The Novelty

He’s a writer,
A poet,
A novelty,
But he’s unpublished,
Invalidated,
I wonder if I could play the game?
Do I need the obsession?
Vulnerable to the fickle opinion of strangers,
Could I stand the rejection letters?
Could I stand the bad reviews?
Could I stand the poor sales?
Could I stand to be misunderstood?
Could I stand to be ignored?
The jaded agents and publishers who have
seen it all before,
Could I compromise to fit their market?
Their commercial demographic,
Sign your life away fool,
Don’t quit your day job just yet,
Congratulations you’re just increased your debts,
Could I stand the bitchiness of other writers?
Could I stand their spite?
I’m the unpublished writer and poet with
an audience of one,
‘Dare to fail’ people say with eyes equally
full of cliché,
But when you set goals to measure success you
invite the concept of failure,
And failure makes you stop doing that thing,
That once was therapeutic,
That once was fun,
Success is when what you want to say appears
on the page in front of you,
Like this.

Going back

In that painful moment of hurt you swear
you’ll never forgive,
In that raging moment of anger you swear you’ll
never forget,
That wound,
That insult,
Never going back to that place,
Never going back to that person,
But during the separation the bruising fades,
The pain subsides,
Your curiosity forces you to reappraise,
To reacquaint,
Your return is cathartic,
An exorcism,
You’re empowered by your choice to forget,
Made stronger by your ability to forgive,
And you start again.

Selfishness saves lives

Selfishness saves lives. We’re under pressure to think of other people first. To put our needs last. Doing what you want to do is seen as an act of selfishness. Instead you are supposed to do things you don’t want to do just to please others. A cloudy sense of duty forces you to conform. However, selfishness is a misused word. Accusations of selfishness are a common weapon used in emotional blackmail. If you set yourself up as a selfless generous person, you’re setting yourself up for a disappointment. The ’if I’m kind to everyone, everyone will be kind to me’ philosophy hopefully goes only as far as the first betrayal. The human animal is very difficult to please. You can go right out of your way to please them and they still resent it. It’s a terrible thing to realise that that you have wasted years trying to make everyone else happy (mostly in vain) at the expense of your own happiness. Putting your own happiness first is not such a heartless action. The only person you really have any control over is yourself. Do as much to make yourself happy as possible. A contented person is a strong person and a strong person is an inspiration. If making time for yourself is selfish then the concept of selfishness is wrong. Selfishness saves lives.

The chip

Everyone has a chip on their shoulder. You don’t get this far without having some personal grievance with life. Too fat? Too ugly? Did circumstances conspire against you somewhere down the line? You can feel good but then you start thinking about it. You remember. The chip on your shoulder rears its ugly head to spoil your happiness. Often it’s something too embarrassing and painful to talk about. You don’t want people to bring it up. Identify it and confront yourself about it. You might find some better way of dealing with it or even a way to put it behind you for good. Remember, everyone has a chip on their shoulder but they hide it well. They would sooner have you believe they are perfect.

Dimebag

He spoke for the last time to his brother,
Then took that final walk on stage,
The gunman rushed out of the crowd,
Firing,
Firing,
Firing,
He lay dead,
His guitar still alive and screaming,
He was my hero,
We had never met but still I felt bereaved,
He died for nothing,
For no reason,
But to millions of fans he will never die,
I’ll remember him forever,
Listen to him forever,
You showed me what it was all about.
Thank you.

Reminders

My Granddad Alf went to sea on a hospital ship
when war broke out,
My Granddad Les went into Europe with the Artillery,
They saw death and destruction in a war that
affected the whole world,
They didn’t know when it would end,
They didn’t know if they would even survive,
All they knew was that they had no choice,
When I think I’ve got it bad,
When I think that life sucks,
I look at the photos they gave me,
Black and white photos taken in
dangerous places,
They are smiling.
And so do I.

Everything is everywhere

Tired of these same streets,
Tired of these same people,
But streets like these are everywhere,
People like this are everywhere,
You could travel to the end of the earth and it would be
just as familiar,
They would be as familiar,
Everything is everywhere.

In one sentence or less

We sum up each others lives in one sentence or less,
Their failings are the most interesting aspect of their lives,
We want to dish the dirt,
The scandal,
That friendly guy you just met?
His wife left him,
That girl who served us coffee?
She used to be an alcoholic,
One mean little sentence to sum up an entire life,
Like a jaded tabloid reporter focusing on what
sells papers,
Who cares how long ago it was?
Who cares if your version is inaccurate?
And how we bristle when it’s done to us.

Under the regime

We are living under the regime,
There has to be a regime or chaos would reign,
There has to be leaders,
There has to be people in charge,
People who answer to no one,
These people must make every bad decision possible,
These people must create problems for those living under
the regime,
These people must not care,
The people at the top must have no empathy for the people
at the bottom,
The people at the bottom must dislike and distrust the people at the top,
The leaders have the power,
They can do what they like,
They can make it very difficult for the individual,
They have the authority,
We live on under the regime.

Fragile attacker

Fragile attacker,
Made of paper,
Insulting you,
Provoking you,
You take a deep breath and blow,
They crash to the ground,
Mortally wounded,
They attack but retaliation
cripples them,
In their fantasy world it's a
one way street,
You have no right to defend yourself,
Against such a fragile attacker.

Boy racer funeral

Boy-racer funeral,
His friends stand with their heads bowed in
respect for the fallen hero,
That is the friends that weren’t in the car at the time,
In the fireball,
What a terrible accident,
But is overtaking on the brow of a hill whilst
racing a stranger an accident?
Or an act of gross stupidity?
Eye witness reports claimed his car was doing
over a hundred,
It was a miracle that no one in the oncoming car was killed,
The other boy-racer saw what happened and kept going,
Five boys were killed,
Aged between 17 and 20,
His mother and father weep uncontrollably,
But they can’t forget what the police said,
And they can’t forget about the other boys who died with him,
Because of him,
They can’t forget that it’s a boy-racer funeral.

Never been

Never been a learner driver,
Never been new to the job,
Never been nervous,
Never made a mistake,
Never lied your way out,
Never hurt someone's feelings,
Never felt stupid,
Never felt lonely,
Never cried,
We choose to forget these things,
They impair our desire to gloat.

A good son

No stolen property in the wardrobe,
No needle marks in the arm,
No unwanted pregnancies,
Never stole money from you,
Never stole a car,
Never phoned you from the cells,
Whatever else you may think;
You've got a good son.

It's amazing how they justify

It's amazing how they justify,
It's amazing how they make it alright,
Turn it around on you,
Make you the answerable one,
They keep on justifying,
Blocking out the truth and repeating the lie,
Continued deception,
Lies are weapon,
To conceal,
It's amazing how they justify.

Shut the hospitals

Shut the hospitals,
Close the schools,
Make it easier to die,
Make it harder to be educated,
Is this all part of the masterplan?
Make them ill,
Make them stupid,
Make them easier to control,
The last thing you want is too many
strong and intelligent citizens,
They would overthrow you in an afternoon.

We the persecuted

We the persecuted,
Ill and opressed,
Targets they cannot miss,
Keep us down,
Keep the whining dogs quiet,
Show us the futility in resistance,
Use us,
Grind us,
Silence us,
Let repetition blind us,
So that we can't see that
we are the persecuted.

Don't wage war on your enemies

Don’t wage war on your enemies,
That takes guts.
Wage war on your friends,
Your loved ones,
Take your frustration out on them,
Erode unity,
Erode love,
Punish the innocent to avenge
Your spineless handling of the guilty.

Death of a romance

Death of a romance,
Ruin of a friendship,
Wrong emotions,
Wrong words,
Misunderstandings unresolved,
So easy to feud,
So easy to hate,
So easy to destroy,
Those you once confided in,
Those you once loved;
Are now targets,
Cease communication,
Take sides,
Guilty by association,
Analyse every moment you spent with them,
Every word spoken,
Beat your chest,
Cover your sense of loss with
Delusions of innocence and perfection,
It couldn’t possibly have been anything you did.