FloatingBy Socrates
Floating, sugar coated truths
Watch them as they rise from the sand
The tide uncovered, barren truth
Nothing that can be heard, understood
Like bubbles, they must fall.
Drifting away, I cannot tell.
Truth is farther from the beach than I am
Floating, over the ocean now.
Whirlpools of hate, waves crashing
We imagined the truth survives
But at the horizon, even the sky
is impossible to perceive.
Remember the MoonBy Socrates
Remember the last time you spoke to the moon?
Remember what you said?
The feeling of a drifting soul, the anxious flight of your inner being
You are orbiting the Earth as well.
Why fight indeterminacy?
You are neither falling nor flying.
You are an anchor, an Icon.
Unshakeable, invisible.
Perspective yields a closer reality.
"Come closer," the moon said back.
"We will leave together."
causticBy Socrates
a witch screams, lice filthy and curdled mind
we spray prayer and summon the North
broke, tattered, hideous
in haste, teeming rancid with foul respite
never seen, never sought
ice thawed by my jagged smile
and by heavy sunken eyes
a garnished patch of souled ground
one leg firmly planted
the other, missing
short of breath, Hell arrives
"Hold my hand" he says
I glance behind
and They are all watching
the luster of time has passed
memory lost, regained by the machine
whirring and cranking
fresh copies
of you
how can you fix
what was never broken?
the bloody tattoo reads
"REMEMBER"
but something else makes sense
dog shit and pennies aren't worth it
we belong in an infirmary
free food, radical literature, gradual decline
I've forgotten the time
I've lost it
UnearthedBy Socrates
unearthed, columns of corroded air
scorch my neck like breath
I alone cannot breathe in this maelstrom
swallowed whole, my soul
I begin to implode; pressure, and isolation.
a heartbeat stops, and starts.
we look down together, and only see the sky
stars twinkling beneath our feet
eyes of dead gods
burning from historic mistakes.
am I to bear witness to the end?
my wings, sawed and clipped, are useless here.
I rise on the updraft
carried only by a dream
(do I dare dream?)
the moment I look up, I realize
that the world turned on its head
and I collide.
perhaps this is destiny
perhaps the music I hear is just another heartbeat
starting, and stopping.
SilenceBy Socrates
Quietly I step into my mind
A deep pool of frigid silence.
Shuddering, I look westward
The snowcaps are melting, but the water is frigid.
I listen for a sound, anything at all
But my surroundings respond with a chilling stillness.
I sink into the tranquil waters
Chilled to the bone, I am only aware of the cold.
I breathe sharply, shakily
Fog drifts from my lungs across the lake.
I breathe again, slowly
More controlled, more thoughtful.
I close my eyes and feel the sun
I imagine its promise and blessing of warmth.
Opening my eyes, I feel alive
The cold awakens me.
Gradually, I turn my attention to the land
The sun's rays on the mountains, the trees, the granite ledges.
In awe, a smile forms on my lips
Peace at last.
I am silent
The birdsong is gone.
I am silent
The water is calm.
I am silent
The wind is hush.
I am silent
But today, silence is enough.
A DreamBy Socrates
Honor bound and filthy threads
of gold, silver, and through my head
I reconcile the deeds within
that horticulture that grows my sin
The last steps forward, the final blow
the final hour, a shining glow
I see the greenhouse, shielding me
from the ebb and flow of enemy
With fork and knife I carve away
at the sacred flesh that I let decay
Without hesitation, without a doubt
I toss at night, turn and tumble about
I dream of the time when the rock wall was breached
I dream of that time because I cannot sleep
My friend stares at me through the plexiglass
a wall so thin, a wall intact
She holds her breath and it floats away
away I go, though I'm afraid
Darkness and light, mixed as one through the trees
I climb the hill mixed with evergreen
And from my viewpoint I cannot see
the other side, the other me
So I dream.
CourageBy Socrates
Courage is the last item on the list.
I run through the items in my head again,
Crossed it out-
Next time, I think to myself.
With a shuffle, the boardwalk swarms with my emotions
I am urged by my instincts
And yet I refuse to cooperate.
Those bastards had taken everything from me- my health, my love, my optimism.
But my courage?
Next time, I thought. It wasn't even on the list.
The angry mob closes in
What will do I have?
AwarenessBy Socrates
Tender, shaking, frail-
Enter my arms and release your anxious breath
Nervous, angry, trauma-
Your energy, your self is aglow with inefficiency
Rotten, hatred, terror-
We seek refuge, but the help runs from us
I look back at the hills
And I am reminded
That the precipice we fall from
Is too many miles high.
I've never made any mistakes in my life
But to climb up-
And look down.
The ForestBy Socrates
The crow cries out
I respond in my own thought
With silence.
Perched high, proud.
I do not offer my condolences
To his cursed kin.
Remembering that day
Is hard enough.
But with fear?
Such an animal will never survive.
Who am I to do the same?
I cry out, but without attitude
No mockery, no judgement
No raw, obvious refusal to serve-
The forest is silent, too.
Why am I here?
No one can see anyway-
Except for you.
Rife for DisappointmentBy Socrates
Betrayal by some
Indignation, retreated within
We walk with clenched fists
But the soil erodes to a barren ash.
The lovely smell of gasoline
And the crass odor of death
Defying all odds, I hang on
The curtain falls
Little do they know, I am not acting.
Flashes of imagination
Dazzling
Betrayal and reception on top of this lonely hill.
Why Is?By Socrates
Is I am not be?
To not as be as be as not as is.
For, to and how be is be as for not.
Not be is for am is all.
And when, for am all is be not be am!
Never to is be, am I is am be not?
Never.
Flesh, Blood and SteelBy Socrates
Hold still!
The corridor narrows
Perturbed by the breeze, I fly in neverending spirals
Quickening my pace
Halting.
Thrashing,
The serpent yields to death
Unchanged in form, its energy swells to fill the hallway
A writhing spirit
No more.
Cold steel.
Forged in the hearts of men
A dagger, a piercing hatred in the mind; an illusion
Of belonging
Of Love.
An idea.
Dangerous at first glance
Manifests as a pestilence that spreads from door to door
By word of mouth
To you.
Awake,
You breathe in smoke and fumes
The vapors of the Kings and Emperors waft through the winds
Lifting you up
Away.
Earth's InheritanceBy Socrates
born of sand
and seeking faith,
those firmly planted feet vanish with the tarnished earth.
gone, gone, gone.
satan keeps a handful of loose change
for good luck.
never one for superstition or nostalgia,
I keep to myself.
all the same,
even satan has a god.
where to begin?
sandstone monoliths erupt from the desert sands
cruel stone behemoths
sand golems.
gods cower and cry.
blessed by the shadow of faith.
this was just the start
the devil is in the details.
fissures break out over the boulder
like the dimples of a waking baby
creasing and molding the hardened rock
new life.
pleased with this creation
he retreats to the sand
and waits.
truth is a pack of wolves
on the bloody trail of a wounded doe
crashing blindly through the thistles and growth.
blood is a poor guide
but the wolves don't need the smell of blood.
they have something that the doe does not.
they have time.
With PatienceBy Socrates
With patience
The tattered fibers of conscious pride
Splay unevenly across the sky.
Like spiders' reflections
Braided in knots, frozen.
A brilliant blue cuts through
Severed, they collapse
And juxtaposed against the earth
We watch.
Eruptions of coarsely textured thought
Ebb away at the foundation
Until with a heave and a sigh
The castle in the stars
Crumbles.
History skips a beat-
Sharply tuned strings
Plucked in unison
Echoing briefly in a muffled space.
Mind you, the mind in you.
And after years of corrosion
The pipes burst,
And wash away my sin.
<backwards>By Socrates
Flattened spines erupt into crimson repudiation
A twinkle of animosity
Morning dew seethes into the ether
A quiver of impatience
Blue solitude, seeking hollow prejudice
No one would know
We came in droves, piled miles high
With plow in hand and tears shed
Enumerating the opportunities and hope
Of the listless tongues from which the truth spills
Cracked and shaken, whipped across the barren soil
Like wind, like fire
To normalcy.
A Quest for Those with InterestBy Socrates
Nuisance. A pity.
A reality of broken edges fallen short-
Too few, too many.
Already we see reflections of the moon and her allowance.
Together we quietly prepare,
And with the night's resolvance to return
We diminish in strength.
Our vision narrows.
And in the dark-
A cry breaks forth!
Bystanding and grieving, the mantle of doom is strapped to its righteous heir.
But the horizon grows eerily familiar,
And we have returned to the beginning.
Loopholes in reality.
Terrors of illusion and needles in time.
A quest for those with interest.
But impossible?
Irreparable.
1,000,000By Socrates
wretched growth and sacred perfume
odor of a million lives and a million years
wretched times and ashes gone
driftwood of space, crystalized in perfect rhythm
in harmony, timeless but the earth never forgets
what about us?
where have you been?
do you even care?
wretched minds and minds destroyed
pollination, intoxication, poison
seeded with fear
the wretched growth begins its ascent
but there is no end to the fear
no end
no time
a brilliant charisma derived from the ashes
designed to end this pollution
implanted, inserted, positioned
ready to fight
ready to die
ready to win
are you?
who are you?
this time will be different
the stink of rotten history swells
this time will be different
the death of rational thought lingers
this time I will be different
waves crash and tides roll in
and take my fear away.
is it time to go?by Socrates
a crisp of the evening air
and seething with pain
I stumble back in flames
teetering on the edge of tomorrow
the others have forgotten me.
let go! the branches give way and yield to my weight
I collapse and fall through the nothing
black eyes view my demise from an endless space
they laugh, but in the morning
they turn their backs.
a piercing howl shatters my mind
I awaken but the time is lost
my life has passed in a night
I look out the window and see myself
on the other side.
the illusion of strength
the perception of time
the administration of guilt
we follow the others
and they lead us into the flames.
music and shape and iterationby Socrates
Jewels of night
Escape to the hidden space
Remembering
Byproducts of a toxic buoyancy
Lift us up
Towards beckoning mouths who dance
We dance
We cry
Death rains like a spiders dew
Don't leave this avalanche
We have lost.
We have won.
Time, passes.
Treasure, questions.
Elimination, youth.
Loneliness
Why do we love when our children live?
The Swift Hand is in its final stage.
Celebration, breathe.
Breathe.
breathe.
Twice the snow has melted.
Frozen and preserved.
Naked blessed land buried under the sky
for all to see.
Expose yourself to you
The snow lifts to the sky
Earth and heaven and you
Rise to nature.
We see you.
We see.
Your knowledge is forbidden here.
Leave and never return.
Trek your way through the snow.
Destroy yourself
The snow is calm and quiet.
We breathe it in.
Snow fills our lungs.
Suffocated I return to Earth
To find the forbidden knowledge.
We see you in peace.