happiness

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

A New Day

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Self imagination introduces the hero to the story
Makes a life that was so boring and crafts it into this new moment
When blurry reflections come into view
A mirage broken as I strew denial into the distance
As I bear witness to shifts in consciousness
No longer bearing regret alongside mindfulness
Aware of gratitude alongside this single bliss

That we’ll miss if we’re not careful to hold on
And let go all at the same time
That’s why I’m stuck with all the same rhymes
All the same thoughts escaping from my mind
Desperate attempts to make sense of future and past tense
Fate and happenstance
Death’s lonely dance

With only a moment to share

—
Photographer: Redd Angelo

Sunrise

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Now cleaning up the act
Got tired growing slack
When always looking back at the past
A fast progression of consequential lessons and
This is a confession I haven’t been paying attention

Even though I keep writing myself these rhymes
Still deaf to every note
As if simply smoking could bring change
How deranged must I be to think sitting idle could inspire

Just a single variable in an unknown equation
Of pains and elations
Loves and frustrations
Words with both positive and negative connotations
Depending on who you ask

Are you aware of the task at hand
Or are you still blind to the blurry line of an impossible attempt of living with a sane mind
When there is loss every day
No longer okay just to say
“Eh, it doesn’t bother, no not today
Seeing death on the news is simply scheduled dismay
So I’ll put on a big smile and let love last a while
‘Cause sometimes life is easier to live in denial”

—
Photographer: Ales Krivec

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

A Hero’s Origin Story

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What makes you think there’s time left
For extra breaths
As if the answer simply comes next
Without focused action
Now that urgency is in-demand
‘Cause life’s no longer on-demand
What else is left to understand
But moving forward hand in hand

You already know that if you don’t pivot
You’ll die much sooner than later
This bowl you’re hitting won’t bring change
The way acting will
Not something you can pray for, but work for
Toward more soaring with less deploring
Your own mirror’s gaze
Recognize these limited days
And become the hero whom changed your ways

—

Photographer: Jeremy Thomas

Dear Life, Please Slow Down

 

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You consume, you create, then you die
On the drop of a dime
That’s why I fill out each line at that end of each rhyme
‘Cause who knows when’s the last time
For a chance to sigh at past signs leading to this moment
Never grasped, yet oh so golden

Battle scars beholden to past decisions
Divisions of the heart and the soul
Of the part and the whole
Prepped with everything ready to go
Yet cold feet got me running before the start of the show

Too scared to move forward when yesterday’s mistakes grow colder
Once ahead, now back two, soon back three
What happened to the me I dream myself to be
Inner galaxies growing into astral scenes
Worry-free mentalities

I need a moment to stop and freeze

—

Photographer: María Victoria Heredia Reyes

The Grand Distraction

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Not now
not dead yet
none left to fret with work left to finish
cause I’m not yet diminished to the ashes
of burnt out passions
of past lives lost in forgetting
what is this-ness

Know this to be more than what consciousness can comprehend
no more pretending in how we view Society
in how we view the You and Me
the gap between our eyes that see
galaxies
hidden fallacies
carefully balancing
attempts to understand reality

With continous days unknowingly numbered
we play at living infinite

–
Photographer: Jordan McQueen