Pace

A settling
in my
guts,
after what fond
strain
was
twisting them.

Live it UP

Considering
the
No Down Payment
act
& the growing paranoia
to hoard
& protect what
cannot
be kept___,
we should fully admit
there is
a war on___,
even if it is against
ourselves.

Knives & hot plates

About a week
before
the head chef went
missing
on a month drinking bender,
I had to keep calm
& hold the operation up;
he had taken to antagonizing
our dishwasher
by throwing hot plates,
skillets right off the eye
& even a few
freshly sharpened
knives___
assisting hangovers
they gained together
in nights before rushes
we all should have expected;
yet___
each ticket
was still met on time
as he screamed
until
the dishwasher
cried:
I QUIT!!!

'This will make it easier'

& I smirked to the side, slightly
since, nothing gets easier; components
just shift in the overall scheme
building up to what will be.

Looking past Paradise

Wondering what the one
albino kid, born thru the
fabric into Hotel Heaven
to be claimed as the only
living proof that god
will save them,
is feeling
as he looks out across
the clean field
he's always dreamed of
the other side
of___.

Today & tomorrow

What we call protection
is a money game.
Capitalize on war today!

It's all we've got left anyway.

We closed all other roads
& put up barriers
everywhere
w/ everyone left scared,
yet half pretending
that there's more than
butterflies
remaining to smile after,
& even those may be
gone tomorrow.

Because

Smile at the end
as the fuse hits the bomb,
the one you paid for___
personally.

Human nature

Tapped, desolate
& perceived as crazy,
that's what the end looks like
for the lot of humanity.

Deal

Having returned
to town to retrieve
what was undoubtedly
a last paycheck,
two managers classically
asked me to sit down w/ them,
but a few words in
I couldn't help shrug & interrupt:
'Look, it's cool. You're both new at
doing someone else's dirty work,
but I'm not. So let's stop
wasting each others' time. Just give me
that check in your hand & you can
stop stuttering. I will walk out
that door calmly & never come back.
So we can all breathe. Deal?'

Calm reiteration

A flatline
is the best way
to perceive,
since
chaos seems
to consume
a bit
more___
than everything.

Bullshit

Flatlining reality,
because the soul is too sore
to stand anymore.

No sense nonsense

When each day
is only a lingering
after-taste, because
initial impact
barely even takes.

Down (flatline)

Keep it calm,
so
the walls
do not
fall.