Perhaps I approached you mislead
Like all those people believing they are something more
A sweet fairy tail that settles down within you
A dream that only I can see
An entire world
An earth
A universe
So obvious and utterly plain to see
But not to you
Only to me
Except for the desperation
The exhausting respiration
Seems to state in an obvious way
A difference in…
What?
Reflection, perception…
Like lighters are, just reminders
Of a habit keyed to an unwanted past
I could own the bulk and show them
But instead I don’t want to touch them at all
Like as we come into adulthood we hide more and relate less
Until our true selves are so hidden from public view
That we cease to be true individuals
Therefore eliminating the need
To be treated like human beings
And this is where it brings us
To our knees with back breaking labor
And no one to tell
No one to understand
The utter isolation of this land
It goes so down deep
The self image we need
That it takes major excavating
To relieve the bait were weighting
Yes, we the people
Let ourselves go
Until we are little more than the latest T.V. show
On the screen
A bottle, can, and dream
A pack, a light, a pipe
Sleeping late and too many late nights
The Doritos bag
And fake canned tea
All telling us they’re better…
And we believe
And we forget
To let
Our children out to play
We forget
To get
Ourselves back from the pay
We are ever indebted to giving
To those whom can call it living
And it bursts from me until I
Can barely do anything besides scream
And shake every person I see
To say
WAKE UP!
And they see, yes, they see that in me
What I cherish, my wonderful individuality
Also strikes me down
In society
And what I’ve learned
From all this contradicting
Stay awake pills with mind drifting
What I have gleaned from sideways glances and muddle opportune enhances the way I continually bang my head against this wall
And try not to believe it at all
That we are paying that 1% to be public,
Like we all wish we could be
And damned am I to them when I am
Everything they think I am
Damned am I because who paid me
And who do I think I am
To sway
To be
Whoever it is at that moment is me
How dare I
What a freak
Just like all of them
Who made it off the street
To a safe place in the limelight
Encased by our revelings forever
How dare I look to be appreciated
To be any more than what I’m fated
To feel “teenage” tendencies
To allow myself to stretch and dream and express myself
My emptiness from how full I am
Just like the way that you drink and drink
But you spit me out

And this life is ever changing
Ever swishing rushing roaring rivering wild cutting paths called life creating canyons lakes and estuaries which we all hold separate in our own minds—our worlds—our own universes
And hold them there—never truly to be shared
And I know this about you
And I believe that every river is completely unique, and every human deserves not the privilege, but the life right to their own river path
And I’m taking my river in a difficult way
Because this culture we have today
Is not like water
But more of a giant machine
A sort of monstrous black and white dream
That doesn’t recognize my colors
Unless,
I carry
The color green
And if you have found yourself this way
Then you know the machine does sway
But not in all the different ways
And you know it often cuts you off
And damns you up
Cages your power
And everyday is a constant struggle
To either stay straight cold and black and white
Or to rush wildly with power
Fierce enough to quench the fire behind
That coal burning energy yearning draining
Stealing machine
To stand up and fight
Take back our dreams
Not the dreams of traveling far
Or standing on stage as a big rock star
I’m talking about equality, respect
And the ability
To freely
Be you
And be me