So What?

So What?

what you telling me?

you be felon see

what's it gonna be?

you see the meaning in the rhyme?

you wasting my time?

distract me

interact w/me

counterattack me

don't be slack w/me

I want your best

not like the rest

uninspired?

feeling wired?

wanna be it?

don't give me no shit

I seen what you say

don't have to be this way

show me something new

no matter taboo

but it better be you

it's what I desire

mind back in the fire

light—heat

you can compete

try looking in deep

I come for magic not sleep

written by Scott Schoffstall
© January 12, 2011
all rights reserved

Poetic Sojourn 

Images of nothing

silence


       the droning bell


               ringing in the brain


                                        you notice?


it's always the same


        drift drift space


           forget what you face


                                        never mind


              giving you notice


     never mind


decline

written by Scott Schoffstall
© January 12, 2011
all rights reserved

Poetic Sojourn

Postmortem for a Scar

when you hear a voice from inside you, you'll know it's your benefactor
if the voice is from without you then discern if comfort or distractor
if you share with another that which came from deep within
be happy they delighted or were renewed from whence they've been

but dear friend there is a stab that may lacerate your compassion
when you find that another rapes your heart as an assassin
by taking that which they would find and use it for their glory
without remorse and with full knowledge it's not their light or their story

Be assured dear one and not hindered in your art or your vision
even though, for just this moment, your tempted to grow derision
because this con from your art gains praise with no remorse
a reckoning, will in time, give them due for their course

written by Scott Schoffstall
© January 11, 2011
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Instructions on how to win a popularity contest

welcome to the catwalk
toe up to dat chalk
we all tread our wears
but peel away the layers
sum of the plastic bubble?
hey I ain't here for no trouble
contrive and thrive
brain dead or alive
will it survive?

examining stress levels
from daily devils
come to naught
when divining afterthoughts
of undocumented terms
it don't make the worm squirm

instead make it up as you go along
you do it for a song
isn't nat what it's about?
it's all about clout
show biz wiz
because it isn't what it is
it's what it seems
take it to extremes
who would know?
even better for the flow?

going through life with eyes squinted
glasses rose tinted
doesn't sharpen the focus
bull shit hocus pocus
cuts down the scope
better than death on a rope?

what'd they say bout a blind squirrel?
you go girl
a squirrel. that's a rodent right?
words for a fight?
can a rat splat flat if
a tongue tyin acrobat?
now that's where it's at
with a baseball bat

roaches scamper cross my floor
you know what rhymes with floor
looking for crumbs
fucking dumb

don't misconstrue
 a clue
 2  for a dollar
 shit's getting taller

ka ching

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© January 6, 2011
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Parade of Souls

I stumble to make sense of senses
senseless course
perceptions abstract
does a semblance
this order take?

my intent to stand off to one side
to watch the procession go
where do they go?
shall I follow?

they seem to celebrate
they march as the soldier
this celebration, symptom
or cure?

I am no doctor of reputable fame
no prognosis I make
one moment I know
the next I wonder

this bemused cycle arrests
it holds my course to ponder
no station yet I hold
does this aid or impede?

they march and the crowd cheers
I look to see whence they came
still more come
I look to see their destiny
they march on in front of me

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© January 3, 2011
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Brain Cell

there's a deceptive silence
thoughts reverberate
so many accomplices
ascend, incite
they vie for reprieve
but there's none for them

denied for another time
refused, they refuse
they're compelled to conspire
because they've not been released

past remembered, forgotten, it's all there
pain is a lifer that way
you banish it
it will find you
in fact it never leaves
it merely lies in wait

it becomes a platform
whereupon the new found its gallows
its noose, uncoils, awaits
it allies with the new to make certain the grip
when it snares you by the throat

you can't recall but it remains
it's there because it could seek no outlet
when it was still young and malleable
over time it hardened under the pressure of its mold
and now a keep is constructed
it has been laid stone upon stone
kept now by a firmed foundation

it's home. you know it well
it's no refuge though
a prison of time's making
with no pardon

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© December 31, 2010
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Drop it

step forward drop off
the edge ends here
you'll never cross it
to fall is doom

you believe. it's to scoff
deny what is dear
lest you'll be unfit
we'll ready your tomb

you'll stay where you are
you are who you're not
it's not about you
you are who we've said

you shan't vary far
you'll put your neck in the knot
you try to go through
you'll end up dead

Written by Scott Schoffstall

© December 30, 2010

all rights reserved

Poetic Sojourn

Through a Glass Darkly

we see the light
the light of blight

in our minds it's the craze
we ingest it in our ways

trip on the invisible
slip on the divisible

cryptic delusional
crept in confusin all

do we know how or when?
do we care if foe or friend?

time has seen its procession
all included in succession

you think it wise
you it will evermore despise

it left you a mark
transparent yet it's dark

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© December 24, 2010
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Karma Collisions

the empty hour
turning sour
go glower
in prison tower
it's now or
never
sever the clever
don't matter whatever
distress
confess this mess
redress
duress
throw out the haze
the daze
of this maze
fill the page
full of rage
you find it sage?
to wit that writ
admit bullshit
cesspit!
if we we bleed
we seed
the need
do the deed
never heed
the read
it's greed
mislead
chicken feed
no center of gravity
within our depravity
kick back the flack
our brains they hack
it's worse than crack
drop dead
from dread of red
you'd rather be dead?
already been said
not gonna reprise ya
anesthesia amnesia
will seize ya
no one will please ya
until the truth frees ya

Written by Scott Schoffstall

© December 23, 2010

all rights reserved

Poetic Sojourn

Hole

I'm still here
are you?
I don't know why
what could I do
how could I be
when will I go

I'm still here
are you?
I've been wrong things again
they've caused more harm than good
they come, they go
over the edge, far flung below

I'm still here
are you?
I wondered about today
I wandered about today
I have returned to nowhere
I have nowhere to return

I'm still here
are you?
I fill what is empty
and empty it remains
I get no fill of what is
it only mocks my ways

I'm still here
are you?
I settle in unsettling
I only have malaise
no focus only blur
it's taught me to dismember

I'm still here
are you?
my eyes are growing dim
they only see the void
my heart is growing thin
it only feels the silence

I'm still here
are you?
come inside my space
there's nothing here inside
I've tried to dig it up
it just wills to hide

I'm still here
are you?
cold comes, colors fade
my thoughts are in jade
never seems forever
to exist intent to exits

I'm still here
are you?
I ask and ask and ask
and only ask again
to what do I perceive
it's all misunderstood

I'm still here
are you?
only day is night
dressed up in the light
the light is turning gray
gray fades beyond the pale

I'm still here
are you?
others have done worse
others have done better
I have done what I have
and have not what I have not

I'm still here
are you?
you love me enough to keep me
but not enough to take me

I'm still here

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© December 24, 2010
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Dose

trigger the pain shock me to now
buffer my madness escape for me how
can't listen no memory trips on the wow
fuck me up side down gimme that pow

howlin at nowhere lost blowin my mind
travelin back forward still doin the time
can't hear all yu sayin even tho fine
for down I been fallen pale hitn the line        

now take me on climbing yet higher I try
travelin back for word cut deeper I cry
hurt can't go under it just outs the lie
for higher you fall it ain't no deny

you are what you are cuz out it you die 

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© December 17, 2010
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Confession

confess your beauty that isn't shown.
confess it like sin
reveal the unholy within that struggles for answer
show us the questions that we may hurt and not become numb
confide in us that which we'll never understand
send us your pain that we may revel in it like a soothing bath
speak to us of passion that goes unquenched and never shall be
for that was not its intent
tell us of the fire that burns so we may warm by its glow
take care my heart of sorrow and be a specter of such beauty
in your torment so as to blind the minds of the envious

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© December 12, 2010
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Thought Criminal

scavenging the flesh off bones of the wounded
take no solace parasite of tears
your own thoughts excrement to any tortured ear
you have imprisoned yourself in stolen life
that lives as you die. hideous, insignificant

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© December 9, 2010
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn

Rain

Puddles, rain collects
Tears from a despondent god
Drinking the silky silence of a fear
That is out of my reach and into your hands
My hands cup around the drops
And time stirs with the bitter
Then falls thru the cracks in my hands
Trickles past my parched lips
To lay fallow in my sentient bowels
I don't pretend to understand
Anything about this life, about what it's like to be a god
But there's something about drinking raindrops
That makes me realize, I know all I need to know
I'm wet now, soaked thru, bone-drenched
Saliferous flow irrigating the soul
Nourishing the movement for where it needs to grow
Here alone springs a garden from tears

Written by Scott Schoffstall
© December 1, 2010
all rights reserved
Poetic Sojourn