He forgets to check himself in the mirror, To see if his face comes out any clearer, He doesn't recognize This life of lies Stacked up in his soul That's supposed to bring God nearer He's decided to do what he's told Even when it leaves him cold Even though it scars And mares The image of their heart It's better to fit the mold But everybody knows he's ill His performance doesn't fit the bill, He's hiding every quirk and detail, So nobody knows that he failed, it's all tall tales, When he looked in the mirror and questioned God's art, The mirror's glares were daggers in the heart, Cause he knew it was his skin leading him to sin, He just didn't know why God hates what he is, He's perplexed by the path Vexed by the Masks Trapped by the suit he wears He's locked in his skin They're chained within It's just the weight he bares And he's done saying all his prayers, He is Hoping someone's out there That they could explain this to him That they could see who's within They saw what a good man was They saw that it's not what they want, The soul was not the church's to judge, The blade of shame should have been blunt, But the words of the church were sharp, And sin was cut in his skin And the Good Word tasted burnt Seems God didn't come within It took too many years to find their name, It took too long to pull themselves from the flames, But They found their identity, Far from the righteous serenity, This is who they were meant to be, It doesn't need to make much sense to see Where content is, we coexist It's where you should attempt to be, Melt those swords to plowshares Put the book down and get out there To see that you've been missing out, Their identity is not something you wine about, We each are who we choose to be, Gender and sexual identity, Are ours to mold to fit our frame, Doesn't matter if you didn't choose the same, So stop trying to get a look through another person's window, I'd be lying, If I didn't say That it makes you Look like another weirdo You're too involved in the lifestyles Of the souls just trying to make it through Another day another crisis Another person trying to hold them down I just need you to stop Right now

Shook the last dollar from the bank, All dried up, Jesus to thank, How inspired, this holy task, Of paying God's bills, you only have to ask I'm sure omnipotent builds a fine, God Built up a tab on water and wine, I got you, lord you can pay me next time, Tasked to tithe, pay for grace, He's a material girl in his material faith, Pass the pan, fill the hat, Pay your way, Mind the gap, It's only a tenth, it's only your bread, It's only the way you get your grace, Just put your money where your faith is, A dollar to good graces, I'm sure i'll prosper like the pastor, Preaching humility for the now and here-after, Showing off new his solid gold stratocaster, The master of the prosperity chapter, I'm sure the holes in my shoes are worth his Tesla Model 3, And the size of my apartment should be a tenth of the size of the sanctuary, And the homeless that were shooed away, To make room for the private parking space, All are God Blessed despite how uncaring it all seems, Why else would it be on TV

Take me to the alter, lord, Make me understand, Take me to my knees, my god, Take me in your hands Show me what obedience means, I am yours to command, Pull me with your strength Make me a real man, God use me, Abuse me, Run on through me, God make me understand Show me all your dominance, Show me my sinner’s heart, Decimate my confidence Enter me and tear me apart, Blessed submissiveness, God is an awesome god Bowing down is common sense, Punish me with your rod

I Step up to the fall, Jump in to drift away, Is this answering a call, Or caving in and giving way, I can't pretend I'm anywhere close to complete, This gives no zen and is only a place to rest my feet, So listen in, follow the pan and delay, Let each beat lead night into day, It's life's foray, The meat of the madness, the sleet in the rain, It's the heat behind the lyrics, the street that leads Able to Cain, This reminds me I'm alive This is the pounding of the drive, This is the sounding of the song, This is where we belong, This is the promise of tomorrow, This is the gift following the sorrow, This is the rift between you and me, And the building of the bridges between, It happens everyday, I stop my pretending give in, If the bass doesn't play, Then my heart stops it's beating again, These blood vessels are guitar strings, The organs are the drums, And if I do not sing, Then I will come undone, It maybe flair and overdramatic, And the symptoms psychosomatic, But the moment I stop creating, I become erratic, Manic, and it can be traumatic, So i play it safe, And play you out, One last song for me to worry about, But as the song plays, There is no doubt, This is what my life's about,

Masculinity, What does it mean to me? Is it bravery or chivalry, Brazen Misogyny Masculinity, It was taught to me Like the only thing you would be, Was surrounded by Masculinity, This is a deconstruction zone, Please leave your heads in the upright position for maximum damage, Be a good boy like daddy told ya, Be a good Christian warrior, Find a good employer, And lord over your girl like your father before ya, You're a good strong idiot male, Making bank, staying pale, Pretending that this is moral But it's not normal You can not be scared, Masculinity, You have to be prepared, Masculinity, You have to fight It's only right, Its Masculinity, You have a role to play, You must be who you were raised, To be It's history You are the man You were told to be, Masculinity, I'm afraid that I'm afraid of being afraid Cause I was told I can't be afraid that I'm afraid of being afraid I was told that I cant I'm afraid that I'm afraid of being afraid I'm afraid that I'm afraid of being afraid You are the man, You need a plan To be the lead To rule the world It's all excused,

You Will be the target of my aggression, You have no hold over me There will be no self-righteous confession You have become my worst enemy, You are the wall between me and my resurrection You made me celebrate my own secession I have removed you from the question This is not a reconstruction, This is demolition, I will leave only scorch earth below me, Your extinction is my mission You will not be held in submission I owe you no favors you were the anchor to my condition, you were no savior I bled all you gave me dry ten years ago, And you made sure it was difficult let you go, But I left Stockholm for Venice, buried all love at dusk, I hope you enjoyed the show, I'm sure you must, With all the times you left me wanting, I'm sure my pain is entertainment, You were late to bring me peace, You'll be late to your arraignment, I hope you got what you needed from our arrangement, But I have broke from containment, Prepared for our engagement, All this burning bridges will be your payment, You wore my face, but I will not be you, You've been replaced, I made me new, You've had a taste, , I've taken your place, and enjoy the view

I'm a mind matted by meaningful lies, And I'm scattered in pieces and Patterns to leave em in tatters, And I'm Nothing but verses, rhythms and curses, Staccato Consonants controversial reverses, I'm no lyrical matador, Metaphorically I'm a door, Nothing more, I'm a portal to be used n ignored, Just let me throw show to the wind, Wind back and let's begin, Scripted to the end, I'm only a kid in pretend Don't save me I'm a mess I keep daggers In my chest I find value In my distress I'm unbothered I'm undressed, No pained plea, There's no test, I can be, More than this, You just can't see, I'm depressed, Buts it's candy, It's progress, Im Carpeted with runes upon the house left in ruins Left rusted binding in bedded, I'm powered by songs unleaded, Im scheming with tomes of leather, I'm teething on tales untethered, Keeping meters far from measured, So they lead me unto the treasure, Call me invested in my distress, I nest my value in the Vexed I got a Bin of bargains in my chest I'm most rested in my unrest, I'm putting purpose in demons, I'm rather versed in these heathens, I'm having lunch with the pastors, While planning dinner with cretins, I'm more Jesus than reverends, They scheme with demons we rend He leaves heaven in Zion, I reach heaven by pretend, So take the ladder to Vegas, I'm scattered thoughts left in stasis, It's just word vomit as I write this, Leave me nauseous as I fight this, It's lyrical combat with the man of my past, Let's get past that lift the weight on my back, Nobody has that, the verses I rap, Are no precon, I'm beyond that,

Screaming out like nothings left Emptied all from my chest Screaming out like nothings left Emptied all from my chest Screaming out like nothings left Emptied all from my chest Screaming out like nothings left Emptied all from my chest And I Wont lie I'm Not fine Sunday I'm dying Yelling to the sky And come Monday I'm lying Telling you I'm fine And you just believe me look on right through me Come Wednesday I'm empty Poured out on Tuesday, Still two days til Friday I'm just a commodity Just a number and screen Never really seen But I can't stop working Or I'll come undone Saturday I'll be just Another On the run

You should be proud of me, Thirty years of perfect mimickry, You fully believed I was human Perfected identity, You never even knew the real me You never even cared to ask, So I'll keep on pretending Perfection in obscurity, Hidden behind my mask And it's funny to me now That my righteousness was all show, And it protected me from questions I was too scared to ask, It protected me from Truths I felt to broken to know, So I'll take to the stage and bow, Scream out "look at me now" I hold my mask in two hands, I need not make no demands I knew all you secrets, I know all you games My secret weapon Is attention to detail, And I know all your crimes and tall tales And you didn't even know my name, So no need for me to take blame No need for me to feel shame I'll keep my cards close, My lover closer, And never show what's in my head, I'll be closing up, I'll be telling falsehoods, Keep my demons warm and fed I hope you remember me As a mess of eccentricities Barely held together by these chords, Done paying a price I can't afford I'm keeping my Masks locked tight, They're keeping me up at night, But I know the ticket to my survival Cause I never learned a trick more vital I can't afford to show my skin anymore I won't show my sin anymore, Cause there's nothing more destructive than my honesty So I'll practice confidence like it's common sense to hide this side of me, It's due diligence to perform this like it's all I know Because all I learned by growing up is how to put on a show

I'm no master, Merely here, Mainly present To face the jeers Casket readied Pour the beers Liquid courage Masks the fears It's plotted Patterned and imprecise, Senses scattered, Substance sliced, Prophets promised paradise, But I'm just bruised and battered, bathed in ice Drastic action Beyond trite Plastic drums Under neon lights Here the hum As strings take flight All flash and fun No depth, no life So call me loser Call me fake, Substance lacking Is all at stake, These strings, Are all it takes, To carry me gently Beyond the gates No carbon copy, Canon call, I'm carried quickly Beyond the wall, Barren soul, I boldly fall, Bravely screaming through it all, I'm a savage stoic severed chord, Disharmonic dirty damaged sword A Cutting critic casting stones, The harrowing hate is my own I face my foes upfront at dawn, In the mirror, they carry on, No Masks to save me, no brains of brawn, It's in the silence, the swords are drawn, So call me foolish Call me daft, I'm a Poet, But All hopes were dashed Against the stones By the waves I make Bruised and battered By this self hate,

Come forth to me, I'll take you to see, This realm beyond the black Through the clouds, don't look back, Thirty years beyond the moon, A days ride from the sun When you hit the belt, look east, Let your eyes behold and feast, You're only a few days jaunt through dreaming To arrive, At the door of the next best years of your life, With all the things you've been through, What you have earned is what we give you, You've only 50 years to give, The holy hosts have left you, It's only hell you come upon, only time to pass through, So head west till your falling through the sieve, It's just the path we travel, It all unravels, As the rabble move like cattle through the gates, And we all breathe deeply, Of the lives we empty, Bravely we brandish boldness we bend and break, So ride upon the words, Rise high above the birds, Head among the clouds, Forget the rest, If dreaming is your friend, Let all but madness end, Head east from mourning for the dead,

Hey everyone No stopping now, Take pause and take breaths Take time To realize Art is timeless It can wait for us We can wait for them To be ready Rewind And recontextualize It's behind your eyes, It Already arrived Wait and see it Be present Its Waiting to be shown We're waiting to see, But we're ready to wait For you, for us, For your art to grace us Art is gracious, It sustains us, Portrays us As something more than human, But so beautifully flawed, Immortally mortal, Showing all humans are Gods portals To worlds we create, In art Gods congregate, And coalesce, Like colors on a palette blended in faux balance, Painters without malice, Portraying no callous Biased images of their world, In it you can see through another's eyes Like you are seeing for the first time, Brilliancy in baby blues, We are mesmerized by exploding colors On neon skies, Over finger painted city-scapes It's vibrancy escapes Into the real world, That feels fake, We breathe life Into ink and graphite So take your time Take pause Take breaks, Life will greet you when you're ready, So make sure your hands are steady,

What Happened to the stories of our fathers, Of giants, pirates, big fish and Vegas, When matters of fact didn't matter at all, As long as all the tales ran tall, With victories of the impossible Bunyon and the Blue Ox, Fell the Berlin Wall, Tell your stories under moonlight, Like you heard them all your whole life, Before neon was your night light Like you were on the Mississippi when it caught fire, B. B. King and Elvis were smokin on the high wire, And you roasted marshmallows on the burning river No qualms about downing cognac no sorrows for your liver You didn't need a babysitter Just Carbon copy dollar novels You didn't need some best seller, You just needed music, Warmth, And a good first chapter, When did we stop making up stories, Creating legends in our head, Now we let the TV Curate fantasy, With our screens beside our bed, All those tales don't mean much to me, They don't leave the Silver Screen They've been tainting our memories, All our heroes are actors with a salary You see I was raised on Bowie and Johnny Appleseed, Crossroad blues and childhood fantasies, I let Stevie be the soundtrack of all the journeys in my head, Now I create worlds of wonder in my head

I take peace where I can get it, Place my baggage where I can fit it, Store away my hopes and fears Package up all pains and tears Lay anchor in the sound Meditate on the now, Cause peace Is a rarity, There's few moments to seek some clarity, It's all dissonance in the noise, Barely a moment to find rest relaxation and poise, So when you find it, stake your ground, Place your flag in the peace you found Cause it's a golden moment, Where calm rests, you should hold it, And all moments where the songs alight are golden Every second brings A song to sing so hold them Hope can spring In the moments

I pour myself into a paper cup I hope that I can finally be enough Take of me I give me freely I pour myself into a paper cup I open up a vein, Bite through the pain This is how I was taught to play this game, So take from me what you want from me Consuming me like property, Truly blood is currency It doesn’t matter that this is hurting me, So grab a cup, fill it up, I'm sure this blood will be enough To Bleed me out Without a doubt I know my worth, it's blood in mouth I pour myself into a paper cup How much depends in how deep I cut Take of me I give me freely I pour myself into a paper cup It's now communion day The cost is worth the pain, I'm sure that this is supposed to make you feel this way, Like your leaking from a spout, Tip and pour me out a wound so deep no bandage can heal the pain, But it's pain to make the art, To the heart is where we start Make sure to take the time to clean the blade, cut me to the quick, Upper left is where you stick Press it in with a twist as you make me play It's all as malicious as a cyst Performing melancholic hits, You know how deep the blade can go, So as you stab me in the back, perform the art as the act, Make sure to let me leave you slow It's all codependent art, To leave me leaking from the heart Leave it red upon the fallen snow, I'll make sure to die upon the stage Sacrifice is all the rage It's only harm if you don't put it in the show,

Allow yourself your dreams Take a gentle escape from the scene A journey far from these day to day trials Into A portal that carries for miles and miles Lightyears from the streets of The city To a galaxy far far away is where you'll be, A few pages in and you're gone Vanished with nary a jig or a song Bury yourself deep into the leather bound dopamine Riding dragons over the mountains and the sea Commanding vast armies from your throne Another realm right there in the comfort of your home Embrace the fantasy as far as the eye can see Close your eyes And there you'll be In the lands of fantasy It's ink imbued with majesty A thousand colors in the brush of the pen One hundred page dynasty Chapters that contain multitudes within Family and friends between the covers of the tale, Wondrous creatures and heroes To prevail, The story comes with a promise that by the end, The villains will be defeated and the heroes will win, In a world of broken promises and half truths The text is never changing, it's the magic of our youth, So cherish it when the stories cast a spell, Upon the little hearts and the dreams where they dwell,

I got a glitch in the matrix, Want to be known but fear fame, Want to take steps into the future, Crossing bridges bearing flame, But I’ll be backstepping out of the forest thinking it’ll all turn out the same, A coward of a hero, no glory to the name, I want to take a journey out the homestead Like Frodo from the shire, Make First steps out of the Jupiter Walk into the shadows from the fire But I crawl back under blankets like I’m a child again, seeing snow drifts in the wardrobe, And i’m not looking in, I took a step from the Ordinary, Answered a call, But as i climb ever higher, It’s just further to fall, The greats have walked this path, And found their way to stand tall, But as I step beyond the threshold, I can’t best them all, And i know that what i’ve faced is only the trial, The truest test is still yet to come, I’ve only tasted a sip of what's in the vial And I don't know if this is torture or fun I can’t play pacifist when it comes to my art, That’s why I keep being raring to go, but failing to start, No matter if I’m in the zone, or coming apart, I got to keep fighting on through if I want to depart, in the journey, i’m two faced truth, trying to be the hero of my story, i’m the villain of my youth, Trying to play at ego, wear my label with pride, I created the scenario in which my younger self would run and hide, Cause it’s uncomfortable out here in this dingy spotlight, And the weatherman said it would be better to stay inside, But i’m caught in the tornado and it’s too late for fright, I’m far from Kansas, and i’ve got to be ready to fly, Can you be the rival of your own mind? Lost in the obstacles you put in your own way, Trapped in cages of thoughts destructive and unkind, And all you want is to crawl out and face the day, But the villain in your way wears your own face, And you left all the weapons of your youth inside All the vigor and resolve left without a trace, In the cage made of the walls you raised in your mind, Wrote myself as damaged again, I'm Always playing the monk with dissipating zen, Some disturbed Saint, who lost themselves to sin, But in truth it’s Simmons who killed the Poet with the Pen, And I'm losing my yang to the yin, Philosophizing life while ranting to my kin, Mocking purpose in the echoes of prophesizing men, And yet I'm seeing myself lusting for the end,

Bleed on me There's too much bullshit here to Meet our needs, We're running out of our Humanity And when the curtain falls its Depravity So bleed on me I Can't take any more Running towards a bolted door I will make war I will make war Melting ethics, The way they move, it makes me sick Blinding politics Breaking backs, stones and sticks Everybody knows they crossed a line Everybody knows the world is blind Blood on the hands, Blood in the streets, Blood in your coffee, And the food that you eat, Blood in the schools Blood in the clubs, Blood on the dance floors From the people you love, Blood blood Red stained on blue Guns aimed at you, Iron on the tongue Iron in the lungs Red stained on blue Guns aimed at you, Iron on the tongue Iron in the lungs