THE HUMAN CONDITION

Behold the human condition 
I hope I don't catch it 
It makes fools of us all 
That is if we let it 

Both good and bad 
We're born to fail 
The stars burn out 
Welcome heaven or hell

Humanity is a disease
Exterminated without a shout
A footnote in the universe
But the brightest with out a doubt

Give way for the human condition
It's always on the move
Consuming like fire ants
What do we have to lose? 

My Lady's Countenance

If you smile to wide

 you'll eat your face

but that will never erase 

how you feel about your self'

with such distaste, m'lady.

Front and center, 

my mask fits my sin

but never to tight held by my grin' 

is the way you slide

those eye in my direction

I assure you my lady no jester am I

rather the sorcerer whose 

stolen your eyes, far from green bottle flies

who feast on the decay of
your lovers admiration

I fatigue at your prostrations

give in to the anger of your frustrations

as you weigh heavily the logic of

of my flaccid fallacy

Surely it is my effort that counts in such fantasies.

Average Day

Skin crawling anxiety, jolt panic attack
Brain fire burning, no way back
Eyes upon me, shadows sneak by
More real to me now then your twisted lies
Exhaustion sets in like aftershocks
A quake of the nervous system, my body drops
Copper taste, of blood on bitten lips
Holding back truth, its hit or miss
Bloodshot eyes see everything
Especially your rolling eyes, lingering
Whispers caught in throat, disembark
Launching ships of sorrow when we part.
No leftover warm residue, not a scrap of missing you.
Cant sleep, cant feel, numb to sensations of this being real
Wishful thinking of such hopeful thoughts,
Catches me now just trying to stop
Tears flowing down a smiling face.
That slip this moment by with such awkward grace.
- Shannon A Rhoten

RAGE

I'm breathing smoke from the sideline fires
choke and gulp the fresh air of ashes
now spit the copper taste of blood
and let the gnashing of teeth begin

Yes this is my purest of sins
No I wont stop yelling, not till my throat is raw
Hear me now. Howling from my maw

Bring me down to your level
shattering glass is rain drops of destruction
Tight sinew, shattered bone
get up get up get UP!! GET UP!

WE WONT EVER STOP!
Because we don't know how

By,

Shannon A. Rhoten

NOTHING

I am an raw nerve, jerking a dead limb. I am an exposed wire, sparking in a busted machine. I am a wolf who howls to a black moon I serve no purpose other then to exist and to consume. I am the mute leading the blind to speak with the deaf. Deep with in me is a trapped dragon who spits fire and consumes the darkness. He whispers to me of breaking bone and tight sinew. He wants to cook my broken body, glazed in fat and grizzle on the very fire of my raging blaze of a soul. I am an empty shell, hollowed of a man. I am a haunted building left to rot. I am the pumping heart dried of all lifes blood and choking like a fish out of water. I am a shade of memory in your mind that cannot be seen, yet never forgotten I am the nothing you fear.

ENDGAME

The people who are fake with their side mouthed quips

They post and tweet such mundane shit

and just like too much sugar in a tooth, my brain it rots

i find my rage it just boils to the top

but i must maintain this simple lie

that snapping you in two would just satisfy

a true and dark filled need, to destroy such hypocrisy

Cant i  just have this one fantasy

I'm really not such a bad guy

but I just cant stand the lie

that you and me are of the same species

when up close your more like human feces

ENDGAME

Flash and glamour nothings real

when was the last time you were honest about what you feel

tear down others to build up your stand

look down your nose it's your master plan

such theatrics when the tables turn

always the victim as you spin the words

web of lies just to see it burn

When will you ever learn

I'm really not such a bad guy

but I just cant stand the lie

that you and me are of the same species

when up close your more like human feces

ENDGAME

If the world tomorrow burned and crashed

out of the wreckage a new one rose from the ash

it is my hope that we would lose

everything that is about you

The problem is that you breed and breed

spilling your filth on live news feeds

contaminating my water supply

cant breath the air that filled with your lies.

I'm really not such a bad guy

but I just cant stand the lie

that you and me are of the same species

when up close your more like human feces

ENDGAME

(Would you please just go extinct.)

ENDGAME

ENDGAME

ENDGAME

True Gods

I now know the ruler of this kingdom
They ask I leave his name unsaid
But I stand true to face my fears
And give salute to the king of the dead.

No ruler there in heaven
I have no time for hell
These are only children playthings
In this tragedy I tell

For Death is a true God
And his companion is Life
lover and mortal enemies
the balance hangs upon a knife

I have been graced by Mistress Life
And Lord Death shall follow she
We will meet face to face without fear
for I hold the trump card. Immortality

FRAIL STRENGTH

These bodies of frailty strike a pose
As the mind sleeps in liquid bliss
The blade glitters of distant lights
A rarity i would truly miss

A short hurtful gasp
and released is all will power
The crimson blood flows
from your toppled ivory tower

in this passive aggressive
oxymoron labeled life
it's thrill or be killed
but it's you who holds the knife

your ignorance of suffering
is a blindfold for the blind
while denial is the razor blade
that cuts this ironic mind

Telegram

Hello to you back in the real world.
This is your favorite fallen star sending word,
of my failed attempt at normal life
and how my efforts seemed so damn absurd.
STOP!
The tears have dried and the wails have ceased.
My resentment has reached a new plateau.
But my feelings for you have risen,
Why did you have to forget me so?
STOP!
So I let my subconsciousness slip into the dark.
A straight jacket my only hug,
My shadow my only friend,
Buried deep in the hole i have dug.
STOP!
So goodbye to you in the real world,
This fallen star has burned out.
I am locked away in my rejection,
For you have befallen me with but a shout.
STOP! Please?

Theater Of Flesh

Delicate paper lips call gently to me only to burn in the fire

How dare they look me straight in the face and call me a liar

I'll shake the pillars of heaven and turn god's face away

Even the devil has to bow to one such as me on this day

For i am the one true king of fools, a prince among clowns

The fairest of damsels come to see me crash and go down

This is a one time true event, a gala of my simple shame

The line it goes for miles to have a piece this cheap fame

A hushed silence over headstones, in the spot light a broken man

No curtain call on this spirit of vengeance, hatred my only plan

No encore of delegations only the roar of the masses in my fold

The lambs of slaughter ask not for glory, but of forgiveness so bold

By, Shannon A. Rhoten

Savage Heart

Don't stop whispering in my ear

You soothe the savage beast

You give off rhythmic heart beats

This thumping, bumping in my brain

My blood boils and i think of oils

Spread on a body of water known as you

You keep me afloat in a sea of despair

Forever we dance on air

Like love birds in flight

people give their lives to see such sights

Yet you give to me freely in dreams

Of whip cream clouds and fallen angels

Is it a sin to think of you so much

Yet i defy the Gods for just one touch

Of whispering skin and plucking heart strings

Oh but how it stings, these birds and bees

You drop me to my knees my graceful deity

With your playful teasing and smiles

So i'll just rest here for awhile

Wrapped within your warm embrace

But here, again my heart begins to race

And it all starts with that

Whispering in my ear.

Tickled Pink

I wanna dance on broken glass!
I've heard this line before,
It makes me laugh.
Tickled pink
Blushing and bruised
I just want to be
Abused and misused
Misguided and fooled
Like the masses
Put into classes
If they ice skated on blood
They would fall on their asses
Hence the broken glass
Dancing and laughing

From the soapbox

Ripped from the womb we are thrust out in to this world.
With smart looking clothes and slicked down hair.
So professional with our bright eyes and dimples a glow.
It almost brings hope to the faded eyes of the old and infirm.
So magical a sight, it's almost wrong to hold in my glee of this suspenseful moment.
When you see those bright eyes scratched out by the horrors of this world
The fragile psyches' shattered on the brick hard desperation in everything.
For even the rich man doubts him self when put to the ultimate question.  Why?

If i traveled thousands of miles only to come to the ground zero of all pain and suffering.
Only to find one small sickly flower of hope blooming, there fighting for it's life.
I would feed it all the tears of the dammed and forsaken, praying for an answer.
But no God will here these words, for this prayer is for you, you, you and you. All of you!
Let not this world go from your grasp, fight for what you know to be right in your hearts.
But can we tell what is right anymore?
To many wants for personal gain, to many opinions just to be heard.
Hate trumping love and not caring about the consequences?!  NO!

Are the children i see lined up for the future or are they just more meat for the slaughter?
Wake up oh world, wake up and feel the life you have been given.
Honor, justice, peace and unity; these are my battle cries!
Let not these ideals die on the lips of children.
Let not their future be our end.

Plasma Painter

There is blood on the wall
But whose it is, no one knows
Not a splatter or a drip
Rather a desperate smear

As if the one bleeding were trying to run away
Fleeing to escape the cutter of flesh
You can see this in the finer tip trails along the wall
You can taste the fear in the air

Like phantoms moving in smoke
Like faded film from forgotten movies
They play back the violence of this scene
They show that art truly is sacrifice and loss

Let us now begin this, shall we?
Just the quickest of cuts my love
and with but a few brush strokes
There is blood on the wall

Shhh, do you hear that?

I hear a buzzing sound.
No scratch that, I feel it too.
Buzzing throughout my entire being.
Loud yet soft rippling, like energy across a line.
It almost has a rhythm, there can you hear it?!
Kind of like a...heart beat. Dear god it's alive!
Can't you feel it?
I think it's building, made of emotion.
The energy tearing us a part!
Building...
      Buzzing...
             As if one stray thought would rip your sub conscious from existence.

All life and thought become one, inside and out bringing us to the brink.
Then breaking away into death, orgasm, enlightenment, rebirth and then....stillness.

Silence.

But wait, I hear a sound.

My Little Visitor

One day while sitting at my window

I saw something very strange

A little man on my windowsill

And he was playing a merry little game

He was dressed in different colors

In clothes from different times

He had a happy little face

That showed no age or lines

He waved hello to me

And gave a bright eyed smile

Then he preformed some fairy tricks

that entertained me like a child

There upon the windowsill

He flipped, jumped and rolled

While doing such acrobatics

He looked so proud and bold

Then from his jacket he pulled a ball

And gave a mighty wink

With a flick of his wrist the ball was gone

I knew not what to think

Flames flew from his fingertips

Smoke poured from his eyes

Flowers grew in his hair

I laughed until I cried

He showed me such wonders

That I’ve never seen before

I gave a standing ovation

And cried “Encore, encore!”

On his face a look of sadness

“One more trick!” He cried

Then he jumped from my windowsill

And hit the ground and died.

By,

Shannon A. Rhoten

January 22, 2002

My Emotions

My love can soar the heavens

My hatred may scorch the earth

My envy will stifle life

My kindness can give it birth

My pain cripples others

My pleasure satisfies none

When my emotions are covered

Then the poem is done

My anger is a hurtful cramp

My joy a contagious laugh

My pride a useful shield

Whenever I am attacked

My trust is a close friend

My weakness a hated foe

My surprise is a waste

My instincts always know

My shock is a warm blanket

My ignorance is bliss

I am my best friend

When full of loneliness

My happiness is a wish

My depression a joke

The mystery of me

Is shrouded in smoke

My faith is a ray of light

My doubt a night of black

Who cares for my feelings?

When my emotions lack

By,

Shannon A. Rhoten

November 19, 2001

THE DEVIL'S PROMISE

Cold blood drips from tender fingertips
Upon the naked white of porcelain
Where it pools to become the dark mirror
Reflecting your once beautiful eyes

Eyes that once sparkled at the promise of wonders
Stare now pale at the cheap blue curtain that hides you
Water drips from the faucet into this human soup
Condensation forms on your once troubled brow

Your warm pink lips are now hard and blue
Your skin is cold, never to know anothers touch
The cold this steel that loved your flesh
Lies discarded at your side, forgotten

Within this frozen wold lies a promise
You will not be troubled by how they hurt you and lied
Because you have cast off this veil of the living
This my sweet love, is how you died.

By,
ShannonA. Rhoten

Idealist Conversion

Softly bite my tongue as the bile of remorseful words rises in my throat.

yet tear drops are the only thing I let loose as I gaze upon the corpse of your ideals.

What a shabby thing it is now, just bleached bones of inspiration, stripped bare of all conviction and pride.

I let them do this with their slanted looks and jutted chins of pompous piety, they sized you up and made their mark to cut.

All I could do was wait in line for my ten pieces of silver, not even enough to pay the boatman when he comes.

And I have now the nerve to shed tears for you as if though that would forgive me of my sins,

 I am just so selfish to look to you to forgive.

It's that moment that I hate myself and the bile comes spilling forth, 

my silver tongue cutting open my heart to stand tall and let the world know you were right.

We are all damned...but we are all together as one. We have only to shed this fragile mask of pride, clear the smoke from out our eyes and sing out loud without the lies. It can be done. So burn me in the pyre of your fears or stand tall now and cast your lot.

Now is the time.

Moon Goddess

There in cold satin skin she stood

The fog and gloom could not hide her raven hair

every other feature pale in comparison

but for the blood red lips that parted for breath

when approached she stiffened with anticipation

then gave way to tremors of delight and hunger

her eyes were silver like the moon, liquid and bright

she was just as haunting and addictive to me

smelling her musk, letting it fill my very being

I tiled my head back and let the howl rip from my muzzle

in a sorrow filled and angry song of betrayal

she simply smiled and looked coyly at me

in her hand a dagger of silver and blood red gemstones

She cut her hand and wiped the blood on my chest

when will this spell of the damned end

With the fog she vanished and left me to my pack

The hunger comes again, the hunt is on

and all i have to remember of her

is the long and cold nights

for i am forever of that night.