Some days I’m out here
Wishing I was more conventional
My manhood for entertainment purposes only
We survived our youth
Do feminists still wear pink lingerie?
For the private use of their audience
Not to be used without their expressed written consent
Sliced limes from a rusty-handled dagger
Placing erratic value on worn objects
Mundane property holders for our words
Soaking quietly into the meaning of the text
The sun still feels warm even at this hour
Tangible heaviness keeps the mind sane
We survived; regardless your thoughts on America
Tomorrow we return to fight, so others may remain
We used to know the truth
The fundamentals of our lives
Misplaced inspiration in youth
We, the lost children, who survived
Abandoned by artists searching for gold
Forgetting the dream of accepting yourself
Never admitting we’ve grown this old
Rejection of impending imperial wealth
Fuck your republicans & democrats
Those who sold the vision with betrayal
Insensitive bastards of a Cheshire Cat
Unsteady appeasement & divided we fail
Shipwrecked.
Isolated on foreign shores since then
Surrounded by predators
Judgement & leers by creepy men
Can only do her best to survive
Keeping quiet in their midst
Don’t want to provoke the beast
Won’t fade to obscurity she insists
It’s complicated to remain equal
These days one must be agile
She keeps them at bay with a grin
While remaining firm but not fragile
Drinking with the Harbormaster
Regurgitating things only the ocean knows
Freedom can’t be created any faster
Beauty survives rarely as wild as the rose
Have we forgotten that we’re a rebellious people
Cashing checks under a drifter’s pseudonym
But together, we race across time, surviving
Embracing the unity of singing outlawed hymns
Lately, crying about a falsified history
Disillusioned, disappointed, disingenuous
I have no faith in movements and isms
They’re tinged with the superfluous
I believe in honor & service to the people
Treat each as an individual, never a group
Freedom & liberty distilled down to purest forms
Or else, we’ll see this hatred played out in an endless loop
*Here’s another older one that I think we could all use the message in these trying times.
I see the Eastern rise
Ladies seem to like my charm
I wink at the one with cute eyes
But I’m swinging from the yardarm
The officers didn’t feel the same
They wanted me keelhauled
Thinking this would end my shame
But pirates survive & they remain appalled
It’s a sparse paradise these days
Feeling another season coming on
Not supposed to feel like this
At least that’s the way we’ve been drawn
She’s still the poor pretty rich girl
Never could get off the same page
Repeat struggles to survive
Tripping on my lines; a vapid stage
Reality is an emotion detached from my soul
You never needed everyone to love you
Instilled confidence to merely exist
Forethought is a luxury that might just be true
Transcripts of the past’s failures
We’ve learned, but not out of society’s grip
False starts & then some
Rising, but we’re still not quite hip
Another day of cold coffee & inspirational songs
I’m trying to survive with all my might
I’m not looking to be acceptable
Merely wishing to cherish what’s in my sight
Ink smudges quietly upon my palms
Unsure of my words, failing with adequate prose
Years fall into decades, but still
I’m flailing; conjuring an incomplete rose
The muse sits rocking, mocking
She struts out of reach of what I believe
Taunting me to sell my soul in angst
So I cover my typewriter in a sheet of Celtic weave
Dancing socialites & reformed ladies
Choices of the malevolently absurd
Not really what you figured to be
Those weren’t the chances you heard
Life tries to knock us all off
The rugged seem tenacious & alive
Tapping toes with your perfect partner
Where do we step when we want to survive
The summer is already sweltering
I’m trying to survive, so I have nothing on
The neighbor lady won’t stop staring
Perhaps I shouldn’t be out here watering my lawn

These are the only days we can still see
Taking strides forward whether or not it rains
Dry rotted ponchos & other survival gear
Though its through our capacity to forgive that we’ll remain
Timid changes to the way we survive
Ducking our heads when the water finally rises
Perpetual fatigue ponders if we’re still alive
Each heartbeat wrapped within fervent surprises
Another day emerges from the absence of light
This mug of swill – my only source of heat
Creaking past the endless repetition of night
Punch drunk, but still standing; never admitting defeat
Surviving by the bright light of day
Pouring coffee directly into my weary eyes
Can’t sleep at night since I must remain alert
Anxious; trying to hide my soul’s invisible cries
Gathering my wits to merely successfully exist
Waiting for the other shoe to drop & Hell to begin
Tired of cowering away in forgotten silence
Appearing strong since no one sees the enemy within
Morning is everything
Coming down to hope
Surviving the trials of night
Finding the means to cope
We’ve survived another night
I wake to pinks, purples & blues
The Almighty with a new creation
When She draped the sky in royal hues
Stretching, creaking & yawning
With chaos falling all around me
Rising slowly before dust settles
It’s time to pour myself fresh coffee
My eye keeps twitching
My soul being crushed by this stress
No one wants to hear my bitching
Pondering how to get out of this mess
I’ve got to look out for #1
Everyone else is doing the same
Need to survive until the setting sun
I’ve always heard I’m in a losing game
Life doesn’t have to be difficult
It’s not easy or perfect or always fun
Often times we must merely survive
It’s all a cycle – a promise of a rising sun
Keep vigilant & maintain the good fight
Anything is possible when you have hope
Let us go into battle hand in hand
But first – a quickie would really help me cope
I don’t really have an answer, Ma’am
I’m struggling to survive, just like you
A little poetry, doused with morning coffee
I hope to find the strength to make it through
The walls closing in
Pressure squeezing my thoughts
Expectations no longer exist
Expired potential is all I’ve got
I’m trying to survive
In spite of all this turmoil
A slight focus on my life
Confirming my soul won’t spoil
Hobnobbing on a summer’s day
Listening to a calm Pan flute
Barefooted on the peaceful grass
But this heat makes it all moot
Ignoring all the world’s hate
We choose love above all the static
Holding on for a moral life
Survival in this society is never automatic
Let us survive these dog days
The warmth still rising up to a boil
I’d rather be walking down the beach
But I’m forced to relentlessly toil
I wish to be holding your hand
As we walk in the evening’s glow
Soft words filled with eternal promises
For your love is the last I’ll ever know
Strapped into a mourning gown
That might survive our winter garden
Rebasing all these dreams
This predicament has begun to harden;
I beg your pardon
Slowly peeling off your layers
Caught us in a lightning storm
Feeling excited electricity
Between our adrenalized forms
Standing naked before the darkness
Illuminated only by midnight flashes
Perfection within a moment
Emotion dripping from your eyelashes
Great American notebook
Time to add our verse
Or merely help to tread water
While we all survive
Ringing the ship’s bell
Putting on warm tunes
Honing the proper words
To elevate our voice
The molten life-sustaining elixir
Down the gullet another cup is poured
Pitch black; the only way to drink
An awakening that just won’t be ignored
Stretching my arms into the morning
Reaching to take the sun in my embrace
Another sip; life will be mine
Success is surviving; sunshine on your face
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
For whom the Bell Jar tolls
Chasing demons down the dark hall
Scratching an itch until it bleeds
Beyond a fantasy that wasn’t there at all
Never letting the imposter take hold
Growing larger in our own impression
Sizing up unquestioned confidence
Surviving in spite of a soul’s transgression
I am a seeker of truth
In the darker moments of existence
When our souls are hurt
& freedom is at an unfathomable distance
Broken frameworks & deep mistrust
Will you take me home after I’ve done my bit
Honesty is the only way we’ll survive
Open & earnest with the unblemished truth of it
Quietly, the most awkward person I know
Never sure how to handle a situation
Constantly judging myself & my actions
Forcing myself deeper into this alienation
Watching all the pretty people succeed
Just trying to survive, I’m happy I’m still here
No one wants to discuss the darkness within
But here I am, attempting to confront my fears
Guiding honor of the fallen
Valkyries of the night
With ragged & rugged wings
Taking to unheralded flight
They’ve had their wars
They returned, albeit broken
Surviving the tragic game
Internalizing words not spoken
Silenced trumpets by the side
Undying love of those who protect
Can’t fathom the burdens they carry
& for everything, you have my respect
I don’t know what the hell I’m doing
I’m just trying to feel my way through
This existence offers many pitfalls
Working within our struggles, those Blues
There’s only one way to survive here
You’ve got to continue to fight your urges
Finding the right path to paradise
Piecing together words to sing the dirty dirges
Don’t tell them the bad things
For they’ll never understand
Unfair portraits of emotion
Feeling adrift & wholly damned
Hopelessness internalized
It is a matter for us to resolve
Into the trenches to survive
With only love to absolve
We’re all the villains
Each & every citizen with a vote
We’ve allowed our nation to dwindle
Expecting democracy to survive by rote
But we can still change out the actors
Hope in action is exactly what we need to do
Purge the Capital of all the politicians
I declare we need Capra’s Washingtonian view
“All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.”
― James Baldwin
Captain Q 