rend, sunder, delete

maybe easy, easy seeming
ask not why, why, why
but an uphill, uphill battle
still i try, try, try

merely brittle, brittle armor
for my heart, heart, heart
it will shatter, shatter quickly
once you start, start, start

out of balance, balance fallen
torn to shreds, shreds, shreds
like a deadly, deadly poison
as it spreads, spreads, spreads

and a thousand, thousand needles
when it stings, stings, stings
only burning, burning anguish
that it brings, brings, brings

with an always, always loaded
smoking gun, gun, gun
for the trigger, trigger threatens
better run, run, run

(2024)

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pretty little puzzle pieces

my tendency for the allegorical
historical never merely metaphorical
ideas best unstructured and yet categorical
the question marks us answers not rhetorical

i'm digging for some pretty little buried treasure
do i have to spell out my displeasure
hammer it home for good measure
y'all only ever listen at your leisure

with a notoriety for shocking impiety
in bold strokes you paint us a society
no room for desperately much-needed variety
just rigid caricatures of our anxiety

always synthetic and a bit pathetic
thin line between apathetic and frenetic
let's talk memetic, call it, if you will, poetic
neither hypothetic nor prophetic

meanwhile you got no time for archaeology
refuse to see the extent of totality
and maybe, just maybe, you owe me an apology
not some weak-ass tautology delivered at my eulogy

(2023)

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train of thought / masquerade

once upon a whisper not a shout
customizable bore and sacrificed fear
utterly bland like all the rest here
gotta check it out get it checked out
so anyway here's music for sore ears

derail, derail (to no avail)
let it slip, let it slip (just a little bit)
gotta run, gotta run (the dance is on)

when trains collide the safest place
back at the back not back on track
and just in case enchase this phrase
it sounds like martian ack ack ack
so anyway go back to outer space

such potential tap, tap, tap
(just a bit, just a bit)
give me prizes, clap, clap, clap
(let it slip, let it slip)

on stakes as high as are as dee
makes all things always out to be
like snails impaled once more curtailed
i ran and slipped again derailed
so anyway just a fairytale

(the obscure experience of being
so well-adjusted and -behaved
that no one ever ever everest
from the highest mountain to
the deepest deep is deeper
you got to love this language
definitely a keeper more like
half a dozen in a trenchcoat
also that rhyme's an odd one out
so anyway where was i)

(2023)

---

a little spicy

never got the hang in there
in a mad rush must this engage
run like a common thread the needle
poised on a blurry line lapse

rise and fall flat out of control
still got another more to wage
let's cut to the chase loose ends
add some flavor to will in the gaps

to hold me close off another chance
settle into that fast minute rage
it's bad form upon a pattern
just one or too spicy perhaps

(2023)

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