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a m a n d a Dec 2019
hey.
listen.

i'm just a grunt
a cog in the machine
trying to get the same sized piece
of the american d r e a m
that you have.

but you don't see.
the absolute crack in the structure
of reality between
our generations,
and so you think it is e a z y
that we are lazy.

i almost laugh when i see you
scan the exact same insurance card from
20 years ago
you silly, silly babies.

you want to talk health insurance?
i am 39.
i was born in 1980, and at this very moment,
off the top of my head,
i can recall
having at the very least 9
different health insurance
providers since
i was 22 years old.

back then, i made $9/hour
and that was acceptable for the
state of my experience and education.
but much has changed in 17 years.
now, i make $16.50/hour and that,
my friends,
is not a decent salary
for a 39 year old that
is supposed to magically be saving for
a retirement that is getting less and less likely
by the day, because those
crazy things you old coots had
called "pensions" are a no-go in this climate...
while i am over here struggling with shelter,
food, clothing, healthcare, and education.

you have homes and cars
and dishwashers and pools
and vacations and
private schools and plenty of groceries
you don't think twice about going out
giving gifts
buying yourself treats, things
that are unnecessary
some of us only live in the world
of the necessary
and we have
d e b t.
live not even one paycheck
to the next.
there is no luxury
one moment from an emergency
with little comfort
and little hope

because of the things
you voted for. for the people you voted in the office.
the ideas you allowed to brew.
the envy and the greed.
and oh the righteousness.
the hypocrisy is just dynomite.
you done ****** up.
the planet, education, healthcare,
childcare, banks, greed, Wall Street, and corruption.
even for those of us who are
white and privileged and educated
there is no way out of the cycle
so imagine what you have done
to all the brown and black people.
the disabled. the veterans. the homeless. the sick.
the elderly. children. it's a ******* shitshow.

man after man after man after man and
war after war after war after war
and dollar after dollar after dollar after dollar

currently healthcare premiums alone
are 21% of my income after taxes
not including copays, deductibles,
coinsurance, medications, and things they
simply will not cover.

I went to school for 7 years,
have a master's degree, and
currently make $7.50 more/hour
than I did when I was 22 years old
(17 years ago)
with no experience whatsoever
and a bachelor's degree.

now i have a master's degree
over a decade of expertise and experience
and student loans that have gone from $80,000 to $120,000
and for that i get $7.50 more/hour
for a job
not in my field.
that doesn't even give you insurance for 3
months during which time
you just quite literally hope
no one calls an ambulance on you cuz
there is no way you are going bankrupt
for passing out from anxiety
over the state of your life, and besides, if you get sick
you are not allowed one iota of personal time
for the first 90 days

i will not even embarrass you
with the hilarious  student loan repayment options.
we won't even add the proposed $1800 payment to the
monthly analysis just to be jokesters.

rent is 25%
(for a ******, ugly, place)
not including heat
water, electric, internet,
cell phone


gas alone is 9%
i haven't even mentioned
food, car payments, and car insurance

can you see where the desperation might creep in?
you didn't go to college, or if you did,
tuition was truly affordable
on an average person's salary.
you expect things to be easy because they were easy
for you even though you think
it was hard.
it was not hard.
children and adults fully
financially stable on one average person's income?!
"middle class" is a joke.
it is not what it once was.
and to me, now
it seems quite
an impossible dream.
getting one job and keeping it practically
your entire life?!
stop it, my side hurts!
a bonus?!
please!
a union?!
comprehensive healthcare for your entire family
with no deductible and little to no copays?
girl, you sure is funny.
an affordable home?
****,
we haven't even talked about
credit card debt!
outrageous taxes, tolls,
and fees.
for-profit prisons
and for-profit healthcare.
why what a wonderful idea,
surely will do the most good
for the most people.
3 billionaires
own more wealth
than the entire bottom half of americans.
read that again, please.

your tactics have brought us corporate greed, corruption,
a failed war on drugs, a failure to teach equality
and comprehensive *** education in schools
untold wars, mutilation, torture, and death
the suppression of women.

my life is the proof of your oppression
and the heart of your discontent
but you could never live it and survive
you delicate little flowers
  the system is ******
and the very foundation is crumbling
As of December 1, which is the 335th day of the year, there have been 385 mass shootings in the U.S., according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which tracks every mass shooting in the country. Twenty-nine of those shootings were mass murders.

your thought are gong backward
and it is painfully obvious to
the rest of us
that you are simply]
of no use to us,
the people looking
toward a better future.

you did not prepare us for
the world of your making
you prepared us for your world
and that is why there is a disconnect.

but ok, b o o m e r





ok, boomer
whatever you say
Getting Ready
On the go
Doing things
Need a blow

Giddy gaggle
Endless Gags
Toothy giggles
Tongues a wag

Dressing up
Getting down
Goofing off
Clownin round

Pretty girls
Wearing pearls
Dancing Swirls
Fluffy Furls

Blowing Kisses
Giving Hugs
Singing Ditties
Cut a Rug

Buoyant Banter
Flashing Smiles
Bubbly Blabber
Smoking Milds

Shakin *****
Gettin Down
Wigglin *******
Goofy Gowns

Keep a Groovin
Boogie all night
Shake Them Legs
Les Dames et Dynomite

Oakland
8/23/01

Music Selection:
Jackson 5
Dancing Machine
Butch Decatoria Apr 2017
Raised in So. Cali.
Those early 80's on the beach,
When reggae birthed the bass
Subwoofer heart beats
And poetry woven into the flow
Open mics
Yo Spoken Word!
Rap as verse to mTVs

Bittersweet symphonies

When brothers were too heavy
Living in the hood,
And my friends
Ricky and Richy
And Ricks
Richard
****
Have no riches / wealth
Drawing blondes
For non
boys
In the cartoon
Landscape of generation
gap
Not so trendy cool
Unless master Richy
Loud animated riches
Mr. Rich
If I only knew
If richness
Lets you

Then Come be one of every

Minority
Say they can see

His friends-collection
From unique
Reserves
The wild
Child
Around the world
each birthday party here

His pals his country
Their diversities not his equal
As stereotypes
Subterfuge

Cliche
Equality pursuant to Freedom
So says the people

This that is
Priceless,

Enjoying tangerine days
Sinking in the golden
Tropicana
And cold colbalt

Blue bloods
In a darkening sea

The sky bleeding
Only with the life of the sun,
Where in spirit

Oh summer Lovin' nights

Cooling the boardwalks
dynomite!
Beach kin
skins
A many golden
Tans and the scent of
Paradise
Florals and cocoa butter
brine...
Tight fit bodies
Chrome shiney
Tanning oils

The summer wafting

Sensual
Through our basking
In rhythmic sync

From early days
Those happy days
Then when I was tween
On my Schwinn

Gliding
like the wind

Dollar movies
Sand and some kind
Of wonderful

The most radical arcade!
Raised a native son

By marriage
I am a mix into one
A people
My face
Has a race,
I am islander
Fisher King

Golden lion with
Interstellar wings

Please Call me Fishsparrow's
Dreaming

Though summer hues
My skin accused
Unmoved
Unclaimed
I'm a Golden Mango

Among the Californication-Ing

Indian Summer's with a
Torquois bottom pool
I could pass for Hawaiian
Most dark Mistiso do...

Raised in California
We are as golden
As the landscape

Americana

I'm laid back
As California as the cheese
We got the beef cake
80s to 90s to Kpop to Goa

The flavoring
Of caramel flesh
Sweet sweat
Footloose
Skinny jeans
**** undulations
Body
Surfing
Those summer waves

Toward our Nuevo
Fluorescent future
Opulence
So free and quite
Brilliant

The light
With life experienced

Fearless with Midnights
We Conqueror sunrise

The days I reminisce
When childhood bliss
did not die
Just down for a nap

New cats' days
Turning tomorrow making
bacon
Brown skin
My Soleils
Beaches
Soothing Mists

Breath of Suns' kisses:
Wakes of oceans
Peace

Oh

Now I lay me down to dream
I pray the Lord
To help me wake...


Every new day
So thankfully
Experience every divinity

That thou love
Doth make


Alive without regret
Of and by the sea
I'm raised

I grew up
California
                  golden
As is
silence

And Making love  

With You
Early morning.... On the beach

Life arisen.
For light means Day!
Good morning
Glory

A louder Grace
Beloved
Will
Shall listen...
brandon nagley Jun 2015
She's ****
She's sweet
She's queen like
Head to her feet
She's charming
So cunning
Mine queen
She swoons me
Balloons me
In high top ascending
She's lovely
For she's mine best
She gaveth me her all
I giveth all I have left!!!
#ea
Vanessa Gatley Jan 2019
Light it up like
Dynomite
Destroys
Yeah
Now
O
Mighty
It
Torches
Everything
Adam Nov 2024
Sounds of trombone,
deep down under shallow hides
a licking stamp
a feverish night

Your work set out
... not dynomite
sounds of trombones
in winter light
Moris Apr 2017
hermit ***** crawl from their exoskeleton and find new homes as they grow
they shed and leave everything behind to the currents of time to wash past away
they search for newness with no direction
this was you when you left me
you grew out your hair and bought more rings
you when to a pharmacy of internet culture and hijacked the life which did not belong to you
something to comfort your lack of love
something to cling to so you could say that youre wild and free
instead of broken and crippled from the death of this all
im a shell not empty because of you but now a house with no deed
another animal adjusting to the mania of love
there is no deposit
there is no tax
there is only myself, there is only my chaos
and when someone else tells me im their bomb shelter
i hope they take time to understand
that dynomite is in the freezer
and i would like him to know better than my past self
to stay
and
dont open that door
Dennis Willis Mar 27
So many words
until
I remember
\the edge

against which
we throw
verse
\like shells

of would be
dynomite
light
\darkly wrote

and I quote
nevermore
bright
\nothings  galore
POETRY is not DEAD,
It is ALIVE and it is WELL,
of ALL of the WRITERS of
DIFFERENT GENRES,
We are ALL FEELING SWELL.

We are TERRIFIC,
FANTASTIC and
DYNOMITE,
Our POETIC WRITING SKILLS,
are just out of SIGHT.

From SONNETS,
LYRICS, LIMERICKS,
TO HAIKUS, ACROSTIC, and
FREE VERSE,
From EPIC, ELEGY, ODE and
CINQUIN,
Our POETRY is not DEAD:
IT STILL LIVES WITHIN!!!

We BRING to you our
poetic verses to LIFE,
THROUGH US,
Our WORDS LIVE,
To PRESENT them
to the WORLD,
are these LINES that WE GIVE.

If YOU THINK that
we are ASLEEP,
WE ARE VERY MUCH AWAKE,
Giving you a POSTITIVE SPIN, and
POETIC LINES is what WE MAKE.

The MUSIC MAKERS that
gives you the SONGS,
POPPING your FINGERS and
SINGING ALL THE DAY LONG.

The DREAMERS that DREAM
BRINGING VISIONS
TO TRUE REALITY,

LYRICISTS that are LYRICAL,
To the RAPPERS that RAP,
Just LAYING down THESE LINES,
Now what do you think of THAT????

POETRY IS NOT DEAD,
IT LIVES ON TO THIS DAY,
PLEASE DON'T GO EXTINCT, and
PLEASE DON'T LET IT GO ASTRAY,
PAYING HOMAGE to the
POETS OF THE PAST,
their POEMS are on DISPLAY,

It will CONTINUE TO EVOLVE,
PLEASE DON'T
NEVER, EVER go AWAY!!
THROUGH POETS,
WRITERS,  and LYRICISTS,
IT WILL LIVE ON,
THIS I PRAY!!!


B.R.
Date: 12/2/2024
Here I am tarnished, a blemished soul
searching for anything to complete me, make me whole
What you think really is irrelevant.
We all have relatives that's have closets full of skeletons
Isn't that the right, your excellence
There is no case there is no evidence
How do people keep living on in complete ignorance.
With every experience to
I pray for my own deliverance
If I had other intentions I doubt it would make a difference

Feeling like i am at least a little woke
as well as somewhat exposed
now i at standing here at this crossroad
.Im hallowed, I can't help but to be a cutthroat
I've got problems by the very shitload
teetering on the brink of a psychotic episode
My mind is begining to overload
For me it is just **** late for me to go rogue
Too soon for me to attempt to go ghost.
So as there chaos begins to unfold
I'll be right here, your **** right I am throwed
This story has since been rewrote.
My mental illness still has yet to be Diagnosed.
I am still stuck in beast mode
its possible I think I am about to overdose
Im searching for the antidote
This is some habitat, cozy little cabbage patch, where bad ideas are known to hatch. strapped with gats just so I can cap the Shorts. No brag just fact Attempting to walk out unscathed integrity intact digging myself up like an ancient artifact. In this cataphract chaos I knowingly attract
Spill the secrets that overload your very soul,
Don't let yourself lose all of your self control
Broken vessel, I'm just an empty hull
Can't stand the sounds of these thoughts, I gather until they rattle on around inside my skull...
keep in mind that i'll cut you from ******* appetite,
the flames inside seemed to just ignite
This familiar feeling seems to stir as it also seems to excite
looking in from right outside
as if I were stuck knee deep in my kryptonite
After all the things that had been sacrificed
Dissatisfied by the very changing price
on your host You tend to feed like a parasite
Anger erupting exploding just like dynomite

We roam on like we are all blind, with my very soul I outpour every word that I write
If you want my advice, keep in mind everyday I feel a little less alive'
High at times usually hiding in the shadows of these dark rhymes
An unseen evil remaining hidden behind, the tombstones, in this ancient graveyard of mine
Really was it that big of a surprise to find,
That to shine, I would usually rise
Because when push comes to shove, I have noi choice but to survive

So here I am too numb now to feel the pain
As matter of fact I do not feel anything, so I spit out these pieces of broken luck
Don't get **** twisted though because I still do not give a ****
One day I will rise above smile on my face as I go flying by tragedy has streaked my dark sky but I will stand my ground til the day I die
Spill the secrets that overload your very soul,
Don't let yourself lose all of your self control
Broken vessel, I'm just an empty hull Can't stand the sounds of these thoughts, I gather
until they rattle on around inside my skull....
I wish that this pain would just subside
What am I going to do next?
i can't decide                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
In the very heart of me,
parts of me
have already died
increasing are these intrusive thoughts
that frequently turn to suicide
Keep all my feelings shoved way down deep inside
I don't know what a happy life
could actually provide
washing over me is this crimson tide
So its mine
all my emotions have been long since denied
Tell me why that you seem to be so taken back.
I wasn't going to make it out unscathed,
but my integrity mostly still intact. Distract, my chest heaving,
from back to back
full blown panic attacks
From my soul,
I felt my power drain,
everyone, I once knew,
nothing but a fading crimson stain.
God please forgive me
for all the dark thoughts I entertain
My grief masked by words that drip with much disdain
An addict ruined pretty much from the start
relying on the wisdom
other's seem to unknowingly impart
Eternally stabbing myself
with jagged bits of my broken heart turned off all this emotional crap
a long long time ago
colder I am just that much more corrupt
the older that I grow
so somehow spun it was
out of all these **** tales of woe
All that's left now are the smoldering embers
from the fire once
warm and all aglow
keep in mind
that i'll cut you
from ******* appetite,
the flames inside
seemed to just ignite
This familiar feeling
seems to stir
as it also seems
to excite
looking in from right outside
as if I were stuck
knee deep in my kryptonite
After all the things
that had been sacrificed
Dissatisfied by the
very changing price
on your host you tend
to feed like a parasite
Anger erupting
exploding just like dynomite
so go ahead and dunk me in formaldehyde
bury me only by candlelight
despite all my pain and sorrow,
I'll somehow be alright
We roam on like we are all blind, with my very soul
I outpour
every word that I write
If you want my advice,
keep in mind
everyday I feel a little less alive
High at times
usually hiding in the shadows of these dark rhymes
An unseen evil remaining hidden behind,
the tombstones,
in this ancient graveyard of mine Really was it that big of a surprise to find,
That to shine, I would usually rise Because when push comes to shove  I can have no choice but to survive
Explicit

— The End —