A Heart Felt Message

A Heart-felt Message

One day I heard the message:

“A hard head makes a soft behind,

And the tallest trees you fall from are the ones you choose to climb.”

And then I started thinking,

Another gem popped in my head:

“A life well-lived can’t be achieved from the safety of your bed.”

And then I felt the message,

A wisdom somewhere deep

It made its presence known,

From my head down to my feet.

I kept on contemplating

Till I couldn’t think no more

My conscience started kicking in

Of this I was sure.

I felt it in my heart

That some things I did were wrong.

And I couldn’t keep them

As a secret

In the dark for long.

I knew I had a hard head

And I’d made a soft behind

But now I want to see the Sun and leave that life behind.

I didn’t have a helmet, a harness, or the time

But I kept in picking California Redwoods, tryna climb.

But now those days are over

My head’s soft as it should be

And without all that extra armor

I can finally see.

I see the path before

I know who I can be

And that doesn’t include

Being the man who climbed the largest tree.

This heart-felt message changed me

It stayed inside my head

Because a life well-lived can’t be achieved from the safety of your bed.

Why?

Why?

Why’d you leave me stranded

When you didn’t have to leave?

Why’d you choose to go away?

Did it have to do with me?

I was told you had postpartum

But didn’t know what that meant.

Why didn’t you take pictures of the places that you went?

Why did I call others, “mother”

When you’re the one who gave me birth?

Why do I still think about you

Even though sometimes it hurts?

Why aren’t we together

As a mother and her son?

Dad told me that God decided

There could only be one.

Why won’t you see me graduate,

Get a license and a car?

Why’d you have to leave me behind

Without me knowing who you are?

Life's Mystery

Life’s Mystery

Life is a mystery

One that never seems to be solved

All answers beyond what the eye can see

Through all life’s twists and turns

Through hate that burns

And love that mourns

This mystery is never solved

More and more everyday people lie

To hide what’s hidden on the inside

More and more everyday people try

To get away from the corrupted outside

But they get nowhere

Stuck in between the here and there

Where no one seems to care

Outside is filled with tears and laughter

Along with poor miscommunication

But all that’s gone when you enter the hereafter

Along with rich information

About the pain of roses

About the door that closes

And how money poses

In this life that’s filled with sensations

The question is why to we hate

Those who are kind

And love the ones that are now late?

And for an answer I get a question

With dirty looks from dirty faces

Not to mention

The failed riots, protests, and interventions

There’s no answer to the question

That troubles my black and white mind

To ease my troubled mind

I take a sip

Then my heart and soul come to life

Into memory lane I take a dip

Not realizing I’m causing strife

With the hurt and pain I’m collecting

My insides suddenly projecting

The help that I’m now neglecting

Then there’s the little boys and girls

Sucked into deception and temptation

By the big bad cruel world

They use this as an excuse to fill sensation

To be the baddest kids around

To clarify their silent cries at night that don’t make a sound

To show why they starve themselves to lose a pound

And explain why they live their life in desperation

Life is a mystery

One that never seems to be solved

And never will be

Contradiction

Contradiction

There will be no peace without war

To give is to gain

But what for?

To love is to hate

But wait…

Now we’re to late to love some more

We lie when we try to be true

We’re true to those who lie

We give up when all we do is try

Then we cry in the night

Yet we try to find the light

We lie in bed with those who we do not kiss

And kiss those who belong to another

We’re hurt by our father

But blame our mother

They call us their son

But don’t treat us like a child

Apparently we’re their daughter

But yet we’re too wild

They lock us up and throw away the key

Then ask why we are not free

We hear the words true love

And know its meaning

We say the word love

And have no clue to its true meaning

We all want to be real but act fake

We all give more than we can take

And take more than what we make

We say stop but proceed to go

We say yes but really mean no

We say we know but we have no clue

We believe in lies but not what’s true

We live in a world where being bad is the new good

Instead of learning from schools we learn from the hood

Instead of reading books we’re getting lit

Throwing our life away with every sip

We live in a world where being rude is the new kind

Tell others to stay out our business

But don’t know how to mind mine

We live in a world of realistics

But stay stuck in the fiction

With all these lovely contradictions. 

The Piece of Glass

The Piece of Glass

A piece of glass I see

Lying on the ground by its lonesome

It must tell a story

The light it reflects of so handsome

How many things it's seen

But then came to its shattered end

The reflection was keen

But laid to rest without hope of mend

So, where did it come from?

It is the only piece around me

It is but a small crumb

To where did its other small friends flee?

It's a sad piece of glass

It's a camera lost in a big field

Was it thrown by a blast?

Its soul could not be a behind a shield

Around me it's quiet

The empty buildings are silent too

Was it a past riot?

Or can this piece of glass be a clue?

The Man and the Boat

The Man and the Boat

From atop a hill he sees a boat

It's on the beach broken

On its shattered mast, flutters a coat

His wonder has woken

He ventures down to the beach below

He wonders why it's here

Nowhere does he see the boat's fellow

The waves are all he hears

The closer he gets, the more he sees

The hull and the keel are cracked

On the side of the boat he sees LEE

And clarity it lacked

He tries to sift through all the debris

In hopes of a small clue

A wet piece of paper says, “Marie”

But that's out of the blue

He wonders what brought it to its fate

So where is its sailor?

It is starting to get very late

He must find its failure

He looks to the sky and sees it's black

A storm sure is coming

Time is running out, he mustn't slack

The weather is numbing

He's in a rush, he wants to solve this

The weather is scary

There is something he won't want to miss

He's becoming wary

He ruffles 'round and sees a bottle

In the top is a cork

He lifts it and gives it a jostle

And he picks up a fork

Just then he sees a glint of metal

And hears a strong whoosh sound

Next, his body and soul does settle

The clue is what he found

Breeze

Breeze

I wonder what

It would be like

To be the wind

Blowing from place to place

Pure freedom

Experiencing everything

I want to blow from place to place

To be totally free

To have no worries

I want to have no specific course

Or constraints

Free

I want to be unaltered

Not controlled

By people

I want to not be affected

By any obstructions

Just like the wind

Stressin'

Stressin

       ~group poem

Stressin

yea the time is rough

I done had enough

Stressin

can't wait to go home

felling all alone

Stressin

missing my mom

missing my friends

Stressin

people always in my face

like please go away

Stressin

got a slash through that stuff

make me feel like I'm less

Stressin

trynna knock me down

but I hold my ground

Stressin

they trynna say I'm something I'm not

but let me not, I'm worth more

than what they thought

Stressin

got a headache everyday

so stay out my face

Stressin

family calls me a headache

this is too much to take

Stressin

got that quick temper yeah

so lemme get some air

Stressin

can't seem to learn a lesson

cuz I don't stop messin

Stressin

stay comin at my neck

try to play me like a deck

Stressin

stay getting me tight

say you know me, yea right

Stressin

I was not born a toy

so stop playin wit me boii

Stressin

steady forcing me to talk

why don't you get up and take a walk

Stressin

staying stuck in the same place

trying to run but there's a knot in my shoelace

Stressin

trying not to pout

got put on blackout

Stressin

tryna tell me what to do

tryna tell me that I'm loose

Stressin

yea I'm stressin, yea I'm stressin

but what I need is a blessin

Tryin'

Tryin'

~a group poem

Tryin

I say that I'm trying

But people think I'm lying

So why keep trying?

Tryin

If I said I wasn't

I'd be lyin

Tryin

Doing all I can

Tryin

Sometimes it's hard

To keep from cryin

Tryin

Keep moving forward

Even though I'm scared of dyin

Tryin

Doing all I can

Tryin

To go home

To get some extra sleep

To just be left alone

Tryin

To find my bed

So I can pass out

Tryin

To get my life

So I can get my dreams

Tryin

Doing all I can

Tryin

Hard to stop lying

To spread my wings and start flying

Tryin

To work in McDonalds

To fry my french fries

Tryin

To succeed in life

To make a good living

Tryin

Doing all I can

Tryin

Don't start sighing

If I keep on trying

I'll soon be flying

Trying

I'm tired of trying

Now I'm just doing

Truth, Lies, and Reality

Truth, Lies, and Reality

A group poem by Pod __

I was wondering

What is reality

Because my reality isn't even normality

Lies, they are definitely not the truth

And they are not reality

But what is truth and what is reality?

The truth may be

That we are all being manipulated

By some unseen, unfathomable puppet master

Are the conspiracy theories

Just government lies

Or our perspective on reality?

What's the truth? What's reality?

We can get technical

But let's not play technicalities

How do we decipher between

What is fed to us

And what is real?

When somebody tells us one thing

And someone else another

Who is it that we should trust?

Is reality only what is perceived in the mind

Or does it exist externally

As a thing of its own?

Lies are opinion

Yet truth is fact

Opinions lead to lies

The truth hurts

Hear it now or hear it later

It's all reality

The truth will bring relief

The landing of a leaf

Not a bouncing ball

The truth will set you free

Step up to the ticket booth

Where you must pay the price

They've All Come to Look for America

                                         -Simon and Garfunkel

(A group poem in which each of the boys contributed stanzas)

America, TAKE ONE

The land of Big Macs

The home of the Golden Arches

America is the land of the free

But some may disagree

How free is the land of the free?

Red, white, and blue

These colors fly true

If all the people of America only knew

Oh, I'm proud to live in America

Where the government is kind

And I'd like to thank all the men who worked

To manipulate my mind

And I proudly accept

The propaganda, the lies, and the tricks

If they say three plus three is five

Then it never equaled six

America, TAKE TWO

The land of the Yankees

The home of the NFL

That sounds a little better

But there's still more

This is America we're talking about after all

The things you want out of life

Come with a cost

So look deep

Freedom

The thing of grace

The thing wanted by all

Can be gone in a blink

Freedom

Bought by soldiers

Protected by our own

Taken by our enemies

America, TAKE THREE

The land of the free

And the home of the brave

Freedom

We defend those

Who can't defend themselves

No matter the consequence

This is democracy at its best

The first place created on its principles

The first place where dreams can become reality

Dreams and Nightmares

Dreams and Nightmares

~a group poem

Nightmares leave men of all kinds scared

Monsters with teeth bared

No dreams, just nightmares.

They say, “Chase your dreams,”

But why

If life isn't what it seems

My dreams involve heaven and hell

Death and jails

My dreams are complex paradoxes

Nightmares so deep

I ask myself

Why even try to sleep

In my nightmares

Screams and fights there

The fire burns bright there

I dream about me

I dream about my family

I dream about life

My dreams involve heaven and hell

Love and freedom

My dreams are an escape

New Beginnings

New Beginnings

a group poem by the writers of

Pod __

New beginnings are the intro to the next chapter

They are the mark of the beginning of the end

And the place where new life begins

I want a new beginning

But I'm doubting myself

Life I was living wasn't ending

I'm stuck in my old ways

God came to help me but

Then I turned him away

A new beginning, a new beginning

When does it stop

Don't you worry it starts at the end

New beginnings can be garish

While new beginnings can be harsh

New beginnings is a way to start

Like when something dies in your life

You get sad and think of the past

relishing the moments you once had

I thought my life was over

Because of the things I've done

Just remember it was never fun

The burden is what takes you down

Inspiration will pick you up

At the end hope for the best

So much has happened long before

I was marched in through the door

It's part of me and I cannot say I didn't

Cannot say I forgot

I must face my awful past

My awful crimes are out at last

But there is hope and I know

That this is the place I must go

If I am to begin anew

Knowing they don't hate me

Knowing they will give me another chance

Of what I have broken in the past

I have another shot

To be a different me

And not stay here and rot

But now I'm here to make a change

It will work out if I'm willing to switch

And know I'll walk out not acting like a witch

The work we put in

Are the results we get out

Trying for accomplishment

Plant the seed of life

Bloom your deepest dreams

It all begins with light

Goodbye to my callow ways

Goodbye to my infamy

Say hello to a happy new year

The closing of a chapter and the opening of another is a new beginning

Though it may not be what you had in mind

All hidden messages come in time

Feeling stronger is the one that withstands

All creation is made for a reason

We call this, New Beginnings

Pain

Pain

~a group poem

Pain is indescribable

Pain is an enigma

Why won't my pain go away?

Pain is bad

Pain is really bad

Pain is like a pencil in my back

In the beginning

The pain was tolerable

As sunburn soothed by aloe

But the pain worsened

like skin blistered

from the touch of red hot iron

My pain is unbearable

It splits my skull like a knife

going through butter

It's like the look a man gets

when he knows he's going to die

The pain in his eyes gives it all away

This pain is like a sore

that won't go away

I try to itch it but it just stays.

All I see is pain

I'm living unashamed

But also dying by the gain

How can I maintain

With these demons in my brain

Pain can be violent

Pain can be silent

Silent waters run deep

You reap what you sow

And you sow what you reap.

The pain was not physical

Heartbreak is

The pain searing inside my chest

My pain is not your pain

It's all my own

So don't you ask

Just leave me alone

Burdens

Burdens

a group poem

I got my burdens on my back

If you look you see the scars

But those scars are no reason to slack

I am the man I am today

Due to my history or my story

Hope you can handle it, it gets kinda gory

But that's all in yesterday

Which is said and done

Now, will I freeze or will I run

Doing the same things, just a different day

I'm always wondering when it will finally end

But in the end I know I will be better

With no way to see through

My frosted windows, I wish the

conditions of my loved ones were clear to me

Chains tied to me underwater

Screaming at the top of my lungs

Wanting to hear her again

My body is in here

My heart is elsewhere

But my family is out there

I've started to wilt

The scales started to tilt

Am I ready to be built?

All of the dead times

Chains pulling me behind

The past is possessing my mind

The world was on my shoulders

When I couldn't live sober

Like when something dies in your life

You get sad and think of the past

Relishing the moments you once had

The burden is what takes you down

Inspiration will pick you up

At the end, hope for the best.