Never Idle

Most of us want to give up without ever realizing that the struggle is the part that teaches us, not the accomplishment. Jack reflects on this matter.

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It's becoming a fight to stay conscious. Find myself fighting the gaining dark against the fading light. There's not even a tunnel at this point. It's a void with a spot we'll call a star. It's too far to reach out for. It's too small to tell apart. Managing to ever reach it might mean getting scorched. Never trying means being consumed by the everlasting empty. No floor to run on. There's nothing to grip. Can't close my eyes questioning how I'll ever close the gap and escape this black trap. There's never an answer. It's not in me to quit, so forever I suffer. It's the lessons I learn from the struggle that matter. And although there is no way in sight, seeing is not believing when my eyes are all that see and expect me to believe what they feed is accurate. It's difficult and I've accepted this. What can be done when life is a quest where we reach for the sky, keep climbing hoping one day we get there, but most of us fall and die. At least if we try our lives don't turn out to be a waste of time. It's the middle stuff that matters as things pass by. The destination means we're finished. That's the end of our lives. I don't plan on being idle and standing by.

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Closed Off

In this piece, Jack reflects on his life and his craft

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Trying too hard
Not getting too far
The gas in this car is going empty
The pen running out of ink
I'll miss my thoughts if I blink
Closed off
Can't think
But I can talk mad shit
Spit real quick sick lines
Slick rhymes
But they don't mean shit
They're a waste of time
The words don't feel mine
They feel like I'm committing a crime
Against my insides
While they're dying caged
The blind rage I'm flung into lingers for…

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Opt out of Success

Jack expresses his thoughts on success and accomplishment in today's world and how it manifests in the general population. 

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The human mind is of dreams and desires
We hope and fantasize over theoretical pleasure
We long for purpose and freedom with it consuming our moment to moment interactions
Always present in our conversations and manifested in our actions
Yet, the human condition prevents us from going further than the want
We don't strive or fight to bring things out from the ether
We've settled for our place and time as though it were etched in stone
Feeling like victims to our current state
As if things that aren't already will never come to be
Once the possibility is understood, though
That is when the fear of failure sets in
The discomfort of having to move in order to accomplish overwhelms us
Static inaction is familiar
It requires us to spend no time of our empty meaningless lives
Seeking purpose is too tiring if the success is not immediate
Self reflection is not present
So we accuse our environment
The systems we live in
But we never question our ability and motivations
In our eyes our failures are all but our own faults
Thus, we have a direction to blame in
We can opt out of it being our own doing
And we do

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Drained

A short poem about friends becoming distant as we age.

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Memories of the “used to know”
Left turn into alone
Stamping the clock draws a line
The steam whistle of separation
Same place to different faces
Different time the same reasons
Another wall to drill through
Ten now
Still not through the first
The tool’s battery died
More rains from heaven
A fortress of isolation
No energy for the cord
No power for effort
Drained trying to not get buried
Not get forgotten

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Determined

A simple rap by Jack taking jabs at the way the masses live.

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I’m a wit mess that leave no witness when I pen with quickness
My words are my vest
I invest in morphing into the best by tossing all of my stress into the canvas

Shots fired
The effort will go admired, but maybe it’s time you retire
Understand I am the man with the skill you wish you had

Hi, I’m Will
Here’s the way out
Follow it
We’ll all be proud you’ll no longer be around getting loud about all the stacks your raps catch
Yet, somehow tomorrow at work, you’ll be right back
9 - 5, your life is like that

I’m not, mines not, It won’t
I won’t be caught
I said the pen would put food on the table
I haven’t been hungry enough to eat my words yet
Although I’m able
This shopping list is long and I’m…

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Mourning Freedom Chapter 5: Acceptance

Acceptance is part of the patient process of winning. Something only those oppressed need to worry about. For the oppressor won’t live long.
Jack shares his thoughts in this poem.

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The pendulum swing at its height
A return is in sight
We might have lost the fight
But that was game one
We ain’t done
Second game is time, son
They’ll run out, zoom
Nothing they can do to change that tune
The end comes soon
This was ain’t through

And we’re learning their ways
Filling offices each day
That realization is the source of their rage
They’re scared they…

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Mourning Freedom Chapter 4: Depression

The depression of defeat settles on the country when solutions we don’t see for the problems it’s facing.

This poem explores the situation.

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It’s quiet
Quiet and we hate it
Feel long since defeated
Hope faded
Screaming just to be heard
To assure we’ve not yet drowned
To get the last word
But the ship is going down
Shit
It’s anger
Fury from knowing the race was rigged
Lost before it began
Built for someone else’s victory

It was planned
For us to fight each other
Distracted by the two puppets that...

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Mourning Freedom Chapter 3: Bargaining

Society isn't ready to deal with a strike from informed individuals. Outrage prevents the masses from learning useful tools and information. 

Jack breaks down his thoughts on the matter in this analysis of the situation. 

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The quiet majority wakes
They must, for the loud majority appears more and more like those they've titled evil.

One woman's words are enough to force a community to punish even those innocent and not involved. A group generalized and treated as less for the behavior of one. The familiarity of this is astonishing.

One man's actions forced all men to cower. Wondering whether that boring date makes them a sexual abuser. The proof lies in the…

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Mourning Freedom Chapter 2: Anger

Blind by outrage and unable to function united, the world seems to be at the height of disagreement and misguided anger. Meanwhile, terror is signed into action while we scream at one another.

Jack expresses his thoughts on the matter in this poem.

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Age outraged at youth
Youth outraged at age
Coexistence is nonexistent
Yet, persistence others are wrong stay static for the manic
Instistant this way is better
Fury when they won’t listen
Missing the point
We’re all suffering our own battle
While hissing at another’s struggle
Pissed saying it ain't real
It’s only real if we...

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Mourning Freedom Chapter 1: Denial

Poetic commentary on the current state of denial the average citizen of the United States displays.

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Hopeless
It’s all hopeless
It’s all hopeless
There’s no resistance when it’s hopeless
No fighting to revoke this nonsense we invoke
It’s toxic so we choke
Nod off asleep
Maybe it’ll be gone when we wake back up
It’s not because it’s stuck
Static, the door shut
Bad habits immobilize us
Never find the keys
Never rise up
Locked behind closed doors
The top floors discourse what to…

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Recovery Chapter 7: Sloth

Weight on others and no magnifying glass on ourselves. Selfishness embodied in a poem. ----------------------------------------------------------

Inactive
The change arrives
Questions arise
Asking, “why?”
The riddle tortures the soul
Letting go is freedom
But letting go is what lead here
Expecting others to do for isn’t the answer
Giving orders isn’t the answer
Being in control isn’t the answer

Point one
Three back
Strained cords
Nothing accomplished
Blame potato
Slug leaves a trail in its wake
Two feet
Stand
Sword and shield
Wield, resist and win

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Recovery Chapter 6: Gluttony

Our fantasies and desires can negatively impact those around us if our pursuit is too relentless.
Jack reflects of related experiences in this poem.

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Give in for he’s all consuming
Ideas, themes, perspectives, He feeds on them
A pursuit for enlightenment
Absorbing all the useful
Whether relevant or not
Ones and zeros must be extracted
No shield or sword
Hopeless to the lustful desire
Hungry for it all
Better self
Better mind
Better…

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Recovery Chapter 5: Pride

All our problems are indirectly our own faults.
This poem is a reflection of that.

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Larger than life
The presence that fills the room
Energetic charisma and intelligent display too
Raunchy, flirty, playful
One man party
Quake at the sight
Never a dull moment
Always right
“Here’s how”
And the crowd goes wild
For miles of denial

Stubborn
Never learns
Delusions of grandeur at every turn
Always right and deaf
Introverted at will
No new information
No progress
Stuck still in time claiming correctness
And claiming correctness
And claiming correctness
Should correct not just be apparent?
Static in the air
The static is in the air
Lightning strike the fool refusing submission
For Zeus cannot be wrong
Says the mortal man to the mirror
To an image opposite to the objective truth
Opposite to the view of others

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Recovery Chapter 4: Wrath

We all hurt one another without knowing it. We don’t even bother being aware of things.
A short poem about it.

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Chin held high
Critic to the straight line
Fitting villain when sane
Snaking the wit relay
Stickup with a freeze ray
Building hidden word traps
To catch those slipping
On how they’re living
Wake up lesson
How to be impressive
Hold the mirror up
Singing how emotions riddle us
Ridiculous
Unreasonable treason of peace
When feelings are the disease

Bully
Violent
He doesn’t mean or try
When the moment is right
He can stop and fight it
He’s tried it
Verbally intrusive with illusive conclusions
Abusive emotionally using “reason” as a reason to do what he sees fit
He’s rude as shit
Claims logic and includes no cold
Then wonders why everyone is coughing
With sore throats dodging him
Poor fool
He’s damaged
Anger driven living in denial sizzling with a fire
Saying saints don’t play kind they play right
Crumbled portraits of friendships held tight

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Recovery Chapter 3: Greed

In this poem, Jack reflects on the manipulation of the people in his life. How his greed and sense of ownership have left him.

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Knowledge and beauty feed the absolute
Collection provides the erection attention and truth
Manipulation of the state and ownership too
Surroundings fabricated as a way to masturbate
Ejaculate at the easy coast by the hard life
Slide by the fast lane
The rest stand by
Toys and pawns die at war
Won’t cry over broken eggs for omelets
Reason won’t be…

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Recovery Chapter 2: Envy

Short poem exploring the frustrations and struggles of being emotionally closed off and the envy it invokes when witnessing others being expressive with ease.

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Trying to spit out
Growth stinting feelings
The ceiling continues close
It’s filling up the boat
Half full is half empty when one’s lost all hope
Can’t expose what is lodged
Stuck in the throat

Poets and musicians open up with such precision
Appears they speak directly to the peak of embodied insecure mystique
Endlessly study the…

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