Scared New World

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

Did you know?

There was a time when strangers

shook hands every time they met someone new.

That people used to pack themselves shoulder-to-shoulder

in halls and arenas to see a concert or a game.

 

Did you know?

We didn’t always wear a mask and gloves

when we had to go outside.

There wasn’t always glass between us muffling conversations

at the bank or at the store.

Did you know?

 

The restaurants used to be so crowded

you could barely hear the people you sat with.

That people gathered in bars to drink and enjoy

the company of people they didn’t know.

Did you know?

 

It wasn’t always a crime to cough or sneeze in public.

That work wasn’t always done from home.

That movies weren’t always watched on the couch.

Did you know?

 

That we used to have something called “freedom”.

That we didn’t always have to carry papers proving we were immune,

Or let the government trace our every move.

Did you know?

 

The news wasn’t always bad.

That you used to be able to visit grandma and grandpa

without being afraid.

That there wasn’t always fear of a kiss or a hug.

Did you know?

 

That farmers and simple men once fought the largest

army on the globe to give us everything

we surrendered in an instant without a fight.

Did you know?

 

Are these the questions our children will ask their own?

While they are living life through a screen,

a part of our scared new world?

Did you know?

 

Preserve the Patina

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

Within you it breathes,

Beaten but strengthened,

Bloodied but mending,

Tired but restless,


Hidden somewhere behind

Deep-tinted windows,

Basking in what

little light shines through.

 

What is shattered

is not broken,

But instead

sits in waiting to be built anew.

 

Open that window,

All ye battered souls,

And feel again

The warmth of the sun.

Entirely Faithful, Mildly Religious

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

If you try to go eye to eye with God

He’ll remind you

Of what makes you man,

and Him eternal.

 

Of how little you can fathom

of the Great Beyond,

And of this pebble in His garden

we are all living on.


That we are nothing more than dirt

given his breath of light,

So that we may rise each day

to put up that good fight.


This understanding of the world

that breaks us down,

Is the weight that He carries

without a frown.


God is that warmth in every embrace,

He is the tides,

the longing in your heart,

and the smile on your face.

 

He is the strength you find

in your darkest of days,

His guidance will reveal itself

in unforeseen ways.

 

One day we’ll all meet Him,

in His house we’ll be judged.

Let us try to be better,

For Him, and for us.

The Ridgeline

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

Life is hiking a trail along the ridge of an uncharted chain of mountains in the dark. You blindly follow a path, your vision limited to that immediately in front of you. You feel the strain of climbing its peaks and breathe in the reward of flat ground, only to lose your footing as you tumble over an edge into the deepest of valleys, left blindly swimming in a lake searching for the shore.

While it may take time, you will find yourself once again enduring the pain of climbing higher up the mountains, the end of that path lost somewhere ahead of you in the night. You climb and fall and climb and fall until the sun begins to rise, and when that light shines you are able to turn around and lay your eyes upon the path you’ve taken below you.

It is in that moment you see that there are no peaks without valleys, there are no highs without lows. Every step you have taken, every mountain you have climbed and cliff fallen over has brought you to the place you are standing. You are able to enjoy your past as a sunlit landscape in front of you.

You turn around and keep climbing, knowing the greatest reward for venturing into the unknown is glancing over your shoulder to appreciate the trail you blazed to get there.

 

An Ode to The King 

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

We’re like peas in a pod,

with bared teeth

at every unfamiliar sight.

Small only in stature,

with a heart so loving

but willing to fight.

You have helped me through days

even the blind would call dark.

The smiles you bring

when at the squirrels

on the wall you would bark,

have helped me feel warmth

even if only a spark,

to keep this fire burning

when it seemed it to finally be out,

you’re my best friend in the world King,

I can say that without doubt.

Mom says she won’t miss you

That your shedding causes her stress.

I can see her through her bullshit

Without you, she’ll be a mess.

No more scittering nails

against the hard wood floor

The company she doesn’t know she needs

someday won’t be there anymore.

I see your fur turning white now,

your strides no longer abound.

The shade in the grass seems better

than the ball rolling on the ground.

I never want to lose you,

So I’ll pretend you’re never going to end.

But no matter what happens in this life,

King,

you’ll always be my friend.

 

dim streetlights.

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

We walked the streets of some imagined imagined city.

You didn’t hold my hand. You said there was a party down the street.

I told you I didn’t want to go. That if we went we wouldn’t leave together.

You looked me in the eye and told me you didn’t need me anymore. You turned and walked away.

My subconscious knows it now.

Then why is it still so hard for me to accept?

Inspired by Neil deGrasse Tyson 

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

When it feels like the world 

is falling down around you,

remember

everything in nature is built to

endure the harshness of the seasons.

even the tides rise

and fall. 

over time even the coldest 

of winter days will make way 

for the blooms of spring 

and the bright shining light 

of the summer. 

when I listen to too much Fleetwood Mac

/ suburbanyouth / Leave a comment

they say not to invest too much of yourself

in your possessions and instead to invest in people.

though sometimes I find it hard to believe,

at least the things you own can never leave,

while those people in which you invest

more often than not leave a hole in your chest,

She asks me

boy, why do you wear that frown?

the rock on which I used to lean

now just weighs me down.

at night it feels like my heart could bleed

so i’ll sit tight and smoke my weed.

I miss you now

but not like before.

my chest aches knowing

I have to close the door.