Max, or Not

people’s favorite pastime
is an impudent hypocrisy
in taking it upon themselves
to decry others publicly

for actions and behaviors
which they themselves have exhibited
and will perpetuate
in future times most uninhibited

of all the things that one could claim
as being our condition
nothing quite compares
to our hypocritical inclination

which we’re perfectly content with
so long as we aren’t confronted
but when others are called out
we’re at the front line with our brunt end

but if it should be revealed
that we were in fact mistaken
we ignore our indiscretion
and the person, thus forsaken

it’s an aspect of our species
which we would do well to rectify
sadly, it’s our ego
which allows us to feel justified

excusing any fault within ourselves
without exception
and then crucifying others
for the very same transgression

there is nary one amongst us
who can try to claim exemption
but the fact is that we will
presuming our actions redemptive

there is nothing any one of us
can do or say to stop this truth
aside from not condemning those
who do exactly as we do

for all of us are human
thus beholden to our species’ nature
nonetheless, we should aspire
to redefine our nomenclature

o faceless book of folly
let us wallow
in your winsome wiles

truth is such a tortured realm
that begs to be forsaken

let these fingertips devise
a world devoid of diminution

fostered by the unseeing eye
of conscious cries removed

let these ghastly thoughts transpose
into a prose
for ghosts to ponder

perchance to respond
with validation
through availed volition

surpassing the toll
of midnight
gloaming veil
not of the moon

glimpses of escape evincing
sovereigns
of ruinous states

cast away the queues of inquest
don the light
of furtive affect

drowning in the arms of comrades
safely tucked away
from fear

languish in allure like-minded
“dislike” but a maddened myth

should an outlier dare to burden
block them
with a keystroke swift

orchestrate an infrastructure
free from views that contradict

thus secluded
synthesize the sympathies
of narrative fit

faceless book, pray hear this implore
save us
from our soulless selves

sinking ships of selfish carriage
stranded lifeboats
lost
adrift

 

[image credit: George Barbier]

ere the conscious mind awakens
lurks fate
long forespoken

oxidation creeps
dendritic
silent with besieging

a fool is sworn
to sabotage
of willful self-inflicting

and love begets
as many fools
as Charon reaps a sixpence

writhing
in the hidden realm
of nominal confliction

abominably abreast

of our impending
tomb’s inscription

such is written
on these walls

raised

by the very hands
we spurn

spinning
amidst mass confusion

to which one day
we shall return

earned
never learned

left to longing
sempiternal

[image credit: Hugo Steiner-Prag]

oh my fucking god
here comes a ~flat earther~
please kill me now

run for cover
hit the deck
abandon ship
cuz, um, like, …wow…

seriously
this has got to be the worst
prank yet to be attempted

i keep waiting
for someone
to jump out with a hidden camera

science cannot be refuted
just because some online ~picture~
caught your eye
when dubiously analyzed
by crazed youtubers

auto-played from your suggestions
generated by your searches
from the time a plane flew by
and left a trail you deemed suspicious

several hours of heavy-lidded thinking
found you fast ascribing
things inconsequential
to a mass conspiracy presiding
thereby taking your attention
off of matters not imagined
validating fears
that critical thought has since been supplanted

it’s all so demoralizing
i don’t quite know what to do
who in the flying fuck believes
the stupid shit they see on youtube

then resolves to disavow
accepted scientific knowledge
thinking themselves ~well informed~
such ignorance elicits vomit

i can hardly bear the smug expression
nor the pompous manner
when these freaks regale me with their idle incoherent blather

dude, crepuscular rays do not radiate
based upon distance
it’s a matter of perspective
and the concept of divergence

indeed, it’s quite obvious
your “dissidence” is ~heaven sent~
forget that flat earth
first was pandered
by religious government

from my observations
the conspiracies and paranoia
are a culture born of drug use
and subsequent hyponoia

idle hands and online access
ignorance and primal fear
coalesce to deviate the mind
beyond hope for repair

too much Coast to Coast AM
all night while driving eighteen-wheelers
in the middle of nowhere
no wonder y’all think this shit’s real

yes, i may be generalizing
but my point should be apparent
it requires some major shit
to beget notions this aberrant

i’m no scientist
as you can clearly see
i’m just a doofus
but it doesn’t take a Ph.d
to know what simple truth is

[image credit: Louis Wain]

my consciousness unraveled
under gravity’s conundrum

ivory wands
of autumn blossoms brooding

effused the words
that toppled my world

transposed
upon my heart transparent

wished
as i heard them ring
in cherried kisses
of wistful chime

to shore upon a disparate ponder

stinging
once again

the abandoned aril’s precious plight

such beauty nonpareil
begs bittersweet

blusters beckoning
the mem’ries blurred

when i wandered
in my shadow’s doubt
through balsam hills
of rolling ochre

determined to seize the vanishing flare
of dusk abrade

before its veiled taunting
from round the vitrified bend

in crept clusters of celeste

it was there that my perils would come to rest
nestled amid swaying tresses

swelling into lustrous clouds

where i clutched the wrath of heaven’s bane

daring its pallid complexion

pittanced by modest compare

the well of woes
in witless poise
composing wisps
to cast asunder

gave sopor pause

to reap the sorrows
lost in rapturous contempt

sown of captured sins
from promises once sworn
athwart of breast

folding into blessed ruin
to pique the peering skies of scorn

last night
i watched a faceless moon
surrender
to the silence

a stillness
seized all hope
for reason

astral lustre
burned as rust

through my eyelids
clasping winter

i could still yet see
the onset

creeping forth
like legless lepers

moaning incantations
from their lacerated tongues

bastardized
my name was spoken

slivers slowly pierced
and prodded

godless as i was
i prayed

to emptiness

come save this soul

then the ground
grew teeth so hideous

nowhere
was there left to hide

putrid breath
arose below me

never had i known such terror

surely
this would be the end

stubborn as a wayward mule
if it was that blood should spill

i resigned
by my hand only
as my dagger swiftly moved

haunted cries
were counted many

on the day
when madness struck

in a queue of public squalor
blood became the unseen walls

[image credit: Jan Toorop]

a kiss
should be as precious
as a rose unravels
to the sun

delicately ardent
intimately conscious
of its limits

gently coaxing
its full potential
strength through vulnerability

lingering
just as long so as to
bring about its beauty

fostering
with fine attunement
intent to see it flourish

breathing life anew
upon the moment of acquaintance

drawing in its bounty
ebbing as the dawn recedes the sea

urgency coercing tranquil
acquiesce of Pleiades

dare not overstay its presence
reciprocity insists

through yearning skies
a coalescent calming
cries of moonlit lips

[image credit: Jan Toorop]

why can’t you
just fucking chill

you got the pill
you wanted

or are you just
a malcontent

intent
on causing misery

maybe i’m ridiculous
a fool
for fools

a ruthless martyr

charting maps
to places
which no longer
still exist

how is it
that once you’ve reached the goal
your whole demeanor changes

when only seconds prior
you were moribund

one might think you a liar
shamelessly manipulating
tenuously disingenuous
i trust
you see this too

with antics airing petulant
so tired and uninspired

it’s a wonder
how you stay committed
to the very death

perhaps the most depressing aspect
to your known affliction
is the fact
that it is written
on the cemetery walls

such a passe paradigm
maligns your inner beauty
nonetheless
it seems your duty
to submit to its behest

swallowing the flames
i ponder
why i wallow in surrender

knowing all the while
i am no better
than your worst

I am NOT as insane
As I may appear to be

Oh no

You see,

I AM in fact

Wracked with fractious fluctuations
Far beyond
The realm of fiction

Chaos amidst disarray
Through echoes of a false reflection

Mind of unwound thought most unsound
Bound and gagged
I beg, bedraggled

More unnerved
Than mere neurosis
Annexed by Toxoplasmosis

Torrents of dissociation

Not ~for your consideration~

Treading on a surreality

Unfit for integration

Face it
More shit
You ain’t got the time for
Nor the inclination

Nonetheless

here

i am

How I manage to survive is—
…wait…
The fuck I’m saying?

I don’t.

[image credit: Ephraim Moses Lilien]