How do we leave the living?
Thoughts on life & what’s left undone
Trampled petals & forgotten scars
Knowing the sun cannot be outrun
How will we be remembered?
Comforted; knowing Jesus saves
Settle into being a compassionate soul
For we all end up wallowing in the grave
Surrounding myself with ancient friends
Wisdom & experiences laid upon my shelf
Bare for all to quietly consume
Providing a chance for a better version of self
Absorbing past lives without pause
Silhouettes of women from long ago
Angst from existential rights in time
Visions of dreams I wish to forgo
These books are mere placeholders
For the contents of my heart upon hardwood
Gentle reminders of our former intellect
& the hope we might return to being good
I’m trying to live the good life
Exposing my heart, no matter how raw
No need to hide how I’m feeling
Coaxing compassion, so the world might thaw
Standing upright in spite of society
A little shook, but I’m still alive
Move past their hatred & negativity
Within the scope of kindness we’ll thrive
“Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor… Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.”
–Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
There’s magic in knowing the soul
you cannot live without
Is more precious than anything in front of you
The inability to cease from a scream or shout
The seas have parted
Allowing visions to reach us within earshot
You can only see the beauty of a cherished soul
Neither are we perfect, but we’re all we’ve got
Translucence when we slumber
Taken away to the shores of our dreams
The impossible comfort of paradise
Allowing for beliefs to be more than they seem

Waking early before the morning
Monitoring the world, as I sip my achromatic brew
The front window, my porthole to beyond
From this security, I decipher what is true
I try to formulate tangible creations
Converting inspiration into mere words
Observations from my suburban perch
Sharing stories with Poe’s bleak-hued bird
Writing down the secrets she might share
Enlivening my dreams on this quiet block
Churning thoughts into hopeful spools
In which might allow my mind to dynamically unlock
I reject most of society’s notions
With no desire to live by the sword
I feel no need to prove myself
I shall put eternal trust in my Lord
I follow my own path these days
Oscar Wilde said I could only be me
A world of distractions & hate
But, only through love can we be free
So you think you want to be wild
But you’ve never left the city gates
Living within such structure
Organizing a lush, manicured fate
Pushing forth the semblance of influence
Yet, outwardly needing to create a scene
Dreaming of an adventurous existence
& what breaking free could possibly mean
Don’t succumb to the pitfalls
Don’t seek permission to live clean
We all owe the future an honest try
To what might be; not as was once seen
Thoughts of another calendar year
The hopes & dreams you wish to achieve
Dropping needless burdens – disappear
Regrouping; returning to what you believe
How do we move forward toward our goal
To be resolute & live to be heart-whole
***
Authentically alive with a smile & a pure soul
To my beloved friends
Though we live in far off places
& may not have the honor
Of gracing each other’s faces
The sands of time are finite
& we have so many demands
On how we spend each grain
Whether I’m at sea or on dry land
Yet know, I keep you with me
Close to this weary heart
Gather in for a New Years’ toast
Opportunity for a fresh start
But the simple fact is grace is unearned
We live our lives as if we’re undeterred
Ignorant to sin & repercussions thereafter
Yet hoping for the winds to remain unstirred
Truth & love are bound to our dreams
The inconvenient reality of the harsh pain of day
Trudging through our irksome tasks
Bright light stuns us into a stuttering delay
Fall to your knees in complete repentance
Submit your soul to the warmth of His sunshine
Release the burden of mortal expectation
Forever embrace the perfect love of the Divine
Loosen the screws
Scale down the intensity
You’re living too stressed
As is your propensity
Kick off your shoes
No purpose for those heels
Time for a life change
Soak in something you can feel
Walk a ways with me
Let the sunshine impede
My hand; avoid the tide
For this is all you need
Paddling around the remotest parts
Looking for hope where there’s no merriment
Our souls evaporating in the open air
Put through this vise of a social experiment
Living out here minus the love & support
There’s only so much a man can endure
Mother Nature whirling up the darkest storms
Blowing away my dreams I’m terribly sure
Hey, hey, hey, pretty mama
Please send me some news
It’s lonesome out here
I’ve got the middle of the ocean blues
Thankful for a little spit of dry land
Feeling a bit wobbly & out of sorts
Having a nice cold one under a palm
Time to recharge my batteries in this port
Soon enough, we’ll be back floating
Feeling the Earth’s rotation upon this burn
Long days of sweat & toiling work
Wearing my body out before I return
Hey, hey, hey, pretty mama
Please send me some news
It’s lonesome out here
I’ve got the middle of the ocean blues
Focused on your insignificant flaws
In which no one else will ever see
Characteristics making you unique
Unchain your conscience & live free
Allow someone to finally love you
Let them express how they truly feel
No longer settle for defective models
Expect a beautiful life to always be real
I’m tired of all the mouthpieces & talking heads
I don’t trust anything on the network news
Congress & corporations are intertwined
Aimed at denying our dreams if they could choose
But I’m not going to buy into their systems
I’m not going to line up for them to call me by name
We have to figure out a better way
Or we’ll all be taken under by institutionalized shame
I don’t want to live in a world propelled by evil
I believe this hateful environment is only getting hotter
Can we not treat our neighbors as equals
What kind of world are we leaving for our daughters?
I’m so happy, I’ll dance you a jig
With my eyes open, these dreams so big
Still living this life with childhood eyes
Truth always revealed as the tears dried
Sailing ships, battered by wind & storm
Ignoring reason, logic & the accepted norm
Life gets hectic, it’s often a terrible mess
Never grow up, push past into happiness
Fairy influence & the magic it might behold
Let us go now & create a story that’s yet untold
Where love & insanity will always meet
The freedom within our wild heartbeats
Close your eyes, finding something lost
Your favorite memory forever embossed
Tossed into slumbering pages of a book
Captive audiences held by Captain Hook
The golden cutlass, the prize of his plunder
Sharp, but wit marks our Boy Wonder
The best things in life are never planned
Without remorse, we return to Neverland
I love what’s feminine for its own beautiful sake
Walking out into Mother Nature & breathing in Earth
I’m collecting thoughts & addicted to smiling
A deliberate course to truly live ever since my birth
Feeling the distinct notion of life’s pulse
To emerge from here unbroken & mostly unscathed
To seek out joy & embrace hope where it lives
A stroll in pure sunshine; to be regeneratively bathed
No longer shall I listen to competing voices
I’m going to soak up compassion until I’m through
Outside of the distractions, I’ll grow softer
Finding contentment admits love’s eternal residue
Forgotten in the ether
Against the stones on the shore
Fatigue hitting hard at sunrise
Before the day might restore
You cannot outlive a memory
Our fates left to a diminished chance
Bound to the sea by luck or force
Drifting silently with suspicious circumstance
Dog eared postcards & other totems
Words from home to quench the tide
Meandering scribbles in the margin
Dreading the prospect of another ride
Even if you have failed
This life isn’t a total loss
You can always get get back up
When you’re living under the cross
I’m sitting here morose
Reading pages & thumbing my nose
Bored by the status quo
Breaking off from the path we chose
I’m searching for a worthy woman
To take by the waist & forever dance
Who desires to explore love
& live by the seat of her underpants
Once upon a suburban street
Where we lived, loved & laughed
Summer comes early in Jax
So, this house no longer has a draft
Warmth lets me resume my natural being
Yet windows aren’t doors; they’re see-through
I strut along, giving my neighbors
A bit more than a casual view
But the machine will keep on rolling
Until we end the tolerance of systematic lies
This is the only chance we have here
Life is not lived if it ends in a tempered sigh
I’m trying to live free & clear
While you sit around watching C-Span
Glorifying the criminals on the Hill
I refuse, I say no, I say, “Damn The Man!”
There’s no need to get bogged down
By the regime or other Negative Nancy
Our world is tough enough these days
Our lives aren’t here to stroke some evil fancy
Unfolding broken dreams
The distant & diluted flow
Our hopeless choices astound
The truth? We still don’t know
But we can never give up
Clinging to the last of our visions
Memories cultivated on dark nights
Leaving us exposed with obvious incisions
How do you translate a morning
When your soul bears undiagnosed pain
Scars from a life well lived
For in the end, disillusioned cannot remain
Longboarding in a sundress
Unusual, yes, but don’t complain
She’s free within her soul
A spiritual moment in the rain
Do not hinder
Those who are not afraid
Let them live as they please
For you motivate when you forbade
We’re trying to stretch out & live
Embracing the crispness of the blue sky
Let the sun wash over us once more
Let us live without any more reasons to cry
Rubbing their fingers over the stereo knob
The frequencies distorted on the airwaves
Kings of the new world & thus apocalyptic
Searching for something more pragmatic to crave
These technocrats with no concept of reality
Tasking – without offering an alternate fate
Demanding citizens for homages to be digital
With no power to control – or else we attenuate
Words of peace have the chance to amplify
Even when we’re feeling out of time/out of sync
Don’t need their fiber optic lies to survive
A blind man loses all when forced to blink
Tapping into a passion without any circuits
Our transistors are live; we’re lovers thus discrete
There’s no stopping us when their signal’s weak
There’s nothing but fire & sparks when our wires meet
This life is forever altered now we’re here
Do not attempt to adjust the squelch
You’re listening to Radio Free America
Standing proud & robust like Raquel Welch
Life isn’t as perfect as we make it seem
It gets a little messy outside our dreams
But newly rise in the early morning hours
Sex sweat/coffee fueled; ready for a shower
Time to live – life isn’t somethin’ you can stream
The flowers are drinking
The sky is leaking like a sieve
Don’t kick the caps off mushrooms
For that’s where the fairies live
Riding out these rough seas
Trying to shield our shipwrecked daughters
Storms moving in on us rather quickly
Feeling hell’s heat & it’s only getting hotter
From port to port, not knowing where to go
Living free & clear is the only way to live
Every day out on this cleansing ocean
I pray to the Lord, in the chance He might forgive
Stop telling me
How to live my life
Your organic kale yoga
Won’t end this strife
I’m 3 dimensional
Not an internet meme panda
Your trendy solutions
Are merely hipster propaganda
*This is an older poem. It has nothing to do with the image, but clearly an excuse to display one of my favorite memes. Please don’t twist my words or meaning. We should all be trying to eradicate hatred in the world through love each and every day.
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
― Henry David Thoreau
“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.”
― Albert Einstein
Captain Q 