Jason E. Hodges's Blog, page 18

Blood On The Factory Floor

You know it’s blue, don’t you?
Only for a split second
Which makes it seem even more unreal
Sometimes it flows so fast
There’s a white foam-like substance
That rides its top
Much like the foam that rides the top of a wave
Cresting in an ocean’s far-off horizon
But it’s no ocean
Nor is it a horizon
It’s the fast flowing blood of misfortune
Of pain
The nail gun
The cut knife
The spin of the buzz saw
All
Are jagged teeth of the factory
The machines keep going
As the injured are carried away
We keep working...

Coffee and Cigarettes

Holding cigarettes up to the windshield
Using the headlights of the oncoming traffic
To see how many drags you have left
On your way to work
You realize with the best of reality
This is your first steps of making it through a
Long, cold, miserable day
When coffee is the only thing warm you will feel
On those cold winter mornings
When the breeze cuts through to your core
Sharp
Like a blade
Like the edge of paper
Like a sward
Cold, you trudge on in the darkness of morning
Frost crunching under your...

The Puppeteer

Some days
I feel like my string is breaking
A string so tattered
So frayed
I’m surprised it still holds me at all
The others
You see
Have all broken
The Puppeteer is starting to lose control
But was he ever really in control?
Maybe, just maybe
He’s been cutting them
One by one
Slicing my strings so slowly
So as for me not to notice
Watching me struggle
Is far more entertaining
Now
I sway back and forth
Looking upwards, I look
At what’s left of my string
For
I’ve found myself
At the end of my rope
So I wa...

Insulted By Ignorance

You know you’re insane, don’t you?
The sheep said to me with an overjoyed tone
As he wore the latest fashion
You see, it’s important to them
To have a question mark followed by
An in-style smile
I couldn’t blame him really
The other sheep were looking on
And oh
How tempting it must be
For this lamb to win their approval
My reply
What is insane?
Is it doing what you really want to do in this life?
Wearing what’s comfortable?
Saying what needs to be said?
Even when you know it makes you an outsider?
Standing...

Storm Chaser

Don’t engage the storms of stupidity
You’re not going
To change the minds of the narrow minded
The small minded
The Dullards
If you chase these storms
You’re going to get wet
Washed in negativity
Drown by the weight of their tiny minds
Pulling you under like an undertow
For the storm’s creators
They are always unhappy
They will never understand
Folks that are different
Yes, they are kings in their own little worlds
But
They can have their kingdom and all the misery that comes with it
For life is way too...

The Wolf Who Watches Over Me

The wolf says
“Maybe some of those coins ran through
The hands of your friends up here
Like messengers from the future
To let you know
You will never be alone.”
I reply
“I don’t believe, I’ll ever be alone
Now that you watch over me.”
You see
Her eyes are not only dark with shadowed night mystery
They see more than what’s right before her
Barriers do not exist for the wolf
When she shuffles her cards
They’re merely translucent boundaries
Allowing her to see the unseen 
Unimaginable to the average...

Karma

Karma is a flower
The most beautiful of all flowers
When it blooms
Its colors burst into a barrage of striking truth
So stunning in their perfection
While they open
Open and show truth without blindfolds
Without mask  
No amount of closing your eyes will stop their blossoms
From opening for the world to see
For this flower of karma shows
Exactly what it’s been fed
Good
Bad
Truth
Lies
Giving
Taking
Using
Helping or hurting
This flower will show it all
A perfect reflection for all to see  
Ev...

Still Shadows

Black wolf shadows
Cast wide mouths in the moonlight
For the Gargoyles have now come to life
Climbed down the castle’s walls
To move about with me
Among us they crawl on all fours
Gnashing their teeth
Under the most beautiful smile
The wind sends warnings of their trickery
Whipping red colored leaves
Tearing them from their branches
Never again will they feel
The life of the tree flow through them
Yet, they’re finally free to blow about in the wind
For sometimes
We have to be torn from
What we beli...

Silver Panes Of Glass

Teardrops fall like mirrors from my eyes
Like panes of glass
They fall with reflections of my life
Sliding down my cheeks
One after the other after the other
Turning off what you internalize sometimes proves difficult
For what you’ve soaked in
Was
The day before, a flood of drowning proportions  
A cesspool of lies
Pushing relentlessly against a lonely levy of truth
One, by one, by one
The lies gather
Till the levy can’t hold any more   
Spider cracks
Fine as Asian silk begin to form...

The Glass Jar Of Magic

Sealed in a jar is a wish
A wish from a well-wisher written with magic
On a small piece of paper tucked neatly inside
Surrounding this paper
Are symbols of strength
Of protection
A black pressed number 7 imbedded
In the side of a smoothly polished bead
Rolls around with ease in the glass
Accompanied by a light green agate
A stone of many travels with my friend
In her faraway land
Wax
Root
And other things
Now sit in this jar before me
All are sheltered by the white petals of an orchid
It lies softly atop...