Corporate America

Is an explanation really required for this one? I won't bother.


Dear Mr. Corporate,

Excuse me for my silence
On the subway car last night
As the asphalt scuffed your shoes
When you stepped onto the site
Leafing through your papers
Briefcase gaping wide
Paper grin spreading
Laughter splitting at the side
As the subway doors clicked shut
And the air stifled in wait
Your papers spilled across the floor
Escaping tomb of late
I did not move to help you
Though I doubt you saw me there
Instead I backed against the wall
To skirt your bloodshot stare
You babbled to your phone
A slur of frenzied, thoughtless sound
While gulping at your coffee
Caffeine, to find what can't be found
As the rails hissed our arrival
You bustled off the train
Fading into that hazy fog
Of the lucid and the sane
I apologize, Mr. Corporate
And though it is no excuse,
I couldn't help but notice
Your tie echoed a noose

Walk

I just went and took my dog, Akyna, on a walk. It was dusk, the sun was setting, and I was feeling in an observant mood. So I opened up a bit, and jotted some mental notes down as we walked. These are the things we saw...

The rhyme scheme for this one is kind of... nonexistent. I wanted it to rhyme a bit, but it was a lost cause. The poem does what it wants, I really have no say in the long run.

Dog nails, click-clicking
On the dusty pavement
Sun waving its last
Feeble farewells

Lone bike rider
Each click of the spokes
Pedal lazily
A faint 'ting' of their bell

No hurried destination
Just a crinkled smile
Sympathy of years
Gray hair flicking in breeze

Mother with infant
Slung o'er shoulder
Toddler bobbing along
Falling upon bruised knees

Family of three
Wily dog at their side
Bounding about
Gnarled knots in the leash

Children playing make-believe
In their faded yard
Castles and dragons
Replace strengthening reality

Porch lights flicker on
Street lights follow suit
Rusted soldiers eager to please
Claiming the darkening street

Sirens wail in the distance
Shadows frolick
Trains bustle by, already
Of the past, quick as they came

Headlights roam
One after another
Ceaseless as the crickets' chirps
Echoing, amplifying, an orchestra

I sing along
And earn the knowing grins
Of an elderly couple
Strolling hand in hand

Such strong love!
How can it be encased
In such fragile forms?
Survive!

And the lone biker pedals on

Click-clicking.

Frightened.

They say that heaven is like TV: A perfect little world that doesn't really need me.
This poem was inspired by the above song lyric.

Crank the dial 'round
Anonymous channels blur
Which to pick?
Too many.
None are what they were.

Try to mute the sound
But their voices echo still
Shut them out?
Hopeless.
A hole for them to fill.

Eyes closed tightly now
But their images burn bright
Blind yourself?
Possibly.
Replace with eternal night.

Static creeps across
Their essence ebbs away
Not influenced?
Impossible.
They cling, are here to stay.

The image flickers in, out
And you fear to be alone
Giving in?
Always.
Your soul is theirs to own.

Mum

Dedicated to mom.

Existence shattered
Fragments spinning
Forming a
Grisly kaleidoscope
Colors melding
Then fracturing
Trapped within
Broken shards
Passed out
Among debris
Car trunk
Lights flash
Booze slows
Rubber burns
Bodies of both car and girl, lay crushed.
Totaled.
Warranty?
19 years.

And life rolls on.

Placebo pills to hide the pain
Smiling mask to hide joy, slain
Shaking hand to wipe the tears
Reminisce to wipe the years
Stitches hide the steel pole
Hurt contained, but hide the soul?

Written while delirious?

I wrote these last night, at Payton's house, while we were playing truth or dare. Hm.

Mercenaries of copper
Coins tossed into the creek
Tied to a hopeful soul
And the fantasies they seek
Rippling outward, onward
Tidal waves rip and tear
Frantic to fulfill the dreams
Their watery depths bear

The vastness of that
Castaway wish

X, Y?

This is just a few jumbled lines of my thoughts at the moment. I desperately want a gay [guy] friend. Why can't people just BE FRIENDS? Without the guilt trip.

Color
Culture
Weight
IQ
Religion
Of all of the cliched, overwrought prejudices
The most irksome seems to be overlooked
That which cuts the deepest and scars uncurably
Gender?
Any takers?
No, not a transvestite. Even in today's society.
Merely a soul peeved by the regulations
The requirements placed upon us all
An X and Y cannot mingle
Without the suffocations of lust?
To what extent should it be
Tolerated?
How long should a weary mind
Endure?
At what point does it become too much?
I suppose one cannot know until that apex
Has been surmounted.
The downward spiral sounds welcoming.

So I was digging through the piles of debris in my room...

While excavating for my math homework, I found an art project from last year. So I'm uploading some of the pictures/poems that went with it.

It was a project about love.

[Didn't like the picture for this one.]

A resilient blossom
It needs little light
It can live by the moon
That one hope of the night

---

[Didn't like my drawing for this one either.]

She gathers her paper, her pen, and her thoughts
Her hand is unsteady, dark ink pools and blots
Onto the pale parchment spill her lonely dreams
Confessing her hopes, each thought it seems
Her pen spins not a novel, or daft mindless prattle
But a tear-soaked plea to her love deep in battle
She had no way to know, as she mailed off her heart
Her love lay, crushed and broken, their love snuffed at the start.

---

[A fairly simple, transparent poem.]

First froze his legs
Though he seemed not to care
He said
I love you more than walks in fresh air
Then left his sight
And he brushed this off too
He said
Long as you love me, I need not see you
Next he lost sound
But in speech unbroken
He said
Though I'll miss your voice, our love need not be spoken
Last was his life
And his love shed a tear
She said
But now I lack my love, that one loss I most fear

---

[May upload the picture for this one later.]

Summers take leave
Winters end
People depart
Both foe and friend
Flowers wilt
But buds will bloom
Love returns
Just as the moon
Love and loss
Live hand in hand
A salty wave
O'er grains of sand

Wash away, bring anew.