Everything Optional

Time to turn on
the scenario generator

Plug in the possibility equation 

Rev up rampant speculation

Scales will be provided
to weigh options

However no guarantees
will be rendered
that you will embrace
the final product produced

All we can do
is tip toe through
the minefield
of unforeseen
plot twists

Fall and Rise

Soldiers rejoice

War is over

Arise comrades
on both sides of the line
and forever exit
your blood stained trenches

Time to finally 
put away the big guns
and parade on home

Give Mom a big hug

Kiss the girl next door

and before
you lay your grateful head
on your greatly missed bed
say a silent prayer
for friends and foes
all equally dead

Honor those souls

who now sleep forever

beneath well manicured
carefully marked
plots of Earth

Waiting patiently
for the angels to play reveille 
so they may rise again
and forever forget
their scars of war 

Glorious Wetness

Stop running from the rain !!!


You ain't gonna melt

like that bitch of a witch

from that classic flick

who had it coming


but I digress...


Take the time

from your neatly pressed life 

to open wide...


Allow the drops

to bounce off

your parched tongue..


Treat your crusty self

to a full service soaking


and let yourself get

gloriously wet

Add caption

Step Up

Go or no go?

Yes or no? Languishing over options Pondering consequences Circular adventures

Nada resolved

Our grand task force du jour again needs be adjourned to revisit every implication permutation

Convene another meeting or two Is it any wonder nothing ever gets done?

Well Greased Wheel

These turbulent days
the high road
is definitely
the less traveled trail

Loud and controversial
with a dash of naughty 
is where it's at

but

there is still something
to be said
for riding
the straight and narrow path

For while you'll never be
a front page troubled celebrity

you'll make it to the end

with your self respect intact

unbloodied and unscathed 

The High Church of Hypocrisy

You Mud People
with your 
sinfully dirty ways
are now forbidden
BY LAW
to breathe 
our rarified
hermetically cleansed air
we now decree can't be shared

While the Lord we speak for 
loves you all the same
your very existence we abhor

So go forth and exist no more
and maybe someday
you'll be as self righteously
born again pure
as we 
your pious persecutors 

Beast TV

Embedded

on my TV nightly...  

Man killing man

in a bloody

slow drip

species demolition spree...

Pundits pundificate

and regurgitate 

their pet theories

about plausible 

violence cause and effect

while distraught moralists

slip into

their fashionable 

rationalization masks...

Of course none of us

jungle inhabitants

waste precious brain energy

anymore on the daily carnage

Cause we know

the curse of this spent species

is that in our savage hearts

we are all nothing more

than scared beasties

Lifetime Underachievement Award

Used to believe I might be
somebody of note someday

A dream I shared

along with the rest
of anonymous humanity

Of course
life did not work out that way

as I plunged
into the crowded pit
of maddening mediocrity

Cause the achievement light
rarely shines
on those like me
who traverse
the safe and easy path
of the chronically lazy

as we collectively sit
on our spectator asses
and gaze up longingly
at the stars blazing bright
that could have been us

Shield Shadow

My once fragile heart

Broken down
and restored repeatedly
over time

My refurbished heart

Now as stone

A wall of indifference
where nothing penetrates
my hardened perimeter

Can't be hurt
by misplaced love anymore

I've created

a defensive mindset
from all 
the crash and burns
that came before

Love is great
for flowery
romantic poetry

but

the majesty
of the long term chemistry
never seems
to work for me

Nuclear Clubbing

Back in the 40's
while the world
was busy bleeding

Science stealthy got together
and managed
to split the atom 

Mega power mushroom clouds
unleashed
onto the unsuspecting global stage

The dawn of the nuclear age
exploded over
desert test sites

Climaxing on that fateful day
over Hiroshima
when the beast was released
with blazing ferocity

At that moment of history
we became an endangered species

When the nuclear clock began
creeping toward apocalypse

Tick Tock .....

Here's Donny!!!!!!

As you lay

beneath the covers warm

behind locked doors

in your seemingly secure bedroom

I am

your lurking nightmare

who has not yet performed

on the great stage

inside your paranoid head

Cause potential

subconscious doom

is always best served

when slow cooked

in the cauldron of dread

Of course you do know

deep in your soul

I am coming soon

beneath the blood moon

and when I finally strike

you will be

defenseless from relentless me

as I penetrate your shattered dreams

and strip away

what's left of your sanity

The Proprietor

I am RESPONSIBLE

for all that I be

Not you

Not my family

Not society

Everything
on my ledger sheet
is totally on me

I take ownership
of all the bullshit
that stains my history

Gonna flush the past away

Reboot fresh today

and proceed

down the path 

of accountability 

Striding proudly
without the crutches
of alibis and self pity

Market Dogma

The casual observer
and innocent bystander
sharing a bottle of transparency
down at Cafe Apathy

Putting their two cents in
the neon jukebox
they blare the latest hit
from the high profile band
Vox Populi

Well dressed media pundits
converge on the scene 
to conduct yet another
well choreographed focus group
to tell us what it all means

An evening of cliche laden
conversation they will spend
leading the random sample sheep
to conclusions that meet the desired end

The well coiffed prop messiah
in the tailored suit
will be spoon fed this data eventually
in the spirit of self fulfilling prophesies

Which will validate the legitimacy
of his devoted apostles
who spread the word
of the second coming 
to the disinterested patrons
of Club Apocalypse
who are too busy 
achieving perfect numbness
to buy in to the consumable product
that passes for modern absolute truth

Advise and Resent

Don't sabotage my life
with your lame advice

Well intentioned
as your "me upgrade" may be

Let's face it

You are not exactly

an authority

on emotional stability

So I'll take this solitary path
I've blazed through the mud
all the way to it's inevitable end

and maybe there
we will both find
what we need my friend

Streets of Fire

When does a spark
turn into a raging flame?

A sharp poke 
on glowing embers
can easily ignite
when the atmosphere is ripe 

as injustice glows hot
inside this toxic tinderbox
where all hope
for better days
has been extinguished
like a halon shower

Where does a spark
turn into a raging flame?

On the desperate streets
of Urban Decay U.S.A. 

Better To Remember

Your kids

are not perfekt

Neither are you....

Nor were you 
so flawless and pure
back in the day
when your folks
were in chastise mode
as you struggled to decipher
the directions for this life out... 

Remember that fact
next time you vent
and neglect
letting them know
how much you love
mixed up them

Vice Squad

Welcome to 
a very exclusive party

Our celebration of depravity  

Where every indulgence
is satisfied fully

Self righteous purveyors
of pompous hypocrisy
lay on the guilt trip

Preaching incessantly
about the vice of gluttony

they know quite personally

Their bitter jealousy
totally wasted on

our vice posse

of unapologetic hedonists
dancing to the boogie beat

of our customized salacious symphony

Peeping Me

Home again
in my old bedroom
alone with teenage memories 

Seems like an eternity
since you were 
my next door fantasy 

The saplings Dad planted
when we were kids
now a forest
blocking my view
of your bedroom window
I use to peek through
those steamy summer nights
when you put on a strip show
exclusively for appreciative me 

Looking back I now know
you were well aware of my eyes
worshiping your blossoming form
that I can still see
through the flickering light of memory

I'm not sure you knew
the things I fantasized
about doing to you

Then again

we were probably
sharing the same fantasy
ignited by teasing sexuality
those many years ago

The Big ACHE

It never stops

Throbbing pain
a constant strain

It never stops

Like a massive tumor
pressing against my brain

It never stops

All the old maladies
cry out for remedy

Life hurts relentlessly 

It never stops

Preying Confession

Slow floating
with the rarely seen
bottom feeders
beneath the sea icy dark

The weight
of self induced depression
was slowly crushing me

So I took a chance
and rocket fueled my frustrations
to rise from the depths
of a drawn out death

I launched myself
toward the warmth
of the solar induced lights
the temperate waters offered

Reached the surface finally

Found myself swimming with the sharks

Who poked at my joy curiously
before devouring me
in a feeding frenzy

If I had stayed below
and embraced contentment
in the security of anonymity
I would have never been
a carnivore's dinner
but would have missed out
feeling the exhilaration
of life
before a meaningful death

Sic Semper Tyrannis

The crowds swell by the day

Growing exponentially
with the volume of your rants
against the out of touch
powers that be
(though you are part of the elite tribe) 


Your scripted indignation
has truly poked a nerve
of the desperately frustrated masses
who have anointed you the chosen one 
to lead them to the promised land

The sheep can not see
the depths of your hypocrisy
and the danger you pose
to our fragile democracy

As they ravenously devour
your "us against them" theme

That reliable homily
of demagogues throughout history
is nothing more than a front

A means to an end
to scapegoat others
til the hidden agendas
become unleashed
against civil liberties

as the past becomes
the nightmare reality
of tomorrow

Cover Up

Spackle my holes
if you wanna patch me up

Take your putty knife to me

Spread the love generously

These cracks you see

can be sanded smooth
and painted over
to make the view
seem good as new

Just realize all my flaws
your work did hide

still reside
just beneath
my new cosmetic surface

All the facade material
you slapped on 
can never change
who I am 

De Bitching Process

Her medical condition

Diagnosed as chronic bitchiness

can not be cured
by conventional means

so we go heavy intervention

Strap her sorry ass
to a cold steel table

Zap her crass attitude
with a blast of electrodes

to rearrange her mood process

and be a less disagreeable soul

Friendly Reciprocations

Every time I fell

you picked me up

with a well placed

smile or two

And when internal doubt

paralyzed my soul

you boosted my self esteem

as only you can do

Now you are the one

who is down and out

Tough times abound

inside your dark cyclone

So take my hand

and let me guide you out

on the reclamation path

you paved previously 

Stalking Mythology

Through the dark forest
of enchantment history  

The hunter of mythology 
stalks his prey 
with empirical precision

Target in sight 

Piercing red laser beam

Rifle blast shatters serene 

Unicorn drops 

It's quivering carcass
covered in rainbow blood 

Dragons weep
over their slain friend

vowing revenge
on all those
murderous cynics
who seek to snuff out
their very existence

Open Minded Kindness

Once you shed

all past pretense

and cast off wanton judgments

you will surely find

that the quality

of your human interactions

improves immeasurably 

if you do allow

your core humility

a chance to shine through

the dense fog of human pessimism

Cloud Burst

Every moment
of every day
from every corner
of humanity 
millions of clicks
transmit pics
to the great cyber cloud
in the sky

So many 

random memories
and vanity selfies
saturating 
communal storage
to be retrieved
if our hand held brains
should ever fail

I pray someday
the trash bin Gods
mass delete them all

and we once again
have to rely solely 

on human recollection  

Deadly Methodology

Well dressed carnivores
running around
pining for boots on the ground
war again

Pushing well worn fear buttons
to activate the hate machine

Demonize faceless enemies 

Falsify their ideology

Unleash high tech weaponry

dispensing hate
with laser like efficiency 

but no matter the deadly device

the blood remains as red as it ever was

when we killed with arrows and spears

Though carnage was certainly

more hands on personal then

Dotted Lines

I am not krazy

I'm just ahead of the kurve

This bend in perception

I can clearly see

through the haze of uncertainty

leads us to a destination

the map labels destiny 

but in reality

the road we all travel

is not paved in stone

Cover Story

They say

the truth will set you free

but beware

the torrential consequences

sure to rain down

from the outraged powers that be

screaming ancient profanities

wrapped in institutional hypocrisies

as they desperately seek to cover

their naked arrogance