Constant nagging, nagging

At my brain

Is this me?

Am I insane.

I must, must, must

I must get it now.

But I'm broke

I'll get cash somehow.

Yes! I'm fucked

Right out my skull

I don't care that I'm in a hole.

In here I'll stay

In Numbing pain

When it wears off

Right back at it again.

How can I get it

I must have more.

“But that was the last time”

“You've said that

a million times before”

Just one more hit,

Just one more time.

I've just lost

My best friend of all time.

But you've got me

Until the end

I'll be your inanimate friend

You'll die with me

In your hand

I'll be your deathbed friend.

This has been an extremely divisive year for our country. Whether you are right or left you know what I mean. The Sander's, Trump’s, Clinton's, Stein's, and Johnson's of this great nation have left us exhausted. Running a campaign of rhetoric, and not really offering any answers to the questions that we have as a whole.

We face a slew of problems. From crumbling infrastructure, and entire cities going bankrupt, to falling standards of education because of funding issues on the state level. Undocumented immigration, and lack of jobs that pay well enough to live on, increasing amounts of police brutality, and hate crimes against the alternative sexual communities have undoubtedly made us uneasy about the country we live in. Making us think that what we learned in school might not be correct. That the United States of America maybe not quite as great as we were taught in school. I'm here to tell that it is. However by coming together as a whole we can make it even better.

This election cycle has not made any more sense of these fears that we have. Instead it thrusts our fears into our face, pandering to our deepest primal instincts. Telling us that if you were not born in this country you stole a job from somebody who is, or that owning a gun instantly makes you a murderous raving lunatic. Nothing but fear mongering all around. Then the mudslinging starts, and leaving anything about emails, walls, racism, and misogyny aside there is no structure, no answers from either side.

Oh! The third party candidates are possibilities some might say, but in the current political atmosphere, I think that's about a likely as North Korea successfully nuking New York. First of all in most states Jill Stein won't even be on the ballot, and although more of a possibility Gary Johnson, like Stein, still isn't allowed at the debate's. Which is where most of the population gets their ideas of who the legitimate candidates are. With this serious flaw most of the country won't hear about either of them.

Now, I digress the point I'm trying to make is. Whether you are G.O.P., Democrat, Libertarian, or Green we can vote in a better way than just at the polls. We can put down our memes and actually listen to what each other have to say. Come together and vote with solid action. Show that we the people still care about our neighbors, our minds, and our community. We need to fix our crumbling infrastructure to give the children of our friends and family a better world than we were given to fix.

These solutions are so simple, but hard to put forward fully. Investing in local businesses, instead of going to chain stores. Hiring local tradesmen, and seeing what local artists put out instead of the stuff the whole world knows about is a great start. We can take this a step further with community gardens all over, and arts groups that offer free instruction to anyone willing to pick up a brush or instrument. Coming together to accomplish goals that nobody can write into a law will make the country something beyond great. We would at that point be together, which as a population is something we haven't been since 2003 or 2004.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” Abraham Lincoln

How we stop this division is going to be something of a great undertaking however. I suggest open community forums, where anything pressing to any soul can be discussed. A place where environmentalists and the workers of the fossil fuel industry can talk about a sustainable future together. These places would become someplace where grievances can be voiced and solutions found before they become national issues. Debated and over thought, then solved by the people they affect most all over dinner and some good wine. Making us more than just civilians we would be the huge dysfunctional family we really are.

We all share the same fears failure, loss of loved ones, death and the unknown. If we take greater steps towards understanding we would live in a much less scary world. The solution above would be the most American way towards understanding. Plus you might make a few friends along the way, what do we have to lose.

Why is this the natural state

Greed and chaos of the wraith

A sideways glance

A perfect smile

Why is innocence seen as infantile.

Why do I have to witness this disgrace

No wonder there's a lack of faith

In what we have

And what should be

Wondering if I am me?

Nevermore will I witness hell

At least until the morning bell

Where I will fight

When will I breathe

Lost inside this tragedy

Broken hearts and shattered minds

Praying on those who see the divine

Covering the tracks up so shrewd

Syntax error on the era's mood

To be me on this day

Or to lose myself in May

To lose the dead stem cells

Of myself before birth.

How to carry on upon this earth

Walking softly and talking of peace

Make some feel

Like being choked on a short leash

Like forever in a day

When will the mood change

When it does

In bed I will lay

Bring it close

And bring it swift

No more lying in a ditch

For what we are

And what we can be,

Are always in different branches

Of the tree

If it was me

It would be an Apple tree

More fruit to pick from

The better the start

Bless the child

And carry on

Keep humming that overdrawn

Long, whistled song.

The sands of time

Do not stand bye

No matter how hard you cry

Just keep keeping

To the way of life you feel

The true thing you think is real.