Category: Poetry

“Hmm, well, from what I’ve seen as an ‘outsider’ to the conflict -“
Wait, but at this point, how could you be? Hundreds of thousands slaughtered, didn’t that make you sick?
Make you feel? Give you chills? Make you angry? Make you sad? Still have any respect for the IDF?

“Here’s the thing, they’re just defending their land,” Yeah, that they systematically stole from Palestine and keep stealing,
Shooting Palestinians for nothing, the IDF has lost their humanity and feelings,
Starting with the trigger finger and all the way throughout
But no amount of that krav maga discipline will drown-
out the screams of the civilians you killed for ‘your country,’
look around, even Israelis are protesting, they don’t want this!

“But Hamas are terrorists! They did October 7th – ” Yes, another milestone in the conflict that goes back way before every one of us were here –
Thousands of years past, and one party will still blame the other for each of their latest attacks,
but what Israel hates is when people tell the truth:

For the last 77 years Palestine has been fighting with both hands tied behind its back.
No legal army permitted, yet Israel continues to bomb them.
Other countries come to provide Palestine aid, yet Israel cuts it off, continues to bomb them.
Israel loses track of hostages, even kills some in friendly fire, yet Israel continues to bomb them.

Ever since the Nakba, historic erasure has been a thing,
All the way from the end of World War II through the Arab Spring;
Israel has pummeled Palestine, taken it’s land with impunity,
How sad for a country to behave this way towards it’s neighbors, since right after the defeat of Nazi Germany. – RSM

The Chi got a lot colder a lot quicker this fall,
An orange tsunami of fear and xenophobia hovered over us all.
You smelled their dirty facemasks miles away
trying to cover up while committing crimes day to day –

Cowards.

With the law on your side you’re invincible, huh?

Cowards.

Play Batman all you want with your work buddies, it’s not gonna add up…
Descending on entire buildings of people unprotected, unexpected, allegedly “looking for criminals, undocumented,”
Everyone knows the real intent is to implement a culture of fear to the ones who give our ‘president’ jeers –

Raid a building in Chicago to flex his fragile ego,
Nevermind the lives affected, interrupted,
It’s 8 months into this term, so here we-go,
This ride will get rockier, more innocent black and brown people to be intentionally disrupted.

You’re a fool for joining, no matter what the upfront signing bonus was for you;
Sure, 50K means a lot to anyone all at once,
but it takes a real racist psychopath to do this for ‘fun’,
I’m sure there’s a lot more than one in the ranks
Who fantasizes about ‘othering’ humans, and using violence, guns, bombs, tanks;

But you’re so far gone on the wrong side of history
and your descendants will remember YOU, and all your colleagues’ activities
as some of the corniest, stupidest, and most easily manipulated GOONS,
of a ‘leader’ and a country obsessed with constantly pulling a Cheddar Bob – it’s not too late to get a different job, dude!

Until the ‘American Nuremberg’ trials start one day, in a just, near future that will come to pass,
enjoy reminiscing about having your own humanity, and being Class Traitors Plus™️ while it lasts. – RSM

Each time I blink it feels like a few minutes go by.
It adds up – I feel heavy af every morning and I wish I knew why,
Fast forwarding reality by blinking – an uncontrollable reflex
while contemplating ways it pays to stay awake, trying to not blink my waking life away, I re-flect:

“Wait. Maybe I’m not losing time, but just leaking minutes?”
It’s the morning; I’m done traversing different dream scapes and visiting a city on another planet that’s kinda like Venice.
Time’s a menace. A few more blinks, a few more hundred seconds.
At this point just I’m sleeping in, making the outside world jealous.

The hardest part of the day is the first thing to do,
getting out of bed heals this blinking-based time warp, finally starting my day and closing out the loop. – RSM

It’s colder, but I’m glad the mosquitoes are dead
I remember the way they sucked my blood and left my body red.
I love summer, adore spring, it was a great time, but only just a fling.
All seasons are flighty but this one makes my heart sing –
sad songs serenade while a feeling of an otherworldly, mission-driven renegade
takes over when the leaves drop and the
temperature drops harder to about below 60 degrees Farenheit, or 15 in centigrade.

The seasons do change and line up well with life lately,
Pages turn while fire pits burn, new chapters emerge that make you ask life “maybe…”
Autumn is a time of change and self reflection
As the leaves turn, so do curses into blessings
So the next thing I’ll speak to truth for myself
Is health, wealth, and peace; an autumnal spell. – RSM

A while ago there was a Black Mirror episode about a guy
Who lived in a screen-covered room alone, and day and night
all the walls that were screens played commercials, and he would be punished for closing his eyes.

21st century’s a quarter past and pixels are on the rise,
Every pocket, purse, clutch, backpack – pixelated walls torment us all, different kinds and sizes, under the guise
Of progress, convenience, technical innovation;
Technology is a bullet train so fast it ends up leaving the elderly and underprivileged at the station.

I’m more of a “touch grass” person than the type
to gush over a machine’s details, the next model coming out, or the like.
It’s a living, for sure, but tech/life balance is key,
Feel the wind in your hair, with your hands free, and you’ll see
that being surrounded by commercials and machines all day was never meant to be. – RSM

The last few years or so I put another layer of joy into my familiar repertoire;

A ‘what if’ from my past came true, and I was elated.

This is left field, but I always wished of a world where fancy, rechargeable, metallic dresses were a thing, and my bestie Mary Jane had told me she started working at a place that sells exactly that!

Me and MJ go back since high school, so when I first pulled. up to her new fancy job I couldn’t believe it –

I had to be over 21 and show ID to get in. In the middle of the day. Weird. The vibe was eh to be honest, it looked like an Apple Store in there.

She was wearing a metallic, cylindrical, futuristic dress that needed to recharge after a few wears, she told me. 

I was glad to see Mary’s glow up, she said the money was good and she’s been wearing these new dresses every day.

One time I stopped by and she introduced me to her coworker, Ivy.

She donned futuristic clothes just the same, but had a fiery look to her. She just seemed so… concentrated. Not a bad thing, Ivy was cool people, the three of us started hanging out after work sometimes. Then a lot more.

I started wanting Ivy around all the time, so much that even MJ gave me a side eye about it every now and then. 

Ivy had me wrapped around her fingers like a vine. Things were great, things were golden, things were also terrible, things felt numb, things were too dependent on Ivy being around for me to have a good time.

Ivy was fun! She knew how to be discreet but still had a wavy vibe anywhere, anytime. 

Eventually we started spending so much time together that I seldom felt like I could evade her gaze, but I wanted to be under her gaze all the time. Euphoria had trapped me.

We had adventures together, the 3 of us, but burning holes through lungs, pockets, and one’s ability to cope with life ain’t worth it, and trust me, Ivy had pretty expensive taste.

I sat down with Ivy and MJ, tension noticeable between them, and had to make a tough choice – I let Ivy know we couldn’t really hang anymore. 

MJ and I have had ups and downs, but I’m glad we’re back on the same page.  I understood eventually why the side eye or shade of other kinds were thrown.

I realized Mary was looking out for me. 

Ivy took it surprisingly well, she’s not losing any sleep over me with all her other metallic, rechargeable dress loving friends.

Mary and I are as tight as ever, but I don’t visit the fancy dress store she works at anymore. We just chill on our own, just like old times. – RSM

Bob Marley once said “Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end.”
We spill ourselves over every day trying to ensure our livelihoods,
Only to see the goal posts right in front of us move – like a carrot dangling on a fishing line.
Fuck the rat race.

As we circle around this giant blue ball and it rotates around the sun and spins
this ‘Choose How You Survive’ game we’re in won’t let us win,
Inflation frustrates us, long hours drain us, new waves of challenges keep us on our toes – even when we’re laying down.

“And we’ll never be royals…” Lorde sang,
But it’s not like I’d want to be,
My dreams don’t come with castles and guards with big, silly hats –
I just hope to live in a more forgiving, caring, all people-focused world eventually,
Where self care is the norm instead of a personal form of activism.

Until then, I’m just going to seize my moments to be less productive –
I’ll give myself some pause when I can by just pressing pause on my neverending to do list.
Find time to show love to yourself.
Bob Marley said it best, probably with a smile on his face:
“The day you stop racing is the day you win the race.”
-RSM

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, or however that classic code goes, it shows
the principal of balance –
that, at times, life comes in opposites, to embrace each up with each down, letting each turn take you toward something different.
Having no expectations is a real ‘code’ I use in life to adapt, show love to myself and others, and to get through life itself.

If I were digging for happiness somewhere, it would be wherever peace begins to peak out of the ground.
Happiness can grow when peace is assumed as the norm, when peace blends in with the air.
The same way we all breathe every day, let us find peace through it all – throughout the hard times especially, whenever we can fit it in.

Peace is the key that unlocks our best selves, our best lives, and puts out our wildfires of stress like it were blowing out a candle.
From the Sega Genesis days til now and beyond – embrace the unexpected, and tranquility will find you. – RSM