Viviane, by Amory McKeever

His life was not a fable

there were no heroes left

no one loyal at his table

his heart broken and bereft

Gone were the beasts of legend

where were the maidens of virtue?

they went extinct he reckoned

barren the fields they grew

As chances grew more narrow

his Camelot disappeared

A knight of a nameless barrow

fell into the emptiness he feared

When all that remained was rage

his chivalry hanging by a cord

a goddess reached out from the sage

and bestowed upon him a sword

Her eyes like a storm raging sea

no sailor could ever resist

Her love and champion to be

stood silently bewitched

This enchantress brought to him

empowered and refreshed

a kingdom peering through the scrim

renewed with riches blessed

She said to him where Arthur failed

surely he would succeed

Where the strength of steel is frail

the true power is to lead

People tremble before a brute

but they will follow an ideal

Arm your people with the truth

and you'll never defeat their zeal

Now the rage was relieved

his honor and valor returned

his maiden his Viviane

her love song affirmed

So with that he took her hand

and went boldly into the lake

Gazing deep into her emeralds

a new land he would make

image: Lady of the Lake by Gary A Lippincott

Extra Strength Copium, by Amory McKeever

In this dark jungle of cement

turn on my high definition life

Away I go on a vacation cruise

but only in my waking dreams

My body sits in its own bruise

and my minds too numb to scream

Atrophied from years of coma

yet it wanders around pretending

Imagined angels take me home

lies like this are patent pending

Don't give up

Life is worth living

This is what I tell myself

This is what I tell myself

This is what I tell myself

but maybe I was kidding

Strap in for a make-believe trip

All wired up to be let down

Connected to this t.v. drip

in a computer generated town

Swallow another fake reality

with every energy drink sold 

All made up of logical fallacies

side effects are dying old

Addicted to living at all costs

Reverse mortgage on my soul

to cure the incurable loss

Don't give up

Life is worth living

This is what I tell myself

This is what I tell myself

This is what I tell myself

but maybe I was kidding

The doctor said

Go into town and see a show

It'll lift your heart

and help you cope

split your sides

with joy and hope

but doctor please

You must understand

That comedian I should see

this whole time

that man was me

image cr: Boosterdesigns

Unprepared, by Amory McKeever

Lying under all this skin

Phosphorus and oxygen

Lungs that ache to breathe again

Escape from this hell within

Carbon caged magnesium

Calcium structures deep beneath

This tired wrinkled sun-dried sheath

Would break themselves for Elysium

Dig me up from this earth

This fallow spoiled useless dirt

If only I had been worthy

We could have made it work

We could have made this whole thing work

Cease to beat that central muscle

That pumps the pain with such hustle

To every appendage I would sever

Just to keep us together

Endless elements of cobalt blue

A life left barren without you

Stokes the furnace that melts the ore

And crafts the shells for this war

Dig me up from this earth

This fallow spoiled useless dirt

If only I had been worthy

We could have made it work

We could have made this whole thing work

It turns out I was unprepared

For your methods that went undeclared

You came in like a Trojan horse

And destroyed me without remorse

Dig me up from this earth

This fallow spoiled useless dirt

If only I had been worthy

We could have made it work

We could have made this whole thing work

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*