Holier Than Thou

I read
Those idle words
And pondered what had bred
The evil force which always herds
My peers to drunken pastures to be fed.

I know no other way to phrase the pain,
The anguished sting of staying tall
And watching paths of Cain
Consume them all,
Their bane.

I throw
My hands aloft,
And then this hope I sow
Must take root in the soil soft,
But flocks of greedy ravens keep in tow.

“Unfair,” the bitter voice inside me shouts,
“To have to keep the torment in.”
Decisions given clout
Should start within,
Not out.

For all the good it does or does not do,
While you roam 'round, I'm holier than you.

College (4-6-07)

I know. I know. It’s looming there.
There.
I can see it:
Sickly yellow mountains of steam
Towering in thunder, ripping asunder
The grounded scrub which fights, fails, and falls.

I didn’t plan, I didn’t think
About the storm driving nearer.
I saw it, you saw it.
The first strikes of rain
May have wet your face
But you didn’t pause.
You grabbed up your raincoat
And forgot. Just forgot and ignored
The billowing blasts of wind,
The ominous offense of rolling
And crackling thunder.

The storm moves with time’s pace,
Pulled by the constant, corded muscle
Of twin horses: God’s great gyrating galaxy
And Man’s manufactured months.

I know the outcome of the storm,
But I cannot prevent it. It is His will,
I suppose, but I will close my windows
When it cuffs my world, vain as it may be.
It will blow me off to Whonosware,
Tear my hands from my life and my love.

In Whonosware I will sit stunned,
Still struggling to fill the gaping…
You may visit me in Whonosware.
That will help.

Well.
I know. I know. It’s looming, looming.
See?
We can both see it.

And we can hold each other until it gets here.

Modernism, Chips and Salsa (12/06)

This once-small nation shrugged away the years
Of blood and smoke and bitter anthems sung,
And faced a world with new-found might, sans fears.
We dreamed of aiding all good folks far-flung.

The power of the world was ours to wield.
And sure we were that Heaven placed its trust,
In our strong will, our might, our ores, our fields.
We’d keep our strength and shrug off blow and gust.

But years of strife in rice and sticky mire,
Took chips out of our armor green and black.
Our gleeful neighbors salsa danced through dire
And grim assaults against our deals and pacts.

We’ve come to see that we lack such great pow’r
To fight the world’s wails and tears in show’rs.

It makes me sick (10/06)

There’s a ringing in my ears.
Or maybe it’s just the stereo,
Belting out its filth.

Oh, can’t get enough of you so I think we should all get high and drunk and then I can drive you back to my place and you know what happens then and there’s nothing anyone can do about it –oh, they’ll try to catch me livin’ dirty, like the flee-ridden scum that I am but who cares, cuz I have more money than God (who isn’t real anyway) and you just gotta live for today, and feel good feel good feel good.

There’s a ringing in my eyes.
Or maybe it’s just that show,
Spewing forth our culture.

Hey let’s be Friends (if you know what I mean), or if you won’t be you have 24 hours to let me know so I can just get Lost, maybe make u my Idol but first u need a serious Makeover because anyone can tell you with a Ride as Pimped as mine I cant let the Pap get a shot of me with you and don’t tell me im Blind to Date that what’s-her-name, just cuz of her attitude, because after all whats cussing but just some more flavorful words.

There’s a ringing in my mind,
And it’s the alarm clock that never
Wakes me up. So I’m stuck.

I can’t get out of the desert.
I don’t even see the water anymore,
Until I force myself to.

But then it floods in and I can’t breath.
Katrina couldn’t touch this,
The government?

Can’t save us this time. No,
It’s not money or tax breaks,
Or better police, or better schools, or better economy, or better security, or better civil rights, or better roads, or better congressmen, or better food, or better weight-loss, or better healthcare, or better handguns, or better intelligence, or better free government handouts.

Because you know what?
It’s you. And you, and you and you and you and you and you.
And me. And it makes me sick.

To think that I can’t do
ANYTHING by myself.

Dagger's Twin (3/07)

A flash of anger, white hot rage;
With sultry ire, my ink melts page.
My trust was felled by drunken hands,
Ensnared in Godless battle plans.
I offered her my castle high
Where demon’s drink could only try
In vain to tear the walls away,
Repelled for yet another day.

It seems like only one day past
I strolled these woods and rich green grass.
When peace had power for the day,
This girl clad black in knight’s array
Could travel free from fear of drops
Of Satan’s liquid, ripped from hops.
But now I flee behind my wall
Where I alone watch kingdoms fall.

I had been high and mighty perched
And yet that one confession lurched
My ideal world and stolid stance.
My focus lost, I watched my chance
To stop those closing doors and trust
Dissolve in bottles of liquid lust.
This hollow wail that no one hears
Is gorged and full of silent tears.

By that same light who guides me past
The noose which grabs and holds men fast,
I’m told to love and overlook
The solace that she slew and shook.
So who am I to twist the blade,
She buried in my back today?
For should she reach her arms behind,
I know this dagger’s twin she’d find.