Black and sticky
Karma filled up
Wears me down
Achy swelling
Universal truth
Virtue uncultivated
State changed
Rebirthed anew
Matters energy
Never ending
Reformed anew
With karmic debt
Repayment due
Suffering, (dis)ease
Attachments galore
Cosmc disconnect
I can not longer ignore this weight attatched to my ankles or the hole I tore in my chest.
I have been trying to convince myself that I paid enough,
that the weight was heavy enough,
The hole was deep enough,
That it was okay... to be okay.
But Im wrong.
Ive known it all along.
I had to build the me who could face this.
And now here I stand.
I will carve my payment directly out of this weight.
And I will sharpen what I tore out of my chest to do it.
No matter the pain.
I have no right to complain...
Even if it takes the rest of my life, I will carve something beautiful out of this stone.
Maybe then.
if I add something beautiful to the world...
Maybe then.
Ill have earned the right to find it again.
Treasures of the Past
[Verse 1[
In a dusty room, treasures of the past,
Framed memories linger, shadows they cast.
A man reflects on stories untold,
With the wisdom of ages, and courage so bold.
Echoes of laughter, the smiles and the cries,
Time stands still as the moment defies.
[Chorus]
Timeless memories, captured in light,
Friendship eternal, in the soft twilight.
Each glance tells a story, each line holds a dream,
In the dance of the past, nothing’s as it seems.
[Verse 2]
Beside him stands a figure, made of wood and paint,
Silent but knowing, no need for complaint.
They share a connection, both old and new,
In the heart of this haven, friendships grew.
Through thick and thin, tales woven tight,
Together they shine, like stars in the night.
[Chorus]
[Outro]
So, here’s to the moments, forever we keep,
In the whispers of history, our souls gently (s)weep.
Three score and ten
Round the next bend
Best pick up a pen
Against lies to fend
Truth told, raw
Good, bad, all
What you saw
Ere your call
The body slow
Mind, spirit too
Vice, virtue show
Sins, denied to rue
Karmic debt unpaid
So little time, left
To fast track the said
The burden to heft
Cultivate body, mind
Transform the spirit
To cosmic laws aligned
Ill health at last, quit
A beautiful new world of lifelong learners!
Healthcare for all,
Children reading books,
Lifelong exploration
At university,
Or online!
Healing those in need.
Learning the way! (Whoa!)
We're doing all we can to make life better,
Such as writing Congress a letter.
We strive to do what's honest and right,
Giving kids scholarships to improve their lives!
(Hey!)
Everyone needs free access to learning,
Hardcover books and ebooks for knowing
What we need to do, help each other,
Is provide basic needs.
An educated populace together
In this big, blue, beautiful world! (Whoa!)
Medicine and healthcare for all.
Help your brother: help your sister.
In a world where everyone's learning.
Achieving.
Living.
Loving.
Healthy food feeds bright minds!
Healthy people love learnin'!
Generosity and kindness abound
In the USA! (Whoa!)
(Hey!) (Whoa!)
Eddie says,
In Deutschland, school is free, a total score!
In Italy, the table is mighty light!
But here, the debt reaches astounding heights
And leaves us face-down on the floor!
This student debt is such a massive chore.
Online certificates? Yeah, they're alright.
College, for most learners is overpriced.
Because the Ivy League's a big debt score.
We need some healthcare for every old soul,
Not med bills that're totally out of whack!
It's bogus how they strip us of control.
The student debt system is busted crap.
Let's strive to use reason to reach our goal,
With education and health on fast track!
They promised that the debt would fade away
So students took the path they thought was right,
To study and find our scholastic way,
To keep our country's future burning bright.
Americans with good minds, sharp and free,
Where cowboys read of heroes in their books,
Cowgirls build homes for all to see,
Beyond the vanity of shallow looks.
But college dreams have turned to heavy lead,
All races and ethnicities in deep.
The interest grows while workers lose their bread.
The promises the lenders didn't keep.
From Texas plains to Floridian sun,
The SAVE plan starts the freedom we should've won.
Perhaps I see what I want to see.
Maybe something is beautiful because I deemed it so.
Or rather, I cannot pinpoint what stands out.
But why is it up to me for that decision?
How cruel.
Eyes fixated, hair shining through dazzling sunlight.
A pink dress tinged with white flowers,
sewn into patterns of sticks and branches.
Lipstick of red hues, or maybe, it was licorice black.
Too many choices to keep track of.
I don’t like to list options.
I speak of memories and experiences.
Brunettes, redheads, I can’t bear another thought.
A drawing board of dreams and fantasies,
I cannot stop thinking through obsessed observations.
Why must they all be so beautiful,
How can I convince myself that I am worthy?
Worthy of such intelligence, dignity, and affection.
I’m nothing more than a petty jester, a fool.
And yet they,
They are extraordinary.
His currency was empty promises.
He doled them out like no tomorrow.
Meanwhile mountain of debt accrued.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
nothing there would be
without the vast Universe
no humans, land, sea
none here for better or worse
no lineage and odd verse
with no galaxy
adrift in cosmic darkness
no angst, apathy
rather complete absurdness
wrapped in unholy starkness
without stars above
could there still be you or me?
no rush, push or shove
all silent with nought to see
without longings roaming free
no blue, green planet
circling the Great Attractor
no floors of granite
no acts by a strange actor
sin becomes a non-factor
none subject to change
no progress or thoughts divine
nothing to arrange
no strange dreams or past bed-time
bound inside the timeless time
without history
when ancestors were not born
total mystery
when from existence we're shorn
leaving none to weep and mourn
such is human debt
while life is in the offing
driven to regret
when cosmic paths are crossing
'tis not dice we're tossing
Ahh the shadows hello old friends
Under dark skies which over me bends
Within its folds it jealously keeps
The watch over me as I sleep
Heeding the peal of dreaming's knell
The sleeper awakes in mystic spell
Ballads from some unknown sage
Played out upon no earthly stage
Revelations wide and deep
Knowledge belonging only to sleep
I tread these trails both near and far
That begin and end with but one door
To pass beyond a fare is bade
Unwillingly the price is paid
Relinquishing the treasures lent
I awake with only wonderment
I pawn my prayers for a handful of hunger and the clerk calls it salvation.
One's halo's on hire purchase cracked chrome still sticking on the devil's desk.
I trade mercy by the minute marked down,moth eaten!,mislabeled as hope.
My heartbeat haggles with hell drumming debt into my desperate dawns.
My tears come with interest,each drop a receipt stamped *Final Hell.*
The Spirit goes AWOL on paydays,replaced by plastic faith and payday psalms.
Heaven's door has a coin slot but my pockets cough only dust.
I'm a ghost on consignment groaning in gospel tones for one more breath of grace.
Angels appraise my agony and cry,"too used,too human,too late."
I sing in chains proud and penniless,a prophet of pawned redemption, my soul on layaway.
Quote:“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today,”-Abraham Lincoln
Another quote from ancient Indian saint Kabirdas:
"What you plan for tomorrow, begin today,
And what’s yours for today, don’t delay.
In just a heartbeat, the world could end —
If not now, when will you begin again?"
You cannot hide
from the weight of what waits—
tomorrow carries its ledger
long before its dawn.
Each choice left undone
is a promise unpaid;
every evaded task
grows its roots in waiting shadows.
To delay is not relief
but silent invitation
for tomorrow’s burden to deepen,
for its cost to compound.
So pick up your courage
in the fragile light of today,
and act — not for praise,
but for peace.
For only when we meet
our duties in the present
can we lay claim to a gentler future,
free of borrowed burden.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The man in the elevator swirled in, a spectral glee,
the ghost of Christmas past, a ghoul from my history.
His chains? Not iron, but my Visa receipts tallied high—
Do you recall last December? he hissed with ghoulish eyes.
‘Twas a most expensive shopping spree.
Remember the velvet reindeer? The LED tree?
We passed Accounting, he moaned APR and interest fees~
those shall be the financial death of thee.
When doors opened at the lobby, he vanished... almost
Left one crumpled statement stuck to my coat~
Merry Debtmas, loser! the fiendish Dickens ghost wrote.
Follow you in my mind it’s true
Concentration makes me blue
Always am I chained to regret
The loss of your beauty
An uncertain depth
I play in my mind a doll of you
Hug and squeeze like little girls do
And when I can see the unbleared world
The loss I incurred is echoed and heard
My stillness does wrath unseen
My dream a nightmare I moan and scream
My heart beats I feel in each a death
Like waking to find myself unblessed
Living the definition of obsessed
Seeking a way to revive this death
Gone, gone, gone says time
The never again has committed it’s crime
Emotion does torture the willing mind
What I do to myself is so unkind
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