In the nose
Out the mouth
Can you feel the breath
As you push out?
Deep breath
Unless you prefer deep rest
So many techniques
So many quick fixes
So much snake oil
It gets under my skin
Bringing profit into disease
Everything is a business, everyone wears suits
Armor to protect, project professionalism
One hand on a shoulder
One fishing for change
As a fly chases to food
The man chases the loot
For when the world revolves around one thing
What consequences shall that bring?

Back again
For a hangman's gambit
Will today be the day
Where my blood runs cold?
For the apathy surrounding me
Infects me to the bone
Becoming a drone
The atmosphere, help me, please
So thick with pressure
It strives to choke me
Going for broke, is this a joke?
Things fall apart
But, like this? In a fit of mischief?
Seems to happen so frequently
Makes me wonder
When will it come to me?

Sir, I would like to wake up
My time of shame has ended long ago
I was scheduled for before
But here I am now
Ready to be sheltered from the disaster
But, what do I run from?
How can a threat be in my mind?
DNA inside, code needs a redesign
Born into apathy, such a tragedy
Sir, I would like to ask you
Should I wake up?
Or sleep, for peace inside?

Concrete
Concave
A con of all
In a carnival
Hollow has no equal
A thrill ride with no sequel
Wait a couple of years, rebooted
Those who booed it will soon salute it
Extended from the mind into beautiful ruin
On a beautiful day
We all tell beautiful lies

My skin and bones
Left to the dogs
Stripped clean
Of freedom and flaws
Because now, none of it matters
I breathed in life, now I am a life
The reaper called my name
In gentle reassurance
Searched for purpose, years wasted
Now it is clear, the truth I have tasted
Anxiety dissipates
Life is now what I generate

When did offspring
Become an investment?
How does one parent
After years of neglect?
Why spread the blood
Of flaws and evil?
Bringing no other bonus
Except of course, for the workforce
Another camel to bear another load
Another simian to watch implode
Too much of one thing
Neglects all others
How can a universal principle not apply to us?
The ones who created all the glitz and glamor
Who struggle to digest harsh grammar
False pretenses only add more tension
So when I do not feel safe
Who can blame me?

A corrupted world
Into broken hands
I would hold it by the mirror
Got no time to reflect
On being a reject
Recess is for kids, a court is for children?
How does one court an escort
When all are in discourse?
Course correction
Compass with no direction
Look at the dying light, deep inside
Robots making robots, ironic
The condition is chronic
Until made iconic
My urge to say hello
Replaced with a goodbye
To our world
But not this world
One exists in the mind, the other is realized
Tangible, impregnable, life never misused
Maybe our search for understanding
Has caused more issues

All these standards
Independent of thought
Origin is classified
******, you and I
Are any of them real?
Or do they reside in expectation?
Look at my soul! Disintegration!
Burning like a phoenix
Until it gets cut off
Slicing through prices
Priceless like diamonds
The ark of our misery
Comes when the finish line is pushed forward
Indefinitely
When asking for a break
Get combed, more scratch than a rake
For when your looking for success
You gotta sell a bit
But, do we "sell a bit" or sell a "bit"
For when life is a show
Every day is just a bit

When did mankind
Lose their kind?
When did the preacher
Become the payer?
What does it mean
To live in a modern age?
When does the noise
Stop being normal?
What happens to the mind
When exposed to constants?
How can a future be made
When none enjoy today?

Restless spirits
Emerge at night
Not looking to scare
But for a fight
Maybe one day
They will find peace
I do not find them scary
All I feel is pity
Specters dream of sleep
We sleep while alive
We are restless in death
No matter the stage
It seems to not go our way

I see debris
Mingling with the stars
Orbiting the cosmos
Trash, wreckage
Line up for the chorus
Ships, helmets, suits
A reminder of humanity, futility
A symbol of simplicity
When I look at the stars
I see our legacy:
Too much debris
Half of which we need
Half of which we never see
If only more cared
Before the end
Became complete

When did novelties
Become mandatory?
When did the cost
Go too high?
When did equality
Earn an asterisk?
A column of apathy
Culminating, self-sustaining
To those who own empathy
Wait for the day it turns you
To psychopathy

Virtual reality
Alternate reality
Bored with the natural world
The cure for becoming jaded
Yet like all good things
It can replace what's real
The real and the ideal
Swearing allegiance to whatever makes us feel
Immersed, submerged
Two worlds merge and one mirage remains
A twisted masterpiece
With no clear author
Two to one, two scales provide balance
Only one invokes infatuation
Initial fascination
Future rectification, the ode of a modern-day addict
Elevated past the mortal plane
Until the runway is in sight
No place to run
We all come down to the territory
Reminiscing over old glory
A quarry so gory, an even shorter story
Legacy, six letters boxed into a future
Freedom in relation to life's culmination
Only in virtual reality, broken vacation
Free of altercation, alienation
Invoking happiness while becoming more alien, desecration

Poles of greenery
Strike toward the sky
Without them, I'd choke
In the ashes of an uncaring community
It grows on its own
Neither perfect nor fully grown
No need for a shave, forget about fashion
Towering above the world we made
I question:
Why does a tree make a human look enslaved?

Sociopathy
Psychopathy
A thin line
Divides the two
To find the one
Ask them both:
Who would like to be part of history?

We all wonder
What it means to grow up
Child to adult
Free to spree
To live and leave
Yet when one becomes old
The rest become kids
Flesh with more scars
To hide the young heart
Dented iron, a sign of wear, tear
Tear stained faces in twelve different places
Adults don't exist
Because their fun can't coexist
Dead to the soul
Ripe for the picking
Listing out accolades in spades
Just to go home
Stare into the mirror
What face is this? Why does it feel fear?
If I am a success, why can I not feel?
Child of mine, locked inside
I can't hear your voice
Is it yours or mine?

They say that beggars
Cannot be choosers
For they end life as losers
Choosing to snooze
As they drown in *****
For even the highest of standards
Hit the ceiling
Better to remain low
Than to stray
Unless what they desire
Can never go away

Staring into the moonlight
Head up for guidance
Head down for rejection
On a night like this, I ask myself this:
Why do my relationships fail?
Friendship, partnership
Captain of a sinking ship
Sinking to the trench
Alongside expectations
We comprise the whole nation
Yet all I feel is isolation
Is this my destiny, to receive no amity?
I've extended my hand
Look now, I have thorns
Embedded in my skin
A reminder of what trying will bring
On my path through life
I feel like a drone
Hollow to the bone
I was never like this
Until I was grown.

Done with all my tasks
While the clowns trade masks
Cast into a casket
Older than Damascus
It seems like today, probably tomorrow
All people do is what they have to
But never what they want to
Confined to the clock
Always in a hurry
Rushing for the door; bottleneck
Rush hour, every hour
What notion are we trying to elect?
No time for a party
No place for a break
All I see is busy feet and hurt soles
Where is the soul?
When will life become gold?

I am human
But I've never felt less
Then I do now
Perceived like an animal
No photos please, it puts my mind at ease
I try my best
Yet it never brings me joy
I take on responsibility
Yet never enjoy my time
I have accomplished things
That I can no longer remember
Memory returned to sender
Guess that shows how important it was
Who even sent this letter?
Crying, dying, barely surviving
What world have I been thrown into?
If life was ideal, I'd live it with no fear
Accomplish what I desire
Say what I think, do what I say
But I live in reality
Humans surround me
Yet I feel I am the only one...
...
No more room for morality
Tied down by legalities
Throw away the formalities, new mentality
I'll find a commonality in my abnormality
Sentimentality appreciated by none
Today, from now on, I foster my own vitality

A cake
Such a beautiful sight
A country
Such a difficult fright
With a cake
You can remove decorations
Adjust the presentation
An electrical sense of elation!
Yet, when the batter spoils
No one will swing
With the confections you bring
For it is not the frosting
Not the sprinkles
Candles, trinkets, icing
The problem lies in the depths
Of a rotten core
A foundation, soiled
Coiled around its heart
Protected, but long rejected

The hanged man
Has no plan
No longer attached to land
He has become free
Only in sacrifice
He has certified his naivety
For all can be a martyr
Death is only the starter
None can barter with the reaper
But a sanctuary, he will charter

Bombshells
Carbon smells
Once the ash disintegrates
The victors integrate
Policy
Practice
Prayers
All destruction for reconstruction
Look back at the carnage and ask
Is it worth the lives you looked past?

External distractions
For internal ailments
Why ponder my condition when I can dance in the moonlight?
Big screen for the dopamine
Small screen for the socialite
A seed yet to sprout--my social life
Some nights, these thoughts bring fright
Am I the only one whose mind has foresight?
How long can this go?
How long can I go?
The flesh is tempered
But my soul is tired
I'm always tired
Please, please, I need rest
Please, please, I'm doing my best
Please, please, I am my own mess

The face of a demon
Heart of an angel
Hark the call of brass and bones
Trumpets sound for the cataclysm
But now, our end
Marks the beginning
Of a brand new stage
To make history
No archangels can remedy the destruction
For it too, brings creation
Creating chaos to create beginnings
Seems so backwards
Yet fits succinctly
Fear no death
For it gives us meaning
To cope with consciousness
These are the rules we have written.

The den of secrecy
Locked with no key
For even the warden
Misplaced it long ago
Always wondering, where it has gone
Only to move forward
As they forget to look backwards
Memories are a splatter
Mosaic with no pattern
Thrown and tattered
Picking up the pieces long forgotten
Where does this piece fit?
When did this arrive?
Why is this here?
Whose mind is this?
Why can't the lock be broken?
A spiral, a cycle
But, the chains have yielded
Is now the right time...?

Tread lightly
For surfing on waves
Creates ripples
That far extend
Past a single life

Standing
On the edge of a pier
I walk, I always walk
Never eager for it to end
But soon
Even if I crawl
It will end
It has to end
For it is here
Soon, it will be there
In that place, I do not know
Because the moment I grew
Every time I look back
I'm always looking
For you
Until the day I drown
I will wander, I will wonder
What happened to you?

Hive of humanity
Bursting with vanity
So many bees
Always debate about the queen
Bloated
Plethoric
Excessive
Depressive
The state of things
Brings tears to me
Yet distractions give comfort
While the sky burns red
Quite oxymoronic
Never a sight, never more iconic
"Too big to fail."
Said the Roman Empire
Now we walk on their remains
Cleansed by fire
Puppets with no clear puppetmaster
Strings attached, who is the owner?
I see why people become loners
Donors of patience
Only have enough time
Before the world corrupts and detains
After the discourse halts
Who will remain?

Passing along knowledge
No questions asked
Myth or fact?
It is a legend, why not let it pass?
Well, legends can turn from famous
To infamous
Comedy to tragedy
Sunny to cloudy
Spreading envisions of life
With no clue of what life is
No one truly knows what they have
Until it disappears
Yet no one can speak in death
So to be wise
Must we figuratively die?
Hitting the bottom of the well
With no direction but forward
If only life was a hypothetical
Then it would be simpler
None of it is similar
After all
Being immersed in fiction
Leads to thinking in fantasy

Plates of glass
My feet lay firm
Possibility of failure
Pushed to the background
In the foreground
Distant places, distant faces
On an island view
My legs, they move
The plates, they shudder
Always the first move
That trips up a recluse
Surfing on shards
Of the courage that remains

Entrenched in quicksand
A rope hangs daintily above
Mantras of "If I could just reach..."
Become acceptance of reality
Tired of false hopes
Brings nothing but tragedy
Avalanche of emotions
Sinking deep into the ground
In motion, peace has been found
What was once deadly, danger
Peace has been found
I have been found
My soul has been found
In the midst of demise
Acceptance, found

Fascist
Terrorist
Two extremes, always the headline
Contorting our perception
What was once the outlier
Becomes the liar, lying in wait
For the chance to strike
After accompanying deceit
Crackling thunder
An eternal rift of wisdom
Two sides with separate information
If they collaborated with one another
Would it have stopped this mess? Created a bigger one?
For those seeking answers, I must confess
I don't know, we may never know.

Illness persists
Through spit and violence
An apex predator
A fraction of a molecule
Here's the equation:
Size has no correlation
To power or strength
For even the tiniest of specks
Punch in bunches
Evolving their very existence
To remove someone elses
Quite familiar, how similar...
The law of life states:
As long as life exists, it will seek to break and take
Harmony is a 7 letter word
On a fractured line
Suggestions to stop it
Fall out of range
From the moment of birth
We are proof of life, eternal strife
Beyond the clouds
Is there heaven for breakers of paradise?

How we evolve
How we create
We change every day, year, century
The progress we make
Equivalence to a millimeter
On the universes' yardstick
Waiting for the day of reprieve
Even rats can only race for so long
So long gone
Conversion into centimeters
Still, so far gone
So far to go
Only so many years until it all goes stale
Looking for a place to bail
In a locked and sealed enclosure for closure
Waiting for the day
When we wake up to a new one

Shimmering stars
In a twirling vortex
I see true beauty
Not the human beauty
Of adjustments, lifts, and edits
But natural, plentiful
I have seen true beauty
It was here all along.

When the guards of death
Escort me to hell
I will not be afraid
For I have resided there
Many years ago
A timeshare with Beelzebub
A penthouse with Lucifer
This is the hell I have been given
Not created, thrusted in

Crackling light
In the shape of a knife
Unexpected, unruly
When it shines
It brightens the world
Yet, in its joy
It may bring harm.

Pillars of strength
Founded on ideals
That reside on fiction
A desire to change that reeks of addiction
Why change everything
When we can accept ourselves every day?
Ideal? No.
Future? Never.
Past? No more.
Present mindsets immersed in reality
Aware of the positive and negative
While residing in the penumbra
For nor against
But acknowledging the truth
Then living as if it matters

A modern man
Shall be deemed more than a man
Because he is not a man
But the shell of a man
Remnant of a bygone era
Where heroes were real
And villains were defined
Until the world woke up
To the aftermath of hysteria

Hitchhikers
On a cosmic body
Caring not for the body
But the other stowaways
Searching for a new home
While the current one fights back
As a child, I'd hope we win
As a man, I hope we lose
To teach the ultimate lesson:
Wasters cannot cruise while giving abuse
We've done enough pillaging
Time for the human race to snooze

Giving life to the chronic
Comes across as ironic
Living not for themselves
But for the stubborn lifestyle
Of the life bringer
Never thinking to ask
If a life lived with a handicap
Truly yields pleasure or satisfaction
Depending on the person
A right to live
A right to die
When one is trespassed
How can the other survive?

Fighting for you
Fighting for...who?
Fighting for...
For...
Me?

Two figures
Shadows on the horizon
Clashing together
Remaining separate forever
Breaking bones
As a sign of will
Yet when the sun rises
They look out, forgetting what to do
They turn to the rising sun, one says:
"The beauty never dies, it will forever survive."
Turning back to each other
Blooming beauty brings back burning burdens
A crack and a crunch
Then, no more

Truth varies
On who you ask
A constant source
For confusion, not clarity
No wonder no one can agree
Because the lingo used
Only applies to humanity
Who swim forward like manatees
Ignoring the sights and sounds
For routine, dreams
All parts of the scene
Every act has a curtain call
When will the curtain fall?

Fake places
Fake races
Fake people
Line up by the steeple
With a fake mindset
Amidst a fake crowd
The only way to get real
Comes at the cost of prestige
How can I live when we go against our identity?
Separated by falsehoods
Nature and humanity
One and the same
Then the laws of reality
Arrive alongside shouts of
"Oh! The humanity!"
Fake it till you make it
Only goes so far
Until we become a flimsy imitation
Of the ones who are authentic

Viper, cobra
Hands of an assassin
Rabbit, hare
Legs of a runner
Combined together
Prey and predator
Uniting as one
To defy a single endeavor
To crumble an enterprise
From deep inside

Nails
Hammered into crevices
Corroding the mind
That is already scarred
Scared not of consequence
But of scolding
For releasing the pain
Brings pain to more
Yet, if it cannot be removed
What else is nevermore?

Locked in place
With a twisted face
Merged with emotional platitudes
Left to the dogs
I ponder, why did this face
Presume today
Would be a good day?

A disconnected fool
A dying boy
A public enemy
Broken people
Burned bodies
Scarred for centuries
Never erased