A Glorious Act

In writing
As in any
Pure form
Of expression
One lives
In the past
The present
And the future
All at the same time

Summoning acquired skills
To communicate feelings
Excited by the act of sharing them
And the possibilities
They might unlock

A record that I was here
And I saw these things
And I did my part
As both a witness
And a participant

Poetry & Nonsense

Intro

It's my belief that the most important things in life can be explained very simply.  If you can't explain it in a few words, you probably don't understand it that well.  The longer a person's explanation gets, the more likely it is to be inaccurate.  Ask a liar what happened, and you will get a long story or no story at all.  The ultimate truth is simple (and typically funny, at the expense of those hiding it).  Anyone who tells you "it's not that simple" should be thoroughly deposed, with witnesses.  It almost certainly is "that simple."

Poetry & Nonsense

It's my opinion

That poetry

Should make sense

Both

To the writer

And to the reader

Otherwise

It's not poetry

It's nonsense

If it can't be explained

Very simply

It's nonsense

Nobody

I am the way
And the truth
And the life

Who believed in Jesus
More than old Jesus?

Nobody

Jealousy

Jealousy relies on
Deception
And misdirection
Rather than power

Jealousy lies in wait
And sets traps
Preying on any vulnerability

It takes great courage
To be vulnerable
When you're surrounded
By jealous vultures

Jealousy acts this way
Because it has no power
Jealousy is powerless
Have you ever been jealous
Of someone who wasn't
Better than you?
Jealousy feels the way it does
Because it can't do shit

Jealousy is recognition
That you're in the presence
Of a greater man

Jealousy is notice
That you should
Stop staring
And introduce yourself
And start taking notes

Morning Prayer

Dear God
I wish I didn't
Have to share space
With most of these idiots
But since I do
Please give me the patience
To bear their presence
One more day

Standing Out

Maybe I stand out
Because I'm beautiful
Maybe I stand out
Because I'm a bum
But these motherfuckers
Can't stop looking at me
I'll tell you that

Everywhere I go
Every single day
They can't stop looking
Turning their neck
Like they've seen
A goddamn celebrity
Maybe they did
But I don't get paid for it

I'm not trying to stand out
You see
People who try to stand out
Don't
The only way to stand out
Is to be yourself

Maybe being yourself
Is really that rare
That people can't stop looking
Wherever you go
Like you're a walking statue
From a different time

The good thing
About standing out
Is you can tell real people
From fake ones
Just by how they look at you

A douche acts like a douche
From the moment he lays eyes on you
Jealousy is instantaneous
You can tell within seconds
That clown wishes he was you
That girl thinks she's too good
That old man envies your youth
That smart ass wishes he were as tough as you
And that tough guy wishes he were as smart
They can't stop staring
But they ain't smiling
And they ain't got nothing nice to say
They're nothing but damaged egos
Not worth a second thought

The real ones recognize
They like my hair
And they like my shirt
They like my confidence
And they like my style
They stare at me too
Except they smile
And say something

I like standing out
Because it saves me time
I can tell the real ones
From the fake ones
Like that

Civil Disobedience

The single greatest act
Of civil disobedience

The single greatest act
Of rebellion against society

Is to be happy

Paperwork

I want to go
So long
Without doing paperwork
That I forget
What it's like
To do paperwork

I want to forget
That I ever knew
What it was like
To do paperwork

I want to forget
As if I never knew
At all

From now on
I'll tell them
I'm allergic to paperwork
I get a headache
And my blood pressure rises
I get angry
And mean
To everyone
For no reason
Because it's not them
I'm mad at
It's the paperwork

I'm allergic
To paperwork
I won't touch it again
Paperwork is bad
For my health

Ant Farm

People on top of people
On top of people
A giant farm
Of angry ants
Burnt out
From scrambling
Their days away

Racing from one buck
To the next
One at a time
As soon as you get one
The next one is due

Sleep just long enough
To get the next one tomorrow
Like a fiend
But not for drugs
That's the only difference
Two slaves
With two different chains

Traffic

There are about ten people
Who I actually want here

The rest are just traffic
Not even good for watching
Because they aren't doing much

There's not much getting done
At all
Just a bunch of traffic

Nice Suit

That's a nice suit
You've got
Even though
You don't know
Why you're wearing it

I bet you think
You're wearing it
For work
But you're not
You're wearing it
For money
The false god
Everyone prays to

You wear it
To be powerful
But your suit
Owns you
More than you
Will ever own it

Your suit
Tells me
You're a slave

That's a nice suit
You've got
Might as well
Be a ball and chain

Into The Wild: The Difference Between Heroes And Phonies

There is only one thing that separates Chris McCandless' story from that of every other hobo, drifter and bum who's ever picked up a Jack Kerouac novel: self-belief.  Chris McCandless really, truly believed in himself.  And it wasn't run-of-the-mill self-belief that everyone who's ever graduated college and got a 9 to 5 job has.  He was on a whole different level.  He had the level of self-belief you would expect Prince, Tom Brady or Brad Pitt to have.  Only people who broke through to the very top of their game.

People are obsessed with Chris' story because he broke through to that level, but it didn't look the way people thought it would.  He was a true artist, philosopher and liver of life, and this is what success looked like to him.  In other words, Chris McCandless made it.  He was wildly successful.  He lived out his most epic fantasy, and had he survived, he would have written the next great American novel and been immortalized in the cannon next to Henry David Thoreau and Mark Twain.  He still was immortalized, but he didn't get to write the novel because he was dead.  John Krakauer had to write it for him.

The fact that Chris' story was told for him, even though he was dead, just tells you how powerful it was.  His story had to be told.  It was too powerful not to be.  His story was powerful because he lived powerfully.  He lived powerfully because he did what he wanted, when he wanted.

The hobos, drifters and bums he's compared to are nothing like him.  They are the polar opposite of him.  Those people run away from their lives out of weakness and fear.  They run into the wilderness to hide, so they don't have to face their truth.  Chris McCandless wasn't running away from his life.  He was running towards it.  This was an act of standing up and claiming what was his.  He was staring his truth down and making it his bitch.

If there was any flaw in his thinking, it was only selfishness.  He was angry with his family at the time, and I think it's possible he didn't fully realize the magnitude and extent of the pain that his loss would cause them.  I think if he did, he might have at least brought a map or an ax.

Nature

You go into nature
To connect with her
Not to fight with her

If you fight with her
You lose
If you lose
She kills you

The more sure a man is
Of his ability to tame
And control her
The more spectacular she is
In his destruction

Reminding him
And everyone else
Of the golden rule
He regrettably
Dared to forget
Pride is for fools

She’s buried the hardest men
Who’ve ever walked
And she’ll bury
All the next ones too
Making an example
Of each boastful man
Who dares
To push her boundaries

Faith

There are a million
Preachers and evangelists
Who will tell you
To believe in Jesus
Or this or that

But they’re all wrong

There’s only one thing
You need to believe in
And that’s yourself

Those who lack faith
Believe what others believe
Those who have faith
Believe in themselves

Brilliance

Brilliance
Self-awareness
And self-belief
Are all the same thing

A Love Poem

Some day the people
Who didn't believe in you
Will act like they did
And you'll forgive them
And act like they did too
Because you love them

Days

Every day
Is a spiritual journey
There are no big ones
Or small ones
Just days
And spiritual journeys
All equally important
None meaning more
Than the last
Or the next
None meaning
Anything at all
Every day
Is just a ride
To be enjoyed