Existing parallel
The neglected peripheral,
Racing the light,
Each step is a consequence sown —
Look up and see
The shadow of this world.
Then look around and see our own.

Bloodlines eating their own tails,
Hereditary carousels —
Even into death,
We follow.

I'm not a number —
I just have a bunch
To know my by,
To call me by,
To find me by,
To weigh me by,
To judge me by,
Select me by,
Avoid me by,
To calculate my net worth by.
I'm free,
Like a tracked pidgin
In the radared sky.

A self destructive habit,
No thought without an edit —
Dulling true colors
To match a softer blend.

Words eroded through the ages —
If you believe it is, or ever was
The voice of your maker,
You don't understand
How scripture works.

Accountable? Sure.
Responsible? No way.
The glass is half full,
Pass the bottle.
Don't preach how to adult —
I'll be okay.

I'm ranting, but know
I'm too young to become what I fear
— one more angry old man —
But man, it is hard to stay zen,
To stay mute,
When the few things you've learned
To hold meaning in life
Are on fire.

Screaming headlines, talking heads,
Building up the next big bad —
Pay attention to the things
Left unsaid.

Such obvious deception,
It works, but how could it?
Pay to prove that you are you,
So we can sell you to the world?
Are we that gullible?
Apparently.

Revolution
Screams for movement —
Punch the sky
To pierce the status quo.

Memories of you,
Out of sight, outlined
Behind cracked milkglass.
The warmth that was you,
Wasted
In time we spent apart.

Sunken streets,
Watery moon.
This heart still bleeds,
These tears still flow,
Just not for you —
Not now, nor evermore.

Progress inching
Back and forward,
Accomplishments creaking
Under cumulative negatives —
One small misstep wipes the board.
Where there is an up,
There will always be
An equalizing fall.

Measure distance, measure time.
Measure value, health, and life.
Measure anything and everything
But meaning —
No, for that,
Just keep asking
Why.

There is no them
In freedom —
It's either we,
Or make-believe.

How long will it take
With the rise of AI
For humanity to fail
The Turing test?

Post-war peace,
Let's be friends —
Take my side
And promise me
Another's land.

Hopes for a doomed tomorrow,
Finger painted with my tears —
I can still picture it, but come dawn,
The canvas will seem blank,
Even to me.

Lives in sound and word,
Verses sang towards the chorus —
A cacophony, a canon
Looping back while racing forward
To crescendo.

The hell.
Soldiers of a shared identity?
Fuck your culture,
And for that matter,
Fuck mine as well —
Instead, let's ask ourselves,
What makes you you,
What makes me me,
Beyond character vultures
And stock personalities,
Breaking
The hereditary us?