Facebook Note: Choosing True Colours

Written and published to Facebook on July 30th, 2012

Author's Note: At first it might look like there are religious overtones in this poem, as there are in a lot of my poetry and other things that I write. However, I didn't want that to be the only possible interpretation. You could just as easily apply this to Romeo and Juliet, now that I consider it.

An author by the name of John Green once answered the question of debates between religious and non-religious people by saying that the debates which take place about the source of revelation is not very interesting, but that what we choose to do in response to these revelations is indeed a question that should interest us all.

While I still believe that the question of source of revelation is also a question that we ought to consider, even so I agree: what we choose to do in response to the revelations is just as important. So, remember that when you read this.

When the battle-lines are drawn

When we gouge our scars in sand

And the neutral ground's withdrawn

On whose side shall you stand?

Does your blood beat by your heart,

Or in rebellion bleed?

When we rule in extreme

And we hop the sharpened fence

When it needs be "us or them"

Will you hiss and shout offense?

Does your mind your course impart,

Or is it heart you heed?

When we our true colours shine

When we're proudly painted true

When we bear out true design

Will you be red, but claim blue?

So in your fight of mind and heart,

You know not which should lead?

When you're called to smite your ilk

For the standard that you fly

When you must choose blood or milk -

Must friends or kin now die?

I'd grant you fairer journey's chart,

If I thought that you would read

When we draw the battle lines

And shield our hallowed ground

I know my side, but as for thine,

In which array will you be found?

To heed true spirit is an art.

And revelation is what you need.

- [TAB III]

Picture by Mizth @deviantart.com

Facebook Note: Ye Olden Poetria

Written and published to Facebook on July 17th, 2012

Author's Note: Some of the references made here will not make sense, as you people (or person; can I kid myself into saying that I'll receive hits from more than one person on this?) are not the originally intended audience. For one, I mention "the 20 of you who raised your hands" in the first paragraph, and that was referring to all of the people out of all my Facebook friends who had ever read anything which I had written onto Facebook Notes. I think that 20 was an optimistic count.

For another thing, I mention "my other poems," and tell people to check out some of the other ones that I had written onto the same Notes. Well, I haven't included all of them here, and I will probably keep it that way. There is one specific poem that I mention called "Chemeone, id est Scorchfrost" which you will not be able to find here. That one is largely personal by nature. And besides, the last line of the poem is my full name, something that I don't think any of you few readers out here need to know. Don't worry about it, though; it's not important to know that.

You will see one further note beside the poem that it explains. Other than that, carry on.

So, has anybody out there ever read one of my poems?

Ok, now the 20 of you who raised your hands, you'll have some context for what this is about. For the rest of you, you might want to take a look at a poem I wrote in recent years so you get an idea about my style of writing poetry. Well, maybe check a few, since I've experimented with different things and once you've read a few you can get a general idea. They should be here in the Facebook Notes, somewhere. In fact, I think I'll make a page break here so you can go do that if you really want to.

Facebook Note: A Weather Eye - Poem Version

Written and published to Facebook on November 21st, 2011

Author's Note: This is the main reason that I find it at all important that you read the prose version of this same thing. It's a few posts down here, and it's called "Facebook Note: A Weather Eye."
Update: I thought about it, and realized that other post isn't necessary for you to understand this one. So, I took it down. You should be able to read this poem just fine without it, though.

Imagine a place in the "yonder"

As infinity flaunts its bright guise

First, hark! Behold; a sight fonder

Than treasure will rise to your eyes

Those lanterns of mariners shimmer...

The gems of that crown all aglow

To all in the galaxy they glimmer

They slash through the darkness below

Facebook Note: Dear Zynga

Written and published to Facebook on November 1st, 2011

Author's Note: This was a little bit more relevant at the time that it was written, if you can call it relevant at all; people eventually stopped playing so many of the Zynga games, but it wasn't because they listened to someone like me about the points that I made here. They only left because they got bored. 

That's how it works, isn't it? All the masses care about is that they are being entertained. If that's so, you should probably move along and not read what I have to say; my ultimate objective is never to entertain you. Not that I won't, but there's more to it than that. (It's like I'm saying, "In the end I want you to eat your carrots. That's not to say that I won't give you carrots cooked in sugar and butter, but still... eat your carrots.)

The following is a letter that I have not sent before, but I almost think I should have.

Dear Zynga,

I hope you are happy, now. Are you aware of the great accomplishments that you can now claim? You've succeeded where the great conquerors - from Nimrod to Nebuchadnezzar, from Alexander the Great to Napoleon, From Caesar to Hitler - have all failed. You have fulfilled your mission with more effectiveness than the fabled "I Love You" bug (do any kids born after the 90's remember that?), and without the terror that the alleged Y2K bug (this is really making me feel old; there are children who have never even heard of that) sparked among Internet users everywhere. Pat yourselves on the back, people of Zynga, and hand out congratulations to your designers; you have just overcome the glaring majority of humanity, and come the closest I have ever seen to world conquest. Well, maybe you're tied for first with Wal-Mart. Or TV in general.

Facebook Note: Based on a True Status

Written and published to Facebook on October 5th, 2011

Hi, guys.

As you might have seen, recently I was on Facebook during a time when I intended to be somewhere else (the day was something like September 26th). I wrote a peculiar status as proof.

I didn't skip out on my duty intentionally; it was a long and exhausting night when it happened, and as I write this out I can clearly recall that feeling, that emotion which was more deep-seated than our simple interpretations of happiness, sorrow, irritation, or desire. This one belonged more with livid rage, depression, euphoria, and pleasure in its basest form.

For reasons that I will not elaborate on at this time, that night I was suddenly overcome by something that I didn't recognize. It may in fact have been an attack of anxiety. In the panic-stricken state I found myself immersed in, I found a desperation that I can relate to from earlier times and experiences that ran parallel to this one, and it translated into one thought in my mind: run for it. Unable to cope with that ice that so nearly flirted with absolute zero, I did just that. Not that I thought that physically running would alleviate the shuddering gasps forming in my lungs; one of the problems with emotional upheaval is that I find my physical abilities hindered. Worse than fatigue - even in a point of exhaustion, wherein you "hit the wall" between the time your body stops burning carbohydrates and begins to burn fats - is discouragement. When some sort of non-physical virus attacks me, it drains something much worse than calories. Infinitely worse than being iron or vitamin deficient is being hope deficient.