To keep the still in frames

 

I take more pictures in winter, to keep the still in frames
I sometimes glimpse a bit of spring, through melted snow and flames

The chilly sent of icy rain, hangs throughout the town
The frosty breath of frozen lungs, while snow is falling down

I see a river flow beneath, coursing cold and runneth green
I see a North-bound, rusted train, barreling down with steam

The glow of warmth, bright with light, there’s one I call my home
I pray for the broken, ragged few, who spend this night alone

Where would I be, without this place, into a man been made
I often doubt and cry aloud, hoping again that you’d save

It’s Christmas time in Cincy-town, soon a city colored white
I will rest and spend good time, with my family here tonight

Bless us, Lord! Keep us safe! We fall down on our knees
We pray for much and forget to thank, but now we’re begging please

We are your kids, we hide as such, breaking all the joy you built
We placed on him all the shame, but still carry around our guilt

Take it all! And throw it out! I’ve been hanging on too long
Hope you’ll accept these feeble words, that now come out in song

I am one man and a broken one, you’ve asked to humbly serve
I will fail and fail again, because I haven’t got the nerve

The season is right and ripe with joy, only good comes from above
I pray for heaven coming down, I pray for your unfailing love

Cedar Falls

It’s so American it hurts your teeth
So laid back but without the beach
So 1950s that Elvis ain’t dead
So Midwest see the back your head

Gaslight, Clifton – 4/4/17

One hundred years of insulation
rained down on my head
Shit, literal shit
And I could’ve stayed in bed

Plaster, drywall, ceiling tile
Confetti you wouldn’t want to eat
Tear it down with garden tools
In this mansion ‘cross the street

Dust in lungs, soot in eyes
I look like another race
Shoes stuck with nails, bleeding socks
Hair in my fuckin’ face

Break the lath over your knee
Bend back all the nails
Into the bin with most of it
And throw it down in bales

It’s like another planet,
The look of mold from Mars
Scoop it up with snow shovels
Throw it out – but miss the cars

It’s all swept up, shit’s all gone
No debris at my feet
One hundred years of secrets
That I intend to keep

Still

Why this love for music
But a voice no one loves?
Why do you want me to play
When no one else does?

Why do I write poetry
That people don’t read?
Why do I pretend
You’re all that I need?

Why do I have talent
That sits on the shelf?
Why do you keep thinking
I don’t need any help?

Oh, where do you go,
On nights like last night?
Where do you go,
Unmistakable light?

How come it’s so hard
To get out of my bed?
And yet even harder
To get out of my head?

I practice and practice
For a day that won’t come
I fight and I fight
For a war that is won

Of pains, I know many
I seem to master them all
These pains ne’er subside
Not a single one small

You have made me a glutton
For sorrow and grief
A prisoner of pain
A sadness motif

And yet I get up
As each night dies
Still I get up
And still I rise

The Warrior

The warrior will die one thousand deaths
Just to die one thousand more
For the cause that began as breath
For the cause that was born

I have seen the fearsome warrior fight
Many battles won and lost
He will not cease at good moon’s night
He will not stop for icy frost

He will never tire of wars ahead
Too much blood to be spilled
There’s so much blood that lines his bed
So many husbands that he’s killed

I know the fearsome warrior well
Bound to battle and never free
The lust for blood, he’s under spell
I should know, the warrior’s me

That lustful man is me

Bitter angels

Like bitter angels we fall
Little raindrops that patter
Down to the sidewalk
As stained glass; shatter.

Writin’ Raps

It takes minor reparations
And major excavations
Higher elevations
To each and every nation.

Now, Spark a conversation.
Come back from your vacation.
Speak on their sensations.
And Kill with vaccinations.

My plan … hesitation
Control the population
Learn some fuckin patients
And stare at constellations

Learn peace from the Hatians
Learn more from your complacence.
Subtract all the vagrants
And come up from the basement

Tryin to become famous
Instead we should be agents
Changing modern into ancients
Let em feel our fragrance

Listen to my cadence
My word flow is blatant
Pound my fists to the pavement
leave em stranded at the station.

Nameless, sacred, statements
Lead to
Hopeless, naked, patients.
I got no more patients for
Broken, empty conversations.

Make moves, dudes, subtle or rude
Change your blued tune, till your prude bubble mood pops with trouble crude.

Subtle again

Blue pen or black or red.
Make marks like a teacher
Teach her that worth is not a man.
Teach me that its also not a girl.

Place something in that number one spot.
Watch it rock your world.
Watch her spin and twirl.
Lady libtery calm and free
Talking bout poetry
Rap will never last
And neither will rock and roll
Put your foot to the gas
Pop the watchmen on patrol.
Pop rocks from the coal
Diamonds are forever
Let your girl steal your soul.
Let your girl steal ya world.

Flow

Like a mountain stream does flow,
to a hopeless village here below.
Like the lake it pours within,
the freshest water does begin.

The Clock

When my time does stop and still.
When the clock does get its fill.
When the ripples cease to be.
We will stand just you and me.

Deep Within

I see the rings form deep within his eyes.
Orange, amber, red
A whisper or a sigh.
Like holdin’ on too much,
To the day your gunna die.
I see the rings form deep within his eyes.