HAPPY LITTLE WORD WORMS
Book of Poetry
Obadiah Winston, Artemis Vega, and R.R. Turock
Copyright 2014 Artemis Vega
All Rights Reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Forward ~ R.R. Turock
Begging the Question ~ Obadiah Winston
God was Silent ~ R.R. Turock
Beautiful Silence ~ Artemis Vega
Make Me ~ Obadiah Winston
Nameless Emotion ~ R.R. Turock
Misery ~ Artemis Vega
Sure I Loved You ~ R.R. Turock
The Middle ~ R.R. Turock
Honor’s Battle ~ Artemis Vega
Unrealistic Legends ~ R.R. Turock
Whistle Wind ~ Obadiah Winston
Woodland's Breath ~ Artemis Vega
Lightness Disease I ~ Artemis Vega
Windmills ~ R.R. Turock
Word Worms Blurb ~ Artemis Vega
FORWARD
R.R. Turock
We often struggle with identity.
We want to know we are unique. The only ones like us. But in this struggle, we often end up distancing ourselves from others. Over analyzing differences, expounding on categories of categories, and generally making a nuisance of ourselves. This struggle brings about a different kind of loneliness—especially if we win what we want.
Uniqueness invokes a new reality—no one is truly like us. And likeness proposes a horrible possibility—there is no single us. Just a we. A part of a greater machine. It thrills us—we aren’t responsible. In a way, the idea is beautiful. We are just cells of a body, atoms of matter, stars of the universe. But we lose ourselves in the masses. We lose our identity.
Thus, in a fight for our individual self-worth, we struggle for uniqueness. Poetry, however simple or complicated, however emotionally abstract or logically sharp, is an tool we use to shape that uniqueness.
But like all opposites, in it, we often find ourselves stunningly similar.
This short book of poems, Obadiah, Artemis, and I have managed to put together the spontaneous thoughts and long, agonizing dreams that we prodded each other to share beyond our little group. I’d like to thank my partners-in-crime for this fantastic opportunity.
Thank you, Obadiah, for encouraging this. And thank you, Artemis, for publishing it.
And thank you, kind dreamer, for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoy and are inspired to share your own thoughts and struggles.
BEGGING THE QUESTION
Obadiah Winston
I'm begging the question, God
I'm begging to know the answer
I don't know what to do,
I don't know anything
You told Jeremiah to be brave and not fear
Else you'll make him cower
Have I feared, Lord?
Is this why I cower so?
I know nothing Lord
Teach me, Lord
Teach me about the scars
About the trees and the wars
Teach me, Lord
Teach me to brave, teach me strength
I know nothing, Lord
So lead me Lord
Lead me to battle, because I'd rather die then cower, Lord
Teach me, Lord
Lead me, Lord
I know nothing Lord
So I'm begging to know the answer
I'm begging the question, Lord
GOD WAS SILENT
R.R. Turock
Four hundred years or four seconds
God was silent
and I waited for my turn
I waited for my name to be called
And God was silent
All I wanted was to be heard
I wanted to know I was the only mold
And God was silent
It was trickery
It was mockery
And God was silent
God was silent
God was there
God was fighting
God was waiting
God was acting
God was crying
God was dying
God was rising
And God was silent
BEAUTIFUL SILENCE
Artemis Vega
Alone, we are
Dim lights fill the room
dim lights fill our imagination
Then comes the noise
Bursting, wild, free noise
human life, human minds
a creation of magnificence and horror
Life comes made a new
dim light lit bright
Guests arrive
Food, money, talk
Guests stay
Migraines, alcohol, medicine
Guests leave
Beautiful silence
MAKE ME
Obadiah Winston
Bring me to my knees, Lord
Bring me down so all I taste and smell is dirt
That all I know was the dirt wenst I came
Touch my filthy lips, Lord
So every word I say is yours,
So every word praises you
Bless my feet, Lord
That they lead me down your path
Take my hands and bind them to the cross
So you blood soaks my fingertips
So that everything I touch is purified
Close my eyes, Lord
That I may see your world
That all I know is you, Lord
So please, bring me down,
Bring me
Touch me
Bless me
Take me
Blind me
Lord, make me
And so are the whispers of trees of life and creation
NAMELESS EMOTION
R.R. Turock
It was that moment when you realize something great has just left you
Like a candle in the cold of the night
Something so warm and so pleasant that when it leaves you, you feel empty inside
All you want is it back and you know that can never happen
It’s something that nothings like anything else
It’s a moment and it’s a lifetime
It’s not love and it’s not hate
It’s an emotion without a name
It is love and it is hate
And most importantly, it’s devastating and lonely
MISERY
Artemis Vega
As the truth is in the fire
As the tracks are seen in the mire
Misery, a hard maze
Thousand ways to get lost
Only one way to escape
If only the truth was found
But it is ever lost
The rage turned to calm
But it is ever burning
The peace would come
But it is ever gone
The life goes on
At any cost
SURE I LOVED YOU
R.R. Turock
Sure, one day was simple
Sure, passing pain with anger something,
But now it's time to face the truth
We were friends once, what happened now?
You left me to wonder what was the point
I will be fine on my own
I will survive alone
I would do worse with you
But I want worse
I want to fail
I want friendship
Maybe you were scared
Maybe you were alone
Maybe you're happy
Maybe you're in love
And now I'll go my way and do magnificently
THE MIDDLE
R.R. Turock
Boiling and boiling, a frustration
the not
knowing the middle is the hardest part
We are born and we die, but what happens in between?
A story sought, we know the ending, we know the beginning
but the middle we do not
You don't know and I don't know
And plans are things God laughs at
So are we a joke?
Boiling and boiling, a frustration is wrought
Nothing can quell, but then we walk
Into the darkness, we know where we go
but not where we are
And then we know, boiling and boiling, a frustration is for naught
Because forget the middle, we are making to the end
HONOR’S BATTLE
Artemis Vega
With honor biting and battling
Not one hand or heart rattling
Life has two paths to take
One is right, the other is beautiful
One short, one long
The sun too bright to see
Making everyone so dizzy
When the lion turns to roar
A heart would cringe, break, and pour
To wish that the hatred would cool
That the war would be peace
That the shame would transform into honor
When the sun’s too bright
The lion too loud
The darkness too tempting
They battle and bite; honor not something in sight
But something within
UNREALISTIC LEGENDS
R.R. Turock
My dreams are unrealistic prisons
I sit and stare through the bars
Love's never near and freedom is far
But I love my dreams and can't let them go
My dreams are deadly prisons
My hopes are murderous lions
I sit in a boat in life's ring-shaped river's flow
My dreams my unrealistic legends come true
When life's beaten me black and blue,
My dreams are all that's left
Prison's gates are loosened by earthquakes
WHISTLE WIND
Obadiah Winston
Whistle wind, whistle so I can hear your song,
Whistle loud and clear so the trees sway,
Whistle so the clouds venture across the sky,
Whistle wind so I can hear you from here under the ocean,
Whistle until I feel you on my skin,
Whistle sweet nothings into my ear,
Whistle wind, whistle so I can hear your song
WOODLAND'S BREATH
Artemis Vega
Boundless and powerful,
A source of life and destruction,
Every creature with its clock,
Ticking away with every breath,
Its the woodland's might,
Its the woodland's breath
LIGHTNESS DISEASE I
Artemis Vega
It comes with a call
It appears when it is sought
It answers when you knock
It’s slow, it’s painful
It’s an attack on the soul
It’s a rapture that took its toll
It made tears into a storm
It made the pain into true form
It made love a different word
It made living anew surge
It has the breath of the spirit
It has the world without merit
It has the nails in two hands
It has the spear with spilling sand
It’s present when you breathe
Its presence causes evil to freeze
It’s presence stops the hearts bleed
This is the Lightness Disease
WINDMILLS
R.R. Turock
I’ll play sidekick
You play hero
We’ll fight bad guys to the end of time,
So don’t worry,
And don’t be afraid,
I’ve got your back,
just like you’ve got mine
Although, these days, times change
And now it’s Don Quixote
And the windmills,
But I’m with you until the end
We’ll slay the dragons and save the damsels
WORD WORMS BLURB
Artemis Vega
I hope you enjoys our little spurt of poetry there! We all worked very hard to sift through loads of shitty, embarrassing, and just plain awful poems to find these. We’re all very proud of our amateur writing even if some were a little resistant (we still got you, RR). Please leave us some reviews or comments if you want to see more poems! We love hearing from you!
Obadiah and I are mainly poets, but RR Turock has published books, so we think you should check them out too!