Paper Precipitates (a poem)

Paper is paper, numbers are numbers

currency is all that is left

A world dominated by a highway

i have become what i fear

a gear in a system

the terror of our creation

known as a daughter when really a young brother

The machine keeps running by the day

destroying, gets more than its pay

producing our fate, when we are what it feeds

Have you ever wondered why they are called rules?

rules are for the rulers

Once i stood in a grocery line

and glanced at the magazine covers

"see this royal dress and room i'm in?"

i started to realize i was chasing an empty figure

dressed in robes

yet i reached out

Come in and touch the gold for yourself

isn't it pretty?

but when i held it, it was cold

So i asked the king, what do you do with all these jewels

the furniture, the food

when most of it can never be used? Never be fed?

what's the point of gaining it?

The king looked around but solidly stared

and knelt before me to whisper:

there is a point in gaining so long as you

make what you gain worthy,

worthy by others

i checked out my canned goods

and rode home in my car

confused about what i was running to

swerving cars crashed in my head but

then a voice spoke

If you choose to be the last and look out

at the corrupting landscapes

the lizards under the rocks

the blades of grass on the side of the road

all the things we wanted are for free

everywhere

Downpour of water blurring the single red traffic light

as if saying

these are the words of precipitation

in attempts to get you to falsely participate

democracy is not a cycle or a system

you do not evaporate

the king will sit in the clouds

talking to the invisible figures, that we've learnt to chase

the king will laugh and shower you with flowers

and yes, you might think you own more

when you chase, than when you are chased

but the king only lives because he is seen to be living

all he knows are a couple good words

all he has are a couple good coins

so go on, let him tell his sad story

but know the obsession of value is in the name to sustain those

who live in the towers