The Dead and the Restless

The Dead and the restless 5/31/2012

The end is an animal
Crouching over his kill
And madness is a man
Without a conscience or soul.

No better than bacteria
And devoid of sense and reason
Gorging himself on blood
In a violent spasm of death.

If you can search
Then you can see the sign
Grabing you by the gut
And never letting go.

It has been a long time coming
But now the harvest is here
As man plots against man
In a final gamble of death.

An unstable mixture
Of willful foolishness
And wishful thinking
Of the stupid
And the cowardly.

Propped up in success
By the works of the good
Achieved over centuries
And squandered in a day.

Coming unglued
And falling off its hinges
A world devolving into ignorance
And sinking into madness.

What was shocking
Has become expected
And what was unthinkable
Has become commonplace.

The savage attack has continued
And now we see the result
In wave after wave of assault
And horrific murder.

Our basic instinct to love and protect
Replaced with indifference
Numb to the violence
And blind to the threat.

We have sold out the future
And bought a noose
With our debt
Holding out our hands for the executioner
Without a whimper.

Going from one place to another
In a frantic search of greed
Always scanning the scenery
For a victim.

Memory is full
And the time is ripe
As we choke on the fruit
Bitter and poisonous.

Eating out our guts
And frying all our nerves
With blood in our mouth
And demons in our brain.

The good speak only in private
Afraid to acknowledge the truth
Making it easy for the enemy
To pick us off
One by one.

But it is never too late
To do what is right
And its never too late
To take a chance
And make a stand.

The road back is a long one
And sometimes the answers
Are hard to find
But we are not the first
And we are not alone.

Uptick

Uptick 5/30/2012


More of the same
Will not change a thing
Not until we lose the fear
Of standing up
And telling the truth.

Acknowledging the white elephant
Loose in the room
Breaking everything
And crushing everyone.

Only when we can recognize
The bleeding stump
Of liberty and individuality
Where they used to be
Alive and swinging.

We tip toe around reality
And are careful not to offend
While the rope is tightened
Around our heart
And our neck.

But inaction can take you far
If you let it sweep you away
Dragging you down
And drowning you out.

So much for complacency
And so much for safety
As if it ever existed
Or ever mattered.

Either way
Death will claim us
Pulling our heads back
And slitting our throat.

The weight of silence is heavy
Heavier than a stone
Sucking out the spirit
And sinking us in despair.

But that is what happens
When we shrink from truth
Letting everything pass
Unchallenged and uncontested.

The good are forgotten
And crushed to pieces
Ground down by convenience
And destroyed by comfort.

And we get what we deserve
Superficiality and stupidity
Rammed down our throats
Shallow distractions passed off as reality
And reality denied and ridiculed.

Such is the price of peace
That we blandly accept the end
Measured, controlled and herded
Every day of our lives.

The elephant laughs
Because we do not say a word
Scrambling to find room to stand
And any semblance of self.

The future is now
And it is what it is
A mere puff of smoke
Come and gone.

But those we love
Are worth more
Than mere status or safety
With all the potential in the world
For good or for bad.

I go on
For them
And not for me
For there is no indignity
Worth more than them.

Thanks

Thanks 5/29/2012


If the opposite of hot is cold
Then lukewarm is death
Because nothing is more indifferent
Than a man forgotten.

The boredom of the day
Beats down with the sun
Burning our skin
And numbing the brain.

We immerse ourselves in water
And drift in the waves
Cooking ourselves in oil
With sand between our toes.

I could smell the burning charcoal
Wafting to my nostrils
As my father cooked the meat
Near the camper
At the lake.

Another day and another memory
Of long summer days
Full of his laughter
And unconditional love.

He remains in me
And I belong to him
One of many
That almost never was.

The white crosses spread out
As far as the eye can see
Men like him
Who never got the chance.

Giving all they had
For a promise
And sacrificing all
Those yet unborn.

Liberty is the greatest gift
Like fresh air for the lungs
The blessing of limitless possibilities
As far as imagination can run.

We have enjoyed the harvest
An undeserved cornucopia of plenty
To come and go unmolested
To think and express ourselves
As we please.

But all is not free and easy
Because man is a slave
To greed and power
Always seeking to control
Through intimidation and violence.

Fanning the flames of resentment
And spilling innocent blood
Hell-bent on domination
Where the end justifies the means.

These men made the difference
And now they rest in silent formation
Watering the ground with their blood
To grow a future
Verdant and beautiful.

We are the legacy
And we are the blessed
But the future will reap the rewards
That we ourselves have sown.

Have we cared enough for family?
And how have we remembered?
The aging, the wounded
The hurting, and the lonely.

Raise up your glass
And remember the fallen
Drinking deeply of the memory
Full, rich, and stout.

Smell the smoke
And fire off the guns
Breathing free with wild abandon
Enough for all the lives
Unfinished and unknown.

The Haunted House

The Haunted House 5/25/2012

The old house is on the market
And I wonder what they think
Maybe that its sad,
Or maybe that its funny
That my family and my castle
Are all gone and wasted.

Just another vacant shell
Abandoned to time
Occupited only by the memories
Of a suburban ghost.

This story is not special
And I know its not unique
Because countless others
Know how it feels
To see a part of themselves
Sold for a song.

Soon someone else
Will walk around the rooms
Putting their things away
And cavort in the yard.

Their children will play
And run up and down the halls
Laughing and giggling
Where my own kids
Once laughed and played.

They will put their books
In the shelves that I built
And they will sit by the fire
And stare at the flames.

They will never know
What dreams I had there
And they will never understand
What nightmares I endured.

The sleepless nights
That alcohol couldn’t kill
And the incredible cruelty
Of misfortune and betrayal.

Their feet will walk
On the same floors
And they will shower
In the same stall
Without any thought
About who, why, where and when.

They will never know
That it was me
Who cut into the walls
And floored the attic.

That it was me
Who bled on the floor
And spread out the paint
Brushing it onto the walls
And letting it soak in.

That my prayers still echo
In the vaults of the ceiling
Forever reverberating
In a house of murdered dreams.

It isn’t about me
And it isn’t about the house
Just another cookie cutter
Built, bought, and sold
For instant consumption.

No my dreams
Are not contained
By four walls and a door
And my purpose
Cannot be defined
By who I was
Or what I lost.

There is nothing gained
Without something lost
And there is nothing as brilliant
As what we learn
Along the way.

A new world is born
In the ashes of the old
Rising up with wings of fire
To grasp at life
Pure, free, and bold.

Battle Face

Battle face 5/24/2012

Turn off the lights
And close the door, behind you
Because all who enter here
Must see in the dark.

Feeling their way
Through the shadows
And tip toeing through the mines
Back through time
And back through the slaughter.

Hope is like a white light
On a dead red moon
And regret is like broken glass
Underneath your tongue.

Mystery is like a dream
Too good to be true
And deception is like a knife in the back
Twisting slowly in your spine.

Dread is a cold dark flame
That burns in the heart
Killing all your feelings
From the inside out.

So much for the rewards
Of life wasted along the way
Destroying myself
And everything else.

The test has come
And we have failed
Sleep walking through life
And afraid of the dark.

Too timid to tell the truth
And too kind to be stand strong
Dead to the world
And all but forgotten.

The beasts in the field
Look for the stragglers
And the weak
Killing to survive
By instinct and guile.

But man is the greatest
And he alone will sacrifice
Paying the price
Of one for many.

He stands straight
And takes it on the head
Straining with all his might
Not to show any pain.

Keeping his composure
Until the very end
Giving up his ghost
With dignity and honor.

But he goes not meekly
But with defiance and strength
True to his conscience
And God almighty.

Never giving in
And never giving up
With truth on his lips
No matter what the cost.

Because there is no need to rise
If you have not fallen
And there is no need to hate
If you are in the right.

To all of you
Who may come after
And to all of you
Who have come before
There is the word
And there is the truth.

The promise of a better world
On the other side of atrocity
For those who rely on God
And not on themselves.

I am incomplete
A mere man halfway through
Lost in doubt
And romantic illusions.

But we are never far from the light
When we learn how to trust
Knowing who to ask
And who to believe.

Media Culture Complex

Media Culture Complex


The future spins unknown
And we cannot know until it happens
Like a cat in a box
Neither dead or alive
Until we open it up to check
And look inside and see.

Such is the dream
Of a thousand similar worlds
Splitting off with different outcomes
With infinite possibilities
Just and unjust.

I sit in an office
In a tall glass building
But this isn’t really
What I planned
Or what I guessed.

But none of us are trapped
Because a new world has opened
Where we can search out the truths
Unreported and suppressed.

A limitless world of ideas
Spreading out in all directions
A great exchange of ideas
And divergent opinions.

There are many who hate it
And wallow in the past
Nursing their injuries
For comfort and profit.

Who rage against any
Who would dare disagree
Threatening and shouting
The same old song
We have all heard before.

Manipulating the facts
Just to suit their opinion
And hiding behind titles
That they never earned at all.

This is the world
That they have created
A world of terror
And ethnic hatred.

Where the hands of the good
Are tied behind their back
Facing an enemy
Shameless and corrupt.

A world of situational ethics
Where the only thing that matters
Is getting what you want
And everything real
Is degraded and spoiled.

Where a made up moral equivalence
And misplaced guilt
Is used like a hammer
To beat down the honest.

But this superficiality is dead
And dying
Made just for consumption
And flushed away cheap.

A mockery of reality
Where the shallow are praised
The good forgotten
And evil excused.

The word is truth
And it is here, right now
Spreading everywhere
Uncontrollable and uncensored.

Where even the hidden
Can be revealed
And even the suppressed
Can be discussed
No longer silenced or forbidden.

If this world should die
Then new life shall grow
A world with infinite possibilities
Verdant and beautiful.

We are only prisoners
If we want
And we are only silent
If we choose.

Let the talking heads preach
And let the pundits argue
Because we have seen
And now we know.

High Tide

High Tide

The water fills the bucket
Until it tilts over
Spilling on our heads
Only to fall backwards
And fill up again.

The tipping point has come
And there is no turning back
As the water runs down and over
To rise at our feet.

One thing is one thing
But it always leads
To something else
Either for the better
Or for the worse.

The levels are rising
But no one does a thing
As long as we can breathe
With our heads above water.

But our feet have slowed
As more and more lay hold
Sapping our strength
Until we can barely stand.

How many parasites does it take
To bring down the mighty beast?
Overworked and underfed
And hobbled by debt.

Bought off with sugar cubes
And soothing fallacies
A lullaby of deception
Until the poison takes effect.

Unspoken is the promise
When evil outweighs the good
When its too late to stop
Devolution and genocide.

Many are blamed
But the truth hurts more
Because no one else is to blame
For what ignorance has caused.

It doesn’t matter if I rhyme
And it doesn’t matter how it sounds
Because it is the truth that matters
Both the cause and the cure.

We all should know
What is genuine
And what is fake
Careful not to trust
Criminals and frauds.

Preying on prejudice
And preaching vulgar hate
Demeaning truth and logic
Anyway they can.

Calculating how much
They can get
And how long it will take
For the beast to weaken
Fall down and die.

That even the great
Could be so foolish
Strong enough to fight
But brought down from within
By difference and inaction.

Able to defeat any foe
But unable to preserve himself
Such is the truth
That no one speaks
Or knows.

Look around
And tell me what you see
Because the truth is dying
And so also is liberty.

Fools breed corruption
And corruption breeds dictatorship
The tyranny of the few
Feeding the prejudice
Of many.

Some people may teach
And some others may preach
Rewarded and emboldened
To incite hatred and death.

Deeper and deeper it gets
And its too late
To look the other way
Time to turn it off
Or be swept away.

Time waits for no one
And it won’t wait for me
But how can I ever leave
With so much left to give.

The young and defenseless
Are not guilty at all
Yet they are the sacrifice
That evil wants to eat.

Protected only by numbers
And democracy on life support
Living on borrowed time
Indoctrinated and abused.

Time to stand
Upon the dry ground
Rising to defend a future
Waiting to be born.

Dead Metal

Dead Metal 5/18/2012

A cold dead weight
Feels good in your hands
Shiny,silent,
Explosive, and deadly.

Somebody somewhere
Is hiding
His hands dripping with death
And running down his arms.

He has run
And he has hid
But others know
And others look.

Slowly stalking through the rooms
And searching every closet
Under the bed
And behind the doors.

Somewhere the truth is hidden
And someone must search it out
Sorting out fact from fiction
And drag it out
Into the light.

No one can run forever
And no one can escape the truth
Everyone a prisoner
And everyone guilty.

The masks are coming off
And you can see the real disease
The kind that rots the brain
With hatred, and jealousy.

More than a theory
And grainy photographs
The truth behind the fallacy
And the lie before our eyes.

It takes a man to understand the truth
Even if it’s uncomfortable
And even if it hurts
Because the truth is not always easy
No matter what we wish.

But fools will be fools
And we should let them flounder
Swinging wildly at the air
Unable to accept reality
And grow.

No problem can ever be solved
If you can’t say what it is
And the future is no different
Than the past we drag behind.

Fallen on their swords
That they themselves sharpened
Murder for murder
And death for death.

Let the dead carry the dead
And lay them out in the sun
With nothing left to say
And nothing left to offer.

Outgunned, outclassed
Dumb, useless and dead
The most guilty of all
Dried out
And petrified.

Tick Tock

Tick Tock 5/17/2012


You can underline the words
And you can connect the dots
Solve the puzzle
Or catch a killer.

You can tracing a line through logic
Or make a guess through wisdom.
Plotting out the possibilities
To search out the truth.

But man lives by respiration
And activity in the brain
As the heart pumps the blood
Surging through the body
Over and over again.

We survive on food and water
And procreate by instinct
Grasping for comfort
And angling for power.

We are soothed by love
But kill by instinct
Either for self preservation
Or greed.

But all people are not the same
Each one different
And each one unique
A single solitary combination
Of DNA, traits, and character.

But it is the soul that makes us different
And it is a conscience
That can make us better
An inner voice
And the immortal spirit.

All men suffer
And all men make mistakes
But not all men murder
And not all men rape.

God has called down the fire
And it has entered my heart
Burning forth with fury
With thoughts, feelings and words.

Nothing can change what is right
And nothing ever will
No matter how we stack the odds
Or tilt the field.

What is right is right
And what is wrong is wrong
No matter what we qualify
Excuse, or justify.

No culture can survive
Nor can a country prosper
That does not cherish the good
Or reward the deserving.

And no man will ever see God
Who hates the good
And murders the innocent
All for vanity
And all for pride.

This time shall surely pass
And so shall this culture crumble
Rotted from the inside out
Superficial, predictable
Spoiled, and dead.

Because there is no justice like Gods
And his decisions cannot be appealed
His wisdom above
And his judgment divine.

Many of the high and mighty
Shall be brought low
And no matter how
They wail and cry
It will be too late to change
And too late to argue.

I am humble
But I am thankful
Hurt enough to know
And wise enough to wait.

High Noon

High Noon 5/16/2012

There are memories
And there are places
Randomly selected
For just one moment of time.

I don’t live there any more
And nothing will ever be the same
Shaking the dust off my heels
And leaving all the ghosts behind.

The sights, sounds, and smells
Are still there
Filed away in the secret places
Coming back at the strangest times
Unrequested and meaningless.

I cruised Wyatt Earp boulevard
And turned around at Boot Hill
Closing the circuit and back again
The one I knew so well.

Names and faces change
And people fade in and out
Familiar friends and acquaintanences
Here for a moment
And then gone forever.

Sharing a place and a time
In the most unlikely combinations
Across the vast distances of space
In a twist of the odds
A thousand billion to one.

We go on our way
And live our own lives
With only the thinnest of connections
In a sea of anonymous pedestrians.

Marriages fall apart
And heartfelt promises forgotten
As we fall victim to reality
And the disappointment of routines.

There are births
And there are joys
But also tragedy
And horror.

As the good are cut off
And evil men prosper
Without any consequence
Or twinge of conscience.

It is almost noon in Dodge
Where I grew up
Long ago and far away
About as far as I can get
From the here and now.

The shadows will pass over
The old house
Sold, subdivided
And crumbling to the ground.

Like so many others
Aging on the prairie
Once full of promise
And now abandoned to time.

I walked up the alley
And found the secret passage
And stood there for a moment
In peaceful reverie.

Today it must remain
But I cannot know for sure
A surreal memory
Of perfect solitude.

It is almost noon
And the sun is high
Time to walk the street
At the cross roads of fate
Staring dead level ahead
And taking everything back.

The Burning Couch

It has killed many
And it will kill more
Swallowing them down
And leaving them to rot
In the belly of darkness
In a deep black hole.

The horror of addiction
Is deep and dark
Pulling you in
And never letting go.

Where day and night
Have no meaning
And all the weeks a blur
Always looking to score
And always wanting more.

Reality is painful
And sobriety a horror
As we look for something
To make us forget.

Deluded by euphoria
And numbed to the pain
Dependent on something
Just to help us cope
Until we waste away
Without conscience or hope.

Some commit suicide
And some lash out in anger
Carried by the current
Of delirium
And madness.

Some don’t care
If they live or die
Because they’re in too deep
And cannot escape.

Without the will to live
And unable to eat
Lying naked on the couch
With your skin on fire.

There is no escape from living
And oblivion can last forever
Loveless, senseless
Terrifying and complete.

The most courageous things
Often pass unnoticed
And the greatest of decisions
May remain unknown.

You cannot save others
If you can’t save yourself
And there is no wound so deep
That God cannot heal.

You can help
And you can pray
But in the end
We must make a choice
Life or death
Truth or lie.


5/15/2012 By Rob McManus

The Debt Collector

The Debt Collector 5/14/2012

Some people get what they want
But there's never enough for all
Shoved aside in the excitment
As they drop their heads
To feed at the trough.

The pie never gets bigger
And nothing stays the same
As someone else decides
Who shall live
And who shall die.

Someone has to pay the price
And someone has to go without
Swallowing their pride
And hanging their head.

Such is life
As we know it
An ever growing pecking order
Moving up or moving down
Changing with the times
And the vagaries of man.

There is always lots of help
When life is easy
But none can be found
When you need it the most.

Everybody wants to be the boss
And everybody thinks
That they are a leader
But the wisest men
Seldom seek false glory.


Not given to the weakness
Of pride and speeches
The kind we have all heard
Rising and falling
With hypocrisy and bile.

Instead they work
Staying out of the way
And staying out of trouble
But hiding will not save
The many from the few.


We get what we deserve
Another day older
And deeper down a hole
Owing more and more
Because of indecision
And cowardice.

A long day’s coming
And a long night’s lament
The future we asked for
But hoped to avoid.


Reality is calling
And we all run for cover
Hiding behind false hope
As all our dreams
Are overrun.

It’s hard to get credit
When the future is black
And it’s hard to keep on going
With ten men on your back.

All the money in the world
Cannot buy a lost future
Indebted to a promise
Long lost and fruitless.

No one wants to pay
Once the balance is due
So they just pass it along
And add it up another tick.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease
And the loudest mouth will get the reward
Upside down and backwards
The wasted expenses
Fudged over and passed along.

There is no rest
And there is no remorse
As we trudge upwards
In spite of the weight.

Someday and somehow
Everything will be paid
Paid back in blood
And paid back in sorrow.

I owe plenty
But it’s a lot
More than money
But either way
I will pay
On time, and in full.

You cannot kill the dead
And you cannot destroy the spirit
Untraceable and undeniable
Rising up from the shadows.

Beating at their conscience
And knocking at their door
Breaking ever window
And rising from the floor.

Collecting the debts
And all the interest too
Dishing out the penalties
Of life, limb and more.

Metal Flake

Metal flake 5/11/2012

I remember metal flake
Everywhere on everything
Glittering deep and reflecting the sun
In the long summer days
Dead and gone.

My dad’s boat bounced off the waves
As we dragged my sisters on skis
And how I loved the water in my face
White, frothy
Pure and alive.

Everything seemed possible
And everything was promised
With everything ahead of me
And nothing behind
But laughter.

We drank RC cola
And walked to the drug store
Shopping in stores that no longer exist
And walking on sidewalks
Vacant and lost.

There were book stores
And there were diners
Boutiques and haberdashers
All gone and blown away.

Life must be nurtured
Cultivated and fed
Lest it be overused
Wasted, desolate
Alien and dead.

Overrun and overused
As greedy hands destroy
But never build
Such is the waste
And such is the truth.

Unrecognizable are the ghost towns
Where no one cares
And no one remains
Victims of convenience
And mindless politics.

Time is fleeting
But even evil
Shall wither and die
Killing itself with neglect
And indifference.

It is the nature of man
To fall and rise
But the truth still stands
For those that are willing.

For me it is time
To rebuild and renew
Scrubbing away the tarnish
And buffing out the scars.

Because I am alive
And my children are worth it
The hard work of life
And the necessity of preservation.

A new patina
With the lustre of the past
And a new hope
For greater glory.

Taking back what is ours
Piece by piece
And brick by brick
Building a new world
With pieces of the past.

Angel in Black

5/10/2012

Angel in Black

I loved an angel
An angel dressed in black
With fire in her eyes
And acid on her tongue.

We haunted the coffee shops
Book stores and antique markets
Always searching for something
To feed our hungry souls.

There were many perfect moments
And numberless conversations
Leaning across tables
Or lying in bed.

She was my other half
A perfect partner
And a flawless savior
For my perverted mind
And twisted soul.

The steam from the coffee
Curled up in the air
Swirling between our faces
And softening the light.

Her thoughts were my thoughts
And all things were possible
A conspiracy of wit
Of two old souls.

She was like a miracle
Like water from a rock
Food for the soul
And fuel for the fire.

We wrote each other poems
But hers was better than mine
And she memorized every line
Reading from the heart.

I can still hear her voice
In the quiet stillness
Steady, calm and peaceful
In the back of my mind.

I will never forget the last two lines
Forever stuck in my memory
That”no matter what the future brings
I will always Rob love you”.

The words haunt me
But there is nothing I can do
An experience of a different person
In an altogether different time.

No matter how much time passes
I will never leave that place
A perfect moment trapped in amber
Preserved forever
And richer with time.

Looking backwards
The contrast is clear
That I am a different man
With one foot in the present
And another in the grave.

I sleep and I dream
And I awaken to the world
A reality without color
Gray and indistinct.

I am numb to the world
And all my senses are dulled
Never again as sensitive
And never again as alive.

The future came for us
And brought with it
Highs and lows
Twisting and turning in unexpected directions
And looping over on itself.

We were dragged apart
By circumstances out of control
As thoughts, feelings and actions
Inexplicably interfered.

We still speak
But at a great distance
Separated by a frozen ocean
And agonizing heartbreak.

I have fallen far below
And I am falling still
With only memories for comfort
And no faith in man.

My arms have found a handhold
But climbing back, takes forever
When you are gravely wounded
And twice as old.

I still don’t know the future
And death is a one way hole
But better it must be
Than life dead and cold.

That is where my heart is
In the unknown places
A deep and dark mystery
Collapsing inwards.

If heaven awaits
Then that is where I’ll know
The answers to these questions
And the peace of God.

A place for kindred spirits
Co mingled into one
Without a beginning or an ending
First, last, and forever.

Hang to Dry

Hang to Dry 5/4/2012
Rob McManus

I guess this is real
And its not like a movie
Where the good always win
At the very last second.

Sometimes we get what we want
And sometimes we don’t
And sometimes help arrives
And sometimes they are too late.

Maybe you are like me
Lumped together in the middle
At best another cog in the wheel
Force Fitted into a slot
Over and over again.

Designed to last
But built to fail
Because we just keep going
Until we get too old,
Beaten, and frail.

Giving it our best
And giving it our all
Used up until the end
And then forgotten
Or left at the curb.

Such is the life
In the heart of a grinder
Working to survive
And pay for everyone else.

Too busy to speak
And too tired to scream
We are the quiet
And the abused.

Like dead soldiers
Buried all in a row
Forgotten by the spoiled
Who have never sacrificed
And will never know.

It could be worse
But it’s kind of hard to remember
With all that we have seen
And all that is done.

If you watched the news
Then you have seen the lies
And if you have seen the carnage
Then you know who has died.

The biggest bang of all
Is always down the road
As we keep on going
With less and less.

The future opens up
Into a million possibilities
But it’s getting smaller
And narrower
With every decision
And drop of blood.

But if you are looking
For something more
Make sure you look in the right place
Instead of bashing your head
And cutting up your face.

Make sure that you are heard
And love with all of your might
Embracing the chaos
And making it your own.

Because if we are to hang
Then let us hang freely
Kicking in the air
And one of a kind.

To exit this world
Without regret
Having lived and died with honor
Every step
And every day.

The real life is coming
Because this is just a test
Just a dream without a heart
And a farce without a soul.

Keep the flame burning
And always seek the truth
Growing ever larger
Up the stairs
And over the hole.

Counterpunch

Counterpunch   5/3/2012 

It is enough to turn your stomach

And enough to make you cry

That everything you are

Or ever were

Is thrown away and trashed.

Over whelmed and overun

Denied, ridiculed, and rejected 

Detroyed from behind
What no one ever dared
To stare in the eye.


Grabbing you by the guts

And pulling you inside out

Up, down, side, to side,

And never letting go. 

Caught in the crossfire

And shot by both sides
Hung up the heels
And dragged in the dirt.

Reality is here

And there is nothing pretty about it

Another day falling downward

And closer to the end. 

Rome is burning

And no one says a word

Because fear grips the good

And evil men

Roam the street.

No one wants to get dirty

But the silent

Are drenched in blood

Giving up too easily 

To the dumb, worthless, and dead.

Empty words

Are no better than lies
Just another hand out
And pearls before swine.

It is midnight
And all is quiet
A heavy handed silence
You can cut with a knife.

Nothing means anything

And all of this you see
Is nothing but a joke
Just another fantasy
That will all go up in smoke.

Some people see others

And some people only see themselves
Finding their own reflection
In everything and everyone.                    

I will keep going

But I cannot see where

With just enough to keep me moving

And nothing but these words

Left to share.

You can call it

Whatever you want
But I don’t have a choice
And I don’t really care.

It has been too long

To wish any different
And I have seen enough
To know how it ends.

If you thought

It would end badly
Then you were definitely right
But this war is not really over
And I have barely joined the fight.

If you know who it is

And you know
From where its coming
You can absorb the blows
And shrug them off.

But the answer

Has been waiting
For the longest time
Held back until the end
At the point of no return
Across a line in the sand.   

Now that we know the sting
Then its time to trade the punches
Answering the first
With the first of the last.

If you have lived enough
Then you should know it by now
That if we don’t do it
Maybe no one will.  

Let the future wonder

How we could be so wrong
But on the right side of liberty
Is where I’ll rest my head.

Let there be no doubt
About who, what, and where
Because good will win
As long as truth survives.

Blacker

Blacker 5/1/2012 By Rob McManus

The future happens fast

At a high rate of speed

Flashing by at an instant

Until they blur

And melt away.

Pieces spin in the air

And disappear in the smoke

As a cloud of blood

Explodes everywhere. 

Glass and mirrors become a mosaic

As metal burns metal

Grinding and twisting

Until nothing remains. 

It only takes a second

To change everything you know

But help is always

Minutes or hours away. 

Projectiles fill the air

And rain sideways

In sheets

Like an iron waterfall

Of hot gray lead.

Another day

And another night

Slowly dying inside of myself

Used up and thrown aside

With tubes and needles

Everyplace and everywhere. 

The quick and the dead

And the good and the guilty

At high noon in America

Inexplicable and horrific.

Sweating and shivering on the couch

Without any hope at all

Unable to go on

And unable to stop

In a night of a hundred deaths

Not far from here

You may never know

What it feels like

To call out for help

And get no answer. 

To plead for mercy

And be cut off at the knees

By the cruel and unmerciful

And left to die in a ditch.

Let the sun burn away

And the wounds bleed

Festering and throbbing

In the cold dark sun.

My heart is black

Blacker than black
Blacker than the suit I wore
When I said goodbye
Darker than the midnight sun
On the other side of the world.

Squeeze shut your eyes

And cup your hands
Over your ears
To forget the day
And sleep in a hole.

Dream a dream of perfection

Because that is all you’ll get
Nothing but a ride down a highway
In a long black car.

Spin your wheels

And try with all your might
But you can’t get far
If someone else
Holds the keys.

Tell the pretty women

To all leave this place
Because I can’t look anymore
Without dying. 

Tell the fools and the liars
That this dead ender is done
Because I have had enough
For a hundred lifetimes.

I am coming for them

In a single minded fury
With nothing left to lose
And the whole world to gain
Black as night
And black as death.

I am the pale angel
With a heart of blackened iron
As I take up my wings
On my way to paradise.

I shall come down
Faster and faster
With the air stinging my face
Coming home with furious anger
Stirring up hell
In a cloud of dust.