Submissions by mikeocull
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
As a poet, songwriter, and musician, I deal in art, culture, and emotion. I have a need to make you feel something.It's all about the vibe.
SONG LYRICS
Published
4th Sep 2014 8:31am
4th Sep 2014 8:31am
Die From The Water
You can die from the water down here, they say.
I don’t care, I know I’m dying anyway.
I felt the fire go out a long time ago.
I want to feel the wind before the time I gotta go.
Nothing here matters but you and me.
We can fly with the eagle, we can drift out to sea.
I know I talk too much, I can’t walk, I can’t stumble.
The truth of my life is a barely heard mumble.
I lust want to live another day.
I just want to live another way.
I don’t know where I’m from, but it ain’t around here.
I’ll sing this song for you, Baby, then it’s...
I don’t care, I know I’m dying anyway.
I felt the fire go out a long time ago.
I want to feel the wind before the time I gotta go.
Nothing here matters but you and me.
We can fly with the eagle, we can drift out to sea.
I know I talk too much, I can’t walk, I can’t stumble.
The truth of my life is a barely heard mumble.
I lust want to live another day.
I just want to live another way.
I don’t know where I’m from, but it ain’t around here.
I’ll sing this song for you, Baby, then it’s...
37 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
13th Mar 2014 10:13am
13th Mar 2014 10:13am
Disturbance #687
How do you know you're ready to do the Devils' work?
How much thinking does it take?
How many lies do you need to hear from righteous lips
Before you will suffer them no more?
I am tired of people who offer prayer but not help.
Words but no actions.
I have hit bottom and there's no way out.
Do they care? No way.
They are all too busy at their prayer meetings and
Self-congratulatory congregations
To worry about someone who actually is
In danger of losing his Soul.
There are hard truths that need to be faced.
No amount of happy talk...
How much thinking does it take?
How many lies do you need to hear from righteous lips
Before you will suffer them no more?
I am tired of people who offer prayer but not help.
Words but no actions.
I have hit bottom and there's no way out.
Do they care? No way.
They are all too busy at their prayer meetings and
Self-congratulatory congregations
To worry about someone who actually is
In danger of losing his Soul.
There are hard truths that need to be faced.
No amount of happy talk...
41 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
12th Mar 2014 4:21am
12th Mar 2014 4:21am
Mad
Mad as a hatter
Nowhere to go
The sadness lasts longer than before.
I tap tap tap the night away
Running my dirty little hands over the keys, the strings,
Over anything that will have me…
I dream of wet city streets,
shadows,
moving silently along
Catching reflections as I walk
smoking things over.
Trying to amount to something
Beyond the sum of my broken parts.
I dream of riding the EL
To see someone warm…
To be welcomed somewhere,
if only for a little while.
Nothing continues as it is,
Change ruins...
Nowhere to go
The sadness lasts longer than before.
I tap tap tap the night away
Running my dirty little hands over the keys, the strings,
Over anything that will have me…
I dream of wet city streets,
shadows,
moving silently along
Catching reflections as I walk
smoking things over.
Trying to amount to something
Beyond the sum of my broken parts.
I dream of riding the EL
To see someone warm…
To be welcomed somewhere,
if only for a little while.
Nothing continues as it is,
Change ruins...
35 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
17th Dec 2013 9:06am
17th Dec 2013 9:06am
Stand Off
The things I need to say cannot be said.
I cannot give them voice but can
No longer keep them inside.
I am at an impasse.
I cannot give them voice but can
No longer keep them inside.
I am at an impasse.
52 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
14th Dec 2013 9:41am
14th Dec 2013 9:41am
Fragile
Overnight, my mood seems fragile.
I ride the mood swing from light to dark and back again,
Cultivating nothing but uncertainty.
My dirty heart covets what it can't have
And the purity in my soul clings to what I already possess.
I ride the mood swing from light to dark and back again,
Cultivating nothing but uncertainty.
My dirty heart covets what it can't have
And the purity in my soul clings to what I already possess.
76 reads
2 Comments
NON-FICTION PROSE
Published
2nd Dec 2013 11:54pm
2nd Dec 2013 11:54pm
World View #64
I don't trust adult personalities. Adults are full of lies. When people who used to torment me are nice to me now, I don't believe it. Who we are when we are young is who we really are. On the way to being a grown up, most of us learn to put on different faces in different situations to get what we want or in an effort to be civil and get along. We become full of lies. What we were is what we are. Inside, I am still the fat kid on the block with few friends or the fat teenager who couldn't get a date. I expect the same is true of the dickhead jocks and girls I did not impress.
...
...
80 reads
3 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
23rd Nov 2013 6:42am
23rd Nov 2013 6:42am
Nice
Now they are all nice.
Life has taken us all down a few pegs by this age,
And now they are all nice to me.
If one of them had been that way in the old days,
I might not feel the way I do about myself.
Sadly, their niceness feels fake…
Or at least rooted in the fact that now it is obvious
They didn't pick me and that I will not hit on them.
Now, they can be nice.
I will no longer over-reach myself,
Or try to move above my station.
They were just the beginning of the failures that buried me.
Life has taken us all down a few pegs by this age,
And now they are all nice to me.
If one of them had been that way in the old days,
I might not feel the way I do about myself.
Sadly, their niceness feels fake…
Or at least rooted in the fact that now it is obvious
They didn't pick me and that I will not hit on them.
Now, they can be nice.
I will no longer over-reach myself,
Or try to move above my station.
They were just the beginning of the failures that buried me.
40 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
22nd Nov 2013 00:41am
22nd Nov 2013 00:41am
Fight
I fight to hold on.
I fight to let go.
It is a delicate dance, for sure.
I fight to hold on to my dignity,
My life, my belief that some people are good.
I fight to let go of my anger, my envy,
My bitterness.
Every day is a new contest between the two,
Knuckles bare, never a dull moment.
It is not in my nature to be at peace.
On my best days, this conflict turns to fuel.
On lesser days, it turns to mud.
I think I will always have to prove to myself
That I am worth the breath I draw.
Ultimately, that's what this is about.
I fight to let go.
It is a delicate dance, for sure.
I fight to hold on to my dignity,
My life, my belief that some people are good.
I fight to let go of my anger, my envy,
My bitterness.
Every day is a new contest between the two,
Knuckles bare, never a dull moment.
It is not in my nature to be at peace.
On my best days, this conflict turns to fuel.
On lesser days, it turns to mud.
I think I will always have to prove to myself
That I am worth the breath I draw.
Ultimately, that's what this is about.
86 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
21st Nov 2013 10:43am
21st Nov 2013 10:43am
Art Out Of Air
Another piece of the dream arrived today.
Sure, it looks a lot like a cardboard box
Containing yet another sound-making apparatus,
But it is so much more than that.
See, what it is is one more thing that helps me access myself.
Mine is a vision that needs tools to be articulated.
It can't emerge from air.
The contents of this new box
Will be installed next to the things that came
In other boxes on other days,
And, when used correctly and in the right frame of mind,
Will allow me to get closer to the core of my being.
Music is my authenticity....
Sure, it looks a lot like a cardboard box
Containing yet another sound-making apparatus,
But it is so much more than that.
See, what it is is one more thing that helps me access myself.
Mine is a vision that needs tools to be articulated.
It can't emerge from air.
The contents of this new box
Will be installed next to the things that came
In other boxes on other days,
And, when used correctly and in the right frame of mind,
Will allow me to get closer to the core of my being.
Music is my authenticity....
50 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
19th Nov 2013 11:40pm
19th Nov 2013 11:40pm
Other Autumns
Fall days fade away,
As the ever-endearing late-day sunshine
Spreads dusk in its wake.
I move through the chill air,
Warmed by memories of other autumns, other times,
Full of love and indulgence,
Soft kisses and hard drugs,
Leather jackets zipped against the urban cold
As we searched for the warm spot between us.
Living and loving as if that was all the world was,
And we couldn't imagine it being different.
Couldn't imagine that we would grow old and cool.
Couldn't imagine all the things to come.
As the ever-endearing late-day sunshine
Spreads dusk in its wake.
I move through the chill air,
Warmed by memories of other autumns, other times,
Full of love and indulgence,
Soft kisses and hard drugs,
Leather jackets zipped against the urban cold
As we searched for the warm spot between us.
Living and loving as if that was all the world was,
And we couldn't imagine it being different.
Couldn't imagine that we would grow old and cool.
Couldn't imagine all the things to come.
60 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
16th Nov 2013 9:48pm
16th Nov 2013 9:48pm
Today...
My eyes bleed and my soul refuses to heal.
I feel the fire but don't care if I burn.
I deserve to burn, truth be told.
I am less than nothing occupying an empty spot.
Make no mistake:
I am a lost soul.
I am screaming for help.
I don't want to end up like some of the others…
I feel the fire but don't care if I burn.
I deserve to burn, truth be told.
I am less than nothing occupying an empty spot.
Make no mistake:
I am a lost soul.
I am screaming for help.
I don't want to end up like some of the others…
61 reads
0 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
12th Nov 2013 7:58am
12th Nov 2013 7:58am
Edgewater
I miss Edgewater.
I felt safe there.
Been gone so long I am no longer the same.
Being there made everything feel right.
I was still kind of young, able to muster,
Up for anything.
I spent the turn of the century
Running around the North Side
With the E as my home.
There was a time when I thought I would live there forever.
Now, middle age is my home.
I don't recognize myself.
I fear I am not aging well.
I have no interest in the things a man
Of my age should want.
I never cared to raise children,
Water a...
I felt safe there.
Been gone so long I am no longer the same.
Being there made everything feel right.
I was still kind of young, able to muster,
Up for anything.
I spent the turn of the century
Running around the North Side
With the E as my home.
There was a time when I thought I would live there forever.
Now, middle age is my home.
I don't recognize myself.
I fear I am not aging well.
I have no interest in the things a man
Of my age should want.
I never cared to raise children,
Water a...
61 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by mikeocull