Penny Fadeaway

 I feel myself 

Fading away

I don’t know who this guy is

But I fear he’s here to stay

It’s Not evolution

It’s Not adaptation

Just a reminder that 

Nothing gold ever stays

I don’t know why

I don’t know how

But I pray 

My family keeps me around somehow

I

Really

I’m not concerned

Necessarily

Because

People channge

But I just feel myself

Fading away

Like dust

I don’t know 

Or better yet

Like sand

In someone’s hand

And before you know

It’s gone

I don’t know 

What’s gonna be left of me

When all is said and done

I just

I feel like

As I gaze into the mirror

I wonder about the man looking back

Who could that be

How could that be 

I look at myself

Like I’m just a distant memory

Not really there

Shifting

Shrinking 

Graying

Doing all

But ever staying

I see myself fading away

But I’m still there!

I’m present…am I?

I don’t know

It’s unsettling 

Am I an outsider

Am I lonely?

I’m not alone

But I don’t know 

Exactly what’s happening

Anymore

I look at the world

None of it makes sense

People look crazy to me

And I to them no doubt.

I’m not engaged to social media

And from sports and AI, I indeed stray away.

I wonder if 

me quitting drinking 

Is contributing 

to this sensation

Is this clarity?

Revealing the masquerade

Of a wayward society?

Am I fading away?

Perhaps, but perhaps not.

I can’t quite tell you

Of what’s to come

Or What will be left

When all is said and done.

The Stranger

 Random dude, never seen him in my life, came up to me and said, "Man, you need a day off."

I responded, "Don't we all?"

He looked at me, took his shades off, obviously for dramatic effect, peered right into my eyes and said, "Nah man, YOU need a day off.  Fuck it."

Kid you not, I almost dropped this route then and there.  But then I thought about it and couldn't justify that the stranger who smelt a little like yesterday's coffee, last night's beer, and today's piss was making a whole lot of sense.  

Who was this stranger, and as I write, I wonder, is the stranger really me from another reality?

Winning?

 All of the assholes are winning.

Selling their soul and whining

But nevertheless they’re winning

It makes me wonder 

If I’ve been the asshole all along

This doesn’t feel like reality

Am I teaching my children lies?

Am I deceiving them about how to succeed?

Is it a fallacy to teach them integrity?

I don’t understand.

All of the food is ultra-processed and killing us

With pumped up hormones and the disguise of convenience

Organic food is marked up in price and they keep us on our cages of sugars, chemicals, and fats.

Like they’re the wicked witch in the forest and they’re trying to bake us in pies

What are we doing?

What are WE doing?

I truly don’t know if there will ever be an answer to the madness that is every day.

New and Improved Autonomy!

 The robots are coming. We’re all gonna die. LazarBeams will blast

from their beady red eyes.

This is the end. 

Mark my words. 

The end of humanity 

and all of the birds. 

Corporations will win. 

Humans will lose. 

AI is here to stay. 

They will no longer pay.

“We are here. 

So run for your lives.

We’ll burn the men

And take all the wives.”

Yeah

 The endurance of a mailman is legendary, pain and discomfort are customary, but when a goal is firmly implanted in the mind, only positive results are what you’ll find.  We’ve got something good going, and I plan on seeing it through.