Poem: Emancipation

I don't need the crumbs of your attention,
I don't need to be approved for my redemption.
This is the time, you see, when I decide
that this is me, even if you don't
like what you see.

You got sick of me whining,
well... I got sick of you bragging,
I got sick of your stubborn pride.
I am fed up of your stubborn lies.

I don't need the words you said but don't believed
I don't need the songs you gave to me,
that spoke of trust you didn't give.

This is the time, you see, when I get up and leave.
This will be me, the one that you'll not see
when you whine and need.
This is the time, you see, when I decide to leave.

Prose: Before you say you love someone

love makes it possible for individuals to connect to others in a meaningful way it impels them to leave their shells and risk being honest and spontaneous together, to come to know each other in profound ways. thus love makes it possible for them to care about each other genuinely, rather than at the end of the gun of christian doctrine. but at the same time, it plucks the lover out of the routines of everyday life and separates her from other human beings. she will feel a million miles away from the herd of humanity, living as she is in a world entirely different from theirs. there is no place for the passionate, romantic lover in todays world, business or private. for he can see that it might be more worthwhile to hitchhike to Alaska (or to sit in the park and watch the clouds sail by) with his sweetheart than to study for his calculus exam or sell real estate, and if he decides that it is, he will have the courage to do it rather than be tormented by unsatisfied longing. he knows that breaking into a cemetery and making love under the stars will make for a much more memorable night than watching television ever could. true love is irresponsible, irrepressible, rebellious, scornful of cowardice, dangerous to the lover and everyone around her, for it serves one master alone: the passion that makes the human heart beat faster. love urges men and women to heroism, and to antiheroismto indefensible acts that need no defense for the one who loves. how many men and women, having never realized that they had the option to choose their own destinies? love is discouraged in our culture. Being "carried away by your emotions" is frowned upon; instead we are raised to always be on our guard lest our hearts lead us astray. rather than being encouraged to have the courage to face the consequences of risks taken in pursuit of our hearts desires, we are counseled not to take risks at all, to be "responsible." and love itself is regulated. love as most of us know it today is a carefully prescribed and preordained ritual, something that happens on friday nights in expensive movie theaters and restaurants, something that fills the pockets of the shareholders in the entertainment industries without preventing workers from showing up to the office on time and ready to reroute phone calls all day long. this regulated, commercial "love" is nothing like the passionate, burning love that consumes the genuine lover. these restrictions, expectations, and regulations smother true love; for love is a wild flower that can never grow within the confines prepared for it but only appears where it is least expected. we must fight against these cultural restraints that would cripple and smother our desires. for it is love that gives meaning to life, desire that makes it possible for us to make sense of our existence and find purpose in our lives. without these, there is no way for us to determine how to live our lives, except to submit to some authority, to some god, master or doctrine that will tell us what to do and how to do it without ever giving us the satisfaction that self-determination does. so fall in love today, with men, with women, with music, with ambition, with yourself. . . with life. one might say that it is ridiculous to implore others to fall in love one either falls in love or one does not, it is not a choice that can be made consciously. emotions do not follow the instructions of the rational mind. but the environment in which we must live out our lives has a great influence on our emotions, and we can make rational decisions that will affect this environment.

Poem: Reality

Another day, another night
Another moment of being alone
Another dull ache from words
... I'm losing

It's I who am blind
I believed what I wanted
I don't see as I should
... I was wrong

A beautiful soul in an ugly form
The heart is seen but over shadowed
It shouldn't matter
... But it does

Nothing to be done
No way to correct nature's mistakes
A thorn by any other name
... I loathe reality

I'm vanishing before my eyes
And the view is improved
Even I understand the point
... I am ridicule

This lament of self pity ends
So does my visibility
Shut down because I've been drained
... Now maybe I'll be seen