Meaning

  
On the eve of the second Great Depression —
We found a housing bubble that would pardon the rich —  
Carved into the margins of a marketing myth —  
Bound to downward struggle as it started to shift,  
and you’re the mark, we’ve been targeted, the market is fixed —    
Property is robbery, serving an aristocracy  
where freedom we observe is subservient to plutocracy,  
a dream deferred —“burgeoning democracy”;  
reoccurring absurdities converging on hypocrisy  
while heeding the words —“fervor” and “philosophy”;  
so what's an oligopoly's policy on monopoly  
when fleecing the herd —nursing inequality,  
or nurturing hyperbole for worshipping economies  
depleting the Earth? —perjury’s a novelty  
when purchasing a circus of encircling monotony;  
adjourned —for the purpose of it furthering    
the disconcerting poverty it purged —  
…and preserving obvious ventures —they'll be watching  
as conscientious objectors are oddly met with conjecture  
in a system that dismisses its omnipresent oppressors —  
Living in derision where godly essence is measured  
by imprisonment of victims it’d probably sentence forever —  
Business of attrition, it lobbied deadly endeavors  
while topping many dissenters at prodding enemy threats —  
It’s impressive, the frigid, rigid, and wretched  
had limited dividends to the timid heavy in debt —  
The objective, insipid lending of credit  
while robbing every incentive, admitting any in jest —  
An inception embedded into its citizens,  
or sicknesses injected, omitting any regrets  
while alleging it’s competitive —given sedatives,  
while sitting at the precipice, living envy the dead;  
they’re envisioning an emptiness as connections are severed —  
Up the dosages, we can cope with the loneliness;    
the holiest of holies are only known for these opiates —  
Weak and broken, as we awoke in erroneous  
reasoning; each a demon who reeks of foreboding soullessness —  
Sleepless dreaming, as seen decoding felonious    
secrecy; it’s intriguing and eases shouldering hopelessness —  
private gatherings are happening for regulation;  
grappling tenacity, their tapestry of legislation —  
It was more than just our apathy, a resignation;  
mastering depravity would atrophy a generation —  
It was maddening, the magazines and emulation;  
nothing but a strategy unravelling our education —  
Dedicated to status and fashion, actively —  
Demonstrating our sadness and laughing passively —  
Living lavishly where flattery’s a reparation,    
’til they felt the gravity of tragedy and devastation —  
With a baffling capacity for separation,  
scavenging for batteries and rationing their medications —  
…Turned to savagery,    
while having these Earth shattering revelations —    
Or to piety, the blind will lead the deaf in the dark,  
then hide the meaning; there's no rhyme or reason left in the art  
to find the irony —line of questioning, charges;  
silent treatment led to violent beatings; mentally scarred  
by wily mind readers piloting the menacing guards  
of high society —time, regretfully ours  
to find sobriety while spiraling incredibly far from our reality —  
Life legacies marred by lean banalities —  
…Wage slavery, chasing a meager salary,  
competing with the neighbors and faking congeniality  
at day’s end —“savior”’s a weak analogy  
for teaching paganism and praising convenient fallacies  
of made men —allegiant, albeit callously;  
maybe they think the boundary’s egregious, although cowering    
to lame trends —they’re entertaining tradition  
while contagious entertainment’s used to tame them —  
…it will mitigate desensitization  
as they inundate assimilated mechanization —  
Then disintegrate collectivization  
while they “liberate” through innovative weaponization —  
Speaking of armed foes and cynical principles,  
you can borrow your tomorrows like a “free individual” —  
…then Anarcho-Syndicalism    
is seen as trivial, but teaching Neoliberalism  
will keep us “civil” as they barcode political systems —  
We, the indivisible, pleading, if being literal;  
as harrowing, as we are sheepish and pitiful —  
Need no other reason for proceeding as criminals,  
we’re breathing —even though we’re reaching the pinnacle  
adjacent to forsaken places made for human waste —  
As if our state of nature was awakening too late —  
This is our innate capitulation to The State —  
Where change has been abated by the chains that keep us safe —  
   
© Travis J Gibbs, The ANT1-HER0 Project

*We’ll never know who we really are until our story is over.
Each person we encounter becomes a part of our life;
Ultimately becomes merely a decoration in the background of our memories.
Some making longer brushstrokes, some leaving deeper grooves into our spine
Most won’t even make it into our minds. But the ones that do??
So far none have stayed for too long. Even the ones I wanted to.
But they live with me as part of who I am,
Shades of stain engrained into monochromatic landscape murals.

*My life is just an engraving, slowly fading from the inside of my skull.
The paths I make and the methods I take are all mine to determine.
There is not just one way, or a good way, or a kind way
To really know who you really could become.
If you try. I mean REALLY try.
If you find something worth fighting to become
And then fight to become it, to find the true version of yourself
You actually want to be.
Like a 3-D image standing next to a stick figure drawing made by a 5 year old.

The palms of our hands are sketches
Of the lives we’ve lead, the way we’ve held on to things
The ways we’ve bent and folded
                                                    and pulled ourselves up from the abyss
Then pushed ourselves up from the ground
                                                              after crawling our way out of the gutter
The way we’ve twisted to shift the weight of our loads
                                                                            that we wearily carry through the obstacles
While climbing and clawing our way to the top.

Take my hand and walk with me Maybe we can set each other free
I’ve spent too much of my own life Waiting for the world to pass me by
But I’ve crossed the mountains and the deep blue sea searching for the man I need to be
To stand up for the things that matter to the man that I really want to be

Life
  is not an existance
  is not just breathing
  is not just being
Life
  is living
  in pain
  in bliss
  in love
  in missery
  in indulgence
  in scarcity
Life
  is affecting
  mattering
  convicting
Life
  is expressing
  is moving
  is feeling
  is minding
Life
  is a commitment
  and a choice
Life
  is timeless
  and immortal
  until forgotten
Life
  Yours
  make them remember
  and live forever
  
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