WHY CAN'T THE PIECES FIT?

LIFE IS LIKE TETRIS

by matt burns

In the early levels of life

It’s easy to keep things harmonious

The pieces fit

But then it gets tougher

And in the very end

You start losing control

The pieces stop 

fitting 

n

I

C

E

L

y

And they pile atop each other

Faster

And 

Fas

T

E

r

That’s where I am now

I’m drinking a lot more

Financially, it’s a rollercoaster ride

Each day is so hard to get through

No light at the end of the tunnel

Nothing to look forward to

You try to keep control

But things are unraveling just so fast

A couple pieces fit

But for every two that fit, there are three or four that don’t

I can no longer keep control of my game

I just let the pieces fall

They pile 

on top 

of 

each other 

in 

NO 

organized 

fash

I

on

And

Then

A dusty explosion

It’s

Game

O

VE

R

CHEMICAL HAPPINESS

CHEMICAL HAPPINESS

by matt burns

When I started drinking coffee

I did it because there was no more real energy

I had exhausted all natural energy

So I had no choice

But to find a source

Of
Chemical

Energy

Now it’s the same with happiness

At age 32

I’ve exhausted all real happiness

So I’ve had no choice

But to start drinking copious amounts of alcohol

Lots and lots

Of ALCOHOL

Because when real happiness has run dry

Like a dry town named HAPPY during prohibition era

And that metaphor may make no sense

You have no choice

But to find chemical energy

Because without real happiness

You need something synthetic

To keep you ALIVE

Of course, a good argument could be made…

That chemical happiness

Is fake happiness

And it’s a fake happiness that transports you

Into a

Fake

Reality…

That may be true

But I’ll take that fake reality

Because I’m not ready for total despair

Or death

I’m not ready for

Despair

Or death

So I’ll take chemical happiness

I’ll live off the chemical happiness

It’s good enough for me

RIP Oderus Urungus!

I wrote this poem about a month or two ago and GWAR frontman Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus) died a couple days ago. I thought I would post the poem in memory of him. It's silly and short, but it's something...

LISTENING TO GWAR

by matt burns

I remember listening to GWAR in college

I was blasting them loud

In my disc man

I walked into the lecture hall

And a girl heard it

She asked

“Are you listening to GWAR?”

I told her yes

I thought I had a friend

I thought I finally did fit in somewhere

But then the next time I had class there

She didn’t say anything

And that was that

She never talked to me again

NEW POEM INSPIRED BY PHARRELL WILLIAMS!

A thousand thanks to Pharrell Williams for inspiring this poem!

DON’T BE HAPPY

by matt burns

The song on the radio

By that guy

Pharrell Williams

Says I’m happy

Over

And over again

It’s positive psychology

Keep telling yourself you’re happy

And you’ll be happy

If there’s bad stuff going on in the news…

Be happy

If your job sucks

Be happy

If you’re struggling to make ends meet

Be happy

If your government is corrupt

Be happy

Don’t be dissatisfied

Dissatisfaction is negativity

And nobody likes a Negative Nancy

Be complacent

Be satisfied

Be happy

But here’s what I want to tell you…

Happiness is satisfaction

And satisfaction is death

While dissatisfaction

Is life

Don’t be happy

Be dissatisfied

Live 

Change

Make a difference

Don’t be complacent

With

The 

Bullshit

Don’t be pacified

Like 

A

Zombie

Who’s just grinning non-stop

Happy 

And out of the way

Also

Pharrell Williams

Is

A

Whore

Giving people what they want

But not what they need

Like spoon-feeding sugar

To a child

Who 

Needs

Medicine

BY THE OCEAN SHORE and SELF-FULFILLED PROPHECY

BY THE OCEAN SHORE

by matt burns

I’m standing barefoot by the shore

The sound of the waves crashing

The ocean breathing in and out

The earth’s lungs inhaling and exhaling

I’m no longer at war with judgment

The judgment from the outside world

From friends

From parents

From family

From the news personalities

And the celebrity personalities

And the TV Doctors

And the talk-show hosts

And the politicians

And the priests

I no longer have to constantly be on guard

And ready to shield myself from the great, sharp swords

Those swords that the aforementioned outside sources

Wield 

And swing my way
And try to pierce my soul with

The fight is long

The fight is hard

The fight is constant

And the fight is oh so tiring

On the ocean shore

With the war against judgment over

And there’s no more pain

From the battle wounds

And I’m no longer so tired

From the fight…

That’s what heaven will be like for me

I close my eyes

And I go to that happy place

And it keeps me going for another day

SELF-FULFILLED PROPHECY

by matt burns

The wife was so worried that something terrible would happen to him

She didn’t know what she’d ever do without him

She constantly feared a day that she would be without her husband

She was constantly worried about him

Even while he was out running simple errands

In the car

Or even by foot

Saturday afternoon was one of those days

He took a little longer getting home from the grocery store

Fear was getting the better of her while she was doing laundry

She decided to text him

Five minutes from home

Her husband heard his smartphone beep

He checked the text

He took his eyes off the road

He veered into the oncoming lane

He crashed head-on with another car

Both drivers died

Her biggest fear

Self-fulfilled

There is a beast that creeps around corners

And lurks in the shadows of your mind

And this beast wrests you from trust and faith

And when you abandon trust and faith

Bad things happen

And you can become the instrument from which those

Bad

Things

Happen

That beast is known as fear

GETTING KICKS ON ROUTE 66 AND KILLING TIME

DRIFTING ON ROUTE 66

by matt burns

I’ve spent my life on Route 66

My family rode up and down it every summer

And then I grew up and wrote my first book about it

And then I wrote three more books

Then I hosted a TV documentary about it

And, after that, a five-disc DVD box set

I lived and breathed Route 66

Route 66…

It’s always been a road about getting somewhere

And I think that’s why I’ve always been drawn to it

I’ve always wanted to get somewhere

Better than here

But I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten there

Every time I go from Chicago to LA

I think I’m going to find it

But then I don’t so I try again

And again

I’ve been drifting up and down 66 my whole life

Chasing some evasive carrot

Like Arthur’s quest for the Holy Grail

But I still haven’t gotten the carrot

And I’m not sure I ever will

And I’m not sure I even know what it is

It’s just something to chase

Something to keep me going

And giving me an excuse to live

Even when I die

My ghost will probably still wander 66

Looking for that abstraction

The carrot

And I won’t be alone

There will be other ghosts

Just as there are right now

The ghosts of millions of Americans

KILLING TIME

by matt burns

I had a dream last night that I got a new job

I was sitting at a desk next to my boss

And we were doing something with computers

And there wasn’t really enough to do

So I remember doing needless things

Like cleaning every speck of dust off my desk

And between the computer keys

Taking needless bathroom trips

Filling up my cup at the water bubbler

So I’d have to pee more

And then kill more time going to the bathroom

I’m not sure why I had the dream

But I think it was born out of a trauma

And when I say trauma I don’t mean anything too bad

But I mean a negative feeling

A fear

Because I’ve had one too many jobs

Where I have had to kill time

And for a lot of people this is fine

They’re getting paid to kill time, no work is a good thing

But for me it’s a big fear

Killing time is killing minutes of my life

My precious life force

And my potential human energy

And potential human productivity

Because I know if I was out of the office, on my own

I wouldn’t be forced to kill the time

For the sake of riding out my shift

And collecting my paycheck

I’d be making use of my time

Even if it’s playing video games

Hiking in the forest

Staring into space in the shower thinking

At least there’s no killing involved

My biggest fear

Is having to kill time

Because killing time

Is killing my human spirit

Is killing my life

Is killing my soul

TWO POEMS BORN OUT OF THE WITCHING HOUR

Here are two poems inspired by how I felt one late night around 3:30 in the morning...

WISH I COULD PAUSE AT 3:33

by matt burns

I have a really good buzz

Going

And I wish time could stop

At 3:33

Because I feel so good

And I just want time to stop here

So I can just chill

With this buzz

Watch some TV

Chill

Ride it

And not let morning come

Not let reality come

Not let the no job come

Not let the bills come

Not let the no money come

Not let my stomach get hungry again

And growl

Not let my thirst need quenching

Or my body need maintaining

Or my teeth need cleaning

I wish time could just stop here

I want to stay here on this couch

In the dark

With the nice buzz going

And the TV flickering

Beverly Hillbillies is on

It’s an Oldies station, late night TV

They don’t expect high ratings at this time a night

So they put on the calmer, old stuff

No Reality TV in your face

No negative world news being barked

Just stuff that keeps you calm

The more time that goes by

The more money you need

And the more depressed you get

And the more alcohol you drink

And the more your body withers

So I wish I could just stay here

In this moment

Nice buzz

Beverly Hillbillies

Forever

COULD JUST BE PLAYING THE PART

by matt burns

I’m sitting here on the couch

It’s really late at night

I feel a dark cloud over me

A dark depression weighing me down

I just want to cash in now, honey

I just want to throw in the towel

O misery!

I’m full of despair

But I’m not really sure whether I’m just being dramatic

I might just be playing the part

The part of the man who’s at the end of his rope

Instead of actually being at the end of my rope

I’ve seen this despaired character in movies

And TV

Plays

Read the part in books

So I’m not sure how real the depression is

I have surrounded myself with so many characters

From all the various forms of media

So I’m not sure how much of what I feel is real emotion

Or how much of what I feel is canned emotion

From some character 

I’ve seen

All too often I find myself playing a part

As opposed to just being me

But is there such thing as just BEING?

Maybe our brain is forced to gravitate to some character

A character that exists in our bag of Jungian archetypes

We feel unsafe lingering in chaos

Just 'being' is chaos

And we run to the character mold that fits our emotional state best

Because that’s the only way we can process what we’re feeling

Otherwise we panic in the chaos of existence

Emotion is chaos

Feeling is chaos

But what is canned emotion?

Order?

Yes

But also unreality

And living in unreality

Is 

A

Form

Of

D

E

A

T

H

THREE POEMS INSPIRED BY THE 2014 ACADEMY AWARDS

Here are three poems that kind of popped into my head while I was watching this year's (2014) Oscar ceremony. Read them and enjoy them or hate them, whichever you prefer.

WE ARE ALL ‘THE ONE’

by matt burns

I enjoy watching the Hollywood movies

The movies have characters

These characters are often underdogs

Christ-like figures

Established to be destined for great things

Sometimes they’re even called “The One”

Like Neo from The Matrix

Or Jake from Avatar

Luke Skywalker

John Connor

Bilbo Baggins

Simba

Leonidas

Danielson

Harry Potter

Batman

Ironman

Spiderman…

These characters are special

And I feel these movies are speaking to me, the viewer

They’re making me feel like I’m special

Like I’m destined for great things

Sometimes I even feel like I’m ‘The One’

And the rest of the people in the world

Are just supporting characters

But then I realize these movies are made for the masses

And there are millions of other viewers out there

Having the same one-on-one personal experience

They’re all sitting

Watching the movie

And feeling like they’re being spoken to

And they’re thinking the same thing I am

That they’re special

That they’re “The One”

Hollywood makes us all feel like we’re special

That there is me

And then there are the supporting characters

And me is more important than others

And the world revolves around me

In short

Hollywood has created a society of narcissists

Hollywood has blinded us from our interconnectedness

That we’re all of equal importance

That all our actions combined collectively create importance

That no one of us is “The One”

But, rather, we are all THE ONE

FIND ANOTHER SANDMAN

by matt burns

Hello my name is Hollywood

Watch my movies

Come to me, baby!

I am your Sandman

I will keep reassuring you

That your dream will come true

And even if it doesn’t by the time you die

At least you’ve watched my movies

And have given me a TON of business

Chao, sucker

All right, I’ll level with you

I’ll let you in on a little secret

But you didn’t hear it here

And this is the only time I will speak the truth to you...

Sure dreams come true, ya stupid schmuck!

REAL, healthy dreams come true

But my dreams are pipe dreams

And, yeah, those sometimes come true

But only a select few get those

Yeah, the Best Actress got hers

And Best Actor

Director

Sound Design guy

Short animated film dude

Costume design lady

But for what?

Being involved with a mediocre movie

With watered-down ideas

And watered-down intelligence?

That’s not a dream

It’s a pipe dream

Word of advice, babe

Find another Sandman

Find another dream!

There

The secret is out

Now if you keep on comin’ back to me

After I divulged all that Intel

Which you most likely will

Because you prefer the unreality

To the reality

Then you deserve to be ripped off

And that’s what I get off on, anyway

Giving you the truth, straight up

And seeing you ignore it

And just keep on coming back to me

Like a pathetic piece of lowest common denominator

I have no respect for you

Can’t say I didn’t warn ya!

Chao!

REMEMBERING THE WIZARD OF OZ

by matt burns

It’s been 75 years since the movie premiered

The Oscars are doing a special memorial

Liza and the other children are in the audience

A singer named Pink is singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

And there are images from the film playing behind her

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

It’s a song about following your dreams

Same with the film

It’s a movie about following your dreams

It’s saying the American dream is out there

Somewhere

Over the rainbow

All you gotta do is believe

What the Academy fails to show

At any point during the memorial

Are pictures of Judy Garland

In the 1960s

The burnt-out Judy Garland

The Garland who died of a barbiturate overdose

At the young age of 47

Some say it was a suicide

Others insist it was an accident

But either way…

It was a tragic demise

And she died young

Maybe they should have shown those pictures

The ones where she’s burnt out

Drugged up

Or at least mentioned that she died young

Self-medicating herself from the pain of true reality

Not the American Dream

But true reality

Maybe they should stop lying to people

And show what’s at the end of the pretty rainbow

Maybe they should reveal the wizard behind the curtain

And show that the wizard is a very dark

Sinister

And fucked

Up

Man

Maybe they should show

The dark side

To this “American Dream”