Sonnet #162

Give up before it gets too late to stop
The dream before it starts, just work
Just punch the clock and never shirk
The masters' will. Consume their slop.
And when the darkness comes, don't dream
The dreams will only show you what
Will never be; all doors stay shut
Keep eyes closed until clocks scream
All ceilings of glass, when shattered,
Will reign down pain upon the rest
Hurt no one, stay low, lower is better
Where no one knows you. It's best
To play the game, immune to pain
Immune to joy, relax in golden chain

Sonnet #161

The thing about the dog is this: I knew

The moment I saw her I knew who she was:

My dog, forever, and always stay true

To that moment of insight, seen in the laws

Between the laws, into and through

For time is a jewel, not unlike a fish tank

A solid that forms from the illusion of now

And moments come, a young pup with thanks

In her heart, for both of us instantly know 

The vision of life, growing old together

Will be, always us, until all shadows

Enjoined, entwined, and meant for each other

A man and his dog, a flash through the cage walls

At cosmic truth: This is my dog, unto ends and all

Sonnet #160

The part that no one tells you about catastrophe
There is panic, sure, and shock where you don't
think this is really happening, a synechdoche
emerges out of a mental epiphany, where notes
gather in the brain, and a piece of the terror
becomes a moment of joy in awe, the bones
of joy and wonder carrying human foolish error
wrapped in a gauze of fear and pain, the stones
collapse, the levy breaks, the volcano burps
The plane is going down, down, down, also
It means something greater, it also hurts
But it means something greater, cosmic glow
enflames the knowledge of the mortal spectacle
Laugh and feel a grateful glimpse beside sepulchral

Sonnet #159

We cannot save the bees so let's build bees
It's easier just to make a tiny robot drone
Than to change how we plant trees
Changing how we farm, we field, we home
Better just to build a better bee
It will be battery operated, require jobs
Factories to build it, refine it, see
the workers lining up to turn the knobs
And lawyers will protect the patents
And truckers will drive the bots to fields
Where salesmen set up contracts and latent
economic investments unlock on fortune's wheel
Wait for the man come round to release new bots
It's better this way, plastic buzzing dot to dot.

Sonnet #158

Make your own things if you can
The manufacturing has degraded
Nothing is meant to last. I'm jaded
I know, but it's true. The wingspan
Of the common angel has diminished
until the bones are showing under feathers
And even slightest weights are tethers
To a point where no one's ever finished
Just thrust out of the window, and pray
The wind is strong today. Make your own
If you can. It takes a plan, supplies, stay
in the house a while and dedicate ground
To build your own, unimported, harbors gray
never dropped, no management bound