Memories of the Future

What's in the mirror, what's in the past

We think we remember so clearly, so steadfast.

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear - 

Never a bigger lie I assure you, you will hear.

Time is like a stream freezing more every second. Lost

Are ripples and waves of yesterday to today's frost.

Our minds, they play a trick, remember a movie we never saw,

Why not imagine ourselves the protagonist. Never let our river of follies thaw.

The thought I can predict my past with this does soon depart

I have my version, you yours. Once met, our lines must now move apart.

It's what I build with my hands I must learn to trust much more,

It's called the future, I remember it better than any past I ever did before.

Twenty-seven

A man is an island, distant and remote
But most of us find our bridges, most of us learn to build our boats
Come to terms with society and its many rules
Do what we’re told - reset and reboot
Except, that’s not everyone’s fate
For not everyone swallows that pill, not everyone takes the bait 
Geniuses and madmen tend often to ask why
How did we get here - answer first, don’t ask us to just get by
It matters not, their enquiry, they’re often told
Jettison your doubts and your questions, ease into the fold
Knowledge and wisdom accumulated over the years
Lights that people have lit, culture is, long before you got here
Might you and I still seek answers? When the question’s been flipped
No, likely not, we don’t dare to swim - we drift
Only, consensus and pressure, an open mind unabashedly ignores
Peak in, seek nirvana, experience, push through those doors
Quixotic and curious, these men and women travel through time
Reversible is their music, hear their thoughts, rewind
Silent, though now, are the flowers on their graves
Too young, they left, their fate took no slaves
Unearthed each time a record plays, are their questions, their lines
Vicariously they live, vicariously they shine
When you ask me then, why they left soon after twenty-six
‘Xited the stage, why'd they escape the mix
You see I’ve run of letters to stitch an answer, I’ve run out of lines
Zeitgeist, they are now - they’ve become the spirits of our times

Recaptcha

As I sit quietly surrounded by machines

I wonder if my silence is being encrypted on some crystal screen

Does my imagination too leave a cookie trail?

Will my next thought be induced by programmatic blackmail?

Will men from the future be men at all?

Is self determination to Malthusian paradise a matter much too small?

What then remains of this ship, Theseus begs, pray tell

“It’s the taste of comfort, over freedom’s smell”

And just about then two fingers snapped

While waiting eagerly, an answer demanded an asp.

“We’re down a million simulations, it ends the same. Let’s forget the apple now”

Eve suggested, “Instead, let’s find new hobbies to pass our time somehow.”

Things People Say

Patience is a virtual reality headset set to slow-mo
Love conquers alimony cheques - hope they find another
A stitch in time saves nice guys like Marty McFly
Time and tide get you different points on a Scrabble board
It’s the darkest just before you mow the lawn
There’s no I in over forty thousand words of the English language
Ugly as sin-derella without her makeup
Don’t be sad it happened, be glad it’s over
Every Rose has her thong

No. 93

Dragons stand guard. Treasures aplenty down below
Tinsel covers wands above, big and small, thick and hollow.
Learn at once, every boy and girl that set foot on its ground
The great wand chooses its master, not the other way round.
If   droughts in your mouth persist, a draught of butterbeer
Is the neatest fix; pumpkin juice if you think cool is queer.

Tell me, are you the kind that likes to pull pranks?
And  fear little to alliterate, step in, march those shanks
No.93 Weasley's Wizard Wheezes has the raddest ploys
"Here he comes, the officer. Shhh" - well, we only sell toys.
So, my friend you do now see, there's no other place you'd rather be.

Abracadabra

All our lives, we chase a dream, a fantasy
Built up since the day we start to remember, we start to see
Rains can't keep us, and the clouds can't hide
And our grounded feet won't be any reason our desires will slide.
Casts, spells, and wands filled our childhood tales each night
And we long our entire lives searching for magic, that divine light.
Does singlemindedness really help? I wonder,
Archers' set their eyes on a prize, disregarding aplenty yonder
Books and poems and art are our time machines and summoning tricks
Rousseau and Dali in the 2100's, or yourself in the 2300's, in a matter of clock ticks
And don't get me started on man - the biggest wonder of them all - weaves magic all around, yet feels so small.

Pay first. Eat later.

In a galaxy far, far away
Or a different corner of the Milky Way
Sits a food joint on some lonely planet
Where you pay up first for your meal, only then have it.
Not very queer, not unheard of. In fact, most common
But what if you didn't choose the meal, and the waiter brought his favourite ramen.
A block away, you tread along, to find a clothing store
But your clothes you take only after, your wallet they take before.
And in this town, the infants start at a prison facility
For crimes they've not committed yet, but crimes their lives will be.
All this might sound to you, rather very strange
But think for once what you give your children apart from a funny name
You choose for them so much, so much they do not know
And hold them up for ransom when your beard's white as snow
Parenthood seems to be passing on a debt they never chose to take
You hand them a bill for a mess they did not even make
You pick their schools, you buy them things, and condition them too
And then they grow up to owe a debt when they'd rather reset, start anew.