Remember what was
Light the candle
Life is but a brief shadow
Remember what we had
Flickering candles
Reveal what matters
No more trivialities
Does knowledge make
Life worth living?
Never ask, just take
What’s given
We once smiled
Once laughed
Even if I may never
See you again
I am the watcher
I am the observer
I am who you’ll never be
I am the wanderer
I am the face you’ll never see
I am the enemy of ignorance
I am bound by no authority
I am afflicted by poverty and greed
I am your childhood sense of wonder
I am curiosity
Once you find me, you lose me
I am your muse
As above, so below
The mausoleum emits
A strange green glow
A voice cackles of
Someone I know
“We are here to
Learn everything
There is to know
Not to make a
Vain display of shame
Or wait for our bank
Accounts to grow
In wait of material gain”
As above, so below
Society has lost its soul
Within slaughterhouse canyon
Hear the mother who lost her mind
Poverty plays havoc on family
Father succumbed to madness
Leaving starving kids behind
Mother adorned in her wedding gown
Drowned herself upon
Returning her kids to the ground
“Our crops are failing. We’re about to lose our farm,” Barney sobbed. “I’m sorry I failed you.”
“It’s O.K., dad,” Jack hugged his grieving father. “We’ll work it out.”
They were interrupted by a phone call.
“Hello?”
“Look into the sky at ten minutes after ten tonight,” a raspy voice responded.
“Who is this?” Barney inquired.
The phone went dead.
“I think it’s a sign from the universe,” Barney responded. “You must go outside at 10:10 P.M. Look around. Be careful.”
Jack sat on the porch swing with his rifle. The sky turned red. He heard a hissing sound. Black seeds fell from the sky.
“Dad! Come out quick!”
Barney scooped up the strange seeds. “You’ve got to plant these. These seeds could save our farm.”
“But we don’t know what these seeds are.”
“Have a little faith.”
A month later, a glowing beanstalk began to sprout. It grew quickly past the tree line.
“Son, you must climb the beanstalk. There’s got to be something out there to save our farm.”
“We don’t know what’s up there.” Jack knew he had no choice. His dad would be devastated if they lost the farm.
He reached the top of the beanstalk, and discovered an abandoned town surrounded by nuclear reactors. It was littered with gas masks.
He wandered into a forest full of crimson-colored trees. It grew darker with each step he took. Something was blocking out the sun.
He screamed as he heard the rustling of leaves followed by a hellish shrieking. A humanoid bird with red eyes stretched its enormous wings across the sky. It hovered above the tree line for several minutes, and defecated. Strange minerals fell from the sky.
Jack waited for the bird to disappear, and collected as much of the bizarre excrement as he could.
“You’ve done it!” Barney shouted. “You saved our farm. That strange material you found was uranium. I sold it to the government. They offered me 3.3 million dollars as long as we keep this hush-hush.”
“Mrs. Hargrave lost your paperwork. She sends her apologies.”
I shoved the receptionist out of the way, and headed toward her office.
“Ma’am, you need an appointment-”
I yanked the door open, and I was flabbergasted by what I saw.
A feathered hag with pendulous breasts was perched on a tree. “Ah, Miss Hellshadow.” She flapped her wings, and proceeded to shred papers with her claws. “I invite you to file another appeal. I had to shred yours up to line my nest.”
“What about me? My classes are about to get dropped for non-payment.”
“Stop paying your rent,” she squawked, “No one else is…”
Sarah Marshall leaned over her desk. Her eyes were glazed over. Her unassembled toy parts were knocked on the floor as she began to wheeze, and retch violently. She spewed droplets of blood all over her desk.
“Are you all right?” Sorin inquired.
Sorin was greeted by Mr. Yokai’s whip. “Get back to work.”
As the weeks went by, more and more employees had become violently ill. They were quickly replaced.
Sorin slammed down his cup of noodles, and stood up in the middle of the break room. “I’ve talked to Mr. Yokai about these horrible working conditions. We are all forced to work eighteen-hour days seven days a week. This place has become a regular sweatshop. We’re lucky to get a five-minute meal period. My words have fallen on deaf ears. He won’t even listen to me about all the people who have gotten sick from the hazardous chemicals we’re exposed to every day. We’ve got to do something. Who is with me?”
Mr. Yokai entered the factory floor to supervise the third-shift workers.
His boss, Mr. Senryu glared at him. “What’s the meaning of this? I come for a surprise inspection, and none of your employees show up.”
They turned their head towards the direction of the shouting.
All the past, and present employees were gathered around the building.
“This is for firing me, because I called off sick! I only missed one day of work!” A young man tossed a Molotov cocktail through the window.
Several other disgruntled employees proceeded to throw fiery concoctions against the factory’s windows.
The aroma of gasoline filled their nostrils.
Mr. Yokai tried to open the door. “We’re trapped! It appears to be boarded from the outside…”
Max sipped his coffee. “I don’t understand. I’ve worked here as a security guard for five years. For one week of the year in mid-November, I see the lights on in the abandoned toy factory. Nobody else has ever mentioned it. Sometimes, I wonder if I’m losing my mind.”
Barney grinned. “You don’t know the story of that building? The owners of the Yokai Toy Company became greedy, and turned a once successful business into a sweatshop. Several years later, the disgruntled employees started a fire, and trapped the owners in the building. The owners are forced to relive that night for one week out of the year…”
Let your light burn
But not near me
I wish you well
I don’t want to know
Your picture’s near
Your voice on my machine
I won’t look, won’t listen
I don’t want to remember…
“We’ve been together for a few months now, and you won’t even kiss me. If you’re not interested, just say so.” Drew crushed out his cigarette. “Why am I not good enough for you? Is it because I’m not a jock? Maybe you don’t like me because I’m slightly overweight, and wear glasses.”
Teresa rolled her eyes. “I’m in the most popular sorority in the college. You’re lucky I’ll even be seen with you.”
She leaned over in a tight mini skirt that barely covered her pubic hair. “Well, I’m only into robots!”
“What does ‘ASS’ stand for anyways?!” Drew shouted, “The sorority of Attractive Snobby Sluts?!”
A tall, thin blond wearing stiletto heels with a designer purse slung over her shoulders, replied, “Well, at least I’m not wearing a sweater vest. Did that come out of your grandfather’s closet?”
Drew became very depressed, and didn’t leave the house.
A couple months later, he discovered that a cybernetics research facility had opened down the street. “I know how I can win her over,” he thought to himself.
Drew agreed to get his penis amputated, and have it replaced with a bionic one. He had it designed to Teresa’s specifications. It was only compatible with her body.
Drew and Teresa spent a couple great years together. Eventually, she became bored, and cheated on him with the sorority’s robotic butler.
A couple days later, Drew picked up a cheap hooker at a bar.
“What is that thing, a science experiment?” the prostitute gasped as she pulled down his pants.
“I’m sorry, it won’t fit!” Drew shouted in frustration.
“What do you mean it won’t fit?” the hooker inquired. “You’re wasting my time!”
Drew began to feel more, and more numb inside. He eventually lost touch with his emotions.
“I feel like a robot anyways,” he thought to himself. “Why not become one.”
He drove to the cybernetics lab, and agreed to have a microchip implanted into his head.
Cold
Crashing
Statistics
We’re burying
Shallow valley
Within California deserts
Surfer lost to sand
The Homeless Poet 