The Poetry Marathon

Looking downward, looking outward, yet still looking in
Through lenses of perception we see this juxtaposition:

The walls we build to guard ourselves from outside trap us in
But to see the bigger picture leaves us naked and exposed

So…

Do we sacrifice greater understanding for security?
Or do we risk our well-being for the ability to clearly see?

The choice a paradox it seems, a dream that’s not quite lucid
A choice between one or the other seems quite useless,
Rather fruitless, as you need the dark to understand the light
The world exists in shades of grey, it’s never black or white.

It’s no surprise they’re all criminals
Did you really think they’d let someone honest win?
Are you tired of voting for evil as representative?
Does it reflect the system or the culture?

Did you really think they’d let someone honest win?
Are you so indoctrinated you don’t see the ruse?
Does it reflect the system or the culture?
Any choice you make, the people still suffer

Are you so indoctrinated you don’t see the ruse?
The election a selection by and for the elite
Any choice you make, the people still suffer
Our dreams will never fit in their ballot boxes

The election a selection by and for the elite
Where are the politicians with calluses on their hands?
Our dreams will never fit in their ballot boxes
No one man or woman can ever represent the masses

Where are the politicians with calluses on their hands?
Why aren’t the starving artists represented?
No one man or woman can ever represent the masses
I guess that’s the answer to the question

Why aren’t the starving artists represented?
Government seems to think self-expression is unimportant
I guess that’s the answer to the question
If we all just act alike, it’s easier to control

Government seems to think self-expression is unimportant
Thats another way of saying don’t question what they do
If we all just act alike, it’s easier to control
But if we’re all acting the same, these politicians represent…who?

Will we make it?
Can we fake it until we find the strength to overcome?
Can we find some sort of way to cope without going numb,
Without succumbing to apathy or reactionism?

We’re terrified we have nothing to say and no one will pay attention
But if we don’t pay attention to what’s being said then it will never be spoken anyway

So here’s to hoping hope isn’t just an exercise in futility
Hoping tranquility, bliss and ignorance are all treated differently
Here’s to adaptability

Here’s to embracing chaos as patterns that define the things we’ll never know
Here’s to finding some way of navigating the hights from way down here below

Ready-set-go

Wait, stop, hold up, that’s not right, I think I said it wrong, do it over,
Damn, I’m so frightened
Damn, I thought I was enlightened there for a second but I’m second guessing everything:
The words I speak, the songs I sing,
The cup from which I drink is almost empty
What’s the remedy?

Mahogany trees

Tropical forest birdsong

Obscured ocean view

All hail Narcissus,
Patron of speaking without listening
Patron of exhibitionism
Patron of mirror kissing lack of humility

Look at me! Look at me!
Look at the pretty things I’ve made
Look at me now, ’cause I’m the prettiest
I’m the strongest, smartest, most unique

Yes me me ME,
I’m on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat
I’m where all the actions at
Yes I bring sexy back, in fact
I’m so enamored with myself,
I’m in such perfect shape and health
That you should give me all your hard-earned wealth because I’m way better

Whatever

Faster, FASTER!

Exponential processor upgrades breed unwitting slaves

Shit-grinning information addicts too busy to misbehave

Brain waves stuck in Delta

Subdued by processed food,

Glued to screens, we search YouTube black holes for meaning,

Cybernauts bleeding pixilated tears into oceans of misinformation, fabrication and sensationalism

Dancing to the rhythm of our own cataclysm

Faster, FASTER,

Until the thrill of speed overcomes the complexities of comprehension

Surrender the only option offered by Singularity

Galactic collapse into supernova prismatic

Inverse sunburst of gold-tinged purple

Fades to velvet blackness save a single photon

The last remnant of a galaxy

Traversing Void in search of purpose

In search of something other than empty space

Travelling a trail through space unblazed

Leaving tiny twinkles in it’s wake

Tiny wrinkles in time created , ripples in the stillness

Providing glimpses into the galactic past

Opening wormholes through time to travel back

Before the grand collapse

It was simpler before it came

Before the shriek of metal,

The roar of engines, tanks and helicopters

The deafening explosions of bombs,

The throbbing biomechanical gristle of civilization

Before, the cycle was uninterruptible

Life consumed to nurture new life

Sacrifice necessary and understood

Predation for survival, not profit

Yes, before the darkness there was harmony

Not this insidious dissonance

Not this separation and ignorance

Not this bliss addiction and mechanical rhythms

This obsession with finishing,

Forgetting the shared beginning of all things

Before, the separation was indistinct

The web interdependence accepted, not ignored, not manipulated for personal gain

No concept of shame, of difference, of superiority, authority, minorities,

All forms simply part of a greater mosaic

Before darkness, the greater picture was illuminated

The balance understood and inherent

So we seek light

To make these ancient truths again apparent.

Some bare their souls

While others gaze at the horizon, silent

Some embody gentle peace

And others brutal violence

Some scrape the bottom

While others overflow

Some are always seeking answers

While others claim to know

The only difference is the method

Destination fixed, but different paths

These words our greatest weapons

Answers to all the questions we won’t ask

There is no right or wrong here

Within the darkness dwells the blinding light

Courage will always conquer fear

Peace unattained unless we fight

In the beginning there was darkness
Not darkness as in the absence of light,
But the thick, velvety, primordial darkness of creation
The darkness that gives birth to galaxies, suns
The dark chaotic cacophony of the all-that-is
The deep black soil from which life draws it’s essence

For eons,
For time immortal,
The darkness oozed, encompassing everything
It’s expanse unopposed,
The pregnant Void stretching boundaries of infinity to wrap back around and swallow itself whole
No juxtaposition, just a closed loop,
Mobius
Ouroboros
The endless Celtic knot

The darkness, Erebus, Kek, grew tired
Grew tired of it’s self-consumption
Grew tired of itself
Grew tired of the endless expanse of blackness
Grew tired of containing all the answers, all the mysteries
Grew tired of being so utterly full and so utterly empty,
So utterly connected but so utterly incomplete

Tired of a solitary existence for all eternity,
The darkness collapsed upon itself with such immensity, such pressure and power that the all-encompassing-all-that-is imploded with a force that illuminated everything

Illuminated the complexity,
The juxtapositions,
The  dichotomies,
The dualities,
The reign of primordial darkness ended
With the advent of Light