Tried to get a job
But 'Experience Required,'
Hard to get experience
If you never get hired
Likewise, they want
A college degree-
But wouldn't you know,
That **** ain't free!

One big loan and
Two low wage jobs later,
You've finally gotten
Some gilded scrap paper
(With no guarantee
Of a refund later!)

Can't keep up with the Jones'
If you're on the wrong track;
Can't pay your bills,
If you ain't got the scratch!
So you finally break down
And work for the man
In a dead-end 'career'
With no long-term plans
Just the same 9-5
With your head in the sand

Moving right along on
The same daily grind
Just another cog
In an assembly line
Where you buy your retirement
That four-oh-one-kay
Until your employer decides
To sell it away;
Dock your insurance,
Cut your hours at work,
Like it's a privilege to come!
(And you should pay them, of course.)

With two-point-five kids,
And a white picket fence,
A quaint little wife,
And dollars to cents
Pretending and playing
That everything's alright
Just barely above
The poverty line

Living out
That old American Dream!
Just keep your head down,
And repeat after me:
"I am safe, I am happy, I am free"

I am Safe,
I am Happy,
I am Free.

Here’s the church,
here’s the steeple.
Open the door
and see all the people.

Slam it shut.
Shatter the glass.
Because it feels
this too won’t pass.

Please just wait;
see it through
Then you’ll realize,
every little thing you do.

All that you are
is all that we do,
our time is best utilized
serving as glue.

Pick up your cross,
but have no fright,
because I know
there will always be a light.

It may seem obtuse,
but your sight will shift.
Only then can you make good use
of his precious gift.

Dare to try.
Intuition is keen.
Trust in yourself.
Create beauty
from a sorrowful scene.

And when the time is right
to reflect on your life,
I hope you can say
you’ve been stained
through the power of strife.

mKp (3/3)

The cafe is quiet
except for the constant
clicking of keyboard crickets.

The warmth of
a chai tea latte; blanketed
by it's Styrofoam vessel.

It never gets too cold in here
where the ivory youth outshine
the labor of darker shades of design.

All heads are bowed,
the offer of unconditional prayer.

Apple shaped God,
the remedy of hellish boredom,
dull each of the senses
tear away at the organic carcasses.

The exit is just as beautiful
as the entrance.

Existence is as ordinary
as the data and
chemicals; as lovely
as the cures
and poisons.

The cafe is quiet.