I was born in the pause between two coordinates
drawn by cartographers with sterilized hands.
My soul was indexed in miles and postal codes
Filed under miscellaneous anomaly at checkpoints.
I crossed borders that did not exist,
except in the mouths of men with rifles.
My breath was weighed against paperwork,
my shadow flagged by predictive suspicion.
I was processed in buildings with no windows,
where hope was a form to be filled in triplicate.
My story was annexed, taped to a strangers' bias,
then shelved into the limbo of “pending.”
I failed the empathy test of the world
where spectacle outperforms survival.
My life was too procedural for pity,
and my death was redacted for efficiency.
I travelled back down the road
on which we spent hours together,
incalculable time twisting our fates
like the vine covered walls we’d pass.
I travelled back down the road
with signs pointed toward your home
one way, and mine the other. Straight lines
and green lights sailing us through crossings.
No sunburnt ambers yet. No midway checkpoints.
I've travelled back down that road,
only years later now. The wheat still grows
in the countryside, the laybys still house dust.
That carpark where I solved the mystery of
the flashing dashboard was empty again.
I travelled back down that road,
driving into a past I loved as the present,
never thinking it a counterfeit future.
A fork in the road was drawn on your map only.
I travel back now, down this road, to a friend
who stayed as you left, who consoled as you
hid. Who helped reroute a direction
abandoned, for a different course unplanned.
I will travel along this road to the friend
who made all those journeys worth it.
It was a free ride down town
Full of obstructions
And multiple checkpoints
My pulchritude casts a spell
On entire human existence
As motley petals on insects
Many couldn't resist
A glimpse at me
I am a creation of the earth
I wish to exclusively
Spell out rules for humanity
But I can't always have my way
Growing affection and inattentively,
Let my guard down.
Nature exploited the innocent me
I felt stupid and confused
But neither alone nor helpless
Uncertain of hopes
For a brighter future
But it's time to make peace
With inner self and accept reality
The chance to right all wrongs
And anew personality
Give me time and space
To get back to myself.
For I am a jewel in others' lives.
I
Neo Soviet sleeper cells lying in wait
Or just crossing the border at varied places
Troop checkpoints or a forest path
Or by HALO jump from a plane
Doing their job changing the landscape
Not chopping down trees
But assassinating those on the list
Culling the ones who were an issue
That Putin wanted dead out of the way
The best things in life are free, nothing from your pocket is needed *.
Ray of sunshine on a cold day. Riding the ocean waves in the summer.
A hug from the one you love. A good word. to give or to receive.
Nature with all its mystery is there for you to explore. Don’t cross any border just walk to the edge of town.
Your health. Happiness avoids the sick, and germs avoid those hos think.
*None of the above apply when:
-You have no roof to cover you from the rain and no walls to keep the cold away.
-You are lonely with no one to share anything with.
-You are poor without the means to support yourself. Or without the attributes to fix this.
Life is a journey, and you will need a ticket.
Checkpoints are along the way to filter out those without a valid ticket.
Your Ticket is valid for today; Tomorrow is a new day.
Reach out for the unfortunate ones without a ticket, they are someone's son or a daughter.
Address the world as you would have wanted it to address your kids.
Drivetrain of a Poem
During lapsed conscious hours, I have often
wondered and received mutable counsel
in varied tongues– at times uninvited.
This time it was virtual dream.
I sensed caress of a presence
while my pen was stringing strewn patches of
similes, metaphors, rhythm and rhyme.
“I am watching you from a vantage point
and your skull is no barrier.”
He went on: “I see the marauding
lines on the ridges of your mind,
It seems you are a struggling versifier.
Creation is neither forethought nor a whim.
It hails from the sky and gains access
through the pores of skull.
Mind gets hacked and moves to a different zone.
Chatter picks up in the synapses
seeking untapped cerebral sectors.
Trivial transmitters are kept at bay.
Brain hoes banal growth: new thinking sprouts.
Frontal inhibitions are banished.
All gates fling open.
No more sentries! No checkpoints!
No fly zone for the critic's megaphone!
Unleashed limbic flow of emotions is
nourished by a Gamma spike in the brain.
There! You pirouette with the lines
and feel the Aha moment.
Sages and brethren
gather and share
and slowly souls
are bared;
their tempered voices
and quiet eyes
reserved of judgment
with passing smiles,
moments blend
in current trends
opinions wide
and reflections deep;
the concepts
and irregularities
once murky
now clear.
they prioritize
and familiarize
that staunch resolution
of generation net
will remunerate
and illuminate
through the checkpoints
and formal reviews
through the purple curtains
and open stage
nothing tainted
or bitter
left for taste
because its they
who’ll plant the seed,
the captains of commerce
healers and jugglers
the coaches and councilors
negotiators and compromisers
the kings and queens
hustlers and hellcats
(who've all found their way!)
let us tip our hats
and salute them.
First comes the soldiers, then comes the tanks,
Just another day in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Heartless military monsters show no remorse,
Itchy trigger fingers so eager to use force.
Torturing children, breaking their bones,
Occupying lands and bulldozing their homes.
Then you become a UN registered refugee,
While fishermen are constantly harassed at sea.
Protesting in Bilin leads to tear gas and guns,
Coca-Cola, Motorola equals Israeli army funds.
Hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks all over the place,
Discrimination, humiliation due to the features of your face.
Pregnant women are dying for just making the trip,
Fox news don’t show that due to its censorship.
This is ridiculous, how much more can they possibly take?
The sad thing is only a fraction of the world is awake.
Open your eyes, stop ignoring, things are far from fine
What more can I say, free Palestine.
I remember the American Civil War
I watched it on my smartphone
The Holy Ghost in orange hair
said the New Vietnam is everywhere
I fell into a blank stare
and played more Pokemon
I now live with twenty machines
But there's not much to eat
The police took everybody away
I lay low, so I get to stay
ever at home to avoid the checkpoints
and play lots of Pokemon
A Walk to Freedom
Nelson 'Madiba' Mandela,
Needless I say more.
But 'cos I need scribble 'bout a gross words,
I'll erupt the plain white stadium with my trusted 'vuvuzela'.
What's life without heartbreaks?
What are roses without thorns?
What's a party without cakes?
What're doughnuts without holes?
Closing in on freedom,
Its walk is always punctuated with checkpoints of boredom,
The journey has a 'Merlin-like' setting,
No cars, no tarred roads, just fretting and sweating.
But never be afraid to run out of ideas,
For you'd gain perserverance.
Never be afraid to jump into conclusion,
For only then would you tinker on the solution.
Don't be scared of swimming against the tide,
For through this, Michael Phelps is known worldwide,
Don't be scared of losing track of time,
For Usain Bolt jumped the gun in his first race twice.
When do I sit on the fence?
When do I take the stand?
Questions pouring out your mind's lens,
Which only a freedom's walk will make you understand.
Birds,unlike humans, can fly across the barriers
Avoid the checkpoints,need no identity papers, permits
Or gold stars.
Brothers,why were you separated?
Why could Palestine not be left as one
where ,as in Andalusia before the madness
of Inquisition,you lived together 500 years of peace
Until Christian conformity and suspicion
Tormented and killed you both?
It is we you should be fighting against
Not each other
Are you our own Roman Games?
You ,in the Arena we watch on our screens
We can turn them off but you,brothers and sisters,
are still there.And your children.
What remains for any of us?
One can escape
the seriousness of the weekend
by hiding behind one of the booths
at the land checkpoints.
Boundaries for safety conscious.
Don't assume permission to cross.
Of the personal space around you.
The fence around your house.
Between the side-walk + the road.
The soles between the bare ground
at your feet.
Established boundaries +
checkpoints.
A door,a lock, a gate,
Pupils + irises ,your heart.
Boundaries...where to start?