Poetry from J.J. Campbell

 

temptation
 
that gnawing ache
 
complaining about
pain makes some
people believe you
are crazy
 
temptation makes
it so easy to want
to make them feel
your pain
 
swallow your pride
and become a martyr
 
i’ve heard good
things
————————————————————————
the responsible one
 
i have always felt
like the stranger
in a strange land
 
i so want to believe
that i’m actually
allowed to be happy
 
but i have no fucking
evidence at all that
happiness is even
a fucking option
 
this is what happens
when a father decides
that work is more
important than family
 
there is no joy in
being the responsible
one making sure this
bloodline fucking
dies
—————————————————————————–
call it art
 
spill some
paint on a
canvas and
call it art
 
up is down
 
low is high
 
you may
zig and i
will not
zag
 
i have no
desire to be
better than
you
—————————————————————————
a chunk
 
the nagging aches
and pains of getting
older
 
the years of being
care free and living
life always find a
way to take a chunk
out of you before
it’s all over
 
a homeless guy once
told me that he never
trusted any fucker
interested in having
a pretty corpse
 
i passed him a bottle
of whiskey and said
amen
—————————————————————————–
all you need to hear at your high school graduation
 
seek out
the truth
and let the
monsters
roam free
 
there are
no special
snowflakes
 
embrace
death and
only then
will you
understand
the
importance
of now
————————————————————