
Smoke.
Decadence. I’ve never been. The neon hits me like stargazing. Walking alone seems to be more palpable to my tastes than company. There’s strippers on the sidewalk. One tries to spank me. When you walk back to your Paris themed hotel at 2 in the morning, everyone wants you to go to the *******. My hotel room is spacious. ******* is odd when you’re surrounded by ***.

Time rolls into the work event I’m in Vegas for, like limousines and unenthusiastic drummers strapped to the backs of moving advertisements. It’s a social event. I’m supposed to play nice with my customers. Make them happy so they give me more money. I’m paraphrasing.
One of my customers is talking to one of his customers. The guy is around 85. He notes on how young I look. Says that I can use this to my advantage with the ladies. Oh sorry. I’m paraphrasing again. What he actually said was:
“Never get married. When I was 40 I caught ***** like you wouldn’t believe. I’d find a 23 year old and toss her away for someone younger.”
Time rolls into overpriced drinks walking hand in hand with gambling and stories of conquest
Testosterone
Unrest
Like champions of our pants we are gladiators in the absence of romance. The game of one-up-man-ship, each story told and stacked like the cards slapping down on the tables around us.

“There was a 99.9% chance I was going to bang this chick. She like, had her hand on my leg. I had my arm around her. And I was the hero of the night because I had gotten a bachelorette party over.”
“Oh yeah, she’s hot.” “ Your wife is ******* standing right there, dude.”
“You know if things are wrong at the house cause my wife keeps me up aaaaalllll night. Talk talk talk talk.”
He moves his hands like lobster claws to mimic his wife’s mouth.  I feel my awkward smile crack across my face again. I pay $10 for a watered down drink. I talk to a girl who doesn’t want to talk to me. She leaves.
“You strike out or something?”
When you walk back to your Paris themed hotel at 4 in the morning, everyone wants to ******* in exchange for your wallet.

“Where are you going? You ever had black *****?”

My hotel room is spacious.
It’s odd to feel alone when company can be paid for. And as I lie naked in my bed I wonder what it would be like to have *** with a *******. I feel failure creeping at the floor, climbing the sheets that tell me I’m in the city of sin, so why am I not sinning?
Winning.
“You strike out or something?”

As men we are taught to be strong and that we don’t need anyone
Wolves
This is work
(but I must have missed the ******* lesson)

Because it seems I need someone. More than the soft cheek kiss of innocence lost. I want the feeling of seeing old people hold hands. The hard glare of the no judgement mirror. It’s like *** over *******, but there is silence in the nothing and if you listen closely you can hear the screaming drool between each ***** syllable. I’m tired of – **** it.
Let’s keep this a secret. Don’t want my man card revoked.
Have you ever felt like you could die and no one would give a ****?
A hangover morning pours overpriced coffee into our stale eyes. It seems the strength has waned
Tunes have changed
And the act is becoming hard to keep up. If you look at the corners of their eyes you can see they miss their wives and warn of men like themselves to their daughters.
But that doesn’t make for good stories, does it?
“I’m ready to leave”
“I can’t say I’m a fan of Vegas”
“I hate this town.”
Even wolves travel in packs and I wonder if some consider the proper response to a sexist wink to be an awkward story.
A company too exhausted, from dripping money and LED seduction to wonder if society knows the size of all our tiny penises.
“I’m tired of people assuming that just because I make a decent amount of money that I’m a republican.”
What?
“Oh I hate Trump. He’s a monster.”
We’re getting somewhere.
“You ever motorboated *******?”
Aaaaaaaaaaaand we’re back.
Serinda Marie Dec 2017
We'll always have Vegas, we'll always have that. The relationship is over, and we can't take it back. There is heartache, and sorrow, and a little more self-esteem.
I miss you everyday but now I can finally be me.
I can sleep at night now that the deprivation is over, no check ins every 5 minutes, no more looking over my shoulder.
There's always going to be doubt, my future's going to need to heal, but because of you I'll know when love is finally real.
Thank you for the heartache, and the pain you've caused this year, I'm glad we're finally over and I can start to
feel.
Now I get to figure out my dreams, my wants and my wishes, no more choosing for me, and controlling my
decisions.
I get to choose for myself now, you don't get to clout what I say or do,  my future's all mine now and it doesn't involve you.
trf Oct 2017
i woke this morning to the blues,
tired eyes can’t fathom this phantom news.

fire breathing out his window pane,
in my dream, thought i'd gone insane.

fictitious facts dawned on me,
my heart scrambled for her recipe.
  
                          So i turned it all off and ran away,
           the twenty four hour cycle versus my ten pound nemesis,
                               can't bear this brunt day after day,
            redemption songs need some bliss.

trust in me as trust in you,
find my flaws....... don't perfect them.
a little boy, i'll re-main true,
cease the fire A-gainst the wind.
casualties can't be subdued,
mind the dice........but don't crap out.
there's no ice that seems to dew,
extinguish flames, round your bout.

                                     Be on my side, I'll be on your side.
                                     Be on my side, I'll be on your side.
                                     Be on my side, I'll be on your side.
                                     Be on my side, I'll be on your side.

TRF                                              TENtwoTW­OthousandSEVENTEEN
Star BG Oct 2017
Music enters hearts and ears,
balancing dancing boots.
Crowd in sic with moment listen,
as gifted one sings
on stage.

Without warning
moments unfold to chaos,
as deadly sounds
replace music of once peaceful concert.

People
run for cover dodging bullets
as others step up with kindness
to aid while world watches
longing for truth.

But still, we get fed lies.
Fabrications in media
by those with their own agenda.

Scenarios of scene
on news stations
makes no sense
pointing to another false flag event,
that plagues our world.

Still stories of untruth are painted,
for the public
living unconsciously,
who yearn for an answer
to bandage their pain.

Maybe someday it will be reveled.
Until then, my heart cries
for those lives lost.

And I pray
for an end to violence by hidden factors,
and for peace on earth
evermore.
A reflective poem in regard to the event in Las Vegas.
Next page