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Story Notes:
I didn't try my hand at songwriting until I was in college. Sadly, I have all the musical talent of a stump (Okay, I lied, the stump has more musical talent than me :( ), but when a friend of mine tried to start a band, I experimented with writing lyrics. Sadly, nothing ever came of it, as he was never able to get a solid crew together, but I still believe the experience helped me become a better writer. (For what it's worth, years later, he did get something off the ground. If you're ever in Washington state, keep an ear out for the Walking Talls. :) )
This collection contains both poems I've written, as well as unused lyrics I wrote.
Author's Chapter Notes:
howling at the dark side of the moon
Laugh at yourself.
The great cosmic joke’s on you.
Here today, gone tomorrow;
An unseen clock is ticking.
A time-bomb waiting to go off
On the next thing to go wrong.
No brakes, any second you could snap.
Or just hysterically laugh.
Howling at the dark side of the moon.
Out-of-control anxiety, fear,
The origin of religion,
Muttering strange prayers at the dark.
Broken-record rituals
Keep the nightmare at bay—
Of shadows, specters, shapeless, nameless fears,
Red glowing eyes staring out at you
Through the gloomy mist at the back of your mind.
An unseen presence
Past the beam of your flashlight.
Silent voices laugh in the corner,
But you can hear them.
Even if no one else can.
Thoughts that flap on leathery wings,
Horror that simply is, as if for its own sake.
Consciousness teetering on the razor’s edge of reason,
On the jagged, ragged edge of Reality,
Threatening to fall away
Into the depths of a nightmare without end…
Chapter End Notes:
-June 13, 2001

This one was a poem that pieced itself together one night while I was working at a certain fast food establishment, about what it would be like to be alone with my mind back then. Aside from a few chapters in the Book of Hondo, I haven’t written much poetry, I’m seldom in the spirit.