Journey to a place and time
A state of mind
Reality a slice so thin
What I perceive unreal
No chance to standardize
Just realize my thought
Judgement error fraught
Sense to none save me
On a string a puppet
Flailing flaunting life of failing
Never mind the puppeteer
Beyond dimension present
Place no man should be
The process me
A blast cacophony
That spun beyond control
Fred Jagenberg – July 10, 2019
A rebellious, curious child
with a propensity for mischief:
I was always running away.
No halo ever crowned my head:
I was troublesome and argumentative!
I'd skip school at least twice a week,
earning me repeated beatings:
but I didn't care!
I felt shackled to restrictive rules
by a suppressive chain that I did my best to break:
constantly testing its weakest link.
And, I did not bend to conformity:
nor blend into the night like a shadow.
Instead, I was a blaze of blinding light:
that I didn't hide under a bushel.
I may have been born helpless:
but I was no lamb,
to be led by a flock mentality.
Society's shepherds branded me
a black sheep, a reprobate, a rogue,
and a scoundrel.
And because I flew outside their radar:
they tried to standardize
and compartmentalize me:
but I'd have none of it.
No one has the right to subjugate or judge me:
I answer only to myself, my God,
and my conscience.
Overanalyze and criticize, demoralize and ostracize
Modern pundits legitimize their vicious exercise
Scrutinize and standardize, compartmentalize and cannibalize
Wizards of efficiency synchronize, initialize and circumcise
Demobilize and paralyze, stigmatize and de-humanize
Westernized pols, their constituents balkanize and polarize
Trivialize and miniaturize, standardize and sterilize
Thought-police priesthoods evangelize and moralize
Why can't they fraternize and socialize?
Why don't they harmonize and compromise?
Entry in Rhyme Battle: Xi Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Juli-Michelle
My message meant for me
To believe in me
To strip tease the destiny in me
Grip in me
Instill in me
Awaken shaken pass giants in me
Aggravating the hell out of me
Tripped lines realize the style in me
Told me
To be me
Jilt passed shaken grounds walked on me
Lifted me
Gifted me
Talents double given expressed to others in me
Hear me
Feel me
Live with me
Standardize unstuck impossibilities in me
Still see me
Mirrored faces places never been in me
Liberty in me
Bell ringing loud across the seas in me
In me
Yes me
Finally I see you yes me
Immediacy of the moment doth youthful heart beckon
With trite passions that seem to standardize each deviation
Intemperate fodder with which sprouting limbs must reckon
Growing pains producing physical appetites beyond satiation
Carefree days frought with moments of indecision
Sheltered from responsibility; a meaningless depreciation
Time monotonously calibrated; habituated minion
Brokered existence reducing life to borderline depression
A guiding light flickering in the distant future makes a slight
impression
But wired circuits overloaded with transitory cares leads to
confusion
Producing electrical impulses that stimulate internal combustion
Sparking trip wire in mind that produces periods of oscillation
Seeking conformity, a bridge from isolated station
Tring to establish self esteem through peer group ingratiation
To the passing trends, fleeting fads making a necessary oblation
Conversely, using concrete value judgements to qualify each,
pretentious action
Where is the gas intake?
By Elton Camp
Hiding the gas intake is a car marker’s delight
They might even manage to put it out of sight
At one time, it was hid behind the license plate
But the companies put it on the side here of late
Although whether the opening is right or left
In many cars of this simple fact you’re bereft
Why can’t the makers give customers a surprise
And its location agree that they’ll standardize?
Very few families own just one car anymore
It has become common to have three or four
Almost every time I pull into the filling station
I find am uncertain of the gas inlet’s location
If next to the pump is the wrong side of the car,
It’s most unlikely the hose will stretch that far
So there’s nothing I can do but sigh and frown
I get into the car and laboriously turn it around
Some cars now have an arrow below the gauge
So as to spare their customers needless rage
As great as the cost of their infernal machine
That feature is one that should always be seen
I should be writing another paper
I should have turned this in on time
I need to study for a test
I need register for class
My head is throbbing in my skull
My eyes drooping, after last night
My heart is aching for stimulation
My mind is drained, they’ve sucked me dry
Finals are just around the corner
Make up test are on the rise
Everyone is sick these days
And we need to make up lab reports
The pulsing hum of education
Institutionalizing my brain
And I can find no resolution
Standardize us all the same
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