Two-Faced but with the Faceless

I'm more honest with strangers
Than I am with myself
But you read text messages
Like I read blank stares
Sarcasm doesn't travel well
And I can't stand using smiley faces
I get angry over petty comments
About stories I don't even believe
And use it as a justification
For my world view
I'll face what's on the inside
When you do
All while pretending
I'd do it better than you ever could have
I'll tilt my head and shake it
Until something falls out
Pick up the broken pieces
And slyly put them back together
To cover up all the holes and answers
I don't want you to know
Then present it as myself
And walk calmly
From one lie to the other
And later declare
It was the best I could manage
Under such inauspicious conditions

The Y Axis (Or Y Not)

They say its all downhill
From here
.............. Or here
........................... Or here
But I can recall no hills
I've been crawling on my belly
Slithering like a snake
Coiling around finger holds
Because this is all strictly vertical
As if the only way up is, well, up
One foot after the other
This hand then that
And I'm back again, creeping
Over this so called mountain
The horizon is not clear
Because I do not dare
To take it all in and enjoy the view
I mean, have you ever tried clinging to a wall?

I'm Only Buddhist for the Health Benefits

They say, and you know how I feel
About them, that history cannot be decided
Until it is analyzed and repackaged for the masses
Disseminated through the proper channels
Old World remedies for everyday problems
Are only applicable in the New World
Under careful observation
Of corporate led Research and Development
The Real World isn't real enough
Symmetrical, symbolic, symbiotic -perhaps
But this economy won't run itself
So into the lab we go
Twisting man-made matter
Into something useful and meaningful
With an adequate level of cost-efficiency
Humanity is but a percentage point
In a long line of presentations
Broken down and divvied up
By our new cartographers
Wielding high powered microscopes
Who study the Natural world enough
To make us swallow it Artificially
We'll choke on tiny plastic pills
Packed with all our hard work
Until we lose the gag reflex
And forget that there ever was
Anything beyond ourselves

A.K.A. John Johnson

A reddish-brown mane
Hid a sly face from the world
That moved silently beneath the city
Exploring her belly from within
In cross-country renditions of ancient superstitions
An unlucky army banded together
Seizing the Duck and Drake
As an opportunity for improvement
Cunning lies brought the expedition full circle
Where an alias stacked inconspicuous piles
Of black dirt and dried twigs
To hide an even more impressive bounty
Destined by the word of God
To recreate a cycle in his own fashion
The plague stalled the plans
Long enough to be discovered
And reiterated in a more humane fashion
In the form of gallows
Dismemberment and emasculation
Wild animals will not go willingly
Unless by their own hands
And so the end came in a quick snap
Self propelled through the air
To swing before the masses
Until the body parts could be removed
And set up as sentinels
All along the kingdom's border
A life eternal, remembered in effigies
That burn bright
Throughout each Fifth November night

Idling Through Existence

Data gluts and technophiles
Are up in arms
All over the blogosphere
Netizens unite
Under a global truce
Holding hands in forums
And coming to terms with
Privacy policies
The world is free
In an open cloud
But a high speed connection
Won't perform open heart surgery
Data is as exponential
As streams of consciousness
Traveling the globe
In technocratic fashion
The curtain is pulled back
To reveal a more inclusive picture
Each bit contains the whole
And our celestial beginnings
Come closer to being unearthed
As 3-D images fly by
And form all around us
Deceiving as they may be
This is, as things are
A complete bold faced lie
That straps us to the walls of a cave
Where we can only watch the shadows
That dance before our eyes
We are allowed access
To all we had before
Not a bit more
Than we can handle
Because if we knew the truth
Beneath the piles of sludge
That line the street corners
We would have long ago
Made real use of our inactivity

Plutocracy Vs Poverty

The straw that broke the camels back
Came decades ago
And we pretend not to see it
The halls of justice
Ring loud and clear
With the message of true Americanism
We taught the poor to hate themselves
To aspire to something else
You can be whoever you want to be
In this land of opportunity
As long as you have the cash
The masses bump into each other
In line for unemployment benefits
And blame each other
For what is said
To be their own fault
Flagellation becomes a national pastime
As we skirt dying cities
And look past an empty field of dreams
Ancient buildings
With broken windows
And poor excuses for material
Excesses line the dirty halls
Stuffed with too many children
Corralled into the arena
For everyone to see
Just how dangerous they are
Bullet-proof glass
In stretch limos
Are seen leaving gated communities
To parade around the ghetto
Preaching self sustenance
You can be me, if you just work hard enough
Don't bite the hand that feeds
We gave you these opportunities
Out of the goodness of our hearts
The wealth gap widens
And we are poorer than before
But overall GDP is growing
So something must be right
Handfuls of corporate monies
Are passed in the dark
Among the shadows
Lurking like a disease
That never really went away
Patriarchs and disciples
Will lead the way
Yanking on the chains that bind
A people to the State
In the name of progress
Even if it means going backwards
Plutocratic innovations are nothing new
But are back in a whole new way
Degrading what is left
Of an already crumbling idea
Of democracy

Cosmic Colonization

No longer bound by geographical anomalies
We set off in the name of humanity
Dusty red skies welcome us with open arms
And we dive into the future
Set up camp along a barren basin
And rock climb to new heights
Records are made to be broken
And so we will with each step
As molehills become mountains
And we scurry to the top
How long will we be satisfied
With being bi-planetary beings?
The sun sends out streams of radiation
And we gather information
Via earthly mainframes
Packets of knowledge streak through space
And land at the front door
Of what will prove to be
An exact replica
Of a common book on colonization
From the West to the rest of the galaxy
Manifest destinies are expanded
To include galactic planes
That we shall inherit
In the name of progress
Refurbish an empty lot
And park a Starbucks
For a quick pick me up for passers-by
Before they head to Saturn
For a late night dinner
On floating chunks of ice