#societal
In South Africa, the sirens don’t sleep
they pace the streets like hungry dogs at midnight.
We call it gender-based violence, a careful phrase,
but the blood on the pavement whispers: woman.
We know the script before the story is told,
we see her face before the name is read.
Because too often it is her ribs counting bruises,
her silence stitched tighter than a coffin lid.
But somewhere a man swallows his scream whole,
taught that real men bruise quiet and heal louder.
He hides behind a jawline carved from “be strong,”
while his pain rusts unseen beneath the armor.
This violence wears no single body
it is a thief fluent in every pronoun.
Yet statistics lean like gravestones toward daughters,
and mothers bury futures instead of sons.
Call it what it is: a war in our homes,
where love becomes a loaded gun without a license.
Where power is mistaken for manhood,
and fear sleeps on the same pillow as hope.
We need a language sharp enough to bleed truth
to say women are dying, loudly, daily.
To say men are hurting too, quietly, deeply.
To say violence has a face, but it is not one face only.
Because when the headline has a gender,
we stop listening to the echoes behind it.
And in the spaces between what we assume
and what we refuse to see
another body falls.
Apr 4
Apr 4, 2026 at 5:00 PM UTC
we all talk
about the now
being in the know
knowing where to go
going where we already know
where is now?
geographically, not mentally.
where must i be
to be present
presenting the PowerPoint
my life on display
is it Jakarta? berlin?
baku, beijing or dublin?
how is now served to you?
any dietary requirements to be aware of?
hot or cold? or even, lukewarm?
is it customized to your liking?
or unaltered? half cooked?
medium rare?
do you tip the server
of your now dish?
or consume it
on your genetically altered past plate
with your fragile future fork
knowing when you're done
you'll pay the bare minimum?
when you purchase your now house
and live in it with your now wife
and now kids
with a cute now dog
will you wonder who lost their now
so you could have yours?
May 16, 2025
May 16, 2025 at 6:25 PM UTC
They sell us comfort, coin by coin,
While truth lies quiet, unemployed.
A system built on silent screams,
Where dreams are bought, and sold as schemes.
Investors grin behind the glass,
As need and pain walk slowly past.
The people bend, but rarely break—
Not yet awake, but far from fake.
We trade our power for a price,
Forget that unity cuts twice.
Divided, numb, we play their game—
Each dollar tagged with someone’s name.
But sparks can start from aching hearts,
From minds that dare to question parts.
And if we rise—not just for self,
But human worth above the wealth—
Then change won’t knock. It will arrive.
We’ll see the world, not just survive.
For when the many choose to see,
No wall of gold can cage the free.
May 5, 2025
May 5, 2025 at 3:28 PM UTC
Since I was a child
I have fervently
Tried to filter out
Negative echoes
Of our history
And focus
On each one.
Echoes are
Shockwaves
Throughout
Society
Building strength
And momentum as
They damage then
Ricochet off one
Person to another
Like a viral or
Bacterial infection
Mutating and building
Up resistance to our
Strong
Mediocre
And
Often
Feeble
Societal
Antidotes.
I try as many do
To be a
Shock absorber --
A small part of
The solution;
Trying to help break
The vicious cycle by
Somehow attempting
To
Absorb the shockwaves
To help prevent them
From hitting someone
Else
Or at least
Lessening their strength
And momentum --
A form of harm
Reduction
I suppose.
Just lending an ear
And
Lending a shoulder
To lean on or
Cry on
Seems to be
An integral part in
Lessening the
Negative
Effects.
Apr 22, 2025
Apr 22, 2025 at 11:16 AM UTC
really finding their peace.
in a zoom meeting.
tingaling with a feeling
from a screen.
if i stopped caring
people could bear
with me.
i see him spit
in
a hand-washing station.
my entry denied
over
a
face shield.
face shield. face shield.
a repeated mantra; standing there
still.
Mar 22, 2025
Mar 22, 2025 at 4:02 AM UTC
inspired by tony labrusca's portrayal of josé rizal
babae likes me contained.
me—a tupperware full of lumpia.
i'm soggy, *****
bitch—inday—i'm gwapo. fried uy.
sorry. soggy.
druggy. sorry.
my chest tattoos?
yes, they can be removed.
will that be provided in my—
nevermind. thank you.
she opened her purse.
hard candy.
waving me away.
sorry carb-eating lad.
she is just ******* hard candy.
cgeh. babay. cgeh bi.
jose, they say you wrote novels.
but i wonder—
did you ever write yourself out?
did you watch your own ink
bleed into the soil?
did you wish for something softer?
in the way i am devoured. hero forgotten.
in the way i am swallowed
whole—one piso coin
by lovers, by history, by a name
they gave me before i ever
spoke too. ii
Mar 22, 2025
Mar 22, 2025 at 4:00 AM UTC
How much should
society and the individual
change for one another
when it's our duty as individuals
to adjust to different social settings
but it's our duty as a society
to be as inclusive as possible?
Apr 17, 2023
Apr 17, 2023 at 12:40 PM UTC
I think love is what we need in the world.
We needed it so badly we created it. Then we fought over it. And we corrupted it. It even became a disease. Until we found it had a medicinal effect. It could heal.
Love seeps into the ground where we bury it. The decay leaves traces of it. So is love also in death? Love is powerful indeed.
If love can find its way in life and death, it must not be mortal like us. Perhaps we can call it Divine. It must be what we see when we look up to the sky.
That’s why we describe it in so many ways. It flows like the blood in our veins. And when we no longer have the strength in our heart, it becomes the soul of our own.
Jan 22, 2019
Jan 22, 2019 at 5:13 AM UTC
Go tell the Spartans
they would understand
societal, inflexible
for woman, child, and man
Survival of the fittest
the three hundred, comprehend
warriors of high degree
blood and loyalty, too the end
Their kind, now past the veil
an outmoded, violent, civilization
part of me yearns, for times, back then
instead of, corporations
Dec 29, 2017
Dec 29, 2017 at 8:42 AM UTC
Tears marked the ****** of his masculinity
Feminity died with the mud on her jeans
Apr 12, 2017
Apr 12, 2017 at 8:17 PM UTC
She has blossomed like a flower.
Her smiles her blush tell that she is fresh and young.
She walks like a bird that had just learned how to fly,
Ignorant of the predators, around her.
She smiles with one and laughs with the other
dangling from hand to hand.
She is in charge; it’s her time to rule.
The good uncle sees her and wonders how fast
the baby of yesterday have become the woman of today,
The bad uncle salivates as he sets his trap and patiently wait.
her elder sister other older single ladies are jealous of her.
Her mates of the opposite *** see her, as though for the first time.
She is the center of attraction.
She is like the tree of life in the Garden of Eden.
She is Junior’s door to adulthood and an opportunity to boost her seniors ****** experience.
She is the side chick to auntie’s boyfriend and junior’s girlfriend.
She swims ignorantly in between sharks thinking they are dolphins.
She is a teen girl, she is endangered.
Apr 2, 2017
Apr 2, 2017 at 6:01 AM UTC
Count the numbers and don't forget
to subtract two, because
you're wearing 1,2,3,4 layers of clothes.
And can you hear me?
Repeat after me, "I am pretty, I am free."
Don't forget to minus three for every plus because,
"You're not good enough", and "they're better".
But darling don't forget you must keep track,
of the way they spoke to you last night
so you can retaliate tomorrow morning.
And the last few whimpers that escape
when you're screaming in the shower,
with the water turning red.
You, you did bad again!
Don't forget to look up and down,
and left and right before you take a bite.
Don't you go letting yourself behave like
such an animal!
Don't you know that this is not your body?
Did you forget that we are here
to make you happy!
Jan 18, 2016
Jan 18, 2016 at 9:48 AM UTC
While not everybody naps
Simply everybody craps.
If you don’t you’re a goner
I swear by my honor
There’s no substitute for it
So just get used to it.
It’s like boogers, you see
It’s not talked of openly.
The public has an allergy
Of what can be said honestly.
You can admit to burping
But must do so excusing
As if you had taken a dump
Instead of expelling a lump
Of non-poisonous gas.
Society is a ***
And while we’re at it
We live in a world here
Where ******* are reshaped
And formed by a brassiere
But no crotch bulges for men
Especially not big shaped ones.
As I have already implied
Society is a mean son-of-a-gun.
Breastfeeding an infant is
Seen as some kind of ****
But under-aged girls in bikinis?
That is why men were born.
They were put on earth to see
And love nature and its gifts.
But women in public should
Not show uncovered ****
Just remember this and
You will do very well.
Being natural is for sure
The best way to go to hell.
You must always look to
The bluenosed of society
To shape your fine sense
Of decency and propriety.
A natural person, as God made
Is surely just the Devil’s work.
Because the Devil is more
Important that that God ****
God and Santa make lists
And punish us by and bye
But Satan does it right now
And then spits in your eye.
So, be the proper citizen
And don’t do what is natural.
Following on nature’s bent
Will do you no good at all.
Even though the Bible won’t
Agree to this simple plan
Just look around you to learn
What is in society’s plan.
Jun 7, 2015
Jun 7, 2015 at 9:42 PM UTC
In this grand catastrophe, I see
Mankind's destiny
For all our history
Is written by the winners
There will never be
A perfect form of amnesty
When books of divine law are being
Written by the sinners
There's no escaping paranoia
No release from ignorance
And pseudo-genius thrives upon
A lack of common sense
There is no one in this world who can
Show you what you are
A depressing waste of intellect
That hides behind their scars
You dwell within what you believe to be reality
No purpose or direction in this mundane gallery
You live with your convictions of inferiority
And out of fear you'll stay right there, still choosing not to see
What was, what is, what could be
The right, the wrong, the gray
The truth, the lies, you won't open your eyes
Because you're too afraid
You bathe in apathy as a form of self-defense
A textbook example
Of a runaway in hiding
You keep yourself in shadow and you do your very best
To stick to the waning shelter of denial
And there's no escaping paranoia
No release from ignorance
And pseudo-genius thrives upon
A lack of common sense
There is no one in this world who can
Show you what you are
A depressing waste of intellect
That hides behind their scars
You dwell within what you believe to be reality
No purpose or direction in this mundane gallery
You live with your convictions of inferiority
And out of fear you'll stay right there, still choosing not to see
What was, what is, what could be
The right, the wrong, the gray
The truth, the lies, you won't open your eyes
Because you're too afraid
And you will live
Until you die
Fearful of failure, refusing to try
Silencing all your desires within
To be something greater than what you have been
And without fail
That day will arrive
When you will decide to open your eyes
And on that day
At last you will see
You could have been what you wanted to be
But on that day
You will realize
That life has passed you before your closed eyes
And you will feel
Bitterness, rage
At the fact that you slept through your whole life
Afraid.
Oct 7, 2014
Oct 7, 2014 at 2:02 PM UTC
In a world full of gods and monsters
Where do you stand?
In a world full of gods and monsters
Where does your loyalty land?
Are you an angel? Spreading forgiveness
Across the wretched globe
Are you a demon? Spreading deception
Poisoning our hopes
In a world full of gods and monsters
Where do you stand?
In a world full of gods and monsters
What do you demand?
Will you rise to face the tyrant, and fall in the name of justice?
Or will you bow before the might of the unstoppable forces?
Death will come for all of us, but those who fought the fight
Will be remembered always, gods and monsters of the time
In a world full of gods and monsters
Where do you fall?
In a world full of gods and monsters
Do you fight at all?
In a world full of gods and monsters
Who claims your soul?
In a world full of gods and monsters
Are you divine or infernal?
Will you align yourself with the light and crush the shadows as they rise?
Or unite with the darkness of night to bring about a new sunrise?
Do you stay with these ancient ways of the gods above the earth? Or will these creatures kept in hiding finally emerge?
In a world full of Gods and Monsters
Where do you stand?
It's a world full of Gods and Monsters
Do you understand?
Sep 20, 2014
Sep 20, 2014 at 9:37 PM UTC
looking around
in the room
she flashes her teeth
and winks to the crowd.
the pursuit of happiness
is a rough one
every boulevard covered
with pastel-shaded
houses.
nothing is real
no nature, no oceans, no sky
everything is just
tinsel smiles and plastic kisses,
just ikea boxes pinned to the walls
for decoration.
Sep 7, 2014
Sep 7, 2014 at 2:01 PM UTC
"my baby's not sad she has a very colourful journal."
May 15, 2014
May 15, 2014 at 12:46 AM UTC