Time is a zero-sum game.
The way that you spend it
Determines your gain.
Though you might also lose.
It’s your fortune to choose.
Time is a zero-sum game.
Time is the blink of an eye.
You’ve just said, hello,
And you’re hearing, goodbye.
It’s like grasping at sand.
It just slips through your hand.
Time is the blink of an eye.
Time is a wrinkle in space.
Each moment made clear
By the lines on your face.
Only one rule holds firm;
We’re all food for the worm.
Time is a wrinkle in space.
Wish I was dumb
easily amused
Too thick to get hurt
not care if confused
Walk around half-gone
stare at the whole truth
Shrug my shoulders
right before I shoot
Being dumb’s simple
takes boredom away
too dizzy to feel down
or deflated in any way
Gazes at a cellphone
giggles at silly memes
More so the same sh!t
a billion times seen
Dumb has it good
needs little to do
Stares at the sky
never dawns why it’s blue
Sees a vivid sunset
pulls down the blind
Quickly falls asleep
with a blacked out mind
Dumb wears the T-shirt
gets soaking wet
Catches a fever
believes it’s no sweat
Eats crap all day
doesn’t care if sick
Ends up on a drip
watches it for a kick
Dumb and numb
guitars that won’t strum
A vacant skull
muffled out drum
Won’t beat itself up
as a rule of thumb
My world’s so f•ucked
dumb’s remains plumb
* * *
the world’s cleverest man once said ~ nothing to me ~ he wanted a life
By
David Kavanagh
Submission, know thou dominance?
Fallen on thy face?
Heaven and Hell, take thy chance!
End Times, I rest case!
Decent man in cell of jail?
Too poor to raise bail?
Fled from God? In, belly whale?
Never end, our tale!
Beast, come from the wasteland!
Bird of prey, just descend!
Vicious criminal, form a band!
Break before ye bend!
Fate, thy plate! Fortune, why wait?
Hatred, set a date!
Entropy, who, ma'am, is great?
Those with a clean slate!
Campaign well, my warriors!
Alliance Black Abyss!
Languid liquid, strong liquors!
Give Death passion's kiss!
Keys in hand of greedy thug?
Insect armies, move.
Crummy rummy, chug-a-lug!
Position, improve!
Turmoil, thy tornado!
O tiger, taciturn!
Ruin, send the scum below!
Dark fire, see them burn!
Grip, O hand of giant!
Thy enemy appears!
Elephant, side with the ant!
Trail behind, our tears!
Gibbous star, seen from afar.
Omen bad, thy sky.
Harbinger doom, vision mar.
Petrichor, pace ply...
.
but them ewe
better be black
Unkind thoughts and deeds tallied
Demerit points implicitly accrued throughout a lifetime
Belated guilt at heaven’s gate
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Before the term was ever coined
I was a past master at ‘zero-sum games’
Which explains my success
with all those unliberated dames*
_________________________________________________
*Note to the Curious: And if you're on board
with this, I do have a special on ocean-front
properties in Florida this month. ~ Mud-Slide
Real Estate (Our motto: 'Here's mud in your
eye -- and your nose and your throat. and
your lungs, and really just about everywhere.')
We are the sum, we are the whole,
A product twined by every soul.
We are the cast, we are the mold,
Defined by lies and truths we’ve told.
We are the plague, we are the cure,
Old minds corrupt and young hearts pure.
We are the wars, we are the peace,
We’re life’s first breath and death’s release.
We're every voice, we're every tongue
We are the rests in anthems sung.
The artist's brush, the sculptor's clay:
We are the canvas on display.
We’re rushing flood, we’re scorching drought,
Saint Peter’s faith, Saint Peter’s doubt.
We are the loaf, we are the crumb,
We are the whole, we are the sum.
The Mountain
looms
and calls your name
To glory
or
perdition
Its summit
has a thousand
fathers
Whose abyss
awaits
— the orphan
(Beartooth Pass: August, 2025)
Sponsor: Rob Carmack - Contest Name '< 7'
Bare Autumn trees frowned - all their colorful leaves lay on the ground
Autumn holds them at bay – cold Winter winds want to come out to play
Seasonal work suited Autumn to a tee - rest of year fancy free
.
'neath thuh prairie'z
thickets
'long it's lush open
hidden
mostly
'twere that pink
halter yo
stuck it were
in duh visible
thump
'cross mine dome
her daddy'z
warn
")
Pecco, Ergo Sum
(I sin, therefore I am)
Not an aimless ride on Sunday morning,
But for a faith oblige I am tied to attend
“Sinners!” the priest thunders from pulpit,
“Repent, for your flesh betrays the soul!”
Verses cascade from the book of the wise,
Urging forgiveness to claim a seat
In a kingdom beyond the grave’s cold embrace.
I turn to the Creator, my maker divine,
Why craft flawed vessels, etched with fault?
Why carve weakness into our fragile clay,
Then wield fear to mend what You designed?
Could life not flow smoothly by Your Will alone?
Or is sin the pulse of existence itself.
Pecco, ergo sum?
Brief is our span, stumbling through shadows,
Misery and pain, heirs of an ancient wrong.
A scar of defiance haunts us still,
A faith forged in the fires of an old sin.
Fear, raw and unyielding, bids us believe
In redemption earned through sacred blood—
Yet suffering, sickness, poverty linger on,
We fall,wake up and sin again as if by default
Did creation compromise our existence
Making the essence of life not so divine
Did Your creation flaw our essence,
dimming life’s divine spark?
Where did dogma falter,
Rewriting life —Pecco, ergo sum?
Pecco, Ergo Sum
(I sin, therefore I am)
Not an aimless ride on Sunday morning,
But for a faith oblige I am tied to attend
“Sinners!” the priest thunders from pulpit,
“Repent, for your flesh betrays the soul!”
Verses cascade from the book of the wise,
Urging forgiveness to claim a seat
In a kingdom beyond the grave’s cold embrace.
I turn to the Creator, my maker divine,
Why craft flawed vessels, etched with fault?
Why carve weakness into our fragile clay,
Then wield fear to mend what You designed?
Could life not flow smoothly by Your Will alone?
Or is sin the pulse of existence itself.
Pecco, ergo sum?
Brief is our span, stumbling through shadows,
Misery and pain, heirs of an ancient wrong.
A scar of defiance haunts us still,
A faith forged in the fires of an old sin.
Fear, raw and unyielding, bids us believe
In redemption earned through sacred blood—
Yet suffering, sickness, poverty linger on,
We fall,wake up and sin again as if by default
Did creation compromise our existence
Making the essence of life not so divine
Did Your creation flaw our essence,
dimming life’s divine spark?
Where did dogma falter,
Rewriting life —Pecco, ergo sum?
Born into a world,
As a daughter or a son.
A new creation is unleashed,
A new chapter begun.
While mostly into a family,
Yet always as one,
Before becoming a new member,
Of humanities union.
It's a process, never ending,
Never seeming quite done.
Yet always moving forward,
Often on the run.
Rarely does it reward,
Beyond second to none.
Although boredom remains close,
Frequently warning to abandon.
Seldom does any joy,
Give way to any fun.
So excitement takes its measure,
If only to shock or stun.
Since peace and quiet is treasured,
There's little need for a gun.
Allowing time to reflect and total,
All the battles that have been won.
Something in your eyes
Gives me butterflies +
Something in your smile
Makes me stay awhile +
Something in your voice
Makes my heart rejoice =
Some things in a someone
I love them all and then some
together we are nothing but one ~ apart everything except one
even if finally undone ~ we still ain’t finished before we’re done
By David Kavanagh
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