Art and poetry from May 2022

The Most Expensive Frosty

Randy McNiven

They don’t teach you a lot in school
Practical stuff anyway
Go to college they said
That’s where you’ll learn the real stuff

My student loan payments still years ahead of me
Debt wasn’t a thing to me yet
We never had a lot of anything
But always enough to get by

After full day of classes and a night of cooking
I deserve a treat on the way home
Some dollar menu chicken nuggets should hit the spot
Cooks don’t tend to eat as well as we should

It was an afterthought
The most expensive Frosty I’ve ever had

Run my card again it’s no big deal
3.50 + Tax
+Overdraft fees of 35 dollars

I learned a lesson that night
Or I thought I did
Until last week
When I had the most expensive beer I’ve ever drunk

This Has Already Passed

Ernie Lopez

Change never ends from this moment to next
Today’s normal now is tomorrow’s worst best
Love and let live and let go and all that
Don’t hold on too long
You’ll soon see nothing lasts
You’ll never expect what the next page may share
Just turn it and see
Disbelief lets you stare
I dare you to tell me how you think this might end
I swear you won’t know or disprove what I’ve said
Good luck cuz you’ll need it
May thee farewell my friend
If you think your mind knows or predicts your heart’s end
Bless you for thinking that you’ll know how you’ll feel
Your poor pleasant mind isn’t ready to deal
With the next phase or chapter
You’re too used to the last
To keep up with the future
Must relinquish the past
Keep up in the moment cuz it’s already gone
You’ll be stuck wondering how you can change what is done
Can you see past the present and tell me what’s next?
Or regain what has lessened the weight of this text?
Good God I pray for you if you think that you can
Cuz it’s all just a question
Unknown to mortal man
Play the game and be ready cuz the win means a loss
And your gain is my forfeit plus there’s no time to pause
You’re already late so make do whilst you can
It’s the most and the least
It’s all out of your hands
Just breathe through the knowing that your lungs process air
And your heart beats not knowing there’s no point to the dare
You’re better off going on as if it wasn’t there
Even though ever present lies our truth unaware
So don’t blame yourself when you think you know best
Time proves your own falsehood so just thank God you’re blessed
You’re alive and a part of this grand scheme of things
The wonder and wander and the All this game brings
So play the game knowing you can write your own plot
Not invest in the sowing of your earthly death’s rot
Choices at hand but the mind and heart guide
Which call will you heed?
Which voice louder inside?
To bleed and to stain or heal and harvest the pains
Be shattered and battered or seek wholeness again
Because change never ends from this moment to next
Today’s normal now is tomorrow’s worst best
Just love and let live and let go and all that
Don’t hold on too long
This has already passed

Ernie Lopez is a full-time mermaid wizard, poet and songwriter

DON'T SAY CRAZY

Jamie Knight

Losing grip on reality
Am I going insane?
The pills no longer helping

The words beat against me
A litany of blame
Believing what they say

The worst I’ve ever heard
Degraded and ashamed
Maybe I just like the pain

Wishing I could trust
But too long betrayed
Stuck in a fabricated battle

Hear when I say
My head can logic and reason
The discord beats in my heart

My vision starts to tunnel
Sounds get further away
Breathing becomes tighter

I swear I’m not a danger
At least to anyone but me
Craving to cut my ties free