Genetic creation?

The little tiger climbs his cage,
mewling loud in tiny rage.
His itty paws are clawed and sharp,
and mini eyes glow bright and harsh.

Little tiger wants his dish,
Wants blood and scales and salty fish.
His appetite is sharp and ripe,
Jaws are poised to tear and bite.

What little tiger doesn't know,
He's itsy though his temper grows.
Ferocious beast is still in fact,
Nothing but an orange-striped cat.

The Great Skylight Takeover

After another tedious round of annual attention-hogging, traffic-jamming "Prom-posals," teachers at LHS have decided enough is enough.
"The students take the skylight for granted," explained one irate algebra teacher. "It's a privilege, not a right."
Lassiter faculty has decided to officially close the skylight area to all enrolled students for an indefinite amount of time. Teachers, of course, will still be allowed to see the sun via the skylight whenever they like. Bell times will not be changed to give students extra time for walking between classes. Staff say they fully expect students to make it to class on time while avoiding the skylight altogether.
"Personally I don't think we should ever give it back," declared a lunch lady. "I like walking through the halls without being accosted by blobs of kids or overly-affectionate couples."
It seems that students have stopped to smell the flowers in the skylight one too many times. Surrounding lockers have been banned from use. "If it's near the skylight, it's been re-possessed. Have your belongings out by next Friday," intoned the principal over the loudspeaker on Monday. Some think this is a drastic but necessary turn of events. Others argue that traffic will only be made worse if the skylight is closed, seeing as it is a primary venue for travel between classes. Most teachers, however, express apparent delight about their partial takeover of this popular loitering spot.
"See how they like it when we're standing right in the way and eating all the Chik-Fil-A biscuits," one anonymous teacher said. This is another clause concerning the Great Skylight Takeover - the popular breakfast sandwiches will no longer be available to regular LHS students, seeing as the area they're sold in is now taboo. The nearby stairs to the lit hall and to the media center are also off-limits. Perhaps use of these critical areas will be returned if everyone's on their best behavior next Valentine's Day.

Ready, Aim, Fire

The world is not ready for peace.

That is not to say that peace is not wanted or welcome; however the people of this world could never sustain it. Seeing as an entire, wholesome atmosphere of happy feelings and kindness will never pervade the entire Earth, some defenses are in order. That’s right. If you can’t count on somebody else not to hurt your family, then you’ve got to step up and keep them safe. The same goes for lone riders; a single mom has to protect her daughters or sons from the darkness of the world. A college student has to be sure she’s safe walking around campus on her own. Too many women and girls are abducted every day to be raped, murdered, or both. Males aren’t always safe either. People kill, maim, steal and destroy at a moment’s notice, not always giving police time to step up and protect.

 This is what incenses me so incredibly when sheltered, opinionated teenagers with their peace decals and salted-caramel frappuccinos insist upon a gun-free society. Newsflash, my sensitive little friend; the world isn’t safe. Ah, yes, you say, the world isn’t safe! Doesn’t that mean we should take away guns? If we make them illegal, won’t the criminals stop using them? Well, as strange as this may sound, criminals don’t usually adhere 100% to the law. In FACT, sometimes they even break the law!

Sarcasm aside, the anti-gun argument is incredibly weak to me. I see no logic in taking the guns from the good guys and leaving the Jokers to run around with their firearms spinning wild. We do not live in a utopian society. This is America! We could never, ever staunch the flow of guns or materials required to create guns entirely enough to ensure the criminal class is without them; at least, not without restricting freedom. Bad men will always conspire to sneak their deadly weapons into the vulnerable places of the world such as churches, elementary schools and airports. If this is the truth, and it is – How could we ever take defense away from the good guys, the heroes, the knights in shining armor?  Imagine a good civilian, armed, for every evil man with a firearm in a theater. It would be really hard for a madman to shoot a child if seven barrels were trained back at him when he drew his gun.

Say America managed to cleanse its veins of gunpowder. Do you suppose psychos would end their homicidal tirades? Aw, gee, Killer, ain’t a gun to be found. Better head home. It’s not like we can bomb, stab, or strangle instead. Guns are the only way to kill people. Jig’s up.

Hardly. People tend to think that if we arm everyone, bullets will fly. I’m not suggesting we arm everyone. I’m suggesting we allow responsible, licensed individuals to carry guns with them throughout society. The chances of a defender in the crowd increase exponentially if we stop trying to disarm honest men and women.

The criminals are arriving armed. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with one.

Jawbones

I glance about and note some trash
eyes lingering on its curving shape.
Some remnant of a ghostly past,
like a discarded jawbone left to waste.

Not yet abandoned to the dust,
my flesh has yet to rot and die.
With time grows weak my wanderlust,
though now, today, I am alive.

Some spark of thought lights weakly here,
that some day soon my end draws near.
Then my existence too will cease,
my bones back to the earth a piece.

Will words I once breathed live again?
Beyond my grave and charred remains.
If all I wrote, I wrote in vain,
at least in life it eased my pain.

All is not lost, though earth will be,
and gain is perishing to me.
For souls survive beyond the dark,
once bitter stillness grips my heart.

Dreamland

Every night I leave for the land of dreams,
My courage is lost as the shadows scream.
The blank-eyed waifs with their sewn-up hands,
Wander lone shores of rotting sand.

The pebbles morph into faceless beasts,
With crawling limbs and insect feet.
I wander halls of endless sound,
As the currents pour in from all around.

A face I well know is found in time
A pleasant ache from this heart of mine.
But the respite shatters into shards of black,
As my loved ones drown in seas of glass.

I walk to them, and my feet cut up,
And the seas tint red from my sinking blood.
But the pain plagues not, for I grasp a hand,
And I pull my loved ones back to land.

The drifting ends in a breath of thought,
And the battles end which once I fought.
The light returns in the dim of dawn,
And my lungs breathe new in a sleepy yawn.

Farming Sky

Bending mats of twigs and trees
branches woven in flutt’ring green
The forests reach with hopeful arms
to touch the gleaming flesh of stars.

The moon takes pity on a lonely path
its aching heart lit up at last.
The skies are thrown as endless fields
and wheaty stars wave on midnight teal.

A million breaths coalesce to form
a single glimpse of light in the storm.
The writhing giants of flame and light
sputter their lives to star the night.

The forest waits in agony
to test the limits of its reach.
It stretches further to caress the sky
as the starlit heavens flow sparkling by.

i fear

i fear
that you will see me here
that you will take three steps back
enraged by what you find
amazed and lost at the same time
i fear
all the things that you could say
but more i fear the game we’ll play
i fear the words that i will stutter
when i’m alone i pretend and i mutter
like i’m speaking to you but when finally we meet
the shouts in my head all suddenly cease
they leave me alone with nothing to speak
i’m totally undefended before your blue eyes
with nothing but memories of the tears that i cried
you brought pain and sorrow and sickness, it’s true
but mostly i fear the thinking you’ll do.
how i wish i could know
the thoughts in your head
about me
alas
i’ll have to pretend
instead.