philosophy

Nice to Hear From You Again

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Your freshest album plays a reinvention of music
Recreation of momentary self expression
Absorbed in flow, this continuous show
To grow every dream like blades of grass tipped in frosted snow
Seasonal depression, no longer in tow
I remember now these feelings I used to know

Welcome
Welcome once more melody over tragedy
Footsteps on the path to be, taking me from land to sea
Naivety of crafting dreams
As I’m no longer passing these opportunities to live and breathe
Deep breath in, then relieve, shift in focus how to perceive
Life, death, and the time between

—
Photographer: James Pond

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

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

Time to Give a Fuck

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So which path are you walking
Or are you just talking
Just balking at the effort required to move forward
Can you even move toward the dreams in your mind
Spending each day crafting what you’ll find
It’s time to stop using all the same rhymes
But write something new
Something fresh for you to view
Evolving into future scenes to either win or to lose
It doesn’t matter which, so long as you choose

To give a fuck
To stop blaming luck

Counting all your chickens before they hatch or even cluck
Why the fuck are you not holding onto each passing second
With each progressive perspective
Vision hectic, biased dialectics
Death, despair rampant

Can you even stop this
Hopelessness

Find a way to make new bliss
As I write to remember those who thrived
Write to cherish those who died before high noon’s rise to sunshine
Closed eyes, perished without a goodbye
A moment missed in shared life

—

RIP Christina Grimmie and The Patrons of Pulse

—

Photographer: Lukas Budimaier