The Jungle of Your Mind

This little book was an experiment in finding words in images. In an afternoon I sketched a handful of concepts, and several days later I found the words hidden in each one. Perhaps at some point I will flesh out all of these drawings and turn them into a proper book, but for now this is simply a proof of concept.

Trapped

I don’t know
Who put me here,
Or why the rope
Is so tight,
But I realized this key
That I’ve been chasing
All my life
Won’t unlock
My problems

The Hole

This is the place
Where everyone goes
When they’ve had enough.
This is the place a man wanders
When he can’t stand to live
In his skin anymore.
This is where they go
When nothing brings joy
And the all of it all is terrifying
But you’re not like the rest of them.
Are you?

The Only War

I wired up the bombs,
And loaded up the tanks,
And grew up all my gardens,
And nailed the doors with planks.
I set up barb-wire fences,
And gave my boots some blades,
I slept inside my uniform
And worked from night to day.
I cleaned the flags
And polished the guns
And started nightly fires.
I loaded up on ammunition,
And ate frogs in the mires.
I dried my food
And stitched some tents
And gritted my teeth like hell…
Only to see…
That the war to come
Was only with myself…

Too Much

It’s all too much
For me.
I don’t want your praise
Or glory.
I don’t care for wealth
Or poverty.
It’s all too much
Or it’s all too little,
But a quiet chair
Is just right
For me.

Heaven

I guess I shouldn’t be
Too surprised
That they dumped something in the water
That killed all the fish.
But they’ll come back
One day.
And now and then
There’s power outages,
But at least we’re not going
To die again.
The animals don’t bother anyone,
But they do look awful lonely,
And sometimes I wonder
If I ever knew them before.
Every now and then
A war breaks out,
But then they realize
There’s nothing
To war over.
There isn’t much of a sky
With all this smoke.
There isn’t anything to dream
Because this
Is what we were all
Dreaming of.
Boy I’m glad I made it
Into heaven…
But I’m starting to wonder
If they put the wrong sign up
At the gate.

Solutions

I have a simple solution
To solve all of our problems.
You stay over there,
And I’ll stay in here.
Even if you remember the feeling,
You probably won’t remember
My face.
And how about you try
Living how I live,
Before giving your
Suggestions?

That’s It

I know you think
It’s a good idea.
I know you’re miserable
And hating every minute.
But when it’s all over,
The world is still angry,
And so are you—
Forever.

Water

There’s a boy,
And everywhere he goes,
The house sets on fire.
And his tears are never enough
To put it out.
And they say he’s still crying
To this day.
And the houses burn brighter
Than ever.

Mud

Well damn.
Looks like I got myself
Stuck in the mud
Again.
Looks like
I’m going to have to
Call out of work.
Sucks to be them.
Hell yeah.

Hole

I cut a hole
In my throat,
Only to realize
That I have
A voice.
But now
It’s too
Late.

Shed

A quiet place
To rest awhile.
It’s what any man needs.
I don’t care if it’s
A cardboard box
Or even just a shed
Out somewhere.
No
where.
Even if there’s no
Running water,
And no lighting
Aside candles,
And no electricity,
At least
There’s no trouble.
And when the rain pours down
And the thunder quakes
And the roof feels like
It’s about to fly off,
I know that whatever happens to me,
It will be fair.

Taking it back

Everything will be
Taken back.
Your car will be repossessed.
Your house will be claimed and auctioned.
Your land will make a nice dumping ground.
Your possessions will be sold or incinerated.
Your good name has an expiration date.
Your history will be rewritten.
Every compliment will be returned to its owner.
Every gift you’ve received is what you’ll owe.
Everything you’ve brought into this world
Is everything you’ll take with you.
And in case the point
Isn’t clear,
That means
Nothing.
It’s only fair
To the rest of us.