i am promise slowly fading
as life beats the shit out of you day by day
your low wages stealing your hope
the long hours robbing you of potential
don’t fear though
the dreamers and thinkers will pacify you
weaving stories and spectacles between the reminders of your inadequacy
this is my empire of broken promises
Elusive and indefinable
magnificent and marketable
This American Dream.
Father Washington did you dream of me?
Franklin, Jackson, Abraham?
Who’s dream is this American dream?
Is it Malcolm’s or Martin’s, or could it be Marx’s?
This dream is a struggle.
This dream deals destruction.
This dream is a double edged sword.
It flew out of the cities and into the suburbs.
It left urban decay, poverty, hoods and ghettos.
Then it made you riot and march when they stepped on you.
Stand up for yourself and demand your rights.
Your rights to dream, to live and to love as you are.
Your desires to prosper.
But this dream if not shared deceives.
This dream keeps you busy.
It keeps you fighting to get ahead.
This dream sells you debt and disease.
It gobbles up land and cuts down trees.
Its promises of comfort and plenty are never enough.
This dream is broken, because its American.
Its the dream of children at the helm of an empire.
dream time
ponders and pleasures
I’ll weigh the balances and measures
mornings clean light will birth clarity
or so I hope
or so I dream or hope to dream
goodnight
I won’t be content
to lie down
to give up
and just go on
to play it safe
keep my cards close
and helmet on
we could never take flight
with out leaping first
hoping our wings were strong enough
wishing for more than earth
we reached the stars
now is the time to dream
We sharpen our knives
make ready our arrows
and pack light
we will not stop
we will not falter
there is only one who we hunt
one whose reign must be ended
the one invented goodbyes
the one who determined that good things should end
we must bring this tyrant to his knees
we will slay this monster
we will take hold of the forever that belongs to us
we will seize the dreams that forged in love
and never say goodbye again
wrapped in my sheets
I never want to leave
go back to sleep and dreams
and fantasies
close my eyes
you are here next to me
oh life
how we chase it
like dogs chasing cars
abandoning our comforts
forsaking the familiar
in search of an elusive future
Yet this is our lot
if we do not chase after anything
we will sit and wait for nothing
we will lie, sleeping in the sun
instead of reaching for the stars
Two teenage lovers looked up at their limitless future. Pins and markers marked the map of their great American road trip. Lines traced coast to coast. He ran his fingers through her auburn hair as they lay on her bedroom floor, her head nestled on his chest. Behind them a dull and standard easy childhood trapped in a safe suburban prison. Ahead of them the open road, danger, freedom and adventure.
