Drugs

Your aspirations were so slow
Barely driven but to be fair
Generally most people
Are completely unaware
Growing up I wondered am I
The only one who noticed this
I needed your help, I felt your love
Keeping me alive goes without
Saying but anything more is extra
What could cause someone
To want more for their child
Than the bare minimum
Does the mission to have them
Grow up to become what they
Will as the best versions
Of their little selves whom you
Created full of possibilities
Fall short when you want so
Very little for yourself or for
Them as well… we didn’t need
Celebrity but we certainly
Could have done better than
What we did believe me
I have so much more to give
So as an adult I continue to
Work toward the best thing I
Could possibly be with the
Limited time that I have and
We would have had so much more
If your desire to see me succeed
Was part of the plan to believe
In my capabilities as an artist
As a potential human
Would eventually become
With your encouragement
We could have had
More than we did
If you wanted more than
The way you chose to live
Like drugs

© GÄ

Overcoming

When I think of homelessness
I think of all the people that
Would be willing to contribute
To this godforsaken mess
We call a civilized society
It makes complete and
Total sense why
There are so many that
Choose not to contribute
Sit in the street and cry, get high
Because of our broken system
In all the effort that it takes
In what capacity we have to
Show up every day and then
They tax the masses ask for
Part of what you make
Force you to report it and
Charge you if you’re late
Even simple mistakes get a fine
Like honestly forgetting to
Fill in a line or include a sheet
Why would anyone want to
Sign up for that? Follow the rules
We make it so hard for
Those of us that want to
Stay alive that it’s actually
Easier to give up or take
From the government than it is
To be an actual standup
Go to work person
It’s no wonder people that
Talk against it get thrown
Into prison or threatened
Why I choose to be in it
Is still a mystery to me
Many days I think of
Exiting the program that
Requires inhumane boxes
To be ticked a system
That was created to make
A whole nation sick
Give us money for insurance
Give us money for health
Give us money for traffic
Tickets for what? Getting to work
Fines for an acceptable number
Made up by some jerk
That is 5 miles per hour
Higher or less depending on
How we justified this and
There’s a system in place
If you don’t play a long
And they’re determined
To get you because
They’re right and you’re wrong
It’s no surprise any longer
Why people linger and wander
Outside looking for help
We have a backwards way
Of claiming to be good
A disjointed incoherent cast of
Regulations and perpetrations
To disgust someone to the point
Of no returning to assist with
Fulfilling such a broken system
In an attempt to move
Assiduously along
It’s reprehensible and gross
We’ll give you more money
If you have more kids
If you put yourself in debt
With a house you’ll benefit!
This is the constant battle
To which I hear the drumming
A life that seeks the joy
Of overcoming

© GÄ

Differently

Don’t let them kill you, fight like hell
I am just as scared as all the others,
What could one become if only to
Want for a cage we can never leave
Separate from it all, in a broken air
I have a hopeless wish of forgetting
Everything I know in the landscape of life
A deep and long yawn of exhaustion
Tremors of the future shake my skull
I am like a monarch with one wing
Sometimes as capable as a crustacean
Regenerating my limbs that feel
In some way found bioelectrically

My heart wakes up differently
Every morning the rhythm is the same
The contents redissipate
Many different shapes are awakened
The home to a bajillion
Promises of better tomorrows
Ripping the gut to shreds
Hunger for existence is persistent
Like a ship docking somewhere
It has never been before
The mysterious waters below
Are full of answers to the questions
Of a rising tide that wants more
Passion and yearns for acceptance
While every sense is heightened
A resurgence of the almost extinct
Will to grow again begs to be held

© GÄ

Cold Tree

First frost is close
Iceland is near
Feelings of cold
Rejuvenation
Icicle clarity 47°
Mental baptism
Are we progressing
Just making more
Or standing still
Revolving in the same
We make new things
To feel alive
But if stuff
Is all we have
Then we have
Nightingales
That aimlessly dive
Cobwebs in our eyes
To climb the tree
To see if the top
Is as cold as the bottom
Is much more meaningful
I can see this is
A popular spot to rest
For every bird
Another coyote
Looking for breakfast
Is it cold
Where you live?
Do you think
Of things like this?
I imagine
It would be warm
If we were together

© GÄ

School Bus

Fog on the windows
Making baby foot impressions
With the inside of our fisted palms
Writing your name on the glass
Memories to last a lifetime
Freezing cold or burning up
From kindergarten on until
We finally find ourselves
In high school life
Catching the lookalike bus
Different drivers but the same
Neighborhood the same houses
So many years later
How did we get here?
True connections and
Colorful dreamscapes
As the sky changes
From navy black
Stars disappear on the
Horizon into grey fade to pink
Opening blue bright blue
On the bus with you
Our stop the closest one
To school and find ourselves
On the longest ride
Picking everyone up
Along the way sitting beside
How many hours did we spend
Becoming friends
After school today tomorrow
Whatever life brings
Smitten by our kindred hearts
Unpacking things
Intertwined unwinding
Old friends on a big yellow
Machine that took us round
On the wheels of life
Our friendship was found
In years that continue on

© GÄ

Seasons

The sun wraps around my face
After long dreams of being in France
Working as a stenographer
Learning to type is learning to speak
Like the language of life
We wrap ourselves so deep
In the meaning of friendship
And the loss of our loved ones
And again the sun wraps around us
Like a giant blanket that can only
Be received in the form of light
This is the beauty of the morning
Starting again when we had nothing
Left and at our wits end the day before
A heavy sleep and a few hours
To peek into the other side of the veil
Rejuvenates hope and springs
Forth a moment to begin with
New connections down the slopes
Of unpredictable waking life

© GÄ

Brown

It rained last night
It’s really quiet
Years’ve gone by
There is still a mist
Hanging in the air
No doubt fall is here
Faded blues to grey
Old anxieties brown
Can disappear now
Everyone will go
Back inside
Less commotion
Calmer activities
The pressures to
Be active will subside
Our dreams are deeper
Our sleeps are sweeter
A silver sky cools the
Overworked and
Hardened mass displays
Enjoying fall for
Cozy winter’s
On its way

© GÄ

Saving

Roses are red
Violence is blue
She ticked all her boxes
And forgot about you
24/7 the clock goes around
Oranges are orange
Bananas turn brown
If the sky can flip blue
Some wishes come true
Miracle somersaults
Twisting into a
Backflip bonanza
Beginning anew
If you could change
One thing…
What would you do
Heartbeats are red
Teardrops are blue
Saving the world
Is a hard thing to do

© GÄ

Unto Myself

I don’t want to hold you
Completely accountable
For being a bad friend
Like you left me in the
Lost and found bin
Attempts to steal back
The happiness from life
I’ve worked so hard for
Wrap it in a box
Put snow on top
And gift it to myself
I’m still learning how to
Appreciate what I’ve
Been given
How to be living
People come and go
But we are with ourselves
For the whole road
And this is one thing
I am most interested in
To keep aliveness
Breathing into my
Walking being it is
The capsule and the
Temple I must sweep
Everyday it is the moon
That I must dust
And the sun that
I must shine
The only friend to
Hold accountable
Is mine

© GÄ

Anima

Longing to be
More interesting than we are
My best friend heart
Has always been with you
Normal and natural
I even cleaned your room
A vocabulary is growing
Expectations have been slowing
Looking at the whole
None of us have it exactly
So feel the feelings
Burst through the ceilings
Make the journey ‘round
A globe of experiences
Paths less tread
Circle back before we’re dead
Longing to be
More interesting than we are
My best friend heart
Will always be with you

© GÄ