Convalescence, by Amory McKeever

The brief history of us

was rather dynamic

always changing, growing

but never organic

You were an android

a fake, a fraud, an imitation

just real enough for Polaroid

So I lost an entire year

maybe even two or three

before I found you out

before I could foresee

But you struck too soon

I was not ready

I had the information

but my heart was unsteady

Where I lacked the guts

you did not hesitate

took me down piece by piece

claiming checkmate

Though victory had all but vanished

I survived, I coped, I managed

but in the end I'm still damaged

I said there goes my future

I'll be trapped in the past

unable to move on

I'm all out of gas

Then I read every study

all the research and guides

anything that would tell me

how to repair my insides

But it wasn't a collection

of well written journals

that came to my rescue

to overcome these hurdles

It was just someone honestly

with a shred of compassion

as if by some prophecy

combined all the fractions

the pieces of my heart

into a new one they fashioned

then carefully returned it

back where it started

as if nothing had happened

so a new course could be charted

I thought victory had vanished

that I would always be damaged

but love is more than a bandage

Make Believe, by Amory McKeever

As I lay my head
on this feather fill
I've paid the price
for the unfulfilled
Gave charity
to the over-killed
and when it came
for blood to spill
I soaked it up
and drank my fill
A viking, a warrior
of unbridled will

As I wake
drape upon me the gown
Linens of the broken down
Guardian of the incomplete
Secretary of defeat
Outside the kingdoms of my dreams
I'm just a beggar in the street

Is life what I make of it

is the sky really the limit

they say I can do anything

if I just put my mind to it

if that were true

why does it feel like make-believe

As I fall away
to subconscious gears
that wind the clock
of imagined years
inspire a revolution
to unshackle my peers
and give them the strength
to face their fears
When they raise my banner
I can hear them cheer
A rebel, a hero
a worthy premier

But as I wake
place upon me the crown
Champion of a burning town
Master of an empty seat
Captain of a sunken fleet
Outside the kingdoms of my dreams
I'm just a beggar in the street

Is life what I make of it

is the sky really the limit

they say I can do anything

if I just put my mind to it

if that were true

why does it feel like make-believe

they say I can do anything

if I just put my mind to it

if that were true

why does it feel like make-believe

Unchained, by Amory McKeever

What you're calling black pride

is just low self esteem

making every excuse

for not living the dream 

So if you're keeping it real

keep your daughter on the pill

'cause the boys in the hood

are looking for thrills

That's the best you can do

when you steal from everyone

until your own son lies dead in a field

shot by your own gun

and the only ones who know how he got it

are you and the hall closet

where you kept it tucked in a black sock

but he found it and now he's in the ground

and now you can't hold him

poor boy just did what you showed him

and learned how to hustle 

The streets only respect muscle

So he was boosting cars at sixteen

never knowing he'd be the one getting lifted

truly sad too the young man was gifted

He was better than the rest

knew every little trick

he learned from the best

I hope that makes you sick

every morning when you wake up you prick

You got one chance to be a good father

you lost a son don't lose your daughter

spend everyday playing doctor

teach her to grow up proper 

or you can take your shirt off

n' spin it round yo head like a helicopter 

She'll end up passed out on a couch

next to a bottle of Cristal

with a needle in her arm

and her brains pouring out

knees bent to anyone who can pay the rent

or give her another fix

of the shit she spent her last dime on

Now it's time for a toe tag and a song

about a father who buries his daughter

and buries his son

and everything they might have become

held down by the ghetto, guns, knives, and pimps

What kind of life is that for your kids

Sit at the table with Martin Luther King

he'll tell you that ghetto is short for get out

and don't put all the gold you own in your mouth

don't wander around looking for help

the promised land is there for children
if only you would help yourself

The democrats are not your savior

Your body may not be in chains

but they still want your brains

like a zombie apocalypse strain
to keep you line marching

all the way to the polls

to vote against your conscience
so they never lose control

Dilapidated, by Amory McKeever

She sat down at the easel
with a brush of imagination
Turned out a grand cathedral
the inheritance for her enation
If love was a magnum opus
given away without restraint
with patience and understanding
she would be the patron saint

Well, since this wasn't our canvas
it could never be our masterpiece
Couldn't stand what we were handed
that slowly drove us into madness
Then like such a little hellion
we took all of her paint
and in a moment of rebellion
turned those colors into pain

A splash of yellow here and there
green and blue with orange medallions
such happy snow capped mountains
explored by daft rapscallions
who never seem impressed
so we took all of her paint
and in a moment of protest
turned those colors into pain

We couldn't cover it in black
though we've tried a million years
So we go on the attack
and prove the truth of all our fears
Then during that haunted lunacy
we took all of her paint
and in a moment of mutiny
turned those colors into pain

There was no lack of splendor
on this work of alla prima
It just needed a defender
not some small conceited divas
with the most selfish of reasons
we took all of her paint
and in a moment of treason
turned those colors into pain

She sat down at the easel
to see what became of her foundation
That church burned down in the upheaval
the squandered estate of her creations
If forgiveness was a magnum opus
given away without complaint
with patience and understanding
she would be the patron saint

*image/painting by Yuumei*

Promise Lost, by Amory McKeever

Where is the country to which we pledged our honor
Where are the husbands we had hoped for our daughters
In this kleptocracy of white collars

buying votes for a dollar
It seems we've fallen much farther
Instead of knights in shinning armor
Who look out for our farmers

we get snake oil charmers

I pledged my allegence

I redressed my grievance

I swore an oath before God

That no matter how flawed

No matter how busted

This republic can be trusted

Our promise is not yet lost

so long as patriots pay the cost

Where is the future we hoped to build for our babies

Where is the love we had promised to our ladies
Because lately we've just become crazies
Like a pack of dogs full of rabies
Shaming ourselves for the dailies
Our sacred vows became maybes
For better or worse are just sayings

for broken hearts in the making

Where is the war we said would end all wars

So we can tell every mother

their children are safe at home

Not dying on some foreign shore

On behlf of the corporate board

An appeal to heaven dear Lord

Might be all I can afford

I pledged my allegence

I redressed my grievance

I swore an oath before God

That no matter how flawed

No matter how busted

This republic can be trusted

Our promise is not yet lost

so long as patriots pay the cost

Sawdust, by Amory McKeever

(image courtesy of Aida Makoto)

Cut down in our prime
split in twain
discarded like pain
to make something fine

So here we are
in mountainous piles
you can see for miles
carcasses of poplar

A graveyard of timber
the scraps off a table
the skeleton of a maple
going out with a whimper

What becomes of the orchard

miss the forest for the trees

every hunger you apease

ignores your hand in the torture

Plea mercy from the saws
no justice no peace
to know we've been fleeced
we can hear the applause

They took what they could
to craft what they want
like idiot savants
but we're more than just wood

We're living things just like them
they bloom from our work
we're the sun through the murk
there's no flower without a stem

And gathered in their rooms

adorned in decadence

they spared no expense

to ignore their own doom

To forget they were us
that the shine of their polish
is because we're demolished
they shall never discuss

They are merely what's left
when you shave away the damned
the poor and the scammed
their value is a theft

So here we lie
in mountainous piles
you can see for miles
the tree of life left to die

Totally Radd, by Amory McKeever

When the devourer came for his next meal

a common man made him a deal

To save his lover Shalla-Bal

and his planet from it's curtain call

The man would serve the titan well

and act as his own dinner's bell

He'd soar the universe near and far

for planets to eat like caviar

The titan agreed to this arrangement

and took the man as his new agent

The man was given enormous power

the kind that makes green monsters cower

After leading his lord to many planets

filled with energy, even organics

This herald who had proved his worth

stumbled upon a tiny blue Earth

The noble citizens who resided there

reminded the man of the home he spared

So the man rebelled against his king

and stood prepared to lose everything

Fought mightily with cosmic thunder

to keep the Earth from being torn asunder

Some fantastic heroes came to his aid

and soon the ravager became dismayed

After saving the Earth from certain disaster

the man was banished here by his master

Though still one of the most powerful beings

he searches now for deeper meaning

Protecting the galaxy from deadly threats

trying to make up for all his regrets

That human condition seems so familiar

even to an alien covered in silver