Multi-media mayhem making mazes of minds
Cultivating confusion, captivating all kinds
Feeding ‘feeling frenzies’ for faux fanciful finds
Breeding brains for banalities and the bunk that binds

Park yourself in the armchair
Shift your intellect to neutral
Prepare for the next transmission
That pulls you into overdrive

To see conspiracy where it’s not
And no conspiracy where it is
The point is just to point and click
To keep every roomer alive!

Right or wrong it’s still your right
So express your rage
Freedom of the pressed
They come to set your stage
And fence you in for security
Then they rattle your cage
Because everyone knows everything
In the Misinformation Age

From the red letter office
A caps lock lockdown in progress
A deluge of delusions
With a font overflowing with urgency

React from the conditioning
To this chain of splitting hairs
Out with the old into your inbox
And back out to spread its misery

Right or wrong it’s still your right
So express your rage
Freedom of the pressed
They come to set your stage
And fence you in for security
Then they rattle your cage
Because everyone’s an actor
On the Misinformation Stage

But truth is more than an altered state of mind
And seeing is more than just not being blind

© July 20, 2010 @ 12:45 AM by J. Marshall

Once upon a time
was one / who under-
stood life’s mysteries
Stood under the lof-
ty over pass / pon-
dered the things above

And spoke his words ab-
stractly / standing be-
tween concrete pillars
His hands armed with a
healing touch / and with
that, the touch of love

Longed to share his soul
in short / with all the
others passing by
Although he spoke ov-
er their heads / they saw
him as one beneath

He gave them all what
they needed / but they
would not receive it
Because in the end
no one believes / a
man who’s missing teeth

Brushing over what
he said / while they were
foaming out their mouths
These so-called seekers
of truth / were blinded
by his missing tooth

And spit at the per-
ception / of the gaps
in his countenance
And flossed over his
words / as if they had
wisdom (teeth) since youth

Overlooking their
checkered lives / squared with
crimson and blackness
Filling their mouths with
silver things / and crown-
ing themselves like kings

Drilling into his
past / they meant to dent
his reputation
Claimed themselves merely
partial / to the fresh-
ness clarity brings

He wished to heal them
but they kept laughing,
aghast / at his smile
Their root of evil
dwelt beneath / their cav-
ity of errors

Amalgamated
their forces / to rid
themselves of his talk
No cap to their mad-
ness, they vexed / this
toothless man with terrors

Few words were implant-
ed / the scope of his
vision receded
And under the ov-
erpass / died the man
with the missing tooth

Though rarely extract-
ed / his gleam of in-
sight never decayed
Now a plaque on the
bridge / serves as a re-
tainer for his truth

© 2010  J. Marshall

I’ve heard the stories
of the ones who’ve made it
How much I’ve tried
to make their lives my own
For in an instant for them
everything changed (for the better)
If that’s a metric for the masses
It explains why I’m alone

Where is that storm?
Where is the
thundering
enlightenment?
Where in a flash I picture all things new
And the film is removed from my dark room view
And develops into certainty
For the lens I see life through

I’ve tried to walk the steps
of the ones who’ve arrived
But seemed to stumble
before I reached step two
One foot planted in the process
the other in confusion
And from these roots
my frustrations grew

Where is my storm?
Where is my
thundering
enlightenment?
When I ponder their lot, their lives, a lot
If they weathered the storm for what they got
Or even whether the weather
Had to do with it or not

© 2009 J. Marshall

I awoke from a dream
With a toothache in my soul
Then Novocain filled my chest
So fear could drill its hole

River of thoughts damned my mind
Lava laces a thoracic knot
Sensation tricks me into thinking
Something it is not

My feet are balls of fire
Red radiates from my head
Skin fills a mold made of heat and sweat
Dead, this cavity feels dead!

How can I redeem the time
Spent merely as projection—?
A shadow of a man
Cast from this former man’s reflection

It’s been a Long Cold Winter of Summer
With springs of black and white
In the fall of the former glory
I await to take my flight

© 2009 J. Marshall

Within him was mysterious substance
Given at birth, for through his life to share
Yet much to his complacent contentment
Even in isolation, it was still there

So he kept all this Goo to himself
Not knowing what he was withholding
‘til his emotions turned to molten rock
Leaving this once serene psyche scolding

Unconsciously cooling his melting soul
He began to give away some Goo
But only to get ill goo in return
‘til he said, “Screw you, no more Goo for you!”

Sought solace from a few who claimed they knew
But whose aims were still ill-gotten-Goo-gain
Was like the blind squeezing a blind pimple—it hurt
But didn’t burst, just escalated his pain

So what would he do with all of this Goo?
When he knew not where to go to share
And keeping the Goo was clearly taboo
This whole affair just didn’t seem fair

So he searched for the source of his Goo
And learned a lesson in self-transcendence
True Goo is given without expectation
And passed on to one’s spiritual descendents

So he sought some worthy souls and causes
In effect, a community built upon Goo
Forever flowing but never running out
This happens for few though all of it’s true

But when the Goo of Goodness is withheld
It gives toxic fumes of fermented glory
Turns your inward heaven to some kind of hell
But it’s up to you to change the story

© 2009 J. Marshall

Swimming in a stew of ideals
Mired in the gravy, trained
To obscure the necessities of life
The shirt of my being leave stained

At times I starved while at the feast
At times I was fed too much of the same
Off to go hunting for something that sated
On to keep playing this wild game

Though I could always pick fruit from the nuts
And discern plastic in search for what’s real
But some things seemed better than that which was best
Poison berries buried poison beneath their appeal

Still on a day I can’t see night from day I pray…

To light those paths which lead to light
And burn the bridges that land in death
Let me not confuse a dark night for darkness
Or artificial light for eternal breath

© 2008 J. Marshall

Acting is if he was one of the boys
As he interacts through awkward noise
With words and movement, mere decoys
From the heart and all that it employs

He makes an impression and hopes it sticks
Or clicks with who’s who in workplace cliques
As perceptions ensue, his soul will transfix
From the politics of workplace politics

And he says…
I wish I was there
Now that I’m no longer there
I wish the walls were my ears
The part of me that cares
Wishes I no longer cared
To chase away these fantasies and fears

Aftertalk is the talk
That carries on once you walk
Away from that which you were just a part
As your image gets molded through the mouths
of whom you’ll depart

Once at home he ponders what he’s all about
As he seeks release from his internal doubt
And wishes he could hear the Aftertalk play out
Or at least live to learn how to live without

And he says…
I wish I was there
Now that I’m no longer there
I wish the walls were my ears
The part of me that cares
Wishes I no longer cared
To chase away these fantasies and fears

Aftertalk is the talk
That carries on once you walk
Away from that which you were just a part
As your image gets molded through the mouths
of whom you’ll depart

© 2008 J. Marshall

Send the check to the ministry-
Churn out alms like a factory-
Mismatched and discontented-
Detached and disconnected-

Mindless militants lament what they perceive
Spitting on our skin with venomous phlegm
All hiding behind their march of signs
Which tell us nothing at all about them

Witless armchair activists, witness their world
From a box or the books on their bathroom shelves
And they catch their flies with piss
While pouring honey on them selves

Charities of Fire-
As the world turns ablaze
Reaching for a hand out
To pull me from this maze
Charities of Fire-
The flame that feeds the flame
In spinning social circles
I wish I had your name

They’re saving face for those without a face
They’re sending hugs yet leaving no embrace
They’re loving space but liking not their place
They’re hating rats but loving the rat race

But a bird-in-hand, their burning bush
Though a burdened hand not worth too much
Nor a bleeding heart that pumps dry blood
On the burning hand that cries out
for a personal touch

Charities of Fire-
As the world turns ablaze
Reaching for a hand out
To pull me from this maze
Charities of Fire-
The flame that feeds the flame
In spinning social circles
I wish I knew your name

© 2008 J. Marshall

Let’s take a stab at your amygdala
Stick you in the ass with an Epi Pen
Infuse your eyes with fury and fear
As your soul sears with adrenaline

Chase your coffee with a slice of dread
Till we fill your room with doom at Noon
And more at six and more at eleven
And more of the same still coming up soon

There’s a Carnival of Evil—
For all the world to see
Exploiting the exploited
In the papers, on TV
There’s a Carnival of Chaos—
Feeding all your fears
Distorting what’s distorted
Changing how your world appears

It’s prime time once again to serve you
Your portion of disproportion
We set the trap, ease into your chair
And get psyched for your psyche’s contortion

Piece by piece we’re stealing your peace
And replacing it all with more crap
We’ll keep playing the harp as we harp on you
Until your heart strings snap

There’s a Carnival of Evil—
For all the world to see
Exploiting the exploited
In the papers, on TV
There’s a Carnival of Chaos—
Feeding all your fears
Distorting what’s distorted
Changing how your world appears

They’ve tainted our world and painted it black
But let’s take the world and paint it back!

© 2008 J. Marshall

My emotions encased in mucous
My soul suspended in glue
My mind’s eye, a blind pimple
Armed and ready to pop through
The thick glass wall that separates
Me from the depths of experience
And the space that separates
Time from the present tense

I want to feel the way I will
About the memories I’ll hold dear
I want to feel the way I’ll feel
When I reflect on now, another year
I want to feel the way I will somehow
I want to feel—Nostalgia Now

The light is on but my eyes closed
I’ve not yet learned to reopen
Taste and see the food is good
But I vaguely taste the hoping
Of all that’s good and great, and God
Will free my senses from their prison
As neurons mourn the master’s return
For a body and soul collision

I want to feel the way I will
About the people I hold dear
I want to feel the way I’ll feel
When I reflect on them, another year
I want to feel the way I will somehow
I want to have—Nostalgia Now

The novelty of each moment
Like lifetimes of nothing new
And the best times of life
The toughest to get through
Phantom feeling, a fantasy
I cannot fathom, grasp or seize
Though I know the present won’t measure up
To its future memories

© 2008 J. Marshall

I remember you

You were like my own personal adversary

Staying close to me like a cell phone

That came with a lifetime contract and automatic renewal

And seemingly unlimited minutes of torment so that not even my weekends were free

You followed me around—from play, to school, to work and back home again

Sometimes you were there even when you were not

You were the same

Only your skin, your soul, and your manifestations of darkness changed from time to time and place to place

But I will kill you…with kindness

And I will feed you on the streets

If you throw eggs at my house I will collect them and make you breakfast (unless you are vegan)

Nevertheless, you will not walk away from me empty

I will radiate love and watch your hatred melt like chocolate on a hot day so it can no longer be within your grasp

I will be to you what I would have had you be to me

And I will do these things lest I become like what you were—and be my own worst enemy

© 2007 J. Marshall

Volume of oppression growing louder
Hearts pump blood as dry as powder
Evil eyes, bundles of nerves
Pierce the heart and hand that serves

Imaginations burn without hope
From flames that set alight the scope
Of fear and hate and prejudice
Exploding mines of mindlessness

And we’ve all brought forth our worst
Mouths on fire from tongues that cursed
But a splash of light might quench our thirst
Deflate our hate so we don’t burst

Then let it reign and flood the earth and then
Let us yearn for a taste of that state again
And mind with watchful eyes so we’ll know when
We’ve been sent a Shot of Heaven!

The sky is falling from a room
Profits of fear, pulpits of doom
Prey for the sheep without a prayer
Send forth a flock to spread despair

Hyped to cite some lofty screed
Just mount up hate watch love recede
Rally up the mass hysteria
Turn their world to disaster area

And we’ve all brought forth our worst
Mouths on fire from tongues that cursed
But a splash of light might quench our thirst
Deflate our hate so we don’t burst

Then let it reign and flood the earth and then
Let us yearn for a taste of that state again
And mind with watchful eyes so we’ll know when
We’ve been sent a Shot of Heaven!

Business deals the iron collar
Ditch a brother for the Dollar
Or some change of rank or state
And put on airs, watch heads inflate

Pumped to numb hearts by the ton
Through wars of wits waged and un-won
Where need and greed distinctions cease
And the need for internal peace

And we’ve all brought forth our worst
Mouths on fire from tongues that cursed
But a splash of love might quench our thirst
Deflate our hate so we don’t burst

Let it reign and flood the earth and then
Let us yearn for the state of that taste again
And watch with mindful eyes so we’ll know when
Heaven sent a Shot of Heaven!

© 2007 J. Marshall

A man lies faint beneath the desert sun
The ‘Samaritan’ offers him water to cool
He knocks the flask from his hands and spills some
And says, “the glass is half empty and I’m no fool”

A woman digs a pit and falls into it
Another comes along to help her out
But she says, “you can’t reach me from where you are–
your help is something I can do without…”

Chase their whims and try to please them
Fall for the myth that something will
Walk on eggs on pins and needles
When perception is nine tenths of their hell 

He thought he could make a difference
He thought he would be the exception
But who would care if he changed the world–
When he is just a Victim of Perception?

A boy once ‘cried wolf’ but turned out like a lamb
And no one thought to realize his repentance
False witnesses brought him to the hands of the court 
Judge said, “Give that liar the maximum sentence!”

She was the one to whom people would come
Just to get some—or she’d pose for some smut
But she’s had a change of heart and for years a new start
Yet still they say, “Stay away from that slut”

Chase their whims and try to please them
Fall for the myth that something will
Walk on eggs, on pins, on needles
But perception is nine tenths of their fill 

She thought she would make a difference
She thought she could be the exception
But who would care if she changed the world–
If she’s just a Victim of Perception?

From good to bad, and sane to mad, or
Harmful to advantageous
The perceptions were fixed long ago
But reality often changes

©2006 (October 7 @2:00 AM) by J. “Xakk” Marshall 

Rumor has us—we’re believing
We’ve got to do a job
Grasping at straws—

The bandwagon ‘hey’ ride’s leaving
Jump on and join the mob
We’ve got a cause—

Let’s make some laws…

Action Reaction—
Fiction to Fraction—
Friction to Faction—
Action Reaction!

History teaches we’re still learning
To keep our balance in a world turning
Toward all extremes while ever yearning
Immoderation undiscerning

Action Reaction—
The principle, a distraction
To the spirit of the end
The letter kills my friend

Fiction to Fraction—
Division, the sum of satisfaction
Of facts and truth and lies
We magnetize and polarize

Friction to Faction—
And unkind interaction
Divided we stand
When things don’t go as planned

Action Reaction!

Purpose compels as ego swells
Hype endures and casts its spells
Whether wrong or right emotion sells
Moves its pawns where dogma dwells

Awakening the giants without
To be another group to shout out
For everything they’re not about
Secretly in doubt yet still devout

Action Reaction—
Fiction to Fraction—
Friction to Faction—
Action Reaction!

The point of view that gets discarded
Stirs the wrath of the disregarded
To chant their mantras once imparted
Still no one knows how this all started

Cross each other’s bridges burning
Fighting fire with fire with fire returning
Court’s in session never adjourning
The cycle lives on forever churning

Action Reaction—
The principle, a distraction
To the spirit of the end
The letter kills my friend

Fiction to Fraction—
Division, the sum of satisfaction
Of facts and truth and lies
We magnetize and polarize

Friction to Faction—
And unkind interaction
Divided we stand
When things don’t go as planned

Action Reaction!

The present teaches we’re not winning
Keeping the earth forever spinning
The axis bursts with Atlas grinning
Finding freedom so imprisoning

Action Reaction—
Fiction to Fraction—
Friction to Faction—
Action Reaction!

We may have lied to spread the truth
The position we’d hold
Along with our signs—

Eye for I, fought nail and tooth
Our act was getting old
It undermined—
What we sought to find—

And it took all kinds…

©2006 (October 6 @1:15 AM) by J. “Xakk” Marshall

He makes a maze for runners
To race his world of sorts
Fixes the game against the broken
For he’s not for good sports

And watches them run about
Though few will move ahead
But trample on each other
Living like the living dead

I make you think
I am what
your life’s about
I make you want
the things
you can’t live without
You and me,
your friends
and family we flout
When they say
I’m running you
or raise any doubt…

Welcome to the Rat Race
Sold your soul for a piece of mine
But no one wins the Rat Race
For there is no finish line…

Some leap for laps of luxury
As static clings to status quo
The Jones’s, a moving target
Of power plays, or a fashion show

Not much time to wine and dine
For they’re always on his dime
Cameos to homes and lovers
Standing still in flying time

I make you think
I am what
your life’s about
I make you want
the things
you can’t live without
You and me
your friends
and family we flout
When they say
I’m running you
or raise your doubt

I am the Rat Race
Here’s your Rat Race salary
Give me eighty hours a week
And forty are for free

I’m the amount
that just amounts
to this amount
and nothing more
I make you think
you make it rich
but I just make
you poor

I AM THE RAT RACE!

© 2006 (August 14, 2006 @ 5:45 PM) by James “Xakk” Marshall

Founded upon the foundations of fiends
Sustained by scores of sordid schemes
From pillars of promises hang hollow beams
Layers of nightmares beneath a facade of dreams

Something for nothing
And something for everything
Lining every shelf
Promise power for wealth and for health
And virtually everything else
Always something to save you from something
But never something
To save you from yourself…

What is the Messiah Complex?
It’s a complex issue
A store, of sorts, of ’saviors’
Taking a fee for your ‘rescue’
Full of it—and solutions
Eschewing a foot in your shoes

Money changers changing hands and skin
Sheep and wolves’ clothing wearing thin
Spinning straw and gold into spin
All go in without and out with nothing within

Secrets to success
Stay secrets none-the-less
When broadcast through your screen
Tips and tidbits and bits of bliss
Feeding the mania machine
Superficially disseminated
Through overrated
Multimedia means

Where’s the Messiah Complex?
Just look around you now!
Where sensation surrounds sound discerning
And chokes it out somehow
Milking you for all it’s worth
To be their next cash cow

© July 31,2006 @ 6:45 PM by “Xakk”

Moonwalks casting shadows of doubt
Smoke and Mirrors in a different light
Furled flags ride the wind without air
Devoid of stars and no Earth in sight

Minus support of four-foot thick lead
Van Allen belt whips a spaceman to hash
Micro-meteors rip space suits to shreds
And the film for the camera melts in a flash

Earth to NASA
Astronauts to dust
Do what they can’t
But do it they must
When technology fails
In Hollywood they trust

And all the moon’s a stage
For the conspiracy age
Feel all the rage
And your mind disengage

Rover, Rover, never flipped over
Antarctic prop-rocks stamped with a ‘C’
Lift-off produced a flame in a vacuum
Yet failed to disturb the dust and debris

Weightless indeed when shown at half-speed
Washing our brains in the Sea of Tranquility
Catching the Buzz, strong-Armed to concede
Surfing the wave of cosmic conspiracy

Earth to NASA
Astronauts to dust
Do what they can’t
But do it they must
When technology fails
In Hollywood they trust

And all the moon’s a stage
For the conspiracy age
Feel all the rage
And your mind disengage

Insight might incite but no one’s in sight
Adherents hide as facts chase their fantasy
Multiple sources of ‘light’ think they’re right
Talk is cheap but the books aren’t free

© 2006 James “Xakk” Marshall [January 16, 2006 @ 3:45 AM, T minus 9 seconds]

Walking through the cafe
Stalking you just like prey
Making small talk
“How are you today?”

You give me a friendly “fine”
I’m ready with my next line
“What is your job?”
And I can’t wait to tell you about mine!

I work for myself, it’s true
No doubt that you can too
I’m building my business
And it needs someone just like you!

Praising you (who I don’t know)
Putting on a one man show
Now you are flattered
And you’ll go where I want you to go!

I look like your friend
I act like your brother
You were love at first sight
Just like the others
I met here tonight…

Selfish ambitions they hide in disguise
But honey and feces still draw the same flies
The difference between them all lies in the lies
And he don’t see the people
Through dollar signs in his eyes

Come to our meeting place
Meet the heads face to face
To bask in the hype
And our dogma embrace

Zeal for your cult grows
Turn your friends to foes
“They don’t want to be rich?”
Like someone who someone
    who some-one in here knows

Feeling the loneliness
Steeling away your bliss
You curse the day (we met)
As you reminisce about
    the times you miss

We wined and we dined
You never thought me unkind
“You don’t want to be rich?”
Well, if your not on my downline
    you’re no friend of mine! 

I am not your friend!
I am not your brother!
Though it may have looked that way
But for you and yours
I will still prey…

Selfish ambitions they hide in disguise
But honey and feces still draw the same flies
The difference between them all lies in the lies
And he don’t see the people
Through dollar signs in his eyes

© 2006 J. “Xakk” Marshall  (January 14, 2006 @12:55 AM) 

Should’ve done this or
He should’ve known that
Should’ve thought about
It more before he 
Got to where he’s at
Eschewing insight
When all seems ‘old hat’
But this Critical
Eye’s blind as a bat

Hindsight‘s a forest
Trees of yesterday
And no one can see
The foresight for the
Trees are in the way
The heart as a rock
Mind made out of clay
Bowels set on fire
Conscience will betray

Strangers fight like foes in a cold internal war
Making mental trenches filled with dirt to the core
When those things of hate are too easy to explore
Still all can live like friends when we stop keeping score
And we don’t need to be their judges anymore

No, I won’t be the judge—anymore!

Head to head combat
Neither side’s aware
Of fists of Rights and 
Lefts, slanderous blows that
Time will not repair
Judge between Two and
One thinks it unfair
Or for neither nor,
Looks like you don’t care

It may never be
The way it all seems
All partly blinded
By nightmares that crawl
All inside these dreams
Whispers in the dark
Sometimes sound like screams
Seemly shades of gray
May be one’s extremes

Strangers fight like foes in a cold internal war
Making mental trenches filled with dirt to the core
When those things of hate are too easy to explore
Still all can live like friends when we stop keeping score
And we don’t need to be their judges anymore

No, I won’t be the judge—anymore!

© November 25, 2005 @ 2:00 AM by James “Xakk” Marshall 

Man looks upon another man
Who walks and talks with can in hand
And of his can becomes a fan
And is off to buy his own can
Although not really his own can
But the can of the other man
Copied and carried in his hand
And now he thinks he’s better than—

So he greets others can to can
Those who partake in his canned plan
That is, the ones of their own clan
Who all display the same canned brand
Cans don’t work well with other cans
And some cans, the other cans ban
Get out and join some other clan!
Those cans will say from can to can

And always have—from span to span
As only cans know other cans
Or at least as much as cans can
But behind those cans there stands man
Something the cans can’t understand
Nor does man when he talks through cans
And all of man talks can to can
But few have talked from man to man

For Every New Find You Find, You’ll Find
What Fascinates and Captivates The Mind
Though For Every New Theory That’s Defined
Another Piece of the Mind’s Eye Has Gone Blind

Set your psyches to seeker mode
Pick a path or follow a friendly road
Flood of feeding facts fill your mind overflowed
Batting your brains with the banter bestowed

Stop for suggestion or a sense of direction
Merge right minds to mines of hyper reflection
Go for the power of the shower of suggestion
Yield to information superhighway congestion

Learn, though don’t dwell
On the knowledge that’s fleeting
For a day, we may find, again as well
We were treating with bleeding
A disease, who can tell
If the books we’ll be reading
Will be obsoleting
The facts we’re competing
for now?

If the timeless is tested by the test of time;
And music’s still measured with rhythm and rhyme;
The good of the Old and New judged at their Prime;
Then the Test, the Measure, and Judge were all part of the Climb!

Sly statements sliding some slippery slopes
Sharp shooters shouting from the ends of their ropes
Easy-believing-fact-repeating-friction-feeding mopes
Citing sources like swords, sliced to small-scale scopes 

Stop incensing seekers seeking silence from squalls
Merge minds to mend the mess that’s made of mortal flaws
Go for the peace that ceases a concern for the cause
Yield to what makes for peace, and don’t wait for applause

Learn, though don’t dwell
On the knowledge that’s fleeting
For a day, we may find, again as well
We were treating with bleeding
A disease, who can tell
If the books we’ll be reading
Will be obsoleting
The facts we’re competing
for now?

If the timeless is tested by the test of time;
And music’s still measured with rhythm and rhyme;
The good of the Old and New judged at their Prime;
Then the Test, the Measure, and Judge were all part of the Climb!

© 2005 [Sunday February 6 @ 7:00 AM] by J. “Xakk” Marshall

A wise man once said
Or was it something I read?
That a soft word turned away wrath
But another wise man
Put that phrase in a can [and]
Ancient Wisdom turned into math

Still I drank from that cup
Though it didn’t add up
‘til I just spit up—all I had
For my mentors and me
Things did taste differently
And some of them thought I was mad

Faith, Hope, Love, and War
For we’ve heard these words together before
Yet one of these things is not like the other
One of which I don’t wish on my brother
For I don’t want the same crashing on me
No,  I don’t want to be a casualty

Still God bless those fighting for Peace
And may the God of Peace
make the fighting cease!

Though I don’t claim to have all the answers
    or profess to know it—all
I’ve made wars of my own
Placed my home on a throne
    for I’m just a poet—and that’s all

So I ask, ‘who is right?’
God says, ‘Let there be Light’
But Light travels only so fast…
When it comes, sometimes Truth
Hurts like a bad tooth
Close the window [and]
Light doesn’t last

But in the light of the night
The right still make might
And Good still turn the other cheek
For Peace, I’m interested
But pray I’m never tested
For blessed—are the meek  

Fusion of certainty and confusion
Union of reality and delusion
Intrusion of fatality of what life is all for;
Faith, Hope, Love (but not war)

© 2005 J. “Xakk” Marshall  [january 28, 2005 @ starbucks @ sunrise]

In a Universe of Seven Heavens
Grace is in the Eighth
High when we’re within it
Or fall from it
To a ruminated fate
But I won’t stare at the ceiling
Nor affix myself to the floor
But rather look — for a window
Or to behold — an open door
I think these might be everywhere
Although nowhere in sight
So I unearth myself from the atmosphere
And begin to take my flight

Looked bad at the time of its birth
Its looks would change, but not its worth
One second it would ride the wind
And walk on feces, not chagrined
Though in the midst of a public throng
Helps himself to food and flies along

I was still, I was wild
Detached like a child
With a conscience undefiled
And a quiet mind so sound
Without a thought in sight
Yet this psyche once so mild
Turned against itself, reviled
For a state of mind beguiled
Of thoughtless existence
Set to incite the trite

Someway, somehow, please stop—
this Brain Noise
That purged our souls of peace and joys
Of life and love and laughs and poise
And changed our minds to jackals’ toys
Someway, somehow, please stop—
this Brain Noise!

Sought sound stimulation
A quest for liberation
Of dialogue deliberation
That the neurons would cease-fire
And end my inner war!
Tried to send my rumination
On perpetual vacation
Not without anticipation
Of this silence for a moment
But obsession all the more!

Someway, somehow, just turn down—
the Brain Noise
That purged our souls of peace and joys
Of life and love and laughs and poise
And changed our minds to jackals’ toys
Someway, somehow, just turn down—
this Brain Noise!

It’s not really what we think
But the volume of the thoughts
That drowns the sounds of Peace
And Hope and Joy reduced to naught
Hyperreflection just the product
Or the sum of all we’re taught?
Is detachment just a dream
Of all in all and all we ought
to be…?

© 2004 J. “Xakk” Marshall

At times we find our lamps burned out before we face the day
As our rose-colored glasses turn to wearing shades of gray
The mourning news to confuse our views to choose dismay
Changing channels as our world turns heads spinning away

We see no way to change the way it is or way we think we feel
Hearts weighed down with pounds of sorrow beat for an ideal
Our souls burn for a spark of hope or peace of something Real
From the ashes emerge a kindled fire with flame of mass appeal

Search the ends of the earth
For the end of the world
But the present’s a gift
Should we seek Life today
For what is the worth
Of the dogma we hurled
If by paradigm-shift
We let love slip away?

In the end it will end
And no men know when
Though between now and then-
Apocalypse Again

As we allay our minds to sleep we fill the void with conspiracy
Senses purged we merge to urge all sing our dirge to history
On senseless wings our visions fly to feign foes’ fatal destiny
A mistake to place escape in place of our stake in eternity?

Wise guys enthrall with know-it-all, the wise guise turns to glower
Profits rise and Prophets fall with milk and honey turning sour
Roads to good intents recall the slippery slope of wanting power
To calculate the day and hour but not the cost to build the tower

Search the ends of the earth
For the end of the world
But the present’s a gift
Should we seek Life today
For what is the worth
Of the dogma we hurled
If by paradigm-shift
We let love slip away?

In the end it will end
And no men know when
Though between now and then-
Apocalypse Again

Day far or nigh let our lights shine on through the End of Time
Pray to raise the shades of gray that veil windows to the Sublime
New views infuse the hues, renews; to let the Good News chime
Channels changing world engaging hearts primed for the Climb

© 2004 J. “Y3K Ready” Marshall  (Completed August 21, 2004 @ 7:00 AM)

Activate autopilot life
Push some buttons begin the day
Lunch is packed, the kids in a box
The State Sitter is on its way

Just heat and eat the coldness
Just add water for frozen tears
Mixed feelings, packaged memories
A dash of light for leftover years

Microwave Mama, do you know my plea?
From your room monitor, can you hear me?
And feel my pain, from closed circuit TV?
Saved by the bell; depress, release,
…and set me free!

We live for the future, wasting the day
We live for the future, wasting away

Microwaved Manna from Heaven
Just to get back what is dew
A mustard seed bathed in leaven
And bred for a starving few

Scrubbed the kids with your soapbox
With abrasive brush they shine on you
Foam out your mouth, a rapid rebuke
But what else could you do?

Microwave Mama, do you know my plea?
From your room monitor, can you hear me?
And feel my pain, from closed circuit TV?
Saved by the bell; depress, release,
…and set me free!

We live for the future, wasting the day
We live for the future, wasting away

Fly with disguise of freedom
Through the airs of gladness
In the midst of mainstream winds
The friendly guise of madness

Microwave Mama, do you know my plea?
From your room monitor, can you hear me?
And feel my pain, from closed circuit TV?
Saved by the bell; depress, release,
…and set me free!

We live for the future, wasting the day
We live for the future, wasting away

Remembering a day when you would see
The beauty of the sea a tree and waves of green
The fields of dreams exchanged for the reality
Of hopes of scenes from screen to shining screen…

© 2004 J. “Radiate Love Not Food” Marshall (August 9, 2004 @ 5:45 AM)

Streams of consciousness overflow
From mourning due our sorrows grow
Our hearts turn numb without a cause
And spirits dumb with lives on pause
As countdowns of politicking clocks
Locks the box that stocks the flocks

But the second hand within our grasp
The time has come to kill the asp
Lose the chains and loose the clasp
Inhale new life from lifeless gasp

We all want a Second Wind
Breath of fresh air
New spirit within
We all need a Second Wind
Air of freedom
Free from sin

From sinking sand we reach for sky
Needles of vengeance bleed mercy dry
Our hearts will pump the blood it draws
As we seek to blot our brother’s flaws
In vain our quest turns toward ourselves
Into our faults our psyche delves

But the second hand within our grasp
The time has come to kill the asp
Lose the chains and loose the clasp
Inhale new life from lifeless gasp

We all want a Second Wind
Breath of fresh air
New spirit within
We all need a Second Wind
Air of freedom
Free from sin

When our eye is dark from a worldview
That sees no future just judgment due
And the light within the rain burns out
Through warning tears pouring doubt
Thy kingdom calls for all to hear it
When it reigns its poor are rich in spirit

But the second hand within our grasp
The time has come to kill the asp
Lose the chains and loose the clasp
Inhale new life from lifeless gasp

We all want a Second Wind
Breath of fresh air
New spirit within
We all need a Second Wind
Airing freedom
Free from sin

© 2004 J. “Xakk” Marshall (August 6, 2004 @ 5:15 PM)

Break some minds to pieces
Affix to man-made machinery
Hot-wire desire and pride
Fuel with neurochemistry

Take some pieces of minds
Attach to anything new
A notion, a dogma, opinion
Bond with emotional glue

These are the robots we will build
To suit our will to never show
Time and time again, we won’t grow
Up to see beyond our fleeting thrill
To death to fight what we don’t know
A lot of the robots we’ll bestow

So who was fighting who—
Was it even me, or even you?
Or robot-to-robot in each other’s face—
The robots we sent to show in our place?
Our robots were there, still keeping score
Our robots were there, still making war

Pick from the heaps of hype
That with appearance of cause
Ignite with the spark of adrenaline
The unfriendly fire of flaws

Circuit boards of education
Screwed to lust for power to rule
Replace servanthood of a leader
With the arrogance of a fool

These are the robots we will build
To suit our will to never show
Time and time again, we won’t grow
Up to see beyond our fleeting thrill
To death to fight what we don’t know
A lot of the robots we’ll bestow

So who was fighting who—
Was it even me, or even you?
Or robot-to-robot in each other’s face—
The robots we sent to show in our place?
Our robots were there, still keeping score
Our robots were there, still making war

When we don’t know what it is
That makes us what we are
We build robots in our places
And fight our battles from afar
© 2004 J. “Xakk” Marshall (July 9, 2004 @ 5:15 AM)

You see a small world in your mind’s eye and so do I
High with lofty ideals the way things ought to be and why
But each is blind to what the other’s world holds inside
Leaving our worlds merely contemplated—never tried

We keep blaming one another
For not going with our flow
But as long as we keep blaming
Our small worlds will never grow

Yet it’s a small mind after all
That’s so big to think its above us all
It’s a small mind that loves to sprawl
And to talk the walk but lives to crawl

We can’t hear what’s in our room
With our ear against the wall
We won’t see our own home’s doom
While we’re watching another one’s fall

There’s a small world only you conceive still I believe
We could be elsewhere if some of us were apt to leave
Residential comfort zones where life is easy though so bleak
And to the source present our gift of words—and speak!

We keep thinking to ourselves
What we’re thinking they should know
But as long as we keep thinking
Our small minds will never grow

Yet it’s a small mind after all
That’s so big to think its above us all
It’s a small mind that loves to sprawl
And to talk the walk but lives to crawl

We can’t hear what’s in our room
With our ear against the wall
We won’t see our own home’s doom
While we’re watching another one’s fall
© 2004 J. “Xakk” Marshall (April 17, 2004, at 3:45 PM)

A Shortcut to Wisdom the Fool’s Road
A Notion for Truth is a Mule’s Load
The Quest for Knowledge a Slippery Slope
Road to Understanding a Glimmer of Hope
The Path to Success May Lead One Off Track
But A Pilgrim’s Recess is There and Back

Aspired for higher and acquired the flyers for souls to inspire
Heart set afire fled from those who conspire to make God a liar
No need to inquire but desire for hire I preached to the choir
Adding fuel to the ire just to mire on the wire above ice and fire 

Spreading the fear of penalties severe and a judgment so near
Staunchly sincere still cold, cavalier—sneered what others held dear
An unyielding ear, vision so clear, would all interfere with reality here
Sought out of fear what appeared as revered, couldn’t adhere–persevere

Yet it’s the climate not the storm
The rule an exception not the norm
Neither to regress nor to reform
Neither to rebel nor to conform
Neither hot nor cold—nor  warm
But a spirit that can be transformed

And the Path of Life a special Course
That goes with the flow of a different Force
From wind through river of unequalled Source
Down mounts of regrets to a Land of No Remorse

So a need to succeed, or recede, stemming from a growing need
And sowed a seed from Apostle’s Creed to apostate’s greed
Followed the lead, a deed to heed, growing weeds from cede
And choked on feed but bit my tongue until I felt it bleed

Need for speed and to exceed led to mislead my mind’s eye
With Body numb, Mind gone dumb, and Spirit ready to fly
From dreams to schemes and to extremes, the journey gone awry
Zealous youth to jealous sleuth, the fountain of truth gone dry

Yet it’s the climate not the storm
The rule an exception not the norm
Neither to regress nor to reform
Neither to rebel nor to conform
Neither hot nor cold—nor  warm
But a spirit that can be transformed

And the Path of Life a special Course
That goes with the flow of a different Force
From wind through river of unequalled Source
Down mounts of regrets to a Land of No Remorse

Sought above beneath and all points in between
Up and down and out, seen in and out of every scene
Saw left and right through blacks and whites of red and green
Nearly blew it all on know-it-all books and maggot fiends

© 2004 [April 12, 2004 @ 6:35 am] by J.  “Xakk” Marshall

[VERSE I]
Be not a slave to freedom
Just do what you need to do
Seek not only for pleasure or
Pleasure may never find you

Take some peace of advice
That surpasses all human kind
Better the quest for wholeness
Than be left with piece of mind

[REFRAIN]
Others sowing our brains scatter
Daniel watching our dreams shatter
Or fall from grace down Jacob’s ladder
To wrestle with awe - does this all matter
    now-
We found nothing new under the sun
    long strange trip-
    talking asses-
It wasn’t always fun
Still through it all thy God is one
Still in awe - thy God has won

[VERSE II]
Be not slave to your passion
And play not the role of the lie
Eat of the bread and whine
For a peace of humble pie

Let go the trick of the ego
And starve your actor within
Be one with God as won in awe
And rise above all your sin

[REFRAIN]

[BRIDGE]
How long must we wait on a prophecy?
Why does it take so much time - why try?
What do we seek – what is truth?
When the inner and outer see eye to eye-
Where you can get to know you…
       and I will get to know me-
       and I will get to know you-
       and you will get to know me-
       and you will get to know you-
       and I will get to know me-
       and I will get to know you-
       and you will get to know me-
       and you will get to know you!

[REFRAIN]

(c) 2003, J. “Xakk” Marshall [March 24, 2003 @ 10:45 PM]

Subtle mind control sell-by-sell
One-by-one twice the child of Hell
Procrustean-bred leaders impel
Psyches out of mind and under spell

Like invisible strings and other things
That make you dance while your master sings
A song for sordid gain-
Pulling on your brain-
And cause and cure and claim to feel your pain
Bad shepherds! Evil kings! Mental Reign!

Not all mind control, easy cell
Weekend mind game of show and tell
Manipulate, indoctrinate, compel
Down for the count of the wishing well

Like invisible strings and other things
That make you dance while your master sings
A song for sordid gain-
Pulling on your brain-
To cause and cure and claim to feel your pain
Bad shepherds! Evil kings! Mental Reign!

Twenty-two over seven
Descending from Heaven
A pie-in-the-sky down on earth
Easy-dream welfare
Cults turn to nightmare 
Bankrupting members’ self-worth

Like invisible strings and other things
That make you dance while your master sings
A song for sordid gain-
Pulling on your brain-
To cause and cure and claim to feel your pain
Bad shepherds! Evil kings! Mental Reign!

Members, the day his kingdom fell
Minding controls, bid his farewell…

©2002, J. “Xakk” Marshall [September 11, 2002 @ 5:00 AM]

Sold himself to the digital kingdom
Attention deficit to be paid in full
Trapped within a bondage of plastic
For the interest of his imperial rule

He’s a Slave Driver
    a driver that’s enslaved…

Enslaved to the system everywhere he goes
Everywhere he turns somebody knows
Every time he thinks somewhere it shows
Everything he does somehow
    the information flows…

He sold out to the material world
So all things that surround him, matter
Just a pawn, or a puppet ruled by its wire
Digital footprints walk on him like the latter

He’s a Slave Driver
     a driver that’s enslaved…

Enslaved to the system everywhere he goes
Everywhere he turns somebody knows
Every time he thinks somewhere it shows
Everything he does somehow
    the information flows…

He sold his soul for one he could program
Exchanged his skin for a travel I.D.
He did what he’d hate, if it weren’t his choice
Too blind to realize he’ll never be free

He’s a Slave Driver
     a driver that’s enslaved…

Enslaved to the system everywhere he goes
Everywhere he turns somebody knows
Every time he thinks somewhere it shows
Everything he does somehow
    the information flows…

He’s a Slave Driver…

© 2002, J. “Xakk” Marshall

Perceiving passersby in strange fur
Hearing words of science and fiction
Touched on things it hoped would occur
Left its senses,  makes a prediction

To share with all the others-
How great someday they would be-
Like their strange-furred brothers-
And swinging from a tree…

Now behold the Sober Monkey
Nothing’s like it thought it would be
Looked at us with dreams of higher
Conceived its seed human destiny
Now behold the Sober Monkey
Nothing’s like it thought it should be
Pride no more, set its dreams on fire
Never to be human ancestry

A new creation of evolution
Breaking walls of science and nature
A race that’s one needing no absolution
Visions flood like deluges of grandeur

Deceiving all of the others-
While deluding its own mind-
But if they had their druthers-
Would be one with humankind…

Now behold the Sober Monkey
Nothing’s like it thought it would be
Looked at us with dreams of higher
Conceived its seed human destiny
Now behold the Sober Monkey
Nothing’s like it thought it should be
Pride no more, set its dreams on fire
Never to be human ancestry

© September 4, 2002 @ 1:00 AM by J. “Xakk” Marshall

Another loss, the others gain
This story had a different start
Of one who changed mankind in feign
A child with faith like a child
Seeking new beginnings
From worlds with different ends
And still believed in winning
After the scores were compiled

Then he faced the world
With no one by his side
Took a backseat to the drivers
And went along for the ride
He thought, It’s too tough to be in this alone
I give up—just Leave Me A Clone

Injustice, inhumanity
Used to motivate his cause
But was just the reality
He couldn’t do anything about
The movers wouldn’t shake
So he had to deal with himself
As just another mistake
That the world could do without

Then he faced the world
With no one by his side
Took a backseat to the drivers
And went along for the ride
He thought, It’s too tough to be in this alone
I give up—just Leave Me A Clone

Once upon a time he thrived
On all he had to offer life
Yet came a day his mind deprived
When he had to think and act as thus
Hence, he became a clone
The world will not miss him
Though he didn’t go alone
It happened to all of us

When we faced the world
With no one by our side
We sat behind the drivers
And went along for the ride
We said, It’s too tough to be in this alone
We give up—just Leave Us A Clone

© 2002, J. “Xakk” Marshall

Yesterday is what we know
We don’t think of tomorrow
We have a place where we can go
To dwell in our sorrow

Of times we cannot change
And years we’ve yet to waste
On the failures we arrange
The dreams we have misplaced

On Writer’s Block
They’re living history
And stole from life its mystery
On Writer’s Block
They’re victims all the same
That know just how to shift the blame-
From Writer’s Block to you…

We all once had one do us wrong
And bring us where we stand today
Lining Memory Lane many miles long
That leads to Writer’s Block they say

Where we await the expiation
From those that have since gone away
Who can’t deny our accusations
Because they won’t be here to say-

On Writer’s Block
They’ll chase a fantasy
Feed from another’s misery
On Writer’s Block
Their goals are all the same
To find someone else to blame
Far from Writer’s Block to here…

No comfort in this place we dwell
We’ve all been dealt a losing hand
To drown in tear-filled wishing wells
From eyes of lives not gone as planned

Trapped in this sea of negativity
Riding out these waves of strife
Holding futures in captivity
Just another day of the life-

On Writer’s Block
They’re living history
And stole from life its mystery
On Writer’s Block
They’re victims all the same
That know just how to shift the blame-
From Writer’s Block to you…

[Interlude]

On Writer’s Block
They’ll chase a fantasy
Feed from another’s misery
On Writer’s Block
Their goals are all the same
To find someone else to blame
Far from Writer’s Block to here…

© 2002, J. “Xakk” Marshall [April 19, 2002 @ 3:00 AM]

Once I would conform, to what surrounded me
Tried to be the social chameleon
Victim of mob mentality
Asking the right questions, advice was always free
Just another one to carry on
The norms of society

Only viewed the world, through eyes that couldn’t see
What was being stolen all along
Individuality
Though my heart would bleed, my mind did not agree
Had to end what I knew was wrong
And break the monotony

Then out from my shell
Of what I knew so well
My day of conformity done…
Not entertained
By societal gains
The World Is My Fun!
The World Is My Fun!

All for comedy
Earth is on stage for me
With an audience of just one…
Just a catalyst
I hide in the midst
The World Is My Fun!
The World Is My Fun!

I tried to transform, all that surrounded me
Yearned to be the deliverer
Bearing gifts of reality
Questioned all their answers, and what was meant to be
In exchange for anger
Just victims of society!

They only view the world, through eyes that never see
And minds that never ponder
Individuality
See their bleeding hearts, fed by their misery
I’m glad I am no longer
Part of that mentality

Then out from my shell
Of what I knew so well
My day of conformity done…
Not entertained
By society’s games
The World Is My Fun!
The World Is My Fun!

All for comedy
Earth is on stage for me
With an audience of just one…
Just a catalyst
I hide in the midst
The World Is My Fun!
The World Is My Fun!

Copyright © 1998 [July 15 @ 5:30 AM] by J. “Xakk” Marshall

The bell rings, class begins
To play the game that no one wins
Evil kings, with pleasant grins
Mold the future from their sins…

The goal to make the world their twin
Corrupt another’s mind
In the end only to find
All of one kind       

Believed in all that you were told
To society your soul was sold
The powers that be, they took their hold
And watched them all fit you into their mold
And watched them all fit you in–

Conflicting views, of wrong and right
The values one did not invite
What to choose, of whom to plight
Easier to lose than fight…

When the future seemed so bright
The message that they send
Still they will pretend
Until the end
 
Believed in all that you were told
To society your soul was sold
The powers that be, they took their hold
And watched them all fit you into their mold
And watched them all fit you in–

Puppets on their strings retrieving
Lies their masters are conceiving
Living out their lives deceiving
All that join in their believing…of

A system accommodating
Those that are participating
Minds and lives its dominating
To the end abominating…love