Joseph Nicks

The Endless Now

and so you run from the sun

deep into the night

but the faster and further you run

the sooner you see that same sun

in all its dreaded resplendent 

comeuppance once again

cruelly shining in your face

and mocking your puny

and futile attempt to escape

in such a hurry to mature

you try to leave your green

and foolish youth behind

clambering up that hill

to reach the peak and 

find out what it’s all about

but when you get there

you’ll be quick to realize

it’s not what you’d

envisioned it to be

and the only direction

is downward 

from now on

you try to elude all thoughts of death

by hurtling headlong into life

careening ever deeper 

into full bio-immersion – 

and drawing closer 

to the dying that all living

blossoms into in the end

you stagger from the past

with wasted days 

and darkness in your wake,

a landscape steeped

in sorrow and regret – 

forever hopeward bound,

you cast your eyes 

on the disquieting horizon

and freeze in the only moment

you can do anything about

You’re A Nation Under God (38 lines)

individual with liberty is injustice for all

and the rocket’s red glare

the bombs bursting in air

gave proof through the night

of a nation impaired

by its own entitlement,

red, white, and blue privilege – 

all powerful but unknowing, 

unbenevolent, all-present

but unfutured and oblivious

to the lessons of the past:

our parents suffered the ravages

of goose-stepping ethnic cleansers

and Imperialistic kamikaze

comfort-womanizers

only to see us become 

our own occidental Nazis 

and redneck beer-guzzling 

dick-fisted wife-beaters

we ourselves survived

a near-half-century

of red paranoia

only to elect

Vladimir the ventriloquist

as our 45th president

with his cute little diapered

puppet on his knee

how can any life matter

when we raise our hateful fists

and piss all feeble hope

of democracy down the drain??

I’ll Take The Fifth

there’s got to be a morning after...

boom, boom, boom, boom – 

gonna shoot ya right down

walkin’ down my street

‘cuz I own this whole town

boom, boom, boom, boom –

you ain’t gettin’ no sleep

all you first responders

and mask-wearin’ sheep

boom, boom, boom, boom –

I‘m the god of brush fire

Arthur Brown-crazy world

cape and mask not required

boom, boom, boom, boom –

car alarms goin’ off

pyromaniac me

I just can’t get enough

boom, boom, boom, boom –

M-80s I hurl

at your dogs and vets

gonna blow up the world

boom, boom, boom, boom –

I get off on my might

freedom of explosion

my constitutional right

boom, boom, boom, boom –

I just gotta make noise

‘cuz I got no dick

I play with loud toys