What is freedom of speech
When it is used as a means
To insult the strong or weak
Has an inherent conflict
With the word’s we speak
I respect
But respectfully disagree
How do we discover a line
A purpose
When the lines are so blurry now
We all have a right to our own views
At what point does it infringe on the rights
Of others
If abused in this sense
Seems morally distressed
I respect the freedom of speech
But I also must respect you
Some pray for a raise
Some pray for a new car
Some pray for more things
Some for the night
Some pray to just stay alive
Some pray for a new insight
Some pray for power
Some pray for spring flowers
Some pray for the weather
While some pray for water
Pray for me
Pray for you
Pay to pray
On the radios too
Raise your hands for love
Raise your hands for awareness
Raise your hands to raise fund
Just raise your hands for fun
On the radio the ads blare
Telling us “BEWARE”
But to continue to pray
Pray
Pray
If I could only recall the way out
The way in was much more difficult
But the easiest seems now whimsical
Overbearing
The thicket of bushes on the left
When we entered
The gargoyle on the right
We passed some rock walls as well
Or maybe not
But somehow
We ended up here
Lost and wandering
Altogether hopeless romantics
Stuck in a world of antics
Critics
Hopeful
Deadbeats
How did we end up here again
Should we start over
Not an option altogether
We had better hope the sun will rise in the east
Set in the west
That will be our best bet
To find our way out
The Dairy Chief doesn’t need any changes
Not looking for the next big development
Milking the cows somehow is just a bit irrelevant
A steward of the land with no need for innovation
No tariffs needed
Not too much frustration
It is implicit what his intentions are
Waking in the early morning hours
Tending the field and his cows
Bold yet not to be undone somehow
In the hostile words
He could give one less cow lick
Waking in the morning to babies colic ways
The dairy farmer just keeps moving on
It’s the sweet farm song
It’s an unsightly cause
Disturbed pieces of sand
Down to the singular stone
My own town can be mighty unsightly
Deceit is the instrument of choosing
While the others were out boozing
On the beach singing songs of love and longing
The fire lit up like a lamp on their faces
Spiritually free to be deceived
Totally
Those nights we laughed on the beach
Holding the sand between our feet
I dream of those moments you and me
But then sets us back to our new reality
It is perfectly imperfect ideally
You and me
We have reached a heartbreaking agreement
To stop the class action
The loss has wiped the smile off our faces
I take it on the chin
Even though we didn’t win
Through thick and thin
A vengeful hopeful will not be amused
While the olive branch of hope must be refused
I need a space to be left undesirable
Untreatable
A punch to the gut
I had hoped for more than a plastic cone
Orange and alone
Amused tonally
Refused totally
The whimsical x-ray of our society
Has revealed a great deity
Venomous and toxic
Leaving the trace of a blown rocket
We used this messed up world
To project our problems into one being
Manifested into our new destiny
Smiling he rode in on white horses
The whole world overthrew me
But I will find steady ground
I will polish my smiling face
I will bandage my wounds and move on
This is the primary focus of the race
It’s not how we celebrate
But how when we see the face
From behind the facade
How we pick ourselves up from the dirty ground
Maybe it was our fault in the first
There is no faith to be put in humanity
We return certainly
To realize it was my own hope that let me down
Battered and on the ground
I pick myself up
And begin the hope anew
Just in something new
Growing up in an extremely sheltered catholic midwestern household I was always taught some very simple “guidelines”. Whether it be good or bad this is the life I know. It was always God, Family, and Country. Whether it be right or wrong – that is yet a whole other discussion but today we realized something as a country and I did as an individual. These are the truths that we live by in 2016:
And here we are. This justifies all votes and support for the great devil when applied to this diagram. It is undisputable as I have debated and spoken with thousands of people over the last 9 months of my life. It makes how we got here so very simple. This is the truth as voted by our own fellow countrymen. If you study this diagram you will begin to see the problems we are faced with currently. I see this in the eyes of my own parents. The rest is just shit talk. They can say what they want, but these are the new principles by which my own family lives and a much larger population as a whole. I have devoted an entire year of my life, $30,000 in personal debts, and countless unpaid hours working to promote Unity in 2016. But the truth is I believe Unity is currently where I put it in the diagram: dead last. I understand this. I get it. People love to use their mouths instead of their wallets. They want to talk about power and money and how they can acquire it at all costs – this is the baby boomer generation. Consume, consume, consume, and shit on the rest. I challenge you to see where this diagram applies – to me it sums up 2016. For anyone overseas – may God be with us and protect us. We are in for a dark time in our countries history – I can see it in the eyes of the people.
It’s that determined feeling
The sweet ambition
The fantastic touch
The plausible idea
Warm to talk to
Improving the rush
To the fingers
Head
Arms
The rush of the moment
PHOTO CREDIT: EVAN PERIGO
In a nebulous state of mind
The concluding chord rung out
Wrung out
Fascinated by the quick sequel of progression
How one planned moment
Moves to the next
A grape plucked from the tree
Quickly becomes a past tense
Cattle that pine for the open fields
Excellent presentation
Not quite overstated
But rather I am fascinated
That now a moment planned now is
More present a moment unknown
A hat floating off the cliff
Taken in
The borrowed riff
A Cup of Songwriting 