Permanent publicized
conversation starters
attract clueless puzzle boxes
and old timey trouts
that burden and scold you
with guilt trips and pestering inquiries.
Infuriating terminology
and slang words to describe
such masterpieces.
They leech on to you
at random moments
in random places
with every stupid question
they divulge at you
but you're instantly equipped
with locked and loaded snappy answers
to provoke the easily offended.
Destroying something beautiful
like putting a pile of veggies
on a meat lovers pizza,
is like the gratification
you seek and desire
when watching their perplexed faces
from such brash responses.
Needle under the skin
is more tolerable than
these under the skin
comments and remarks.
Good advice from ultra maroon
simpletons is the Jurassic Park
of depression.
Nobody wants to be told
who to be,
where to go
and how to live.
Pending disbursement,
talent and greatest length of thought
to the quickest impromptu impulse,
from the bottom of the barrel,
jailhouse kitchen magicians
to the top notch Picassos,
you get what you pay for
with your everlasting
ink splatter decisions.
Branded Artists catch a bad reputation
of arrogance and incompetence
from snot nosed prima donnas
if every demand of precision
isn't met to their
thoroughgoing adequacies,
like a humble peasant
who hasn't transformed
into a human footstool
for peevish princesses.
Manifestations constitute
preservations of tattoos
as art through the
eye of the beholder, like
a painting on a canvas.
Judgmental eyes and
inexperienced blank pages
will come and go
but your happiness
and symbolic reminders
of a certain time in your life
are what counts.
No matter the colour,
perspective,
proportion,
slightest imperfection,
how controversial or ridiculous,
significant or futile,
you've made your lifelong commitment
without shame, regret or remorse.
In the end, we are all the same
decaying organics as everything else.

Herds of motorized carts
owned and operated
by loafers and gold bricks
hoard and grovel through
the hot asphalt paved parking lots.
Impatient soccer moms
take the lives of innocent pedestrians
in exchange for parking spaces.
Automatic doors open and close
as you enter and the cool breeze
hits before you grab
the preferred size wobble wheels
and fight viciously,
through crowds of the
other consumers to forage items
on your list at the food library.
Wide variety of beer selections
have everything you want,
except for the one tasty beverage
you desire.
Seafood department lures you
in like a lunker with their
buy one get one free deals.
Half off half eaten fruits and vegetables
from the produce department.
Red alert sales on red meats and beefs
from the meat department.
Persuaded coupons clipped
in the Sunday's paper
to coax you away from the
competition.
Patrons of the golden age
super market era,
distracted by discounted priced items,
come to a grinding halt and block traffic
in the aisles of damaged goods
and all life as we know it
stops instantaneously
as we shrewdly gaze
with prying eyes
and eagerly wanting
to push them aside.
Guttersnipes roll in off
the streets and back alley ways with unscrupulous thieving eyes
to stuff and fill their pockets
with cheap fixings of
counterproductive chicken feed.
Detained by those minimum wage
retail rental cops,
who take their job way too seriously,
threaten and intimidate these derelicts
with no real authority
other than to use a roll of quarters
and a nearby payphone
to call the imperials.
As you end your journey
of consumerism and
await customer service
in the back of the longest line,
you notice that empty
miserable look on the cashiers face.
It's like a time lapse of
soul crushing creativity.
Watch others unload
their provisions and
pay astronomical prices
on low quality pabulum
refreshments
with food stamps
and WIC vouchers.
Patiently waiting for the clerk
to ring up your totals,
you can't help but to think
how you could be so privileged
to overcome these grueling obstacles
and empty your bank account
to purchase these
momentary products.

Flabs upon *****
of excessive skin
flock towards the sands
to soak up the rays of
the day light hours
and delude themselves
in the roped off
safety zone waters
of the seashore.
Benched from lack of participation,
sober and observant,
you can't help but overhear
a conversation about the salty tastes
and textures of boys *******
between four teenage girls
who look like they just entered
the early stages of middle school
and should not know anything,
at that age,
about that topic of discussion.
Seagulls slowly glide overhead
waiting for the perfect moment
to bomb white droppings in the
******* mouths of the hodads
and steal their bacon while they
quickly scurry off and guffaw
on the inside.
Young ladies *****
hang proudly out of their
skimpy bathing suits and stare
into the sunken eyes of perverse old men. Socks and sandals roam the shores
like tyrants to detect metals
in the sand with their hiked up baggies, buttoned up blue Hawaiians
and fisherman hats.
They'll find god before
they find these treasures.
Unsupervised children puke peaches
and use plastic shovels
to pour buckets of sand
down the backs and cracks of rubbernecks with discourtesy and no remorse.
Adults shaded, relaxed and
nose deep in books
leave the responsibilities
of their parental duties
with inexperienced lifeguards
to babysit their youngsters
while they doggie paddle
and submerge in the undertow
along the waves of the oceanside.
Concession stands serve
delicious yet unhealthy,
deep fried grotesque of
appetizers and entrees
to the potbellied roly-poleys
as they wash it all down
with a fountain of syrup
and carbonation.
Bare footed beefy **** diesels
and their skinny minis
walk hand and hand
over the broken beer bottles
and sharp rocks buried in the sand,
unscathed and luxuriate
in teenage love
and summer fun.
Dorks and dweebs
play sand sphere
with bunnies and honeys
while Gremlins and grommets
hunch like Quasimodo
on their surfboards
and ride the ankle busters
and pounders til the end
as they hit the bone yard
at point break.
The sun shines down on all of us
leaving that warmth and radiant glow
as you watch the mythical creatures
and sea serpent shaped clouds
slowly overpass.
What a lovely day at the beach.

Manipulated the masses
through media.
Clear the air
for an explosion of silence
before the first acoustics
pierce through the ears
to the spongy minds
of the adolescence.
Close your eyes and
imagine the edited sounds
of the juxtaposition,
clashing the rhythms and melodies
mixed with the reprised chorus of
repugnant magnitude,
meaningless crybaby lyrics
and off-key utterance
with agonizing commercialism.
Corporate record companies
hide behind thick black velvet curtains
and produce highly profitable garbage,
so bad that it sounds like a
dead baby being slapped
against an untuned violin.
Pulling the strings on
radio stations like marionettes
to spread these undesirable
golden oldies like wildfire.
Using and abusing music television
to overplay videos repeatedly
until it nauseates your innards.
These puppet masters reel
the uneducated into the
blackest tar pits and capture
their gray matter for eternity
to what they believe to be
is acceptable music.
Unknowledgeable and unaware
of anything else in existence.
In a world that makes haste,
we don't take the time anymore
to appreciate what we listen to
that actually fulfills and pleases
our soul, body and mind.
Generation after generation
declining into the sludge and slop
of objectifying and degrading compositions.

Record stores hold sanctuary.

Providing hidden gems and treasures
for explorations.
Rummaging through the LPs and EPs
and scrutiny of 45s and 7 inches
to find the pearl in the oyster
concealed under piles of
flotsam and jetsam,
thrift store throwaways.
Music lovers are like
archaeologists and scuba divers
rediscovering obscure rarities
in old crates of the deepest,
darkest depths of
mildew basement cellars.
One moment before the next,
in the highest fidelity
as the needle drops on the licorice pizza
and off the twang comes
the lovely wax statics
of the most ******* reverberations.
All the little hairs stand upright
and tingle the back of your neck
and arms as the notes
flow off your fingertips
and you fall into a
complete state of euphoria,
like a Buddhist that's reached
Nirvana.
Gritty Maestros of the underworld
construct celestial symphonies,
so soothing they can tame
the wildest beasts and
orchestrate the most
diabolical spazz noid cacophonies
as the high frequencies skirmish
through cracked speakers.
Music can summon the demons
inside you while reaching
therapeutic climaxes
simultaneously.

Problematic blockheads
make up for a
tiresome,
strenuous,
elongated
work week.
Fights and disputes
with significant others
added.
Feelings are as cold and numb
as the frozen tundra
from lack of stimulation and affection.
Vexed and frustrated
with only one outlet
to take the edge off.
Drown your sorrows
out at the nearby
hole-in-the-wall tavern
as a safe haven.
Coincidentally opened
at your convenience
for when you've hit your
lowest point.
Enter through the
neon lit beer signs
of the tap room in a
dark, damp atmosphere.
The bar keep already
knows your name.
Grab a barstool
at the u-shaped countertop,
light up a smoke,
tuck the pack in your front pocket,
order up your first pint
and take a look around
at this all-star lineup.
As the smoke clears....
it's like the city of the dead.
Necropolis for the local drunkards.
Crippled motards and disabled vets
play cards and scream of old war stories
and tell bad jokes.
Swimming in a sea of
mechanics uniforms with their names
etched upon their hearts.
Neighborhood friendly bar *****
with raspy voices.
Quenching for lust
in demeaning mannerisms.
Like a cigarette vending machine,
exchanging the poussoise
for free drinks and moloko.
Rowdy, ****-Eyed wonder boys
gather round at Sunday's mass for alcoholics and hover over pool tables
and smother dartboards.
Slipping pills in the
dead soldiers of the innocence.
All, over controlling the jukebox
with the appalling top 40 hits.
Pitcher after pitcher.
Empty and refilling their dog dishes
over and over again until they're in a
complete state of incoherence
and belligerence without pacing
and/or enjoying the simply
effects of alcohol.
Sober to blackout with
no in between.
Gilded with suds of
low budget malts.
Treated with over priced
sugary cocktails and
watered down aqua vitae
with colorful names.
You sit alone.
Head tilted back.
Drink slow.
Let it flow
as you pour the shots and drafts
down your throat with
that burning sensation aftermath.
Fueled by barley and hops.
You're catapulted into that warm,
fuzzy feeling of being buzzed
and you let it overtake you.
It may not be much but
it's all you got at the moment.
Entire paychecks blown.
Myriad of ashtrays fill up
while engaging with
preposterous claptrap conversationalists.
Muscled, mustache macho men
feel pilloried over petty and
trivial coin tricks
and have to swing their
over compensated ***** by
quickly escalating in violence
and breaking beer bottles
over the heads of Neanderthals
who are evolutionary one step behind.
Gummed by shanky old hags
in bathroom blow jobs.
Eight ball party favors
lined up for indulgence
on the seats of the scummiest toilets.
And those mirrors.....
Those ******* mirrors
behind the bar.
Every time you look into them,
only to see yourself
and your surroundings.
You are reminded of the shameful digest
and wonders of how it is,
that it all comes down to this.
Yet,
there you are,
still sipping beer through a straw.
Morning arrives,
you wake up feeling below par
and hazy.
As you gather your thoughts,
you roll over next to that
butterface haggard horrid wet spot
you avoided on the last stop
of your tour of profligacy.
Feeling ashamed of yourself
as this lifestyle hardens you.
You drink to remember.
You drink to forget.
You drink to your losses.
You drink to your gains.
You drink to celebrate.
You drink to your melancholy
and loneliness.
Either way....
you drink.

Saturday/Sunday morning.
Sun rose up from
behind the trees.
Over did it last night.
Door bell rings and the sound
you hear is so razor sharp
that it guts and mutilates
your dreams and suddenly,
you're rudely awakened.
Muster yourself out of bed.
Open the door in your underwear.
Sunlight blasts your dilated eyes.
Two well dressed alter boys
are at your front steps.
The local place of worship
sent for recruiters
to fill up their pockets
with non exempt tax dollars.
They've got "The Book" in one hand.
Pamphlets in another.
Well prepared.
Here with only one purpose.
One goal in mind.
Persuasion.
The morning vampires.
Just like you were the night
before when engaging in
such debauchery.
Bothersome irritants
of the weekend daybreak.
They've already judged you
up and down before
they say their first word.
Feasting eyes see a blood
doughnut to sink their teeth in
and inject "the word" into your veins
so fast it'll make you nauseous.
Well worded tongues.
20 year old virgins,
who want to talk to you about life.
Something they know nothing about
or have ever experienced.
Only what they've been told.
At this point,
in your irascible state of mind
and hungover conditions.
Natural reaction is like a hornets nest.
Scream obscenities, shoe them off
and slam the door in their faces.
They're numb to this rejection.
They'll just move on to the next house.
But what if you caught them by surprise?
You said, "yes" and invited them inside
your home.
Now you've caught them
with their pants down.
They're not use to this
kind of hospitality from outsiders.
Be cordial.
Coffee or tea?
One lump or two?
Have a seat on the couch.
Make yourself comfortable.
**** them with kindness.
Let them talk but
don't let them overtake.
They're in your house.
Full of sins and vices.
An honest man is always in trouble.
You begin the debate.
You believe in one thing,
they believe in another.
Disagree with everything they say.
If they tell you hell
is all fire and brimstone.
You tell them
it's a frozen wasteland.
Peddlers of the higher power
are like painters,
putting on the first coat of Bible verses,
in hopes that they'll stick
to the walls of your ear canals.
You listen but you don't feed upon.
Careful onslaught responses.
Turn everything they're saying around.
Send them spiraling
into a vortex of absurdity.
You've debunked what they
believe to be is true.
Fairytales are fairytales.
Women being subsidiary
to a man is obsolete.
They preach about an ancient book
that is no longer relevant
to the modern world.
Go against the grain.
They may not know it.
You may not know it.
But you're doing them a service.
Getting them to think outside the box.
Open their mind from their sheltered upbringing.
Free thinkers.
Believe what they want to believe.
Not the spoon fed lectures
and implausible sermons
that have been handed down.
They listen but not going to let
a little thing like "sense"
get in the way of what's been
ingrained inside their thick skulls.
Thank you for your time.
Come over next week
and we'll talk again.
They move over to the next house.
In one ear, out the other.
Preaching the same word.
Wasted time.
Story of my life.
Back to bed.

Baffled by loud,
boisterous chatter boxes.
Completely oblivious to expressions.
That uninterested look on your face
and the feeling of fatigue.
Conversation as dry and baron
as the deserts wasteland.
Nothing in common.
You can't relate.
You get Antsy.
Every excuse to escape.
Thinking about anything else
other than the topic at hand.
The attic upstairs.
Single digit IQ's try to fill it
with treasure chests of useless information.
You don't want any part of it.
Worried about what others are doing.
Their perfect mouths will report
every flaw and imperfection
from someone else's every move,
while they put themselves up on a pedestal.
You could care less.
Zero contempt for
their own actions.
You tune them out.
You know better than to be
brainwashed by these dim-witted
knuckle draggers.
You look right through them
like they're not even there.
You'd rather be anywhere in the world
than trying to uphold a conversation
with this person.
Sovereigns of discussion
change subjects and steal the show
with their big takeover and  interrupt
that heart-to-heart you have with
your peers.
They vent about their troubles
and financial situations
like no one else in this world
has problems.
Yet, they contradict themselves
by flaunting and flashing
the expenditures on frivolous
things from the day before.
They've got much to say
but not a lot to talk about.
You have to dumb yourself down
on comfort levels just to connect.
Raiders of dialogue unleash
the tongue lashing of the century
as they talk "at" you
and not with you.
Loquacious bobble heads
with rotten personalities
share gossip and spread rumors.
Whispering in ears
behind the backs of others.
Sexist, racist, homophobic comments.
Bad combination of being
over opinionated and
living in the early stages of evolution. ******* and belittlement.
Telling you what to do while
putting you down simultaneously.
Feeling powerful and favorable.
Like a bully picking on children.
You simply ignore this because
you know better than to digest
such immoral behavior.
They don't care about
the historical events of your life.
Only their own.
Far fetched nostalgic
childhood memories.
Lies upon lies.
You call them out on it.
Only more lies to cover it up.
No use trying.
So vain in self absorbed sophistication. Superstars in their own minds.
THE BIG FISH.
It's virtually impossible to argue
with stupid people.
Family, friends, coworkers,
random's at the breweries.
Hiding unknown identities behind fabricated stories to sugarcoat the pressures of not being able
to handle the pure, unadulterated, truth. You need these types of people
in your life for entertainment value,
not to bore you death
but to sit back silently,
analyze and interpret
with your imaginary bucket of popcorn
as they prey upon other innocent bystanders and punish them
with the same unbalanced lectures.
You see the same dull and disinterested ****** expression you once had.
You're not alone.
Avoid eye contact
with these ingrates.
You are not that
unintelligent.
Never forget that.

Breathe...
In and out of consciousness
Waken by alarm
Hit the Snooze button nine times
over and rub the crust
from your eyes
Lethargically shifting gears out of bed
Scratch your belly
Get dressed
****, ****, Wipe your ***
Wash your hands
Brush your teeth and comb your hair
until it's perfect
Permeate yourself with anti-perspirants
and mouth wash
Force feed coffee and breakfast down
your throat with 30 seconds
to the door
Climb into your four banger jalopy
and hurry up.....only to slow down
for all posted speed limits and
fight traffic with all the
other scatterbrains
Destination upon arrival with only
minutes to spare
Breathe....
Punch in and out of time clocks
at the nine to five dead end job
for the captains of industries
with the dullards you call "coworkers"
Living the dream by
working hard
for others who are
making more money
than they pay you  
in another day of paradise
Powerhouse through lunch with
no time to enjoy the simplicity
of the little things
Take orders
Be obedient
Have patience
Listen to abysmal music and
******* and complaining with
mind numbing conversations of
tedious and repetitive proportions
**** with permission to do so
After all, you are,
who they want you to be
Relieved your day of drudgery
is almost over with you
breathe....
Fight traffic again
Stop for gas and novelties
Get a Flat tire
Overheated
Over exhausted
Under stimulated
Get home
And without a moment of
relaxation or thought....
Parent your children
Guide them
Put a bandage on their cuts and scrapes,
kiss their wounds and tell them
it's going to be ok
You want to raise them right
You don't want them to end up
dead or in jail
Impish little *******
After school activities
Help them with homework
Chores
Sweep, Mop, Vacuum, Laundry,
Mow the lawn, Garden
Under the sink, household cleaners
and detergents
Cook dinner
Chew your food slowly over an
Awkward family conversation
How was your day?
May I please be excuse?
Clear your plates
Scrub the pots and pans
and eating utensils until
they're clean for next time
Breathe.....
Commercial buildings providing
everything for your wants and jollies
Stand in line with the other galoots
in the land of consumption and
purchase the unnecessary provisions
of plastics and sugars
Return your library books on time
Enter through where it says "enter"
Exit though the exit door
No smoking
No pets allowed  
Scroll through your
rolodex of contacts and
hold for an hour as you
make phone call after
phone call, planning out
your next five years with
appointments after appointments and
filling up your calendar
with events of nonessential importance
Stay economically viable while
managing your finances and
paying your bills and taxes
Breathe.....
Cleanse yourself and your children
in a shower or bathe in your
own filth with shampoo
and conditioner
Lather and rinse
Moisturize and groom
Brush and floss your teeth
Tuck the kids in under their
nice warm blankets
Bedtime stories
Ghost stories
Night lights
Give them a glass of water
Check for closet monsters
Hugs and kisses goodnight
No time to think
Only unwind
Adult time
No reward for your attainment
other than a few moments of tranquility
Blissful transgression
Impromptu
Soaked in cocktails and
spirits of intoxicants
Recreational drug use
Prescription sedatives
and tranquilizers
The nighttime candies
of sedation
Take it all in
Let it grab you by the boo boo
Clear the room of the smoke
and haze with the 500 channels
in front of you
Tv shows
Sitcoms and soap operas
Comedies, Horror, Suspense
You laugh
You cry
You have fun
You don't think for a while
*** on special occasions
Fall asleep in the tv room
Make it to bed at a reasonable hour
Dream of another world
that doesn't exist
Nightmares and dreamscapes
Slumber and shuteye
40 winks
A snoozer if you will
Sleep
Just Breathe
Breathe....
Breathe....
Repeat....
Everyday until your
old and grey
Letting life pass you by