Max and Russell
had a tussle
on the trestle
flexing muscle
Tracks were humming
Train was coming
Struggle numbing
Unbecoming!
No need to fear
Don’t shed a tear
they’re still here
raising a beer
Cheers!
From the beginning, I came with my fists held tight
When I exited my mother's womb, I screamed and readied myself for a fierce fight
A fight I didn't understand at the time...
Way before the development of my prefrontal cortex and mind
But something peculiar sat in my spirit...
Coyly poking and nudging me to be intuit
And into it I was
But over time I started to lose my buzz
As I grew, no longer was I mirthfully floatin' and stingin'
Still, I was in the ring, and the fight they kept bringin'...
Fighting for a seat at the table___
After I was released from Dad's steel hands and Mama's nurturing ladle
Fighting for my voice to be heard in a world with stuffed ears
Fighting, just fighting to abolish my creeping fears
Fighting for my sweet, sweet dreams...
With my clenched hands, I still hold them, but so far away they seem
Fighting, fighting to experience peace and joy in the golden light
But soon--oh, too soon-- the fists become less tight
I will not go.
I will not join your great house of sovereignty.
Whose aborted virtues rendered our minds comatose.
Our souls now hidden behind decadent faces veiled with smiles and gestures.
And so we dance...
With mechanical blithe and a minstrel show festive.
A bartering of time.
A spinning of yarn.
With no reward for wasting the dawn.
We’re made to feel little.
Like peons on the board of life.
We’re not insignificant and interchangeable.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
As a part of life,
there are things
You may learn to accept without understanding,
and understand without accepting.
They exist, woven into the fabric of life.
You made peace with their presence,
whether through acceptance or comprehension.
But not through conviction.
For conviction demands both:
acceptances and to understanding,
not as a compromise,
but as absolutes.
Yes, In God We Trust,
but alas!
We break that trust like beehives
and poisonously sting with wrongful convictions
and destroy innocent lives !
(07.14.2025)
They, the flock of cockatoo
Living together, form a society
And crackling all time
Discussing things might
I cognize anything of that
What I do understand for sure
They, the highness, are proud
Of living in the trees, a tribe life
Or flying in the sky, cloud alike
They care me not for sure
Especially as to my thoughts
They,snobby,come to me
Not for what I said
But for whatever they can get
There once a place
Filled with people from dark side
They were cold and unwilling
Some unaware life has ended
They go here and there
Or perhaps beside you
In front or at your back
Looking at you now
Going to forsaken places
May lead to a dark path
Not aware of what’ll happen
Hence will be bewitched
Echoes of wandering cares, mask;
True ego of expectant filming time,
Peeping to view wonder's raw face...
Maybe or not it could actuate light
Tears aspire to laugh over or embrace.
Prayers of guise shame put up task;
Heart never wish to visit each price,
Let alone kick off its sacrificial start...
To redeem the lost shining chance
Of helpless ruling lordships apart.
Echoes of powerless armour, mask;
Jesters hiding their tongues' prime
Of valuable words held tightly still...
While strongly growing up a fight,
Only litrates could space cum quill.
Tumbling but gearing tears, dare task;
The portraying parrots, crying so nice
Of beaming intent touches- as of mind
Driving consciousness through trance...
To never unveil but remain rather blind.
some say demons
I call them traumas
some say addictions
I call it self infliction
some say crazy
I call it misunderstood
some say boundaries
I call it protection
some say bad seeds
I call them unguided
some say thieves
I call it greed
some say haters
I call them broken
some say jealousy
I call it bitterness
some say narcissist
I call them wounded
some say enemies
I call them admirers
some level of falling from grace happens in slab city
its twisted humanity
when kindness stops being nornal
when green crusaders are dismissed, unseen
like burying waste in landfill
city of slab-stick
where we live normal lives within shuttered malls
affluence superimposed on poverty
can anything mellow us
with nature clotted under sprawl
here
within plated walls
breeding, feeding, receding
unable to bend the city to one's own wishing
to carry on with things just as they are
slabs pinned to the ceiling of mind
sometimes shutters open
to sun-dappled streaks on slab walkways
what are we to make of the dandelion in the crack?
a dark energy blooming between comfort and chaos
maybe we can piggyback on the hope of others
when small acts radiate
like children who empty their piggy-banks to charity
or laugh in summers of safe places
towers girdle the city
midst what we crave for but can't always name
in our stash of consumer baubles
urges like a swollen river
our weak stock options that never find a ladder
in the meantime we tread on - hungrily
Consistency is key isn't it not?
Then why does it feel like a chore rather than a reward?
Nobody gives you a road map on life
So why are there so many pressures from wrong to right?
Inconsistency has been a part of my whole life
Whether I knew it or not
But that's the thing
Little girls and little boys are constantly told
How to act
How to be
How to become just the thing their parents need
But never how to be free
Free from limitations of themselves and this 'such cruel world' they're preached about
"This world is a dangerous place"
Then show me what to do
Instead of putting all these things in my head of what I should want to do
Show me how to be cautious but true to myself
Because you've never done that now
Oh I'm so sorry if this feels like too much to ask
But I'm tired of not knowing who I want to be, who I could be, who I will always be
The real me
Regardless of you or this world
I'm done
For the first time in my life, I want to be me
Eccentric, silly, fun-loving me
Impurity
Where is the solidity of purity?
Where is the moral of solidity?
And the conservatism of life?
What do I see on the train at night?
Almost naked very young women.
The world has turned upside down.
Spirituality has disappeared from life.
The flesh pursues the soul, and light.
Women are more magnetic in long skirts.
Societies
Societies, cultures, ages, eras
Principalities, kingdoms, empires,
Communism and socialism
And the present can’t give a perfect solution
All of them have light age and top period
All of them have a beginning and development
Development, achievement, then gold time
Then decay, decadence, and devastation
All this causes suffering, poverty, and destruction
Just repetition and repetition. It’s a vicious cycle
Where is the forever solution?
Where is the answer?
Where is the peaceful
and eve-prosperous society?
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