Life's Game of Pitch and Toss.
Somewhere between here and there.
I feel like I have already died many times
before my appointed death date
So my dear Mr. Shakespeare...
Does that make me a coward
Will I go valiantly into my goodnight
Or stubbornly keep on going
Like a Cat
With nine lives
Climbing rung after rung
Of life's intrepid ladder
To Fulfillment
People name it progress
Making the way for the future generation
The future generation scoffs and labels it
The failure of those who have gone before
And so they dismantle the system...
and rebuild it.
All my hard work for nought...gone
Like cycles on the wheel of time
Different names...ideas repurposed
painted anew.
Like every idea born long ago in minds
who dreamed in colors which were long before their time
The original dreamers die in poverty
The new mantle holders grow rich
hoarding the wealth
The rich getting richer
the poor struggling and reaching for the riches
Which seem to flee farther and farther
the more they struggle and hope to achieve.
Looking back upon the mess of a life that I left behind
That we all left behind
as we traverse this precarious tightrope of existence
We wonder...
"How am I even still alive".
What daring feat of survival did I pull off to be this lucky.
Or, is living just a game of pitch and toss,
The winner getting all coins which land heads up,
While tails sink deep into the soil like unanswered prayers,
And the wind forgets which way it blew
Each morning, the sky flips a silver disc -
Sun or shadow, feast or famine,
And we wager our names on the outcome,
Grinning like fools at the edge of the abyss.
Some toss their hearts like dice into the void,
Hoping love will land face-up,
Others hoard their breath in golden pouches,
Afraid the air itself might gamble them away.
But what if the game cheats kindly?
What if the coins are rigged for chance,
And every toss plants a seed,
Sprouting stories in the cracks of our despair!
Still, we soldier on...coins with faces, tossing riddles mid-air,
A trickster spirit running the game table beneath a moon that flips itself nightly.
About the Creator
Novel Allen
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. (Maya Angelou). Genuine accomplishment is not about financial gain, but about dedicating oneself to activities that bring joy and fulfillment.
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Absolute Zero
My ambitious maw couldn't keep me warm anymore. You were the wolfhound that kept attacking it to sustain yourself. Everything you could steal, you did no matter how insignificant. You siphoned my life in small increments in order to achieve a sense of regularity. It was all for appearance's sake. You were the rat king my tail kept getting attached to. I would scurry away but all to no avail. I wallowed in compromise and misery in an attempt to be less for you. I was driven but you were threatened by anything resembling intelligence. You loved me being incomplete. I pretended to be deaf so you could speak for me. I chose silence so you could choose for me instead. I learned to surrender because you felt some desperate need to be in command. My opinion of you continued to shrink. You were never the almighty one you convinced yourself you were. It's amazing how fragile your masculinity was so you had to take my dignity to supplement. I was the undead carcass you kept feeding on. You couldn't find your own food source so you used me for your appetite. You refused to find shelter so I became your haven at the expense of myself. You somehow always knew better, it seemed. Like there was written proof somewhere out there in the cosmos that you were the superior one. I was the deluded victim you had to subjugate and keep isolated. You made it your life's mission to devalue me. You did everything to justify your abusive and callous behavior. You were always my biggest disappointment, You made sure I didn't deserve better. I had to worship you because you lived off of recognition. I was kept hostage for 15 years while you remained drunk off of my tears. I was the aberration I sought but could never enforce. You were the unwelcome savior that felt compelled to trap me. I was held captive and was forced to enjoy it. I soared beyond your limitations but you punished me for that. My entropy was at always at your mercy. You wanted me at my lowest, at absolute zero. My energy was at your disposal. I was a dedicated zombie that couldn't breathe without your permission. I was forever caught in your perpetual undertow. What would it mean to prosper? What would it feel like to reclaim my power? I was the walking dead you feared would rise against you one day. I wasn't willing to join you at your subterranean level. My melancholy is no longer my friend. I have slowly ascended to the height I always pictured myself achieving. My endeavors refuse to be frigid and tepid. You are banished to the frozen exteriors of my mind. Where polar ice and bleak extremities knew me so well. I was once at absolute zero. I was a former version of myself you kept hidden for fear of losing to. I'm not who I used to be. I am allowed to evolve beyond arctic cold. I'm thawing out, slowly but surely. The temperature is rising and so am I. My heat obliterated you because you kept stripping me of it. I was a motionless entity, encased in marble glacier, a reminder of all that I had dreamt of. Those dreams have returned. They have bestowed their value unto me once more. I'm not your captive anymore. I've been diminished long enough. Go be one with your beloved entropy. My energy cannot be destroyed nor removed anymore. You have no more influence over me anymore
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Comments (9)
Love your intellect and beautiful spirit, No! God promised to take care of his children. May he cover you everyday!
This is wonderful and deep and you have my mind racing.
Not born with silver and gold spoons. Se la vie, fight you must. But we never give up. Love the vibe here.,
Oooo, this was so deep and had a lot of food for thought. Loved your poem!
A rigged game where the rich get richer. This isn't merely Free Verse. I'd say this is Social Commentary. And it's powerful! And your final picture makes it even more so. Good luck in the challenge! ⚡💙Bill⚡
Such a thought-provoking piece. I love how it blends survival, fate, and the cycles of life into a poetic reflection—it really makes you pause and think
This was breathtaking. So full of depth and rhythm.
To think that everything in life is just a game of chance is dangerous, but it oddly fits how some things play out and many people feel, especially with "the cards they've been dealt." Deep and very thought provoking.
What a deeply philosophical verse, Novel. I also think a lot of times that the money game of life is rigged against most people. But we are still striving.