Featured art by Maren Klemp. Click title image to visit her studio.

 

 

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Porcupine Tree “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here”

 

 

 

 

From another time
From another place
From another planet to so many of my failing race
Gaining pace in moments when the onus is on saving grace
Not about atonement, left that way back at the rifle range
From another frequency
And some might say a trifle strange
From another sequency
Than those who play the numbers game

 

From another time
From another place
Nevermore accursed, should you turn and meet me face to face
The eyes they are most prized, in high tide as waves efface
Exulting thunder resulting in plunder
Inviting the lightning to come tear asunder
Tailing the twister all wide-eyed with wonder
Prevailing the show of hands pulling me under

 

Under no illusion that mankind is headed for a fall
Running out of options fast
With life-raft strictly optional
Fight or flight
Sink or swim
Walk the plank or dive straight in
Play the saint or make a move on sin
Rein it in or free the beast within
A freak on a leash is a terrible waste
And besides, I make no active claim to be a motherfucking saint
Would cut off my very own nose and do so in spite of my face
Should you turn and meet me face to face
Breach high tide as waves efface

 

I was
Under constitution, public enemy of state
Number one at losing all to winners on the take
Singing blues while shining shoes
In a room declining view
Nothing much ado but dying
Thus I called their bluff, defying final breath
Took the last path on the left
With less than half a mute clue where it led

 

Was really off the grid here
Clearly in another time and place but did I really wish to live here
Maybe I could close the drapes, keep my head down, lie in wait
Find a way to slam the brakes on violating my estate
Trial date was looming, business booming on the pruning of survival rate
Ruination suited, booted, stooped to my undoing
Dictating like Putin, only this time I disputed every claim
Never one for brooding that eluding to my gloomy fate
I set about recouping that deduced by way of drooping faith

 

Found another time
Found another place
Sure as shit this beat retreat on sinking without trace
Linking in with higher state of consciousness, rewiring
Drinking in 1000 bullets, quantifying firing rate
Galvanizing, pulverizing thoughts retiring, fortifying
Modifying systems, I persisted to enlist each node
Snagged myself the mother lode and showed it who was daddy
Sinking with my putter just to butter up the caddy
Had myself a flutter on the uttermost insanity
Placed myself a side bet on embracing this calamity

 

Drastic measures taken, stirred and shaken, reawakening
Processing all information taken in, in favor of deliberating
Reconfigurating, taking notes on how to break this jinx
Made myself the architect and hooked in to the Matrix quick
Found another time
Found another place
Found another all-seeing being, meeting face to face
Breaching high tide as ever looping, swooping waves efface
Tapped the vein one time and tapped again
Jumped turnstiles to mainline in the nick of time to make last train

 

Transcendental all the way
Cosmically connected to another kind of master race
Admittedly a trifle strange
At home here on the rifle range
1000 bullets locked and loaded
Found a voice and zoned in, dodged each bullet, fucking owned it
Took the last path on the left
Knew precisely where it led
Chapel Black, from born through bred and back again
Made the highway my way
Mirroring another time and place
Now standing face to face with mankind’s saving grace

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Charles Stevens

 

Keeper of The Crimson Quill

 

 

 

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