The Center Line

Blitzing down the hill at the speed of sound
I am a Sneaker Pimp, singing Six Underground

Apathetic about life in a stationary setting
But it’s the opposite when I am jetting

Along, unaware of the car so far below
Imagine if I’d spilled a hot cup of joe

And the head-on occurred without her knowing
I guess you can tell what these lines are going

But the writer here is a shitbird tempting fate
Just waiting for the rejection at the pearly gate

Riffing on old fogies crossing the center line
When this shitbird is guilty of the same crime

Just another hypocrite, a man made of duplicity
A man who reverts after the moment of lucidity

And now I sit here, purging the heart in my chest
As I await the obit printed in the Steele County Press

A young man meets his end in a head-on collision
And I empathize despite all my self-loathing derision

My spouse now worries about thin gravel roads
And that her husband won’t even be on his toes

An offensive driver even though it’s not his nature
But then he’ll be remembered in funerary nomenclature

His headstone will be packed full with graceful lies
The truth is something that family members despise

He was s****y driver, a horrible husband and teacher
He was just another forlorn, depressed, evil creature

And now he’s burning in the final conflagration
The one that abhors any kind of fluid satiation

But in the land of the living, he doesn’t any change
No matter if his body parts were completely rearranged

Suicidal thoughts wrapped in this weird will to thrive
Why does he even want to stay around and stay alive?

And maybe that nihilism is the fuel to keep him going
Like a perpetual, piercing wind that never stops blowing

A contradiction begging resolve even though it can’t be done
Maybe navigating those mental straits is just that good and fun

The ambulance flashed past heading toward the accident site
That kind of scene gives this wordsmith no sense of delight

A day later, the conscience within him fuels the desire to pen
An outsider’s remembrance and a new hope to start over again

But the patterns of living are a stubborn, evil habit to break
We need to exercise, but it’s far easier to eat all that cake

There is no point to human persistence, so why change at all?
Maybe that’s why we invented God and the human fall

I’m trapped in circularity, and the oven timer is ringing
Pondering this dichotomy will keep my head spinning

Time to cool it, and accept my wholly flawed design
And accept the lie that everything will be just fine

Author's Note

Reviews

[zig]

what i like about good writing, goes beyond the skill of the writer, beyond good use of metaphor or line or sound or rhythm, all of those things are good and worth study and mastery, but its the honest perspective of the human being expressed in and around and weaved into the words. i think you are on a good path with your writing. enjoyed the read very much.

[patricia]

I got a lot from this...honest, uninhibited write. I can relate to a lot of it. the life force duelling the death wish...I live most of the time from the neck up ...round and round the old head goes Still here..still waiting for answers...'what's it all about Alfie'...Thanks its kinda good to hear it all voiced.

[Joiedevivre]

Love zero 7, hadn't heard this version so thanks. I love how you mesh pop culture into your meaningful poems.
Suicidal thoughts wrapped in this weird will to thrive
pierced my heart, but the whole poem really spoke to me, I so get this unwillingly resigned feeling. You have a strong heart-mind connection that translates wonderfully in your writing.

[Nobody.]

what Bradley said.......except I swam around for a while before I decided to drown. then, I grew gills and fins, and found a new home.... like Kevin Costner in Water World except I'm a better actor, your a better writer and we didn't spend millions of dollars on a piece of crap movie....WOW....where the hell did that metaphor go wrong? LMAO! What I mean is.....I like it!

[...]

. sometimes ... and not often ... one reads something written in one breath ... that one is able to consume in one breath ... followed by the quintessential sigh ... yes, what you speak of is happening ... yes, this could happen to the best of us ... yes, you have sculpted a superb piece of poetry out of a feeling that is perpetually excruciating ... but more than that ... there is just so much in that last line ... that heavy dose of acceptance ... in words ... and a heavy dose of rebellion behind them ... it's as if you pronounce the truth ... in a more pronounced way than ever before ... and then suddenly let go ... giving the reader that piece of you ... that stands for what you know to be true ... kenneth, you rock ... this post is a rare treat ... astonishing and yet so familiar ... so easy to relate to ...

[Brad]

desperation explained so thouroughly, i almost drowned in it