"The Apocalypse", "Doomsday", "End of Days"... It's called a lot of things, and could come at any time, in any form.
Occasionally I find myself thinking or even daydreaming on the subject. Wondering if, how, and when it will come. And though it may sound astoundingly selfish, thoughtless, and downright horrible of me to say,... I sincerely hope it happens in my (our?) lifetime. If it truely comes in such a swift or definitive manner, I want to be there, I want to experience it. In whatever form it should take, I want a front row seat to the End of Mankind when the time arrives. As unfortunate as it would be, the experience of being present for "The End" would be paramount.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy life a great deal. Indeed I have a great family and awsome friends, and I am extremely thankfull for all of them; probably more-so than any of them will ever know. I do not long for death, and do not morbidly dwell on my own eventual demise. Nor do I enjoy the thought of all those near and dear to me perishing in any such way. I'm far from done living my life, I've not even had a chance to truely love. So it is not that I hope the death of us all looms ever so near. I merely hope that if it is to happen, that I be present when it does.
Should it happen in a way that is not instantaneous. If we are not all gone in a flash of light and flame, but are forced to endure a period of totured survival under horrific conditions, so much more will we value the life we're afforded and those we share it with.
With that said, There is always light at the end of the tunnel. You need only open your eyes to see it... even if it is the five-o'clock Freight. x)
- Michael Gordon aka BlatOdea.
If a Crow Swallowed Your Soul -By Michael Gordon-
If a crow swallowed your soul,... would you ever get it back?
Looking in a mirror, who then would you see?
Who but a fool who thinks he is free? A social vagabon who dreams of the stars.
With all the doors open, where would you turn?
In this hall of mirrors, where all but one burns. You've one chance to be whole again.
What is it you'll do?
Only one path is righteous and true.
If a crow swallowed your soul,... would you ever get it back?
To share of the essence so raw and unseen.
Let it wash over, a cold mountain stream. Waiting a time to thaw and grow warm.
Creeping throughout, a wild jungle vine.
Twisting it's tangle the length of your spine. Soon it'll glow as embers ablaze.
Searing heat licks and spits and burns of your whole.
But soon you'll regain possession of your soul.
If a crow swallowed your soul,... would you ever get it back?
Epiphany awash, subsides, and rapturous exultation ensues.
No longer in life do you feel so used. A brooding dark corner in a room full of light.
It is here where love lies, friends with insanity, defiant of all.
As long as it stands, you never shall fall. They say that with love you are stricken.
But the stricken often plummet.
They do not rise up and proclaim love from the summit. It is they who are happy.
But who really can tell?
In that dark corner, they could be in Hell.
If a crow swallowed your soul,... would you really want it back?
By: Michael Gordon
The Perfect Species
-By Cynthia Kopinski-
Of course we are the smartest animals alive. It sure takes a lot of brains to kill and destroy like humans have. I mean, if people hadn't come along, we would have a definite animal over population. Where would we be then? A perfect world without humans just is not possible. We are needed on this planet to control the other species, to conquer them, if you will. We must take it into our hands to make sure that no one species takes over all the others. To do this we have to get rid of all the strongest animals. There go the lions, bears, anything that is poisonous or stronger than an unarmed human. Then we have to get rid of anything that hurts something else. Bye-bye parasites, biting insects, bacteria and anything else harmful to us. Now we must deal with things that the average person dislikes. There go our spiders, snakes, lizards and most other reptiles and amphibians. That's okay, we don't need them. What did they ever do to us other than eat the harmful insects we despise so much but we took care of them already so the reptiles and amphibians would have starved to death eventually anyways. Now, what to do about the rest of our animals that have managed to stay off of our hit list? The mammals, for example, have not done anything to us humans. Or have they? Many mammals such as dogs, cats, rats and other household pets are breeding grounds for disease and germs that can harm us humans. So I guess we have to do away with them too. Naturally, the birds must go too as everyone knows, they could easily scratch you with their sharp menacing talons or peck your eye out with that huge beak. That is pretty dangerous if you ask me. I guess that leaves us to deal with the fishes. The sharks need to be wiped out, that's obvious. Then the jellyfishes and squids simply because I don't like the long tangled arms they have, they scare me. Besides, the jellyfish hurt when they sting you. Next, do away with the piranhas. They are far too dangerous for my liking and the streams in South America would be safer for our humans. Now, to deal with the deadly plants, and also the poison ones. For example, ivy, sumac and anything poison to eat. Finally our own species. Anyone sick or dying must be killed so we, the perfect people, don't get sick and die too. Next, get rid of anyone who breaks any custom. That way there would be no fighting over customs or beliefs. If anyone hurts another emotionally they must be done away with too. If the person breaks a law, the punishment is, of course, death. The benefit of this is obvious, crime occurrence goes down, world is safer for the perfect humans. Now, there is no doubt who the perfect species is: the one smart enough to avoid the humans, survive independently, and live in the wasteland left over when the humans die off because of their own ignorance.
Personal note: I have never quite understood why humans are so ignorant. We are not the top of the evolution chart. In fact we are quite primitive. What other species of animal destroys our planet and disrespects nature? If you can name just one, I will pay you. Yet we consider names such as 'monkey' and 'dog' to be insults. What have they ever done wrong? Sure, they are dangerous, but we have invaded their territory, taken their living space and killed off their food. ---Cynthia Kopinski
The Sentient Species
-By Derek Goering-
Sarcasm aside, human beings are the smartest animals alive. However, like all maturing species lucky enough to stumble upon self-awareness through evolution, we have a history of murder and destruction. Let me clarify. Since humans have come along, this planet has gained a sentient population capable of understanding the consequences of its actions. Obviously, such a population isn't born overnight. How can one understand what a mistake is without first making one? What is a race without history? Indeed, what is a human without memory? A perfect world knows the definition of an imperfect world. It knows the lessons of experience. The perfect species wasn't born twenty minutes ago but twenty millennia ago, bringing with it the wisdom of generations past. While certain misled Kerimayan followers see ours as a future doomed to regress, truth speaks otherwise. Global organizations have been founded in the interest of this planet's future. Books have been published in support of peace and understanding. Leaders have given their every waking moment to fight for freedom and equality. Like a wildfire this mentality of morality and progress is spreading through nations previously founded on racism and prejudice. Our very species, once interested only in reproduction and survival, is taking a reflective look and seeking a future with a capacity for greater good. Does this mean we're suddenly protecting the predators we once killed out of fear? Are we now friends with the poisonous reptiles that have killed so many of our ancestors? Perhaps we're linking arms with every animal that has threatened the early survival of our species so long ago? In some cases yes, but not blindly. The grateful truth is that we have inherited this planet from nature itself. Born of nothing, humanity has become its own shepherd. As uncompassionate as it may sound, this planet will be shaped to our liking. Of course, we like animals, trees, and mountainsides. We dislike pollution and clear-cut wastelands. The very thing so many people fear will be our proudest accomplishment--that our future will be shaped entirely by our own design. Those who mistakenly fear their very humanity see only the destruction of our mistakes and the sickness of our shortcomings. Those who rightly appreciate everything we are see also the hope in our dreams and the potential in our future; a future as green and as biologically diverse as we choose.
Personal note: I've never quite understood why some people jump on the bandwagon of condemning their own species. Our progress is accelerating. As fast as humans are gaining the power to change our world, we are implementing the policy to protect it. What other species has the capacity to respect nature let alone change it? If you can name just one, I will pay you. Yet we consider animals such as bunnies and kittens to be somehow more 'good' than us. What decision have they ever made to defend what's right? What capacity do they have to change the world for the better? By my observation, none without human interpretation.
My Hell -By Zac Pennell-
In my hell the sky is blue The sun always shines And the cows go moo Everyone always whines And the sky is blue
In my hell the grass is green Carpet is soft And gold has sheen The barn has a loft And the grass is green
In my hell heros are dead I can't cry because of what you said In my hell I have it all All I want and I'll never fall.
Oduim -By Zac Pennell-
Not like a candle that burns itself out, Not down a wick - it takes another route. It makes you think that you can't doubt, A feeling you love and you have to shout. You may not know what it's all about, All you want is to tear their heart out.
Blue Eyed Devil -By Laura Merola- (Revised w/ permission by BlatOdea)
At the center of someones world there lives a Devil. He's just like everyone else and yet so different. This Devil lives for attention but is too shy in their eyes, With all his pride and his scars. Only once, can he do what he knows he must. Unto an empty heart he gives his own. He could lose everything, and that heart alone might care. He's grown too old, grown old from staying young. Held his hopes of what should be, for to long. Now he tires, and refuses to show it. With but the sweetest of crude words, he tells what he sees. Only to those that would see it as well. Coming alive to his mortality, he smiles brightly till death himself can't help but laugh. Only the Blue Eyed Devil can make the Deep Eyed Doll truly alive.
It's Only Suicide
-By Zac Pennell-
Through the darkest fancies of midnight air they fluttered, No age to old, no heart to young, Each of them lost in thought of empty headed voices, Their dreams would all come true this night, For in the darkness they all died, A hero in shinning armor they called, to avenge what must be righted.
No one weeped their unholy loss, In the end they all won.
Copyright 2003 Zac J. Pennell
Black, Black Butterfly
-By Zac Pennell & Laura Merola-
To fly so free. Is it only me? Such tender wings. Among other things. Why did you stay? Its the only way. Who am I? Please dont ask why. I dont know. Do my feelings show? Its only a dream. So it would seem. Please tell me when. Hold your breath and count to 10.
Reflection
-By Zac Pennell-
Its just like me It doesnt look like me It doesnt talk like me It thinks like me It sure is prettier than me It sounds much sweeter than me It walked a different road than me If I am the black flag, then its the red star If I am the stormy night then its the stars and moon behind me If I am the kiss kiss then its the boom boom I sure am glad I found her.
Days of Yore
-By Danielle Aloise-
Vanquishing the dragons, the lady fair and a handsome knight, He with his fine silver sword, slaying dragons, fear, and dispair, For the princess of the worlds, the dragons banished, free from violence... The story is old, How I long for the days of yore.
I AM -By Michael Gordon-
I am a mysterious leather-bound tome into which few have ventured. I wonder about the problems of the world, but in the same instance, care not. I hear the pulse of the living world, a thrum in the dark recesses of my mind. I see others as nobody else could hope to, stripped bare of cloth and opinion. I want nature to rise once more, as the ruling force on Mother Earth. I am a mysterious leather-bound tome into which few have ventured.
I pretend a normal travler, shrouded by a facaud, acting unaware of other's proceedings. I feel ethereal in the whole of a social anarchy, though a space no one else could fill. I touch lightly, the lives of many others, planting but a seed of remembrence in the mind. I worry for those who think they understand me, for they do not. I cry for those who live unenlightened, for such is a tormented and twisted life. I am a mysterious leather-bound tome into which few have ventured.
I understand the reader of my pages may think me superficial, egotistic even. I say as much is untrue, as I am me, so let you be you. I dream of the day that I should reach a forever state of euphoria. I try untill that day, to understand better the workings of man. I hope that, should anyone begin my epic, they should not hope to find an end. For I am a mysterious leather-bound tome into which few have ventured. - Michael Gordon AKA. BlatOdea.
3 Critiques of Human Kind
-By Michael Gordon-
~Time~
Time is the test.
Humans fail to understand this concept. An infinitely intelligent race of beings, With but a single and yet crippling flaw. A severe superiority complex, Namely "Human Nature"
Possibility and Potential both, are lost. The only advancement in such a community... Is the devices with which to eliminate one another. Atomatons and mechinations of Destruction.
Only with the Cooperation of the whole, Will there result in any Creation whatsoever, Will there result in advancement of the race, Will the human race survive this Test.
This test of Time.
~Creation~
In such a tumultuous world, It is hard to transcend what is, And to realize what could be.
In a world of Mass Destruction, Creation is but an afterthought. About as meaningless to many as The action of blinking ones eyes.
Those in this world who Create, Are pushed to the wayside. Called such things as Dreamers. The Ideas that they would conjure, Called such things as Fictional.
~Nature~
Nature, once the most dominant, Everpresent power on and of Earth, Resides now as but another of many Obtrusive inconveniences in the course Of the monotinous, daily, human Routine.
Nature, now a resource of limited supply, Is being depleted rapidly in the scheme Of what little Creation humans are capable.
If Human kind continues to neglect Nature, And continues to deplete this "Resource", It will inevitably lead to an undesireable End. Inevitably comming back around to bite the ever ignorant Human Kind In the proverbial Ass.
Could Be Worse
-By Zick-
Everything is horrible and grotesquely bad,
Just because it is so, is no reason to be sad.
Humans are this and sometimes that,
Whatever we are, we are what we begat.
Eyes glaze over and we all foam at the mouth,
It does not have to be so; we're not all heading south.
Problems are big and sometimes small,
If there is no hope, why do we live at all?