CREATE YOUR OWN PLACE

CREATE YOUR OWN PLACE

by matt burns

Sometimes I get really down

Because I can’t find my place in the world

But then I realize…

Looking for a place is looking for a precedent

I shouldn’t be looking for a precedent

I should be looking for the unprecedented

No, I should be doing the unprecedented

Not looking

Nothing is wrong with me if I can’t find a place

Everything is right with me if I can’t find a place

Don’t look for a place in the world

Create your own place

TWO MELANCHOLY POEMS

REMEMBER THIS MOMENT

by matt burns

Remember this moment

Walking down the lake road

The path is a dirty one

Dusty, too

You walk the dog

Feeling like a zombie

On a different frequency

A very low one

Almost hell

The depression’s pulling you into the dirt

A bunch of devils

And demons

Clinging onto you

Dragging you down

And down

Down

Remember this moment

Write it down

Because if you ever shake this feeling

And if there ever is a time

When you’re happy

And things are going quite well

You’ll want to look back on this

And realize how far you’ve come

And not take it for granted

I’LL LEAVE JUST AS EMPTY

by matt burns

Long day so far

A long week

A long month

Long year

A long life

Lunch time

I’m hungry

In the stomach

And in the soul

I pull over into the nearest parking lot

I dial the local sub shop

I order a chicken parm sub

The girl asks if I want skosted

I say what

She says toasted

I say yes

She says ten minutes

I hang up

I suddenly notice I’m in a church parking lot

I didn’t mean for this

I did it subconsciously

I want to walk in and find sanctuary

I need a place that provides such a thing

A place to retreat

Recharge

And regroup

But I’ve been to the church before

And there are some statues

Some murals

An altar

And some holy water

But nothing much else

I’ll walk in there

I’ll have so much hope

But I’ll be let down

And I’ll leave just as hungry 

As I was when I walked in

I put my car in drive

And I leave the parking lot to get my sub

If I can't fill my soul

At least I can fill my stomach

I wish the church could be my sanctuary

But it isn’t

No matter how bad I want it to be

MUST DEAL WITH THIS PROCESS

MUST DEAL WITH THIS PROCESS

by matt burns

Just like when somebody dies

Somebody close to you

You just can’t snap your fingers

And say, BE GONE NOW, PAIN!

And a switch goes off in your brain

And you all of a sudden

Feel better

No

You must ride this wave

This wave of pain

There is no other way

You can do whatever you can

To make it easier for yourself

But there’s only so much that can be done

Some may find alcohol helpful

I find this may be true

But the next day the crash comes

And the withdrawal

And this makes things worse

So you must be careful

Or you’ll just be pulled down

By even more sludgy depression

Breaking up

With the girl you’ve felt closest to

The person you’ve felt closest to

It’s tough sludge to deal with

It can’t be an overnight thing

It’s a process

An inevitable process

And you must ride this wave

Take the pain!

And just look forward
Take the pain!
And look even more forward

To the wave’s break

And the salty suds

The fizzle

And then the calm
And peace
That you feel on the New Land

If you even get to new land

The hope is that you find new land

Just like Columbus
Or any other immigrant

Leaving behind the old
And looking for something new

ISIS ISIL EEEZEL BEEELZE BUB

“Everyone thinks of changing the world,

but no one thinks of changing himself.”

                                         --Leo Tolstoy

ISIS ISIL EEEZEL BEEELZE BUB

by matt burns

Yesterday it was Al Qaeda

Today it’s Isis

There will always be that threat

That’s out there somewhere

The vague beastie lurking somewhere on the island

Putting fear inside all of us

And somebody will always exploit that fear

The Lord of the flies

And the Lord will use it to rule us

Manipulate us

Control us

Just like those boys on that island

There will always be an external threat

There always has been

Always will be

There will never be NO threat

So what can you do?

Worry all the time?

Or just mind your own business

Focus on yourself

And forget about the world

The Lord of the flies is cunning

He wants us to focus on the world

Pull us out of ourselves

For a perpetual amount of time

Focus on the Russians!

Cold war over, now focus on Al Qaeda!

Al Qaeda’s weakened

Now focus on Isis!

Isil

Eeeeezel

Beeelze

Bub

What will the next beastie on the island be after Isis?

There will inevitably be one

One distraction follows the other

If you watch the news

There seems to be a beastie of the week

To terrorize us

Everybody thinks about changing the world

But the world can’t be fully changed

There will never be total peace out there

Not on our planet

Not within our species

But there can always be total peace inside you

Change you

Don’t change the world

Everything on the outside

Somewhere

Out there

All those beasties

That you hear about

But never really see…

It’s all an illusion

Created by the Lord of the flies

To build up fear

That destroys your insides

And destroys your soul

But if you retreat into yourself

And tune out what’s outside

The fear weakens

And the Lord loses his power

And he withers away

And dies

And then

Maybe

Comes

The world peace

If there is ever a possibility for world peace

It’s going to start on the inside

Not on the outside

TODAY I GOT A POINT

TODAY I GOT A POINT

by matt burns

Today I got a point in the tennis game of life

The witty fairy visited me last night

And sprinkled witty dust

Over my head

And I smacked my lips

And rolled over once or twice

Coated myself with the dust

And continued my great slumber

I woke up the next day

I went to the pharmacy

I went to the liquor store

I went to the taco shop

The clerks and cashiers and pharmacists

All threw witty remarks at me

Normally I would not play tennis with them

I wouldn’t even attempt to hit the tennis ball

But today I did

I played tennis with them

And I answered their witty remarks

With even wittier remarks

Normally I wish it were socially acceptable

To just say pass

Because I’m not in the mood

Yes, I just want to say ‘pass’

I do not want to play tennis with you

Because I’m not spontaneous

And I’m not quick enough

But I rallied with them today

The tennis ball went back and forth

They eventually swung and missed

And I got a point this time

Today

I got a point

COPYWRITING

COPYWRITING

by matt burns

They said I’d be good at it

Because I’m good at writing

So I gave it a shot

Copywriting for a medical supply company

I never knew writing

Could be a such a dead

Horrible

Thing

If there’s one way to take something good

Fun

And suck the life out of it

I guess copywriting is how to do it

I couldn’t do it

Even if I tried my hardest

There’s something inside me

It says

Stop!

Stop!

It’s a brick wall I cannot surpass

I try

And I try

But I can’t compromise myself

And do this boring writing

And I don’t mean I won’t

I mean I can’t

It’s not how I’m wired

I try

And I try

But the brick wall is there

And it’s a stubborn bastard

Saying stop!

Stop!

Believe me

I want to compromise

Because I guess I can make some good money

I want to so bad

But my brain wasn’t made to write this way

I try to have fun with the words

Make it funny

But that’s not what they want

They want dull

Straight-forward

Something that will appeal to the lowest common consumer

I can only write fun

I can only write creatively

Just because you are good at creative writing

Doesn’t mean you’re good at copywriting

Because copywriting

Is dead writing

Copy

Writing

Is

Death

FRAT BROS IN STARBUCKS

FRAT BROS IN STARBUCKS

by matt burns

I’m sitting in the Starbucks on my laptop

Writing

A bro comes in wearing a tank top

Waiting for his other bro

His other bro comes

They give each other a fancy high-five

They know I’m right there

But they still do their locker room talk

I guess there was a party a couple weeks ago

One of the bros hooked up with a girl

And he’s counting the weeks that go by

Hoping he didn’t get her pregnant

I start feeling weird and awkward

I want to beat these bros up

They sound like such douche bags

But then I realize I’ve talked the same way

I’m guilty of the locker room talk

So I can’t dislike these bros

I want to
But I’d be a hypocrite