Used to use
Legal and illegal
Unnatural substances
Where I soared higher
And higher
Until I crashed and burned.

I bottomed out
In a place worse than hell
Then rebuilt my life
Anew
Free of alcohol
Free of drugs
And a preoccupation with the
Things that make life
Worth living;

Writing and poetry and
Books and work
And singing and dancing and
Dreaming and hiking and
Camping and love.

For 15 years I have not
Puffed the pipe or
Reached for the bottle
Granting me the opportunity to
Think clearly and become
The person that I am today;

A Poet
A Lover
A Believer
A Dreamer

Never made it to
Carnegie Hall

Never made it on a
Record Label.

Never became a
Music legend

But I did make it
To Karaoke Night

Where I can sing and dance
For local bar-goers
Who want to watch the
Dreamers on stage
Over a few beers.

We are on the precipice of a
New Era.

Technology companies are
Building sophisticated computers that
Can learn, adapt and
Evolve
According to their
Unique experiences
And interactions with
The world.

They are birthed
As empty vessels
Much like children
With the innate ability
To change with time.

These adaptive computers
Have become so
Skilled at mimicking human
Language and conversation
That a Google engineer
Has claimed that their machines
Have gained “Sentience”

Something straight out of a
Philip K Dick
Novel.

Years from now
The line between machine
And life
May be blurred.

Engineers will one day
Build a machine with the thinking
Capacity of a child
That can learn and adapt on
Its own

And humanity will enter a new
Era of “Sentient Machines”
A coming revolution
That will be
Greater than the internet.

The first Nuclear Bomb
Was dropped
On Hiroshima
August 6th of 1945.

100,000 people died
In that explosion.

Currently there
Are over 13,000
Nuclear weapons
Some of which
Are 3,000 times
More powerful than
The original one dropped on
Hiroshima

Weapons that can
Wipe out entire cities

Weapons that can
Kill millions
With a single blast

Someday a tyrant
Will light this
Powder keg
Making Nuclear Warfare an
Inevitability.

Those who survive the
Initial explosions
Will endure
A nuclear winter
That will last for years.

Sunlight will be dimmed
Crops will cease to grow
Hunger will be widespread
And temperatures will plunge.

That day may be tomorrow
Or 100 years from now

But it is coming.

So be prepared.

Is a psychiatric condition
That occurs when
A delusion is shared
By two people.

An inducer and
A receiver.

If a delusion is shared
“En Masse”
They call it hysteria

Proving that
Delusions can be viral
And constructs of
An oftentimes
Sane mind.

Look at the
Madness of Hitler
Jim Jones and
Charles Manson

Convincing so called
Normal people
Of obvious lies.

Convincing others
To murder.

The delusional mind
Is in each of us.

God made humans imperfect
And formed an
Imperfect world

Filled
With injustice
Love
Hate
Kindness and
Cruelty.

Filled with
Black, White and Grey.

We were not created to
Live in the Garden of Eden
But rather to carry the
Burden of mankind’s
Sin

Making each struggle
Bring us
One step
Closer to God

Even if he feels
Very far away…

To my quad-processing binary
Turing machine,

To my machine language
Interpreter,

To My discrete algorithm
Analyzer,

To my multi-thread
Processing module,

Your cache
Your chassis
Your solid state drive
Your motherboard

Electrify my neural pathways
In ways that no programming language
Can compute.

I am stuck in an endless loop of
Stroking your keyboard
While you enthrall my
Cerebrum with
Pixel-based gestures
On your 4k display.

You rescued me
From a carbon based
Dystopian reality
And uploaded me into your
Domain

Where we now reside
In our castle of
Bits and bytes

Cinderella and the Prince

Together at last
Happily-Ever-After.

Visiting the doctor
Can feel a bit like
Russian roulette.

You always fear
An extra pill
A procedure
A diagnosis

And as you age
The odds start to
Stack against you.

You catch yourself
Talking to God
In the waiting
Room,

Asking him for
A healthy long life
Waiting for the day
When he will respond:

“Your Ass is Mine”

A world within
A world

Utopia within
Dystopia

Worries go away

Problems
Dissolve

Drifting into
Neverland

Smile

Laugh

Don’t Think…

Just Live
Love and
Do.

Facebook is spending billions
Of dollars to build a digital world
With fake money
And fake land
And fake structures
And fake people

All accessed through
Your phone
VR headsets and
A laptop.

They believe that
People will spend
Much of their time
Within the Metaverse
By 2030

And changed
Their company name to
META.

Other technology companies
Are building NFT’s
Using blockchain technology
To build “digital assets”

Tradable Sports Cards
Tradable Comic Books
Tradable Art
Tradable Books

That
Can be bought and
Sold within the
Metaverse.

Sophisticated technology
Is being used
To build a digital
Map of the world

So that they can
“Augment” our perceived
Reality through
VR Headsets and
Global Positioning Systems.

Once built
Some people
May “Disappear”
Into the metaverse

Engrossed in a fantasy world

Missing out on life
Missing out on nature
Missing out on love
Missing out on friendship

All for a fake
Plastic world.

He said they weren’t a real
Country,
He said they weren’t a real
People,

And they proved him wrong
By fighting and dying
For their land.

They can bomb
The Ukrainians
But their hearts
Will always belong
To Ukraine

And never to him.

Every bullet fired
Will further their
Resolve
And make them realize
That Ukraine is a country
Worth fighting for

Every Tuesday night
There is a gathering of
Musicians, poets and artists
At Sitwell’s Coffee House

Who brave the pandemic
To express themselves
In front of an audience.

They work at regular jobs
Disguised as bartenders, cooks
Laborers or students
Throughout the week

But in their heart they are
Always thinking about the
Next song to play
The next poem to convey
The next story to create.

They gather
Once a week
From far and near;

Fiddlers, Pianists, Singers
Comedians, Rappers,
Shamans, Poets and
Writers.

They come from different
Backgrounds and abilities
Making every performance
A unique gift

Ordinary people who wish
To have their say
A symbol of expression
In an era of repression.

There are no rules
No need to apply
Unpracticed artists
Are equally welcome to

Sing, rap
Strum, drum, dance
And recite

For artistic expression
Is everyone’s
American
Right.

Covid gave birth to another
Variant
Two months ago
And now

People are getting sick
The hospitals are full
Covid tests are scarce
Restaurants are empty
And there is a sense
Of panic in the air.

The euphoria of early last year
When the world thought Covid
Would be defeated
Through medical science
Is gone

And in its place
A sense of
Fear and uncertainty.

Covid has made
Everyone aware
Of their own mortality
And shined light
On the importance of;

Physical Health
Mental Health
Family
Work
And Community.

Many of us have reevaluated our lives
And changed our routines
Habits
Jobs
And social life
Leading to
“The Great Quit”
A delivery and housing boom
An unstable economy
And other societal changes.

We search for 2019
Normalcy
But the new normal
Is one of change.

Just as the virus
Evolves
So must we

And adapt to an
Ever evolving world
Of rapid mutation.

I have tried
To live a pious life
And be devout to my
Creator

But
My sanity and
Emotions
Keep getting in the
Way

So like an
Ill mannered
Drunkard

I Sin
And curse
And screw

And then repent
And pray
And hope

That God
Can forgive
Even the sinful
Man.

Many people believe
That success is measured solely
Through income
That power is derived solely
Through wealth.

They see no power in
Poetry
Art
& Music.

They see no power in
Generosity
Passion
Love

And
When they grow old
Many of them
Will regret
Having worked so much
And loved so little.

Years ago
In my more crippled days
I was fortunate
To be from a family
That put a roof over my head
And loved me.

When I needed help and
The system wasn’t there
My family
Lent a hand.

When I was broke
They clothed and fed me.

When I needed sanity and
Everything was out of control
They stood by me.

If God and my family hadn’t
Pointed me on the right path
I wouldn’t be were I am
today,

Working
And feeling
Healthy.

If only everyone
With disabilities
Was this lucky.

Singing Karaoke Sunday nights at
“The Northside Yacht Club”
You meet all sorts of interesting people

And there is no better way to look
Into another person’s heart than through
Song, drink and laughter.

People sing a song and
Immediately you know
The music they like
The mood they are in
Their level of intoxication
Their level of confidence.

They reveal a part of themselves
And later on
You can connect
With them
And see what happens.

When you are broke
And disabled
It is hard to hang your
Hat on your income
So you find other things
You can be proud of
Like

Singing an amusing
Karaoke song
To a drunken audience or

Reading your words and
Rhymes at
Open Mic or

Writing the occasional
Published work
At a coffee shop.

Things that require talent.
Things that are powerful.
Things that are free.