truth at the flip of a coin heads or tails you still lose do not adjust your set even if it is out of focus blurred lines merging into a gray morass indecipherable enigma's everything and next to nothing reality is transformed fact becomes fiction life becomes reality alternate is the new the norm art is no more drink and feast for tomorrow you die
© 2017 michael d emmerich
what lies over the horizon what is at the end of the road a light? an escape? a void? a sigh of relief or an expectation overcome with emotion weak at the knees weak must be strong stand tall breath deep savour the end the light rapidly advances emerging into ….....
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Been thinking a lot of late about the cost of service, the sacrifice, be it medical, fire, police and military. Read a few clinical articles in the week in JEMS, on PTSD and how services don’t deal with it, and reread an article I wrote awhile back and the article I quoted.
the price you pay come so far waited so long worked so hard only to be in a dream heaven or hell it always changes dark holds the light at bay the more you give the more they take the more they live the more you die stand firm fight for the price you've paid pay in blood sometimes your own some cease feeling for themselves or others teases and the doubts solved by being uncomfortably numb made it back home but how? checking out is possible but you can never leave you can't walk away from the price you pay nothing more wretched than what must be endured been through hell is it all worth it?
© 2017 michael d emmerich
hay little sister
do you understand
no red cape in the woods
will save you
hearts of darkness
bleed on the dark side
all the way
to the golden gate
be warned
scary things lurk in the woods
they said in hushed whispers
as I entered
looking back over my shoulder
with a faint smile
I said
I know....
© 2017 michael d emmerich
This is not a definitive article on The Boss, but an introspective look at 3 albums which have resonated with me over time (I do need to revisit these 3 albums with a more weighty article). Springsteen is an artist I greatly admire and respect, for so many reasons; for his strong social consciousness and the way he juxtaposes darkness and light, despair and hope, life and death; all the while documenting life as he sees the world.
Most of his songs focus on the marginalized, the working-class, people making their way in the world, getting through the daily grind. He has spent most of his musical career documenting the daily struggle of people who live in a country (America) where the status quo is:
enforced by a corpocratic government that allows only the rich to get richer
I sink beneath the river cool and clear
Drifting down I disappear
I see you on the other side
I search for the peace in your eyes
I break above the waves
I feel the sun upon my faceParadise – from the Rising 2002
It’s songwriting, you know, but in the sense that there’s a geography to it, there’s a landscape, both a physical landscape and an emotional landscape, where I’m trying to capture the essence of an individual’s life in some sense. What’s he striving for? What’s he struggling with? Where is he?Bruce Springsteen in conversation with Adam Sweeting 2010
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there’s a fight ‘gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I’ll be there
Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin’ hand
Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”Bruce Springsteen – The Ghost of Tom Joad – 1995
25th ANNIVERSARY ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME CONCERT
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band with Tom Morello – Ghost of Tom Joad – Madison Square Garden, NYC – 2009/10/29&3
What draws me to Springsteen? It’s a combination of his gripping raw lyrics, social consciousness and he is not afraid to have an opinion even if it means losing fans, and then there is his rollicking rock sound when he rips loose with the E-Street Band. I love it when he tackles the powers that be head on, with a hungry heart for the the downtrodden. Springsteen is not scared to tilt at windmills he even called out Trump as a “con man” on “That’s What Makes Us Great,” his new protest song with longtime collaborator Joe Grushecky.
Don’t tell me a lieAnd sell it as a factI’ve been down that road beforeAnd I ain’t going back
For more on Bruce – head over to, my article on his recently released autobiography Rreview-Born to Run – Autobiography
life is a mystery my tournament's begun a pickled piper plays his piccolo the choir softly sings my game commences including expenses confidential information? no its my life not a public inquiry the greatest work of art commences my life the pen is poised ink-pot awaits the brushes are ready rainbow colours mixed clean pages await orchestra warms up slowly the grinding wheel turns what will be my epitaph “I don't know” who sets the rules attempt what is not certain when will certainty arrive divining signs mislead my valuable delusion knowledge is a deadly friend inspiration emerges from the womb confusion, questions, not knowing swarms of questions always emerge small questions flying on mighty wings the rainbow fades the ink runs dry dry nibs scar the once clean slate leaving to never return confusion will be my epitaph
© 2017 michael d emmerich
a natural state of perception acknowledging that possible negative truth of our universe behind its mask lies that face of decay hiding always ready paranoia declares the end result of all eventuality is death intimacy with death the essence of creative thinking fuels our passion tending not to be life-affirming rather, a negative potential taking to its logical conclusion life in its abundance that’s the secret to life eternal paranoia that’s how we do it
© 2017 michael d emmerich
in the still of the night silence reigns until it is rent asunder ….. by that chilling sound …....... the silent scream …... it rips across the valley floor for all who do not hear … to hear condemning them to a sleepless night …..... filed with dreams ….. just another night of the waking dead
© 2017 michael d emmerich
air goes in and out blood goes round and round that says the medic keeps you alive in sickness and death illness and injury not all goes as it should this is well noted blood and guts sickness and death that last ….. potential breath affirms our quest intimacy with death fuels our passion in life in its abundance ours and yours … the next patient
© 2017 michael d emmerich
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