Max, or Not

alas, sweet maiden
of muted mien

thy muring shalt beest no more

unmoored from this merciless morass
of malformations unmerited

singeth freely thy song

rejoiceth
as thou now rejoineth
thy dearest brother

to saileth the astral seas

overseeing the ward
of those thou loveth
who has’t at each moment loveth thee

and e’er shalt this love fulminate
from hither ’til forevermore

wend forth now
with the freedom so longeth
denied by life’s burdens

[image credit: Elihu Vedder]

there once was a kitten
who lived in Great Britain
whose purr could be heard the world round

and all of the kitties
who lived in Miau City
would snicker whilst putting her down

her mum named her Mew
but the “Mew” part was silent
which seemed quite ironic indeed

her purr once commenced
could ne’er be silenced
and all fruit, of its tree, was bereaved

as helpless to purr
at the stroke of her fur
and duly so, dare scratch her chin

in frequencies grand
did resound through the land
all too much to this kitten’s chagrin

the ground would shake fiercely
spurring shrieks ear piercing
and medicine shelves did succumb to its might

and even the stars
could be seen from afar
all atremble as they danced with fright

what seemed so absurd
is how she could be heard
her presence, but that of a feather

but still fear had stricken
the cats and the kittens
which led them to act none the better

and thus they would pull
on her whiskers at school
as they trodded all over her tail

for mercy, she pleaded
Mew’s cries went unheeded
her wishes denied their avail

athwart their location
diametrically stationed
did Kitt E. King fretfully pace

his prized catnip coffers
were locked in his dosser
for what must have seemed a month straight

’til one sleepless evening
as he lay there grieving
a rumble displaced the king’s crown

once perched on his nightstand
arose then a loud clang
as on the king’s head, it rained down

which triggered a notion
should he traverse the oceans
perhaps, he could pinpoint the source

and harness its power
to free his prized flower
by the merit of its stalwart force

then, without hesitation
he set forth, this dire mission
with his fleet of elite Felidae

’til his ships did break ground
in a world upside down
as Mew’s purrs ever beckoned the way

arrived in his palanquin
inciting such a scene
all of Miau City did flock

for ne’er had they witnessed
the Kitt E. King’s visage
and right then their jaws rightly dropped

he stated his case
in a manner post-haste
most aloof, Mew did then acquiesce

then with thunder, they roared
’til the fleet came ashore
in a flurry, the flew to the chest

with nary a flinch
the king scratched Mew’s chin
alas, the king’s fur was undressed!

but Kitt E. King’s face
was alight with elation
transfixed on his unwrested treasure

for quittance he knew
what he simply must do
as he then spied his fur-adorned wall

and he said, “am I daft,
or do I feel a draft?”
and their laughter rang out through the halls

he thusly decreed
with his catnip now freed
to appoint his catswort a new ward

and such Mew became
as she lived out her reign
and her purrs were heard forevermore

[image credit: Luis Wain]

let’s get high
and save the world

if we cannot save ourselves

might as well

might as well

family is a frail facade
of fractured freaks fervidly feigning
fabricated fealty formed from frivoled
flights of fornicating
forced lifelong affiliation
infamy e’er fulminated
infinitely sacrificing self
to keep their egos sated

obfuscating every fathomable facet
of life with conflict
baffled by these fabled feats
performed by deft confabulators
prefacing your plies for triumph
flooding you with doubtful bias
as if having defiled your formative years
with foul influence
didn’t quite fulfill the fervor
transfixed as they saw you suffer

try to put your best foot forward
only to find flakes beseeching
ostentatiously accosting you
with feckless exhortations
inundating you with useless clichés
thus invalidating every aspect
of your individual experience
“family’s family!” shrugging shoulders
“welp, better the devil you know!”
“forgive & forget!”
“brush it off~”

I’ll tell you what boi
I’ma knock that smug expression
right the fuck off your face!

oops! I nearly lost my place~
as I was saying:

soon to find you’ve been forsaken
duly doleful and deflated
all your fears come to fruition
fiendish laughter fills the forum
fingers fixed upon your failings
kinfolk? try de facto finks
nefariously formulating
unaffected subterfuge
facilitating defamation
forestepping fastidiously

fortifying self-defenses
gleeful with anticipation
come the hour of your rebuffing
fielded by their conflagration
fitted for their safe refuting
if you should confront them
disingenuousness proves their safety
feigning ignorance as to the influx of affronts inflicted
following the grave indifference
in their failure to afford you
any form of faculty to foster a prosperous future

when they were so flagrantly fixated
on their own self-interests
flippantly refusing to defer to their fructification
let alone perform the office
from the fallout of their trifling
fact or fiction
they prefer to forge ahead
with fabrication

fibrous is the weft
now wending
spiraling in doom descending
fools forever floundering
effusively in found-confusion
crafting flaunts to taunt
your freedom
feelings fester manifesting
into fatal life afflictions

if they felt the faintest bit familial
things might be different

flash-forward to driftless freedom
felt in formless efflorescing
funereal fantasies
indeed, an unfortunate comfort

failing to confer affection
falling into affectation
finding all your foremost fears
effectuating false reflections
furtive in your suffocating
fighting for such pointless purpose
fraught with farcicalizations
fated for self-flagellation

‘til one fine day
after untold years of grief
and inadvertence

all the superficial factors
fall along the wayward tracks

looking up to see
unflinching tons
of blazing steel and iron
metal clashes metal
as the train shrieks
hissing steam and embers
furiously

verity now resonating
more than ever

not a damn thing left
to ponder

here, your ground shall hold
forever

if true thou art a man
thy balls deserve a kicketh swift
without needeth for inquiry
i duly must submit

for many an affront
man hast rent against womankind
speaking bluntly
each man shouldst beest kicked a thousand times!

one mustn’t beg a scholar
nor a mystic to prepare
the impetus which urges forth
a man who wouldst forswear

it shouldst beest understood
how the male ego is a force
that is as one and the same
as the penis, but of course!

which thusly doth imply
’tis e’er beholden to his id
but dareth not alloweth us
to allay his plaintive bid

the scroll holding the record
which describes man’s sexist crimes
would ne’er cease its unfolding
’til it hath reached the end of time

if thou wouldst serveth fools
as an apologist for men
i hereby dost forsake thee
i calleth no knave my friend

presume no expectation
i needeth pray pardon me
and stayeth thine indignation
such is woman’s, i decree

the sanitarium
of autumn air
arrived at long last

somehow
i fathomed it
would save me

from this driftless droll

but frigid whispers
speak of loneliness

and softly muted
skies of gray
betray the sun
by umbral answer

empty

does my hand sit still
cold and numb

as sure as seasons cycle
failing not

the absence of your touch
yet ails me

the untold world
we shared in wonder

has since turned
inside out to mock me

if only
everything within
would stop

revealing thoughts
of you

[image credit: Brynna Campbell]

this latent flower blooms
ephemerality
unraveled by perception

doldrum drags the languid line
along the distant
dark horizon

heedless
hapless
scattered bursts
of flinching halcyon light

unheard and unhinged

idly observant
as they lay alone
ensconced in idyll

blindly
sidling up to peer
into the fabled looking glass

the unembraceable oblivion

of life
thus being lived

so beguiled
with wide eyes
transfixed
trained on all aspects extrinsic

thoughts forgo
the burden
of the body’s bound appointment

led
like sleepless sheep
to slaughter

corralled by the lust for dollar

oozing out of every orifice
in opulence
tumescent

sated only by the tendered tears
of silent souls exploited

open skies of pending promise
play out in posthumous loops
pandered shamelessly
to pliant pupils
of capitalist coercion
frantically amassing resources
to quell their crippling stupor
stripped of hope found viable
resolved to plastic revolutions

blaring
from a “life-like” screen
of liquid crystal coiled confinement

brow-beaten
by expectation

shamed into a feigned performance

extricated
to a realm
where obsessive
self-preservation
fast replaces sound decision

superimposed sentience

severing all ties
to our humanity
with conscience numbing
calls inciting indignation

egoism inundated

flags emblazoned
with our visage

every fragile fiber
of our poignancy
resigned to toxic piles
of perduring compost

fingers inconspicuously point
our voiceless voids
toward specious Edens

tragically
the one and only
chance we ever had was wasted

all for one
and none for all

for nothing is more self-defeating
sold-out
and consigned to scourge
than that which only serves
the self

and seldom
does this not occur

[image credit: Riera Rojas]