Music Heard Solo

1. Fade Into Obscurity

The curtain is falling

Once more; take your

Final bow. Don't embarrass

Yourself this time.

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You've lost your time to exist

You should know by now.

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A lone ghost with a pulse

Destined to walk the Earth

In search of meaning and

Profundity; to always fall short.

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You've lost your time to exist

You should know by now.

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Rich full lives will be met

Whilst you drone and mill

Overstaying a welcome that

Was cautious to begin with

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You've lost your time to exist

You should know by now.

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There will always be the

Window; a thick pane of glass

The Us is you, the Them

Is the rest. Have, have-nots

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You've lost your time to exist

You should know by now.

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Frantic and anxious you'll

Try to find the way out;

If there's a code to crack

It's as dated as you.

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You've lost your time to exist

You should know by now.

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2. A Slate, Torn Blank, Again

Funnel out the room

“I’ll see you again,

Sooner rather than later.”

So they say, hear

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Prior to the hinge of

The last door straightening

Reality comes in waves

Foresaw, but still unprepared

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The slate, not wiped

Clean, per say, but ripped

Personalities, sociabilities torn,

To make way for the next

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Much like a

Reset button, on an

Old video game

Better luck next time

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3. I Haven’t Seen the Sun in Far Too Long

Rays and beams cut

Through atmospheric barriers

To puncture us

With unexplained joy

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Yet I squint, and

Somehow, the orb is cold

Left with nothing

More than a shadow and an anticlimax

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The greats,

Stravinsky and Meat Loaf were

All wrong, about so-called

Rites of Spring

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Or have I

Perhaps, simply built

An immunity

To the Sun?

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A high tolerance

To vitamin D

May be laughable

But dreadful, all the same

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4. How Can I Ever Live This Down?

They are not coming

They are already here

The marching and chanting

Outside your eardrums

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How can I ever live this down?

How can I ever live this down?

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You’d better be sorry

For all the words uttered

From your righteous vocals

To your arrogant lips

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How can I ever live this down?

How can I ever live this down?

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Out into a world unassuming

Keep digging, dig deep

Down through

The cortex, the center

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How can I ever live this down?

How can I ever live this down?

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Of your mind, pile

Debris, hoping

For resolution or some

Form of contention

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How can I ever live this down?

How can I ever live this down?

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But as racketous and

Disheveled as the front is

The quietude of

The back knows better

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How can I ever live this down?

How can I ever live this down?

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That the minute you

Live this down

Another predicament

Will spread in its place

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Will I ever live this down?

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5. Faulty Outing

No amount of the whirring,

Blaring or chattering

From inside can ease

The saw of your nerves

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There’s a party in there

And invited or not it’s

Open to all

Save you, perhaps.

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The bouncer, distracted

Does not lock eyes

You play on your phone, put

An earphone in, take it out

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Nobody’s staring, but the

Eyes are everywhere still.

Should’ve you stayed home

Or should you be here?

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After a scornful approach

And fruitless attempt

Of the bouncer’s attention

You fold and walk off

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Defeated but fighting

The feeling, you think

“Next time, I’ll bring

Someone; that’ll solve it.”

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Go in or not, bring

Companions or not,

You know the feeling

Will last much longer

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That the world is enjoying

Growing and celebrating

But you’ll be outside,

Fighting for a bouncer’s attention.

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“You’re shit out of luck.”

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6. Shame (parts 1-3)

I.

Should a wall

Be forged, should

It be made

Of sweat and not

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Desire, but of desire’s

Antithesis; the

Desire to not

Want, nor to need.

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You analyze

The cracks of the

Structure, find it to be

Made of nothing, really.

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And yet it is there

You don’t quite

Remember building it

But there it stands.

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It’s concrete textures are

The full scope of

Your vision, and you

Crack knuckles

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As if today will

Be the day; but of course

You turn around, and go in

The other direction.

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Perhaps another time,

In a separate year, but now

The wall remains;

As does the shame.

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II.

There should be batons

Accompanying Thought Police

Ready at a moment’s notice

When you feel or try

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Years of training and

Trial and error don’t seem

To instill the truth

Godawful or not

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They put you

On probation, say “No thanks”

In politeness; but these

Are not your people

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You are a guest in their lives

A mere passerby

An afterthought at best

Don’t think anything else

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The most quaint way

Of being is to be simple

And meek. Your best virtue

Staying out of their way.

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III.

You spoke too loud

And all too sure

You created a world

Of resentment, bitterness

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You dont know its there

But it will dawn soon

The shame will rise

As your heart sinks

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Insignificance regained

Depression reassured

The gain of tension

Loss of warmth

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You overshot and

Overthink, to pile on

And you can't complain

It's the bed you'd made

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All poems are taken from the upcoming collection titled Agnostic Gospel by J.C. Embree.