Gardening to weed the pain,
We tend the dream
And love the lie.

Inspiration on an empty mind,
Violence on an empty stomach —
It is nothing that
Some coffee cannot remedy.

Creaking,
Groaning,
Grinding,
Stalling —
Spinning like
A world possessed.

Searching for a green light,
Staring at the sun —
All I see is red.
Looking for a way out
In all familiar places
Where nothing ever changes,
And no one ever leaves —
Expecting naively that fortune,
Unwilling for all,
Is simply
Waiting for me.

Gone off the deep end
For goals intermittent —
Chasing the dream,
Riding runaway trains
Of unguided ambition.

Yeah, you don't like me —
It’s obvious, but that's alright.
Lacking a filter on my words
I probably hit
Too close to the painful truth,
Right?

Foraging through motivations —
Faded, yellowed, half-forgotten,
Trying to find the strength
To carry on.

Sanity dubbed and subbed,
Chanting ethos like a mantra —
Drowning out estranged reason’s
White noised foreign language.

The irony of
Granted time
Consuming precious shelf life —
Dignity a price too steep,
A bridge too far.

Optimism can only
Go so far —
What can you do
When life keeps giving you
Rotten lemons?

The road ahead
Is paved and owned.
Favors only last so long
Without funds,
Without friends,
Without family —
And the toll is steep.

Souvenir vice
And collectable sin —
Don't diss it ‘till you've tried it.
One taste,
And I'll be serving you again.

There's a substantial line
Between sarcasm and assholery,
Which often correlates
With intellect.

Happiness is not a constant,
Nor is it a given.
Swim,
Dive deep,
Ride time's currents,
Grasp those moments
Where you find them —
But remember,
This is not a game of
Win at life.

Fractured potential,
A species at pasture —
Growing fat on
The last remaining riches
Of a long lost golden age.

I'm doing quite well,
Thank you very much.
Positivity at rock bottom —
I've got a piss bucket
Full of sunshine,
And two cotton wads
To block the smell.

Resolute
To save a world
Beyond healing,
Wearing masks to keep
The sickness in.

Give and take
The humane way —
Listen to reason,
Then reason to live.

Kept within our demographics,
God forbid we break the mold —
Happiness a mere statistic,
More a median than a goal.

Counting bullets from the trenches,
Willing the world to sleep —
Silent night, holy night,
Stars above, grant us peace.