Josh Ras

The dry black boards are cracked and warped
The dead red earth is bare
All life perspires
As it expires
...

Swiftly doth the blackbird fly
Loudly dost it piersome cry
Fleeting, fleeing cross the sky
Needs no rhyme no reason why
...

Behave yourself
Enslave yourself
Maintain your own restraints
Save yourself
...

Formality is a colossal gateway made of teeth
A tie-shaped noose
A noose in tie form
It is a flock of invisible filaments
...

Bound down now by unseen bonds
In your transparent cell.
You force my body to conform,
But still my mind rebels.
...

Silent dread of
Dreadful silence
Fill it up with
Nothing noise
...

Feel the heat slip down my chest
And lodge itself deep in my breast
This feeling it is just the best
And it comes on at my behest
...

The threads spit barbs into my hand
Like death within my mind.
A burning, stinging tendril
From a poisoned mental vine,
...

Blank face
lank hair
no worries
no cares
...

Now I am off to bed
to empty out my head
to emulate the dead
to escape from the dread
...

how many times?
how long?
how many times must i
hang on?
...

During

Watch the earth erupt in flame
See the ground convulse in pain
...