The Country

Ok, so I decided to do something a little different this time. Instead of composing just poetry, this piece incorporates both poetry and a prose section.


Thunder the waves short miles to the west
Clouds of ash set the mood for this malignant test
Coastal path stretches cracked in both directions
North to south, south to north like an infection

A black rust that creeps upon the compass arm
North to south, south to north now means nothing at all

In the east there is insanity
In the west there waits the sea
The most twisted display of serenity
Is what both seem to be

Grey man recoils
As the grey ash stings
His enlightened grey face

Grey ashes fall
From broad grey clouds
Dusting the cold earth grey

Along our wretched pathway rolls
A van painted pure in white
Carries a man to his new home
Sedatives make him feel alright

A trip on a trip
To let the tongue slip
Loose lips confirm normality

To be born of the birthless
To be born of the worthless
Condems you to synthetic sterility

I moved stone hewn gates
Avoided the snakes
For their gaze petrified the mice
The animals found rakes
The reptiles hesitate
And I leave myself to my own device

In this country it is true that not a soul can deduce north from south. To gaze beyond the walls, to gaze at the stars is perplexing at the least. We may turn soonest to the sea and know we turn west. Somehow, defiant of all logic the skyscape seems to tell us that the poles reverse at such a rapid rate, there may be no existence of a north or south.In this country it is further true that the degradation of the patients inevitably leads to one of three results. The first and most common of these is death. Suicide is a rather quaint trend amongst the patients and is especially popular amongst those who display tendancies of pride. The second and most pleasing result is what we describe as decay. Decay is characterized by a descent into insanity and usually occurs in patients who are strong conformists. Successfully decayed patients are released back into society. The third and least common result is known as the Clutch Phenonema. The Clutch Phenonema is where the patient is able to eternally maintain conviction and unnatural consistency. It is still unknown as to whether these patients are to be revered or persecuted.

Second Thoughts On Second Thoughts

Conquered within a barless cage
Declared a domicile by the prophet
Unholy yet wears the guise and owns the stage
And as you reflect you regret your regret.

Did you ever realize
As the sorcerer begins to whisper
The secrets to reclaiming their lives
Human innocence hidden in the clamour

Take yourself away to a broken dream
Where you lay, a mourned man
And in your purgatory there is a relative seam
Through time and space a vision of entirety.

Back down, on the dreamscape
This is the church of knowledge after death
When it is too late the mind goes to a quiet place
Revalation to climactic effect.

There lies a hollow cadaver
Devoid of any soul
Taken to a field where long grass sways
As the complacent winds drone

In pathetic death there is no judgement
Only a taunting knowledge
That what you always wanted to know,
You knew.

Thoughts collect in a well of sorrow
Sorrow not of remorse but of second thoughts

Neon Dreams

The firefly light
Wrapped in an eternal mist
Embrace so soothing and tight
Hard to imagine what doesn't fit

Compose.
Yourself for another dragging day
Anchored to the left but tied to the right
As the plates diverge and you away,
Pain.

And constantly you catch yourself
Hiding the gate to your crumbling mind
Insecurity just another name on this cluttred shelf,
Even you are afraid of what you will find

Contemplate.
All the implications of insomnia
The undetermined isolation initiating
A gentle sewing of the seeds of paranoia
Reason.

Eyes closed and you float in space
Through aeons of love, pain, and hate,
No matter what dimension or forgotten place
The conflict inside cannot abate

You travel in time through harrowing dreams
Speaking to the Shaman of demonic means
They speak not in lies or in half-truths
But in riddles decoded by elven slueths.

In stranger tiles of fantasy
You bow before It's Majesty,
An unholy breed of heathen fox
Neither man nor woman, not cow nor ox.

Speaks to you in your forgotten tongue
But you remember as a child you were one,
Telling you of fortune and immortal gain
But still that constant inward pain.

And with the liver of a blaspheming Jew
It's Majesty brews a drink for you,
As your screaming throat begs to be wet
You wake up in bed drenched in sweat.

Even thought it can't be real
There's no denying what you still feel,
A persistent, thrashing agony
That begs your mind not to be.

Incisions.
Peel away the rotting flesh
The tender of the bone will tell
Future endeavours and tales of success
Lies.

At the window you hear the call
The incesant pain begging to be nothing at all,
In the adjacent there's something to retrieve
An old loaded pistol acquired to relieve.

The barrel melting into your dry mouth as you heed the call
Beyond tears and clenched fingers, your neon dreams paint the wall.

Will You Be a Ghost

They pry at me
I beg to bury
A picture to cry,
Now I must lie.

Give me an opportunity
Collectively I'll slaughter,
Destroy these heathen emotions
Rewind destiny

To a place where
It was being sewn
To the fabric of time
And I'll take back what's mine.

But what if I fail
Where can we go
Can we hide in the streets
Will you be a ghost

I want to give you something more
That's what hurts the most,
Now it's getting hard to breathe
But this water's only knee deep.

Just stand up,
Stand up and you can be free
Did they teach you to walk
Or did they only breech your lungs

Darling please, just take my hand
I promise it won't be too bad
This foreign land.

How do I gain perspective
When it's just us and them,
F**k their green incentive
We need a grey range to mend.

There's so much broken here,
But that's plain for all to see
Too bad ignorance is bliss
And we drink it with our tea.

They broke our eyes
So our minds can't see
What honest joy is,
What it's like not to bleed.

So take another line
Its just a simple rope,
Used to bide their time
So they may be your hope.

So darling lets have that covering fire,
Let's abdicate to the sea
Let's commit a little suicide
And here, we'll cease to be.

Sink So You Can See

Later I'll recount, reminisce
I promise it never meant more
No it never meant more than this.

And between us, the barrier
Of similarity and difference
Of public uproar,
Oh I see in this theater of war.

Not land, nor sea
In the air we sink,
Fall into my sea
Sink so you can see.

See how these tears freeze
Maybe I was born into this,
Why I'm not begging on my knees
Shouting, take it now, fix me please.

A state, induced by you
Estate, only leased to you.

One day you have to bring it back
Victimized in this silent attack,
Just another deed to be forgotten
So that sweet dreams may blossom.

Your garden is in full bloom
A grand medley of the most gracious colours
Sit with you in this serene room
Saying what did you do for such flowers.

Keep them docile
Feed them flesh,
Sacrifice rather than toil
Blood at master's behest.

Give them a sense of security
Feed my lambs hope,
Give them an infallible diety
Keep my lambs on a short rope.

There is no fire to lead you into
Only an acid tidal wave,
And as they molest themselves
Wth devices of subtle torment
Know that we were the warning.

Convince yourself you didn't remember
When you face judgement in the eyes of your God,
For subconcious is no excuse
When God hates us all.

Don't resist it when you float away
Drowning only hurts when you struggle,
You had to die someday
What better way.

Than with me, floating into nothingness
There was always so much doubt anyways
Now we are not even swimming.

It seems you forgot how to swim
Like you forgot how you were warned,
Attendance to more pressing matters
Such as maintaining a state of non resistance.

Wasn't our comfort your estate,
So what is your death,
are you really even dying,
Or did you grow f**king gills.

If I could hate
I would hate you and time,
A constraint that gives us order
An order that crushes hope.

If you didn't bind me to your system
Enslave me from birth,
I might have lived through this
And you might have too.

Why were you so intent
On killing yourself like this,
Why did you have to take everyone
In infinite potential, even divinity dies.

A divinity quite unlike
The one you sold us,
With scriptures promising eternal life.

Breaking.
Down.
Why did you have to test it all
Breaking.
Down.
Trust.
I know I have my shortcomings
Even if she can't see them now
I trust her but not myself
So why are you killing everyone
Breaking.
Down.
Trust.
Me.
A million f**king lies,
Told to appease
This temporary condition. A state.
Obviously your estate.

This revolution is my Bastille
My constant lapses
Masked by even more constant lies.

So give me a second before I die,
A second to tell everyone that I lied,
Admit that nothing can be perfect,
Admit that divinity is flawed.

Gaze starward and sink
Into this valley,
This great abyss
I wish you could realize, I am only this.

Nothing more than a dissapearing notion,
A nod towards the sun
That permeates my soul
And blisters my acid tongue.

You resonate within them
Like a haunted carcass,
Forget that I warned them
Dismiss my hypocricy.

Dismiss my blatant lies
And avoid the scathing truth.

We can only hide for so long.

For those of you interested in Colombia

Post-independence and republicanism
Main articles: La Violencia, El Bogotazo, National Front (Colombia), and Colombian armed conflict (1964–present)

The Gran Colombia.Internal political and territorial divisions led to the secession of Venezuela and Quito (today's Ecuador) in 1830. The so-called "Department of Cundinamarca" adopted the name "Nueva Granada", which it kept until 1856 when it became the "Confederación Granadina" (Grenadine Confederation). After a two-year civil war in 1863, the "United States of Colombia" was created, lasting until 1886, when the country finally became known as the Republic of Colombia. Internal divisions remained between the bipartisan political forces, occasionally igniting very bloody civil wars, the most significant being the Thousand Days civil war (1899–1902).

This, together with the United States of America's intentions to influence the area (especially the Panama Canal construction and control) led to the separation of the Department of Panama in 1903 and the establishment of it as a nation. The United States paid Colombia $25,000,000 in 1921, seven years after completion of the canal, for redress of President Roosevelt's role in the creation of Panama, and Colombia recognized Panama under the terms of the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty. Colombia was engulfed in the Year-Long War with Peru over a territorial dispute involving the Amazonas Department and its capital Leticia.

Soon after, Colombia achieved a relative degree of political stability, which was interrupted by a bloody conflict that took place between the late 1940s and the early 1950s, a period known as La Violencia ("The Violence"). Its cause was mainly mounting tensions between the two leading political parties, which subsequently ignited after the assassination of the Liberal presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948. This assassination caused riots in Bogotá and became known as El Bogotazo. The violence from these riots spread throughout the country and claimed the lives of at least 180,000 Colombians.

From 1953 to 1964 the violence between the two political parties decreased first when Gustavo Rojas deposed the President of Colombia in a coup d'état and negotiated with the guerrillas, and then under the military junta of General Gabriel París Gordillo.

After Rojas' deposition the two political parties Colombian Conservative Party and Colombian Liberal Party agreed to the creation of a "National Front", whereby the Liberal and Conservative parties would govern jointly. The presidency would be determined by an alternating conservative and liberal president every 4 years for 16 years; the two parties would have parity in all other elective offices. The National Front ended "La Violencia", and National Front administrations attempted to institute far-reaching social and economic reforms in cooperation with the Alliance for Progress. In the end, the contradictions between each successive Liberal and Conservative administration made the results decidedly mixed. Despite the progress in certain sectors, many social and political problems continued, and guerrilla groups were formally created such as the FARC, ELN and M-19 to fight the government and political apparatus. These guerrilla groups were dominated by Marxist doctrines.


The Palace of Justice siege (1985).Emerging in the late 1970s, powerful and violent drug cartels further developed during the 1980s and 1990s. The Medellín Cartel under Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel, in particular, exerted political, economic and social influence in Colombia during this period. These cartels also financed and influenced different illegal armed groups throughout the political spectrum. Some enemies of these allied with the guerrillas and created or influenced paramilitary groups.


The Colombian armed forces around the dead body of the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.The new Colombian Constitution of 1991 was ratified after being drafted by the Constituent Assembly of Colombia. The constitution included key provisions on political, ethnic, human and gender rights. The new constitution initially prohibited the extradition of Colombian nationals, causing accusations that drug cartels had lobbied for the provision; extradition was allowed again in 1996 when the provision was repealed. The cartels had previously promoted a violent campaign against extradition, leading to many terrorist attacks and mafia-style executions. They also tried to influence the government and political structure of Colombia through corruption, as in the case of the 8000 Process scandal.

In recent years, the country has continued to be plagued by the effects of the drug trade, guerrilla insurgencies like FARC, and paramilitary groups such as the AUC, which along with other minor factions have engaged in a bloody internal armed conflict. President Andrés Pastrana and the FARC attempted to negotiate a solution to the conflict between 1999 and 2002. The government set up a "demilitarized" zone, but repeated tensions and crisis led the Pastrana administration to conclude that the negotiations were ineffectual. Pastrana also began to implement the Plan Colombia initiative, with the dual goal of ending the armed conflict and promoting a strong anti-narcotic strategy.

During the presidency of Álvaro Uribe, the government applied more military pressure on the FARC and other outlawed groups. Mostly through military pressure and increased military hardware from the US most security indicators improved, showing a steep decrease in reported kidnappings (from 3,700 in the year 2000 to 172 in 2009 (Jan.-Oct.)) and intentional homicides (from 28,837 in 2002 to 15,817 in 2009 according to police).[31] Guerrillas have been reduced from 16,900 insurgents to 8,900 insurgents.

While some in the UN argue Colombia is violating human rights to achieve peace, most do not argue that increased military pressure has had considerable improvements that have favored economic growth and tourism.[32] The 2006–2007 Colombian parapolitics scandal emerged from the revelations and judicial implications of past and present links between paramilitary groups, mainly the AUC, and some government officials and many politicians, most of them allied to the governing administration.[33]

God Loves Me (A pleasant poem for you pleasant folk)

Run rampant! Set the streets a-flame
To console my heavy heart.
From Kristallnacht to Bastille Day,
I make centuries of revolting art. ;)

So hold the torch
Caught from failing hands,
To burn the skin again.
The smell of cauterizing flesh...
Mmmmm, I'm instilled to sin again. ;)

I beg you now, again once more
Take them to my serene war,
For you, my Ever Precious Whore,
Shall mine me gold! and iron ore.

It's a funny thing that we are posting about fear this week. Not for the obvious fact that Halloween is coming up, but rather because I know exactly what it is I am afraid of. People have lots of little fears that hardly impact the way we function as a collective society. But whether it is subliminal or right at the forefront of our brains, I think we all have deep seeded fears. Fears that eat away at us, and change the way we act and feel. I know what I fear. I might not know exactly but I think I can say I have an idea. Now, after that slew of "I's", I will cut to the point. I fear lots of little things. I fear death and dying, pain and suffering. I feel paranoia creeping across my brain, like the rains of a thunder storm rushing across the rippling surface of a destitute, grey lake of waste. I feel my imagination stalking me in the dark, serial killers, enemies, phantoms of vapour, all wanting to mutilate me and kill me. But these fears always are fantastical in nature and bear no consequence on my life. The fear of life is what keeps me awake. I'm living so carefree. My life is as good as it gets. I just push aside the unpleasantries and focus on doing whatever I want. My fear is that what I'm doing now is like an earthquake caused by the tectonic plates shifting. The effects of my ruckus won't be felt immediately here and I won't fall into a fault line, but one day the tidal wave will come. I'm afraid that life is going to come crashing down on my shoulders as I stand on my beach, drinking in the sunlight of my glorious fantasy. My fear is that when this wave hits i'll be wearing cement boots. Thats why tonight as I write this, I'm taking steps to untie the shoelaces. The first thing I'm doing is getting rid of my cellphone. It is depriving me of essential communication skills and unnecessary at best.

meeting the weekly "Quota" (down under mates!)

The book "Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden, is full of great quotes because the book is largley written as characters reflect upon their past experiences. The first quote id like to introduce is when the protagonist, Xavier is lying beside his friend Elijah when Elijah injects morphine into himself. Xavier recounts how "since being wounded in our raid, he has given up fighting the morphine." (pg. 192). This marks the beginning of Elijah's transformation. As the story progresses he becomes more and more dependant on the drug to funtion, and his demeanour changes and becomes very malicous. Many men became dependant on morphine during the war, and it was a part of the war that continued to effect people after the fighting had stopped. In the novel, Elijah has a friend named Grey Eyes who is notorious in the company for his morphine abuse. Elijah eventually tells Xavier that on the journey over to Europe, he tried morphine at Grey Eyes behest. For months, Elijah struggled with his fascination over the drug and the out of body experience he had his first time. His knowledge that the drug will turn him into a fiend detters him, but eventually he gives in and becomes a monster. It is this man vs. himself struggle that is embodied throughout the book. From Xavier hesitating to kill, to his aunt Niska and her responsibilities as a holy woman contrasting with her natural desires.

This brings me to my next quote which takes place as Xavier is strangling Elijah to death on the battlefield. ""You have gone mad. There is no coming back from where you've travelled." I press down harder. Elijah's eyes shine with tears. His face grows a dark red. He tries to whisper words to me but I know that I cannot allow Elijah to speak them. I must finish this. I have become what you are Niska.". This quote is significant not only because it shows the extent of Elijah's madness, but it illustrates the unspoken role of Niska's bloodline in their native culture. Niska's father was a shaman of sorts and would direct hunters to prey during times of need, and who would communicate with spirits and proform spiritual tasks. One of these such tasks is to kill individuals who are driven mad (usually by lack of food in the winter) and kill and eat another human. Since Elijah has become obsessed at this point with killing, Xavier recognizes that he must take his life.

The final quote is one that is said by more of a secondary character in the story. The man is a french fur trapper with whom Niska has sexual relations with. "He laughed. "I fucked you in a church," he said, and smiled. I smiled back at him. "I fucked the heathen Indian out of you in this church," he said, but this time the smile was not happy. "I took your ahcahk," he said to me, the smile gone now. "Do you understand. I fucked your ahcahk, your spirit"". This is a powerful moment in the story, and marks the turning point in Niska's life where she realizes she was born into a special bloodline that was not meant for corrupted cities and racist attitudes. She was meant to live as her ancestors before her, and utilize her talents to help preserve their culture that is being swallowed by the white men and their greed.

First Impressions

The protagonist in my book "Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden. The protagonist is named Xavier and he is a Cree veteran of the First World War. The story unfolds just after he returns to Canada and is travelling with his aunt back to the land of his childhood. He often slips into dreams which recount his wartime experiences. Xavier is a very quiet and perceptive character. He is always thinking about the world around him and the way things are. He is relatable in the way that he has great empathy towards distressful situations and seems to be genuinely intentioned. I think that as the story progresses, he will be pushed into corners he can't get out of and be forced into becoming what he does not want to be. Even so, I think that he will learn valuable lessons from his past and do something good.