A thousand, mindless bodies
      marching in front of me
on a familiar trail through
      misty, lush forestry
strained backs carrying towers
       of accumulations
free choices made with
       weighty ramifications
at the end of the path
        a ruinous shrine
as old as the surrounding
        coniferous pine
each soul shruggs off
        a singular burden
fulfilling each obligation
        of that holy bargain
now, encircle the tribute
        watch it all burn
stand in ecstacy without
         care or concern
I refuse to join this fever,
         can never be a believer
I accept my ethical freedom
          *my will undefeated

oh neurotic naked mind
wander from one clichéd cafe to another
Greek cultists and robo bros
turn into red-eyed anarchists
proclaiming psychedelic truths
into a stale, smoky haze
as the syncopations and warm crackles
of an overused Dizzy record
erratically dance from one ear to the next
spreading viral vibes, infecting body and soul
washing over dusty hidden corners
where solitary geniuses discover cosmic beauty
in half-empty, half-full contemplations
of swirling coffee, cream, and sugar

is this past or future?
nostalgia for an imagined past?
hope for an impossible future?
living in a world of delusion,
false narratives filling an otherwise empty life

your eyes glimmered
as if you looked
at all the cosmos
shimmering in infinitude
and your smile
spread the bliss of a Buddha
eased tense necks
replaced anger with affection

and then you saw the universe shatter

shards slashed flesh
as your eyes, dazed by dread,
reflected nothingness
and possibilities collapsed
as you envisioned
your ill-fated future

i assured you with
well-structured argument,
truth tables and logic,
of this unreasonable position

i nearly drowned you in compassion
engulfed you in warmth,
hoped you'd be set ablaze
and fight off the dark

then turned to medication and
shoelaceless wards
as anger at the absurdity
infected my mind like a virus

i have seen the swirling beauty of the cosmos
but now i just see cracks

in a parenthetical existence
see the shadow of reality
through infinite lenses
distortions of distortions
the infinitude of humanity's
misunderstanding

pick a side for no reason
but why not?
then pierce strawman enemies
with low resolution image macros
which ignore the macrocosm
both sides return victorious
over their lifeless enemies
and await tomorrow's call

artists of ambiguity
find new ways
to draw the same lines
resculpt the truth
leaving nothing
but a monstrous mass
of homogeneity
favoring the profane

Eyes closed
wild wind whipping hair
careless end of samsara
for seemingly centuries

take a peak
vertically, the world flies by
the ground fast approaching
my situation the same
but perspective changed

the light of luminous spirit
softly crushes brilliant passion
in flourished form
unknowingly condemning
the intimate caress
of the mystical mistress's
Orphic orifices just cause
self-doubt is incurable
with a densely populated
Barnes and Noble where
pops and crunches indicate
a syndicated reality with
diced up facts, divided
into the savory and the rest
thrown in a landfill
to prevent collapse

wander under a spotless night
take a drag
through a window pane, a light
cuts through shadowed streets
scenes from a hollowed life
a disinterested glance
at my privileged existence

hope for an explosion of feeling
but even humble sentiment
would lift my delicate body
from the building flood of apathy

switch to commercial break
with three payments of 29.99
plus shipping and handling
supplement the superabundance
and drown

A shiver starts in my toes
and moves systemically up my body
leaving nothing untouched.
Vomitous shaking , solely mine
never the familiar stranger's
unrecognizable self
disconnected from self-image.
If the impostor fools everyone
is he an impostor still?

A search for eternal beauty in ephemeral space
In unending fits of mesh-lined rage
Cracked masks, broken and tamed
Grin of house life, bruised and maimed
Sucker punched by those of age
Like a bug smashing into light, contained

Pushing carts of ashy flour
Into ruined and frozen, factory towers
Sweet salvation, so ******* sour
Succulent melons and cauliflower
Unsure of identity, inner and outer
In petite bourgeois life I cower

Ideas turned ideology create
Infinite numbers of lines in the sand
Here's mine and there's yours
Serotonin deficient lives
Laying dreams on the back of others
Then shunning them for breaking

Men told to **** the marrow
Women told to **** the ****
Pigeon holed sweater wearers
Hanging the future in neat picture frames
Staring intently to help it self-materialize

Junkies pry the world limb by limb
Holding hands in *** ba ya
As they skip off windowed cliffs
Red light burning away the innocence
Of hairless brown rabbits
Hypnotized boxers fighting ideas
While onlookers are sold to slavers
Breathless New Ageisms
Creating an orthodoxy of unorthodoxy
Visions of trains in a spotless horizon
Idolizing the unreal,  a hope for hope
Destined for eternal disappointment

I have witnessed mankind pulped by weight
Gleefully stepping under it, believing those
Neat, powdered men rabidly licking
Drunk on blended bodies in glass tumblers
Addictive increasing unquenchable thirst
One sip is the end of the world
Yet the world exists for its very creation
First the ******* begins, and then vomiting
Now it pours out of every orifice of the body
Half-digested ****** juice, beautifully flowing
Over spongy bodies and perfect nails
Ending only to train the fornicating masses
To crush themselves and each other

Light slips through boarded windows
Hanging, waiting for action
Birds chirping over Sunday brunch
Soft yawn of the not too distant sea
As the sun kisses the horizon
goodbye and now off to work
Immersed in the oneness
Forgetting identity

there's a fire raging
but it provides no warmth
to dead pragmatic bodies
in a decrepit house
of innumerable obligations
all contradicting each other
any semblance of structure
collapses, smolders burying
the never alive
is the day enough reason to exist?

Thumping heart of the world,
gurgles and sploshes, urging
to pursue a fit life
for eternal paradise.
The wind rages in unified
choir with stoic rocks
in agreement as the whole
of nature seems to scream
"Go to your desires."

Nauseated, I ran
hundreds of miles away
on reflectionless, black rocks
invisible in darkness
pummeled by wind and wave
full of profound realizations
commonly known but deafening
to those lost in paradise.

fire spitting mouths
ashe stained lips veiny
and engorged, hard loving
is easy for misanthropes
self aware narcissistic
tendencies to the insomniac
life full pleasures and pains
never realized smokey eyes
of an ember beast touched
never felt God in the
Kingdom of Heaven
glass roofs, cracked
cadenced inner light
dimmed and whimpering

Life reduced to a ticking clock,
As shriveled men desperately clasp
To slick tomes filled with diagrams
Of shadowy glass towers, convoluted machines
And factories with a singular purpose:
To manufacture their own existence.

The Plague spreads to druidic forests
Where those who simply existed
Overcome with glutinous ambition
Demolish those majestic columns
Which supported equilibrium
While the world gleefully cheers.

Rebellious cloud, indignant child
Follow the herd
You will move fall rise move fall rise
You have no dreams; you are the dream
Bend to the will of the meteorarchy

Maintain the illusion of variation
The cycle of change, immutable
Perhaps you'll attract enough
A burst of creative energy
A result of friction with society
But the storm will clear, leaving
The circle unbroken