Tentacles

The golden octopus

Contemplates the cosmos

Dances with the tentacles of time

As the ultimate trip

To be a living thing

In the time of technology

Permeates our souls with wonder

Life moves slowly

A the crustaceans crawl

These crabby types

At war with the world

But the star of the show

Is the glittering splendor

Of love unconditional

The blooming flower

Grown out of the toil

We undertake to make

Ourselves lovable

Be proud of your love

The golden octopus approves

And never will you say

I loved too much

The Mind Killer

Fear is the mind killer

It dissolves wills

And ruins lives

Combine it with

An overactive imagination

And the seeds of madness

Are sewn

But survive it long enough

And it will

Make you tough as nails

Confronting your own mortality

Day after day

Numbs the mind

To lesser dangers

That abound

In the dark places

Of the modern world

It will make you a fighter

A warrior of will

That shrugs off death

And maybe, just maybe

Allow you to become

A champion in this world

These Words

There’s a certain kind of person

That looks at a Picasso and thinks

‘My 6yr old could do better than that’

These are the same people

That look at a poem and complain

If they don’t rhyme

These are the same people

Who when they find out you’re in a band

Ask “Do you play covers or originals”

These words are not for them

There are people who get aggressive

When you acknowledge global warming

And people who hate you

For reading philosophy

These are the people who find

‘The Old Man and The Sea’ boring

Or amusingly love it for the fishing

These words are not for them

There are people with swastikas

Tattooed on their skin

Or ‘Aussie Pride’ or tribals

There are straight up racists

Women bashers and worse

These words are not for them

It takes a little faith

To believe that somewhere

There are people

Who read these words

And feel moved or entertained

Hopefully they are the beautiful people

These words are for them

Poke In The Eye

One inmate lost 40 percent vision

In one eye

One lost an eye completely

Popped right out in a fist fight

Two had swelling on the brain

And a screw copped a broken neck

The culprit getting four years

And me I had my trip

To the hospital to check

If my eye socket was broken

It wasn’t

But I keep the scar as a reminder

Of when I stood up for myself

One inmate got a broken arm

One got jugged

That is, boiling oil

Thrown over him

And me I keep my good record

As a point of pride

Of how I managed

To do five years jail

With only the one fight

Pray the rest of my time

Is as blessed

Sinners

If someone were to read to me

A list of all my sins

It would take a thousand years

And who can blame us

For defiance in the face of god

When all we know

Is all we’ve seen

We’re born this way

To shatter faith

With the weight of our actions

To be impure

And often to love it

The idea of a divine will

That set forth rules

That contradict our nature

Is to me what blasphemy

Is to those with faith

The idea of being judged

By the creator of life

Is a fools notion

What matters to me

Is what I can see and touch

The life and times

Of those connected to me

Not the scribbling of Luddites

Of an age past

So I choose

A life of careful sin

My own code of ethics

More profound to me

Than any dogma

And the joy of knowing

That I really lived

Not just scraped by

Waiting for something better

In the next life

Hell

These days under the haze

Of dragons breath

Electric, magnetic effect

Oh the consolations

Of ripest flesh

And I confess

I kill to eat

And revel in death

As he stalks my steps

As I tip-toe through the madness

Of the burnt ones

With black lungs

Broken beyond repair

And don’t for a second think

That the chips fall fair

So by all means

Reel me in

Make your problems my own

Because I am Atlas

The weight of the world

Perched effortlessly on my shoulders

And nothing much gets to me

That doesn’t concern

My family or my dream

To someday be free

And I’m quietly confident

That my ship is coming in

On time, in tune, on point

And I can say I saw hell

But it didn’t bite

I won the war

The Furnace

Another day wasted among cretins

The jail kitchen

The furnace that feeds

300 underweight crack addicts

So they come in thin

And leave with pot bellies

It’s an easy grind

Hard to fuck up

And early to finish

And the effect

On my psychology

Is amazing

More awake to the world

Than I’ve been in years

Unlimited coffee

And the leftovers

Of the staff cafeteria

“Normal person food”

After years on the slops

Is pretty special

Burgers with the lot

And bacon and eggs

On Thursday mornings

But the real win

Is to be doing something

With head and hands

To improve life

For the great unwashed

The banter between staff

Is coarse as fuck

But the feeling

At the end of the day

Is priceless

And it feels

Just a little like

I’m not wasting my life

Rotting on the inside

Kick-flips

Skate parks and broken hearts

Late nights and fist fights

What a world to live in

Where on earth to begin

Blessed in the suburbs

Rich westerners, first world problems

Never could skate stairs

And the bottom of the barrel

In the local scene

Is still better

Than a billion other lives

Plenty of food

Pens and paper

But I know there’s more

The great adventure of first world success

Career and travel

Oh yes, I want it all

The golden path

Has never looked sweeter

And though the bastards try

They can never take

The simple joy of living

From my soul

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

When my time comes

Let me be healthy, wealthy and wise

Let me proud

But not ruled by pride

Let me be handsome

On the in and the outside

Let me show love

With no remorse

Let me stay

Right on course

Let me laugh

Without the nervous grin

Let me be safe

Let me have a win

Let me be a man

Who worked for his name

Let me be a man

Who for god sake stays sane

Let me honor my family

Repay what they’ve done

Let me be the best version of me

Let me have some fun

But most of all

Let me be happy and free

For the rest of my days

Black Hearts

It seems that everywhere I’m surrounded

By black hearts

As us horrible menfolk                  

So twisted by the pain

Of modern life

Wage war on the world

Not caring who we hurt

Or how we live in the eyes of others

On our bloody decent into hell

And it’s not just where I find myself

In the outcasts and the sinners

But the men in suits

Pulling the strings

That live without light

Given up on love

Save for power

Forever chasing

The carrot on the stick

Just one more dollar

Just one more promotion

Just one more fix

Are they any different?

From the straw men they build up to burn

Am I any different?

With how little I care

For the concerns of my peers

Or the deeds I have done

But always there is hope

When I think of the angels

Life has blessed me with

And see the women of the world

So caring and pure

The ying to our black heart yang

Taking the reins of power

And overcoming evil

Little by little

Piece by piece

So that some of us horrible men folk

Can rekindle hope

That our hearts will be black no more

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