Don’t Be Scared/Degrees of Sadness

2 poems for you:

Don’t Be Scared

I give a sweet smile to everyone.

but nobody smiles back

that’s odd, I think to myself

here I am, the good rotting away

very quickly

and I just want to give anyone a smile

before there’s none left

because I don’t have much time

so I keep grinning on the street

and mothers turn away

men might sneer

I know I am a fool

to still be so clean

I sulk back home,

still trying to make a light switch inside me

that can turn on when I expect it to

I return to my dusty, empty, tired place

and it’s when I look in the mirror, I realize

my teeth have decayed

faster than expected

no moment of a lip left

aw fuck, I think now

it was maybe fun while it lasted

but probably not

Degrees of Sadness

degrees of sadness

of nuclear fallout

or devastation

on a scale from 1 to 10

how badly did you break the chains?

I have a cold from the weather

not from the constant onslaught of information, or excuses

if you want to be a better person

build yourself like a castle

if you want to sink lower

then put a gun in your mouth

it will be faster and more precise