Direction Of The Influence

Written: 05/05/15

I chose to live above the influence and I really wish you could say the same.
I'm talking to that one stoner that's so high he can barely remember his name.
You may think I'm calling you out just so I can have my 5 seconds of fame.
But I have better intentions and not to bring you down and make you feel ashamed.

I'm going to be 100% real with you from a friend to a friend.
Advice is all I wish to offer you, in a way you can follow like a trend.
I'll deliver you a message clear and precise enough for you to comprehend.
You won't have many people to count on if you continue your habits until the end.

I know some of your strongest friendships started with a blunt in your hand.
But luckly you befriended me with intentions to help you understand.
That chilling with the wrong crowd could break you down from a rock to sand.
And before you know it in your whole life could snap just like a rubber band.

After dropping out of high school what do you invision.
Where do you think you will end up if you don't make the right decision.
All those dreams and goals you have in your head are just as fake as fiction
And you're stupid if you don't consider your drug use an addiction.

Seeing light at the end of your path is a feeling nothing else can compare.
Honestly because it may have escaped your notice but life just isn't fair.
You could have a rewarding job with a nice house and possibly a family to be there.
All this and more could be yours if you are ready to take the advice I'm willing to share.

How long will it take for you to mature and put down the bong.
I would start soon considering how many times I've proved you wrong.
Keep bullshitting yourself all you want because your life is gone.
And in the meantime i'll do me, working my a*s off in life just to put a smile on.

Im not trying to be jugdemental but life isn't something you stall.
It's like your blind and need to be guided to see your one true flaw.
I wrote this so you could see that your future doesn't look so nice after all.
Not many people can escape the purgatory that consists of drugs, sex and alcohol.

Don't consider me a role model, I still struggle to achieve brilliance.
We all make mistakes but none of them are ever intentionally continous.
You clearly blame your mistakes on life and that's no excuse for ignorance.
So I'll end this poem with a reminder, that only you can change the direction of your influence.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

As a dose of tough love, your writing is well-crafted & hard-hitting. Frankly, I think it goes on & on a bit much, mostly slamming this person . . . with only a barely-there touch of positivity wherein you suggest what one's life might be without drugs. I'm not sure such a tirade is the most effective way to address drug abuse. I'd like to see more encouragement, more belief in the other person, as you describe what life could be without drugs. You say life could be better, but in the same breath, it sounds like you don't believe this person would ever bother to try to get there. If someone laid this long diatribe on me, I'd go push a needle in my vein (even tho I've never done it before). Also, the "not trying to be judgmental" line is so false, becuz this is reeking with judgment. I wonder how this is working for you?

[Daniel Valentine Rivera]

I wrote this over a year ago for a close friend of mine. As the young teenage boys we are, we make mistakes. I've tried be an encouraging friend, amicable and willing to help, but he never took me seriously. I wrote this poem out of anger to get his attention. He's never read this poem but he seems to be doing better for himself. Thanks again for your honest review.

[barleygirl]

I totally understand the frustration that people feel, when a person is entrenched in an addiction of any kind. We all have to find our own light, in our way, in our own time. I can tell you paid your dues, trying to just sit with him in an encouraging way, before writing this.