alone out there… just meat… just prey… I feed my two wolves… one red… one grey… the fence a lie… just meet… just pray… away my two wolves… one red… one gray…
I was in a backyard— fenced in… familiar… from childhood…
I felt younger… In a place that remembered me…
Still— I climbed the fence…
On the other side— the woods waited… too close for comfort…
Then the red wolf came—
Big… Hungry… All teeth and motion…
No hesitation— just intent…
I barely made it back over the fence— It stopped there… snarling… growling… measuring the distance…
Then it faded… back into the trees…
Silence pressed in…
I climbed again— slower this time… Quieter… Tiptoeing…
The gray wolf appeared—
Not loud… Not rushed… Focused…
It ran at me— closing the gap…
I reached the top of the fence— just in time…
It stood there— head tilted… eyes steady— as if I was already chosen… as if I was meat…
“Still Alive… (Social Distortion Notes)” by Loia…💥🏳
Fire ’n smoke… no— not choke…still alive… Rusted… and bruised… still refuse… Asphalt… and dust— God’s in the gutter… Life’s a must… still got fight…
Dark night… alive— barely… and beautifully… Here to make… a stand— On the tips… of my toes… With a bible… and a guitar— in my hand… Still alive…
—
Author’s Note: Born from a few rough notes… after hearing “Still Alive” by Social Distortion— this piece rose from the grit… and echo… of that song. Not a cover—just a heartbeat… faith flickering through the dust… still alive.
So when I was younger and learning to read sheet music..I was in 7th grade I think…my chorus teacher Mrs.Mudd…she told me that the most powerful symbol in music…is the REST…showing a pause in the lyrics…when nothing is being sung…(as much is sung in the silence of the rest as the lyrics themselves)
And now that I’m writing…I’m finding the same exact thing…with the ELLIPSIS… and EM DASH–…these are symbols to indicate silence and pause in poetry…they are what brings the power and meaning and impact to the words and feelings…and again…(as much…if not more is being said when nothing is being said)
It occurred to me…that the same is with GOD…when HE is SILENT…HE is actually answering..and saying just as much if not more……….
“”In the picture is the symbols for rest…pause…silence–…””…”
I sprayed a man… without a face— I sprayed him… with my can of mace— Unfortunately… seems it went to waste— Fortunately— I left him… with a real bad taste…