art

Gravebook

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How often do dead bodies fill up my newsfeed
As I feed on news substituting my views
With antiquated rules where we forget to let love grow
Forget that this garden is ours to sow
Yet instead trample on opportunity
We kill our own community
Behind constructed immunity through conjured excuses
Now with bullets instead of nooses

As we’re too afraid to embrace one another
Based on a color
As if pigmentation is reason to smother this chance of a new day
A chance to say it’ll be okay

Yeah, we fucked up and made so many mistakes
But today we can choose to overcome our hates
In attempt to become more than what we were
To finally stir up a sense of love over darkness
Sharing bliss
Not in loneliness, but finally together as we weather the storms
Whether for better or worst we all deserve this chance to live

—
Photographer: Greg Ortega

Direction

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This is called the upswing
A rare chance to bring a sense of calm to a chaotic mind
A chance to bring action to the forefront of delayed decisions
Procrastinated visions
Dreams once cherished, now left in stitches
Thoughts perished and wishes diminished in Death’s rope
Now nearly too late for hope as time keeps trotting ahead

Now presented a choice to either bring light to what’s in my head
Or choose to lose dreams in the nighttime
Tell people it’s all fine
But once I face myself in some sunlight
The pain comes back with twice the fight

But alas, it’s all alright since I’m here now
Gratitude aware as power grows on the daily
With perhaps a chance to save me
Before falling back into darkness with the strongest fear
That bliss was missed
That I saw Love, then kissed it goodbye

—
Photographer: Jens Lelie

Finding a Reason

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How forgotten is every peaceful breath
In the face of senseless death reported on the news
No longer a game to win or to lose
But simply one to live

Let this be a reminder to those lazy days
The ones lost in clouds of haze
All the pounds you’ve gained
When instead you could have flown
Could have shown the world these dreams you’ve sown
As you’ve grown into the hero of this escapade
This grand charade
Playing as if you’ve got it made

Because in many ways you do
Now that you’re aware of all there is to lose
A love to share only if you choose to start living

—
Photographer: davide ragusa

Step by Step

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It goes one-two
First the right, then the left
As you walk into flow
This feeling you used to know
When it didn’t matter how hard the problem was
Or how you’ve taken it slow
No
Now let me show the story of how you chose to grow

Into the hero who maintains his smile
His glowing warmth through toughest trials
All the while maintaining a sense of urgency until his final scene
Playing the act with normalcy
As if to dream is just to breathe

—
Photographer: Lacey Raper

Pendulum

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So you think you have it all figured out
As if you’ve conquered all your doubts

Well, here’s the reminder that with your head in the clouds
It gets difficult to stay grounded
To focus on conquering mountains

As time’s clock keeps ticking down
While you regret useless wishing
When instead you could have grown
Could have chosen to act
Thrown a universal effort
At all which holds you back

In fact, you’re doing it right now
As you sit and rhyme out of the downswing
Up into this new swing

—
Photographer: Ben Ostrowsky

Feel Change

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So you think marijuana can ease the pain found in your brain
But you still don’t realize that everything is change
There is no moment that will ever be the same
So when will you change course
Move towards your dreams
Feel this force as it tears and screams against the apathy
Listen to me
This game is coming to an end, you see
No, not about prophecy but your own heart’s beat
Tick tock, from birth until defeat

When will you grow into more than what you feel tonight
Working through the day and night
Bringing light to what you could see
Letting your own heart sing free
No longer trapped consuming society’s
Constructed views on how to live and how to breathe
But think up new philosophies

Time to plant new trees
With a message for the future to nurture these sutures
Marking a cursory example of what it means to trample on self-doubt
Self-hate can’t stop gravitation towards gratitude
A new kind of attitude
That puts Love first

—
Photographer: Roksolana Zasiadko

Before the Fall

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Denial
To the point it becomes impossible to ignore this downward spiral
as if I was given a trial and chose to throw it
poor decisions clearly show it
of course I know it
I see this light marking the path of right
yet in the mirror I cower at the sight
of looking into the resultant shape from these regretful nights
as if I could forget those who already lost their life

Ben had a smile for the ages
he’d be my age today
but instead he’s passed away
three years, now in a grave

I owe it to him to live brave
I owe it to him to live
with my heart on my sleeve

Self hate and disdain too easy to grow
yet instead let me update my flow
shift my perspective away from the hate that I’ve come to know
and return to love

—

Photographer: María Victoria Heredia Reyes

A Polar Life

Passion gets dulled in attempts to maintain conformity
fear of unknown constrict the range of possibility

Inability to embrace a dynamic perspective
fails the ultimate lesson that growth does not end
until death’s frigid fingers grasp the final breath
how often do we bet on having tomorrow’s time
too often blind of the blurry line
between an external environment and an internal mind
deluding ourselves with the idea of separation
when instead, it’s vibration

Once forgotten, yet now in flow
now aware of the inseparability of yes and of no
sense made from difference,
we live as both actor and the show

—
Photographer: Joshua Earle

I was inspired to write this after watching the amazing movie, Dead Poet’s Society.

Perspective Flow


Still painting these stories of illusion
as if life had the option of choosing left from right
dark from light
as if it wasn’t too late to feel change
to feel sane
in days oh so strained
how much time spent complaining that it wasn’t meant to be
cursing the idea of destiny, letting the rest of me
die so slowly

Suicide’s a funny thing when you do it in hiding
not all at once, but over multiple timings
how many lies were told in the hastening of my death
a death guaranteed
one that needs no help

When did it become so easy to give up
to say I’m done and that none of this matters
making all the wrong choices while continually creating regrets
impulsive moments I’d rather forget, but no, not yet!
my heart still beats deep in my chest
lest I beget the failure I so deeply fret

Instead let me fall into fear to put my anxieties to rest
with hesitations no longer on my breath
once afraid of change, swimming in a world of unknown depth
now without much different, just a divergent step

—
Photographer: Alex Wigan

Oh

Next chapter
life’s moving faster
my mind still trying to keep up with all this change
oh how I wish for it all to stay the same
but oh, that’s just a fool’s game
thinking I can simply maintain sanity
with the same frame on repeat
no growth ’till I’m six feet deep

No

For in this moment, I am alive
oh, so alive
at one point defeated, but now ready to rise
eyes sky-bound
no limit’s too high now
ready to fly now
been on this runway for so long
it’s time to take off
time to grow and see what I got
so let me know that I never forgot
all that led to this
this momentary loving bliss