hard

when we so want it to be
and it isn't

trick of the light
of the night
or the reflection
of an empty space
the muse left
in your heart

© 2017 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by Mel Mel's Pretend

focus

the paddle is an illusion
we're all up the creek
going with the flow
might as well hold hands
and float together
sharing upstream lessons
and downstream dreams

© 2017 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by Fergus Martin's New Beginnings

nocturnal

darkness the anticipation is
exquisite agony
will the next exhilaration be
terminal velocity
or the brush of something sweeter

© 2017 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by an untitled piece by Anthony Nappi.

indignant

denatured by rage
in this advanced age
when one would have hoped
we'd have long turned the page
on myopic self-serving avaricious intent
to destroy opposition
instead of relent
to inclusion and kindness and being the tide
that raises all vessels regardless of size
or color or flavor or shape or belief
but it seems in our gestalt the best we can do
is enlightened moments surrounded by goo
into which we descend with inexorable ease
drawn by shadow controllers not wise to displease
whose reptilian motives would make you recoil
driven by the emoluments proffered by oil
it seems one step forward then two or more back
awareness once raised quickly falls to the hack
of the mind games and lawyerly drone of the quo
before long the movement somnambulant  grows
and the cadence complexity turns things on tail
we find ourselves court side pants down on the rail
rudely awakened and consciousness razed
when we see our goals violated and displaced
by the greed and the hunger for power from fear
this cycle is endless
it brings me to tears

© 2017 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by one of RC deWinter's Shorties with Selfies

statecraft

do they know
at what they work
its curvature
of space and time
its unrelenting
gravity
complete implacability

do they know
at what they play
elaborate
geometry
interminable
hierarchy
intransigent stability

set in motion long ago
since then been building steam
controls
not one we'd recognize
those few and far between

taking turns up in the cab
they've given it a go
eight years
or seconds said and done
more sacrificed below

as it accretes and rolls along
its relevance a long lost song
engraved by rote upon us all
oh beautiful we do recall
in principle still is

the elegance
of parts and wheels
the tarnished gleam
the cab-formed feels
the spin with which
they've made us reel
and dance to their designs

if we look in
each other's eyes
trade shoes and tales
for just a mile
and act upon
what we will see
the juggernaut
will cease to be

© 2017 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved