I

Left the Underground unscathed, excursions out

In New Navajo, iced bitter brew numbs tongue,

Tactics of survival and momentum hidden

Behind neon signs, Titanic and great

Goliath, shrinking city passage, drooling

Drunks and sinking strips, bumbling boozed fanatics

Speak as I-compressed chest drown in mega-

Metropolis, clubs carry dazing, striking

Sonics, stupor stupefy, another

Icy vodka, gin and perhaps rum, sun

Soon splashes heaps of daylight, back to work

9 to infinity- exodus of

Single entity; back to passive days

Waves of denizens flow past me, hats and suits,

Charged flavored smokes, cherry breathes pollinate

Silver tonic skies, lies broadcasting above.

Certain tonight's my curtain call, sure she'll

Sway nebulous rose bud spiral, helix

Acids pass her midnight lures: soon I follow.

Ghosted along cyber heated nights, swirls

Call and raging emerald tendrils pass

Her starry countenance, blooming dust born

Beasts exhale from her galactic breath, ice

Wisps bury our light year love:

I will return.

II

Chest ignited by tequila shot’s burden

Same bars with timeless friends, syrupy songs–

Cough plasma, confiscate plastic lean cups

Smuggle tonight's lie, bass takes my racing

Thoughts place– another shift, more time to kick,

Click on her monetized eyes, blue laced love

Afar, awkward and mediocre– sober

Me scrolls back down yellow brick road– vomit quick.

Plasma fills my lungs; particles buzz, rings

Disperse, sure to assassinate hollow hours, drops

Pitter patter in Pantanal expanse

My four walls and khaki door a wormhole;

My thick skull atoms and quarks; boiling honey

Suffocating soaring attitudes; wake

Up to corruption and cannibalistic

Cartels- oh well- let days end.. let days shatter…

GLASS covets my likeness; snaps of food, streets, and

Chunks of draining grey matter splattered

Across porcelain; morsels for unseen,

Wicked dwellers, needle peddlers, digital-

Freaks! split melting psyche, nightly treks for

Sanity sipped, killers slip, heat shines lead

Spilled; she tames golden links, July sun harps,

Gargoyles and.45s; goldeneye dame lurks…

Terrance oscillates stripped city soundscape,

Oft I look below- obnoxious blots smear

Fear of loneliness and isolation.

Distant voices fade as they surpass, last

Call, whiskey drops like asteroids engulfed

By Jupiter’s hazy ash tapestry;

Her words magnetic, voltaic aurorae;

Coarse sands splash, polluted walkways enclosed.

III

Balancing waves of moon-lifted liquors

Singing in the rain on street curbs, sweet words

Swaying neon injected cortexes.

Back to polar nexus, pass old-heads and

Lost gen; schizoid schism scathe bloodlines infused

With toxins and microchips; spitting plastics

Ingested, neural arches propelling

Liquid sugars; sons and daughters pacing

Searching for identity in dreary

Basement tropics; red, blue, friends old and new

Change topics; Satan spake ten figures, honest

Fools surpass drooling maggots of debt

Bathe in pools of false checks and degrading

Desert wars, youth stutter in neon chambers;

5.56mm pouring

On tile floors and ricocheting against

Dry erase boards; madmen flicker, gas dispels

Asylum hallways, teach them your twisted

Fantasies, Mysterio mathematics

Caged and drugged, distant love oscillates, faith

Dwindles to pools of melted wax; rose petals

Slit innocence’s ruins, ills of today,

Cyclic Death; Notes From The Underground called

Cowboys slinging withered Kalashnikovs.

The rain was silent

amidst april’s misty lashes

wisps plummeting

fearless.

.

.

.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References:

1. "ice bitter brew"- I enjoy cold brew coffee- specifically Americanos.

2. "Behind neon signs"- 2. Anytime I'd go out at night off base near the strip there were always people drunk out of their mind, and continuously going in and out of bars.

3. "9 to infinity- exodus of/Single entity; back to passive days"-  Party go to work, party go to work, etc...

If not partying then repeating a cycle of waking up, going to work and repeating the cycle all over again.

Pretty much days passing you by.

4. "Sway nebulous rose bud spiral, helix/ Acids pass her midnight lures"- There was an image from NASA of spiral galaxies that set off this description: Link to images- https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-webb-space-telescope-peers-behind-bars.

5. "Click on her monetized eyes, blue laced love" - Onlyfans culture has taken hold of a lot of men's lives. An addiction to pornographic material, all in the hopes of creating a deeply intimate parasocial romance.

6. "Pantanal"- 4. The world's largest tropical wetland area. Cities are jungles with a never-ending anxiety producing landscape.

In other words, just a quick metaphor.

7. "Up to corruption and cannibalistic/ Cartels"- 5. I came across a video breaking down the recruiting process of different Cartels in Mexico, and saw one that required its new members to eat people.

8. "GLASS"- GLASS is primarily another word for our smartphones, it is a direct reflection of us, it spits our image in whatever way we want it to.

This is also a simple Biblical reference of being "Made in the image of God".

9. "Chunks of draining grey matter splattered"- I've seen clips of people holding loaded weapons posing for their stories and streams, and killing themselves as a result of this.

In one clip you could see a teenage girl screaming and crying in the bathroom they were just dancing happily next to their now dead friend.

It is truly horrifying what you can find online.

10. "unseen"- I have always been fascinated by individuals in history who have chosen to stray from the popular ideas of their times, and create their own unique culture and beliefs; even though some of their beliefs may be strange at times.

Overtime I have also become interested in the stories of the homeless we pass on a regular basis, artists who've failed to make the cut, little bits of culture and art that has silently impacted each of us without us knowing the exact source.

The stories are not all true, but a hidden idea growing below us, in the underground is unbelievably interesting to me.

11. "golden links"- A quick allusion to Built 4 Cuban Linx by Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, produced by RZA, all members of the Wu-Tung Clan.

The album is made from the perspective of a Scarface, Godfather, Druglord Mafiaso, and adds to the theme of corrupted cities.

12. "Gargoyles and .45s"-  A reference to the line in the first Doom: " gargoyle/Eyes scrutinize"; "my life's blood gone cold/Winds roar, snub nose melts sleet".

13. "By Jupiter’s hazy ash tapestry; /Her words magnetic, voltaic aurorae"- Another description inspired by NASAs page on Jupiter.

14. "Coarse sands splash"- Pollution flowing through the streets.

15. "Singing in the rain on street"-  A dark twist on the happy and uplifting Singing in the Rain film from the 1950s classic of the same title.

16.  "old-heads and/ Lost gen; schizoid schism"- I've noticed a major part of our modern age in the United States is the clash between the Older Generation and Newer Generation.

While this is not new by any means, it is far more apparent given the divide created by constantly evolving technologies and a rapid loosening of beliefs.

17. "Searching for identity in dreary"- Without in the last ten years or so a challenge to all sorts of identities has been made, the most apparent is our gender identities.

This comes in combination with a generation also struggling to maintain a decent work-life, due to the economic disasters that have brutally punished the up and coming youth. Creating adults living with their parents or planning to do so and being uncertain about their future.

18. "Mysterio"- A reference to Mysterio a marvel villain who is capable of distorting reality through illusions.

There is a continual distortion of reality that has been occurring in American society that has made its way to the people who will eventually lead this country: children; and we have shoved our problems and issues into their minds.

To me that is one of the most disgusting thing one can do. While there are complexities that all should eventually discover it should not come at the cost of the newest generations innocence. These issues can be talked about but it should be done so at a time where they can come to understand this issue at the abstract level they are being presented.

19. "mathematics"- A reference to Mos Def's Mathematics, a politically charged rap song on rap labels, the war on terror and many other issues of the early 2000s.

20. "Notes From The Underground" -  A book by Fyodor Dostoevsky about a bitter and utopian minded man angry at the world. He does little to hold himself accountable for his actions and blames others for his misfortune.

21. "Cowboys slinging withered Kalashnikovs."- The author of Notes From The Underground is Russian, AKs are Russian guns- simple enough.

Hello, Writers and Dear Readers.

Today, we feature one of our resident legends, thanks to a request by another one of our long-time writers. They know who they are, and so will you when you click the link below. The title of the video slightly gives it away, but just slightly...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzS14lqNo7U&t=7s

And.

As always.

Thank you for being here.

-The Prose. team

running for hours

is the car far behind?

noises in the woods

racing in my mind

he can't get me again

i enter the hotel

does he know that i'm here

is that his car? i can't tell

panting, ans sweating

the cleark asks if im okay

i describe what happened

his height and his face

i go to my room

empty and silent

except the sound of a fan

i get in she shower

and wash off the blood as best as i can

a sound from the closet

run out the door without any clothes

his tall dark figure

pulls me in, the door creaks to a close

i sceam bloody murder

this town wasn't safe

the last thing a saw

was a smile on his face

[i tried, the town idea was hard haha]

How long does it take a drop of rain to find the sea?

How long does it take to discover

true love?

How many seasons must come and go

before the soul finds his mate?

One thousand?

Two thousand?

Three thousand years?

How long does one wait?

The Soul is blind to skin color

Blind to Ethnicity and blind to creed.

If it takes more than a lifetime,

another Three thousand lifetimes,

it will always be worth it.

Three Thousand Years of Longing…

Sometimes

I go to write

and there’s a fire

in my brain

i can write

and burn to death

or extinguish the fire

and mourn the unwritten

Breathe today

H.O.P.E

Deep in my Soul

3 a.m.

I Need

A Cure

Right this Second

Dissolving Time

This is Not

Fully Alive

Bleed

Choke

Silence

This is what it feels like

Losing you

Bring on the night

As I Sleep

Away

The Light.

chocolate silk

draped over

inky cream

delicate seashell

pressed to rib

long form

read slowly

warm scent

inhaled deeply

drowsy heaven

now found

In the hands of abuse,

chained to a lifetime of suffering.

For you to feel power & a temporary ego boost.

Imprisoned in what is now my private fucking hell—

each brick you used, my pain produced.

The horrid things that you did, left me forever changed & bruised.

There’s no breaking away when my mind is a prison, no matter how many screws I loose.

Fallen to the ground, begging the devil, god—

I don’t care who, praying & crying for karma to hand you a personal noose.

Flashbacks of your actions that I drown in—

of the physical, sexual, emotional, & mental abuse.

I would sell my damn soul just to have this torture taken from me & given to you.