"Lo-Fi Labor" - Jay Morris
Find me in my real life
Hardworking and laborious
With a loosening knee
And a tightening mind
If I told you I"d been working since I was 12
Would you believe me?
If I worked myself to death
Would you call it noble?
Stick a Benjamin in my mouth and call it a flower.
Hope it pays for my Uber across the river Styx?
Thought if I did my life right it would all make sense
But now im slugging through 60 hour work weeks for dollars and cents
My mind is unraveling
My loose knee is throbbing and im swirling and recessed
The void in me twirling and depressed
Words can't be flowers when you're working past the 9-5
And the 9-5 becomes the 6-3
But I know you'll stick a dollar bill in my mouth when you bury me
Haunted by the ghosts of all the time I've killed
Trying to stuff the hungry maw of a bank account
Listening to lo-fi hip hop in my down time
Hoping I can unwind in time
Before I clock back in for my next shift
"Lo-Fi Labor" originally appeared online at Jay's website.
"Heru's Path (The Still Dawn)" - Daniel Mapp
We shall seek Truth's fire,
Before His stern eyes rise,
When Men meet as ranks,
Linton that come to weep;
In the fence's broken wire,
That we pass like nomads,
For a lost heritage beyond,
Twin Oak's ghetto and hate,
By their savior's final dawn.
"Take away my paintbrush" - Eileen Clark
I lie awake and miss you in my heart
longing for your touch
yearning for your words
I miss you
and you become everything
you become the Prince Charming I always wanted
riding away with me on your magical horse
finding my shoe at the ball and searching all over town to find me
you become the air I need to breathe
when I was perfectly capable of breathing on my own.
you become the end game
the final goal
the winning shot
the perfect answer
you become Adam
before original sin was brought upon man
untainted
unscathed by evil
you become my fairy princess
granting me several wishes
telling me to pick wisely, but not to wish for more
because you can only provide so many wishes
you become the sunset and sunrise
your storm clouds fuel my garden
and allow me to dance in their rain
your smile is rejuvenating
and your hands are warm
as the dark days are painted over by my paintbrush of longing
longing
the perfect remedy to forget everything that has ever happened
the ideal fix to any broken relationship
the final ingredient to unhealthy conversations
the bandaid
that tapes over the holes you left last time you were here
longing
paints over my past
and creates a brighter future
filled with hope and love and reconciliation and broken promises
taking away the pain of the old
and inducing excitement of the new
longing
the only drug I need to forget who I am
where I was
where I am
and where I want to go
