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Playing Pretend
Ok haha how long has it been? Two or three years now, I say with a grin I’m just playing pretend With this stream of consciousness Thinking nothing out first There’s no con-se-quen-ces Because I set the distance in an instant How naïve I was to think That hard work and persistence Was enough to make you take A second to listen to what I’ve written on a page I should just take a break And accept that I’ll be sittin’ With a kitten in my lap Disappointed in old age The shame the

Atlas Porter
May 51 min read


This is How 40 Looks
This is how forty looks A cup of coffee on my desk A notepad and a pen Plus I got all these books And all these stories in my head All this smoke in the air If it’s a cope I don’t care This is how forty looks At this point I’m despair So spare me your insults And your criticisms too I’ve become more closed-minded As I’m aligning with the Truth The lies of youth have faded I have become way more jaded Constantly turning pages In this book looking for proof To justify m

Atlas Porter
May 51 min read


Ask Dante
What can these words do? Are they harmful or do they help? Ask Dante following Virgil Through the 9th circle out of Hell Take care that Shakespeare Made King Lear fear for his daughters They appeared on Ilium’s shores Greek ships spread across the waters There to storm the walls of Troy You going out tonight? Well, don’t forget the Trojans I think we’ve lost the plot My voice is hoarse from yelling (a lot) Over the music: a hellish omen from God: The drums of war are beating

Atlas Porter
May 51 min read


Emmanuel
King Herod was scared. In fact he was terrified. "The magi are here." "Wait! Where are the magi?" "They’re waiting outside" "Let me guess, staring at the sky?" "I think they’re from the east" "Yeah, they’re priests of Zoroaster; These men are very wise." "I think its about the Christ, The one the prophets foretold." "And you believe that nonsense?" "The people do, my lord, that’s all." "Get those men and let them in. I need to know what they know. Theres only one king o

Atlas Porter
Dec 7, 20251 min read


The Old Covenant
Genesis: creation Exodus: evacuation Leviticus: the rules Numbers: the population Of a nation wandering To a destined destination And then Deuteronomy: Moses’ final explanation They finally made it To the Promised Land of Canaan Joshua warned Of the coming devastation If they didn’t lay Down their arms And bow down to Yahweh’s nation God would bring down Jericho’s walls in seven days then The time of Judges follows after A cycle of tears and laughter They would turn from

Atlas Porter
Jun 5, 20252 min read


In the Beginning
In the beginning God created The heaven and the earth We flip ahead to John’s Gospel In the beginning was the Word What is meant by God said "Let there be light" Is that He used his Word to create His Word who is the Christ He’s the light within men With God in the beginning The Savior of the world The remedy of sinning The sacrificial lamb The last one to be made The Testament is New now The Old one’s in the grave He rose from the dead He’s the word that God said "In the beg

Atlas Porter
May 21, 20251 min read


Nature's Orphan
At the cliff's edge A feather is found Dipped in some ink On the brink of profound A sound that I think Comes to me from a cloud To make me fly like a bird And shed skin on the ground Flapping and flailing Rapping and wailing A cat who is failing At tailing a rat Falling and screaming A bald eagle meeting Squawking and scheming Their secret attack At the water's edge The tracks are erased Time is reset Nature's backspace To help one forget What has come before Songs of love a

Atlas Porter
Sep 1, 20171 min read


Idyll Gossip: The Fall of Camelot
The secrets Guinevere kept from Arthur Were known throughout the land of Camelot. You can hear the peasants whispering the Names Gawain, Bedivere, and Lancelot, Under their breath, gos’ping at the market; Squeezing oranges in a way that’s not Respectable to the queen, whose honor Is destroyed through innuendo about Sexual acts behind the back of her Lord, the great king Arthur, this nation’s heart (The son of Uther, this nation’s father). But it’s a round table now without In

Atlas Porter
Sep 1, 20169 min read


The Etiquette of Rhyme
You’re monitoring me But I’m obscuring the screen A scream of primal fury A fine line that I keep Between this high guy And the high-minded elite You may find my rhymes Weak, trite, and incom_____ We may make income think Of change -- delete “plete” From the beat and let the “income” Hang off of the end of the line Without the rhyme needed to keep This poetry in line with time as I speak It’s like I do this for free And my method is fixed I don’t speak carelessly I have preci

Atlas Porter
Feb 1, 20161 min read


Down the Rabbit Hole
To be trapped in a cage with the rage of an animal That hasn’t eaten a thing in days his pain is understandable I demand you let me out – free – and feed me with attention Or I swear you’ll hear a prayer about my destroyed potential My stomach growls I need to eat give me but a morsel Of your collective force of will to read my stories won’t you Of course I cordially invite you all into my special portal Down the rabbit hole where small portions of the proceeds go to The vort

Atlas Porter
Sep 1, 20141 min read


Kubla Khan Revisited
“It was a miracle of rare device A sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice!” -- S.T. Coleridge, “Kubla Khan” And the song without a melody Falls away in the distance Sing, O Muse, of the anger of Achilles Icarus is falling on his face Embarrassed While Hamlet contemplates his madness What is this life? I need "a stately pleasure dome decree" A contract that says my palace will be made As soon as possible But I just nod off and fall Deep into a dream Where my memory fails to rec

Atlas Porter
May 1, 20141 min read


The Pain of Achilles
It's a song by Tennyson About the end of Camelot King Arthur's got a laurel crown On his brow like Caesar’s got And Lancelot is his Mark Cleopatra is the Guinevere The capstone on the pyramid Is missing and we see it clear We fear the devil and his works Poseidon versus Odysseus Ithaca's so far away And on the way Sirens are heard The lengths we go to The extremes we take To make our lives run Parallel with fate Mephistopheles keeps laughing At Rome and Athens As Manhattan ta

Atlas Porter
Dec 1, 20131 min read


Inspiration
I need silence in order to hear So I am sort of reclusive Inspiration is what I hold dear But my dear it’s elusive Crucified as I sit in my chair I just stare at illusions Shadows and specters and prayers Ride through the air like they’re music I need stillness in order to think But don’t confuse me for stoic The squeaky wheel gets the grease If I hurt then the world will know it I won’t shout it from a mountain Or swim it through the ocean This isn’t the voice of God I’m not

Atlas Porter
Nov 1, 20131 min read


Metamorphosis
Burning the night oil As I toil away Reading the pages of Ovid’s Metamorphoses Getting lost in the story Exploring each page Waiting for the change To something less fortunate Diana was in her glory Actaeon saw her bathe So she makes him a stag That his dogs tore to bits Narcissus caught a glimpse Of what his admirers crave So he stares into the lake And reflects love for him The laurel leaves grow From the hands of Daphne As she’s chased by Apollo Like a sculptor depicts Pyg

Atlas Porter
Aug 1, 20131 min read


Apollo's Art
A still life bottle of wine Sits still beside my laptop On top of my desk by the light When will I realize That my whining won't stop I have got to live my life in rhyme I have had my fill of unfulfilled times I decided to disregard that hard lot And stop crying like how a Bacchant cries And instead find my thrills in Apollo's art Parnassian dreams where Calliope's my bride An artsy mind state thanks to the wine and pot Just please don't mind the whiny part When I was figurin

Atlas Porter
Mar 1, 20131 min read


The World Outside My Window
I open the window Let the air in With the noise By Car By Drive By Car By Drives The car drives by The cars drive by Horn Horn! Horns Air brakes And Buses Cabs Buses Trucks More cabs and buses Meter maids with badges And a pad to talk tough with The high-pitched swishy sound Of grocery bags in tree branches-- Holding on for their lives We all make sacrifices We all have our vices Lights flashing and sirens Kids howling all night long Showing violence to silence The exhaust fu

Atlas Porter
Nov 1, 20122 min read


Narcissism
Everywhere I go, Things are exactly how I want them, Because I say what I need to, To get my point across. Sometimes you don't get it, But believe me it's your loss That you're lost when I say things; See, everything's how I want it. I know you're not lost anymore. It's your coming-of-age tale. To no avail, you understand, But I understand your plight. You might set sail To a land never been seen before By man, a new planet 'cause you're way "out of sight." I'm in flight, So

Atlas Porter
Oct 1, 20121 min read


Security Blanket
I write a blanket statement To ensure its mass appeal As a trite generalization To cover how I feel All the bridges have been burnt And the foundation that we built Has a crack in it: my persistence To push away the guilt I don't know why I'm so reticent Towards everything around me I just want an even keel Now my feelings are profoundly Under felt it's underwhelming There's no telling what's out there If I'm always so worried about Improbable problems arising I should not ca

Atlas Porter
Sep 1, 20111 min read


The Collective Unconscious
I got this provocative Book in my hand, And A nonchalant Look in my eye I understand What I got is this pin code Embedded in my head And a serial number Printed under my mind, Like I'm Being monitored And watched all the time. I'm so conspiratorial I could teach a tutorial On how to be paranoid: Oh no, you hear that noise? Better watch out behind you! You hear a click on the phone? Does your internet freeze? Does your mind play tricks on you? Or is it truth that it speaks? Te

Atlas Porter
Feb 1, 20111 min read


From Eden
A trail that’s muddy, covering Your boots in mud, probably, Complaining about it constantly, Your friends can take no more. So then you try to explain, thoroughly, That you’re misunderstood, and want to be As “normal” as everyone else is, the trouble is, However, you understand a bit a more Of how the world really works, listening To your every thought and feeling, answering Your questions about the world To the best of its ability; the world Is your best friend if you let it

Atlas Porter
Dec 31, 20101 min read
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