America Blues

cam REESE

Now, I work two jobs just to pay my rent,

work a lot harder than our president,

but it’s all good, baby,

I’ll be on my grind again--

Bust my hump now eight days a week,

call me what you will but don’t call me meek;

I ain’t inheriting the world like this,

but it’s all good, I guess.

On my way to the ATM, and A.T.M.

following a star to Bethlehem.

Looks like you got no money again,

but it’s all good cause’…. I’ll get it back in multitudes.

Come home to a gutter and a broken vent,

take to the internet to voice my dissent,

but don’t complain, my dear.

No one’s gonna lend an EAR

Gas guzzling trucks, it's time to wave goodbye,

no need to import tears when you cry,

and it’s not about you,

but we're gonna make you care.

Teenage rebels killing malcontents.

I’d be better off sleeping in them homeless tents,

but it’s all good, baby,

I got our lil’ fentanyl fix.

Grocery bags bust and the eggs fell out?

Splat on the ground like our bailout,

but you won’t need straws

when I drink your milkshake, babe.

“Beaches Around the World”

by Cam Reese

England’s got beaches

Shores of Mexico

Alaska’s got beaches

Bodies of water by eskimos

Even Russia’s got beaches

Just in case you didn’t know

But don’t wear no two-piece suit

The beach is covered up in snow

The middle East has got beaches

Where those sandy winds blow

I’m gonna see all I can see

Until they politely tell me to go!

But no matter where my reach is,

I’m gonna visit all of the beaches

Where they speak entirely different speeches

Teach entirely different teaches

Where they don’t even speak any English!

Around the world.

“It’s So Easy to Pay, So Hard to Quit”

by Cam Reese

Its so easy to pay

But its just so hard to quit

I got a bill from Uncle Sam

For the gases my farts emit.

They tax us if we work

But won’t tax those who remit

They even taxed the sun

For keeping us in orbit.

They tax us from above

While they toast a glass of Aquavit

In the end, we might all complain

But its their rules that we permit.

They tax, tax, tax

And they never seem to quit

The government even taxes

The peanuts buried in my shit.

Its so easy to pay

And just so hard to quit

I thought about making a stand

But its comfier to sit.

Its hard to speak out

When they silence the vocalists

We used to be American made

Now we’re made by socialist

“Pay your fair share”

But my share is a 50-50 split

And I’m sick of paying tax collectors

Who haven’t earned shit!

Its so easy to pay

But so hard to quit

I do what I can but,

Its easier to submit.

“Folks, I’m Getting Ready to Die Soon”

By Cameron Reese

Folks, I’m getting ready to die soon

Never thought this day would come

My next view, the dark side of the moon

I’m returning to the place that I’m from.

If only I had some more time left

Would have did the things I never done.

But time, my friend, is not subject to theft,

And the only thing you cannot outrun.

Sitting in bed, these sheets so cold

Angel of Death whispers my name!

It doesn’t matter if you die old,

Where we all end up is but the same

But if you believe in him who sits

At the right hand of the Father

You can escape those fiery pits

Unless you care too little to bother.

Folks, I’m getting ready to die soon

There’s no need for you to cry

One day you’ll all join my retinue

Because everyone on Earth has to die.

To Buck

by Cam Reese

If I had known just how you felt

I would have been your someone else

Talked with you both night and day

To step down from the ledge so grey

You gave others the happiness you sought

I’ve met your demons, the ones you fought

I could have helped to rid them from your head

But now my parting words will be left unread

A beautiful soul you were my friend

And one day soon we shall meet again

Ugly People

Cam Reese

Ugly People, don’t want no ugly people in my life.

Ugly people, they’ll give you a hug and then stab you in the back with a knife

Sometimes ugly people are the prettiest people of them all

And sometimes ugly people ain’t even really ugly at all

Ugly people, don’t want no ugly people in my life

They got pretty little noses and high cheek bones

They’ve missed a hundred and fifty messages on their fancy iPhones

Ugly people, you see them on TV walking down on the road way shows

Ugly people, they walk among us and hope that nobody knows

Ugly people, don’t want no ugly people in my life.

Sara Sue Song

Cam Reese

There once was a little dog named Sara Sue

She’d give me a kissy and she’d give one to you

When someones at the door and she hears it ring

She goes barking real loud sound like a deaf man sing

Ten thousand little footsteps to the front door

And when she comes back its ten thousand more

There ain’t never bad news when she’s at the door

She runs faster than a gambler tryna settle the score

Ten thousand little footsteps does that dog go

She does ten thousand footsteps faster than any dog can go

Oh, for Hegemony’s Sake

Cam Reese

Temptation at your fingertips

Roadmap to the soul

I rest my finger on her lips

At the social watering hole

Words that go unuttered

But they can’t escape your mind

The feelings never muttered

Turn to rot when left inside

Arrested on the sea

Captured by the undertow  

Too aged now to flee

And retire in a bungalow

One Last Cigarette

One last cigarette and then I’ll quit

One last smoke by the window

My lips parted seem to fit

Goodbye my one true love

Goodbye my cigarette

Who stands with me when I’m broke

Who heals loneliness and regret

Who fogs my problems with plumes of smoke

Whose sensation I cannot forget

One last smoke by the window

My one true love: a cigarette

Nothing Tender Shall Pass

by Cam Reese

Her breath is like the ocean

The motion of the sea

And stormy waters shall subside

When its just her and me

And when our arms unfurl

And I leave at the break of day

I take those moments with me

Leave a part of me to stay

And when times get you down

And you need me and I’m not around

Remember my love so warm

Our souls beside underground

Immigrant Blood

by Cam Reese

I’ve worked in the plains and settled in the drylands
Farmed crops for low wages under the sweltering sun
Escaped from the tyrants who rule over Islands
And left my own home where I stared down a gun

Send money to my mother who lives on the prairie
Dwell in a hole with strangers in shared commission
We work in the heat until we die like canary
And our only crime was to live here without permission

Fist slams down with orders to send me back overseas
Woken by a predawn raid in the low rent tenement
Bussed to a city along with the other deportees
And vilified my entire life but I harbor no resentment

My body is torn in two like a political wishbone
Sacrificed everything for a future which lies ahead
Roam as a scapegoat in this land on my own
And I’ll work in the fields until the day I drop dead

Send my daughter off to school to be what I never could
Given a chance to succeed in the land of liberty
A dream deferred to her, a chance to make good
And to be judged according to one’s own ability

She Dances!

by Cam Reese

And lo she dances in the midst of the crowd. She is the only one in light, everyone else around her is an audience in shadow. She dances with beauty and with grace and she is an envy to behold. Her gilded coiffure spangles through the air as her feather feet step one, two and then three, four. And she dances and makes her pirouette and spills her drink with a charming laugh and nothing can make her stop. She has the eyes of every man and she dances, dances! And she will never retire. Her hands lance the air in a twirl to the sound of the song as her heels tap and tinker against the dancefloor and she dances and dances.

And the music will never stop, and the dancing will never cease but the tunes will rearrange, and the faces shall soon change. And before she knows it, she’s aged and aged beyond recognition and the dance has taken its toll. Her hips jilt and wilt and her heels shuffle slow and her elbows akimbo stabbing the air and she has lost all of the eyes. There she dances alone in the shadows, and she is no one’s favorite. Ridged and cold and jagged and stifff in a motion of a marionette discombobulated. She still yet dances and presents a vestige of her forlorn self, and her spirits dwindle, and she is sad, and she is soon become the beggar of company. She dances and dances, but she has to be told to exit the stage.

I’d Be Lying

Cam Reese (2017)

Don't treat people like they will live forever
I might smile and laugh just to fit in
Think about how your actions effect one another
Because you cannot tell how I feel within
I could tell you I'm fine and you'd believe me
I might say I don't care about the way you perceive me
But then again, I'd be lying

I like to tease and play but I don't mean no harm
You can tell my true colors when you see my smirk, see my grin
Sometimes I feel a sharp pain in my left arm
If life is a race I am not trying to win
One day I'll be gone and no more could you say to me
I might say I never wanted you to pray for me
But then again, I'd be lying

Burning Wings of Shades

Cam Reese

View the child,

He longs to leave the nest

Envy the wild,

The primordial soul without rest

The Father’s wings

Cast shadows to protect the boy

The Mother sings

Amazing Grace with tears of joy

Look at me,

I shall keep you as the apple of my eye

But yet he,

Plots his leave without good bye

O’er the land

The father says be not afraid

Sparks a flame

And he

Burns down those wings of shade

“Sins of the Past”

Cam Reese

If I was born today

I would not have felt that way

I held slaves from a foreign land

Ruled savages with cold command

Kept one thousand wives I could not stand

Dipped my son into the river’s band

And divided races drawing lines in sand

But if I was born today

I would not have felt that way

Am I a victim of what I was taught?

Tell me

What happens to those who hath forgot

When wheels of change are left to rot?

Remember me and let me be taught

Or let the sins of humanity be all for naught

For if our days of birth were shared

My tragedies birthed would not be bared

To look upon my life the same as you

Would bring me shame from your point of view

For I can safely say,

That if I were born today

I would not have felt that way

I Pray for You

by Cameron Reese

I pray for you every night

For the courage for the trial

For the strength for the fight

To be the flood to vast the Nile

To be the flame to cast the light

I hope to see you stand and smile

I pray for you every night

Measure your silence within a crowd

CG REESE

Measure your silence within a crowd

A bed that talks and talks

And talks much too loud

Shifting your eyes to eyes that look

A mass that gathers like a swarm of bees

And makes you regret leaving your nook

Fleeting glances and lingering stares

Do not panic – do not panic

Yes, they look but nobody cares

Fleeting thoughts of what they must think

To be ten feet tall and want to shrink

To be a flower and convince yourself you stink

To be a wink and long to blink

To be a thought and hate to think

To be so shy avoid the link

Yes, they roar and they roar much too loud

But you must measure your silence within a crowd

Lust and Desire

Cam Rhys

The cursed wonts of lust and desire

Of sin and lechery, I shall never tire

In war my soul has raged

Against an urge which cannot be caged

Fingertips cross the tip of the tongue

Of a nubile nymph so pale and young

Without that urge, the world would rot and waste

For pleasure cannot pleasure without proper taste

So to boldly guard against the spell to spread thy name

Is to tame a lust and master one’s domain.

Bored, Saturday

Cam Reese

White walls, rain falls, and no one calls

No lights, lonely nights, and Wuthering Heights

Back bare, blank stare, and I don’t care

Hope gone, moving on, and get the fuck off my lawn!

Truth be told, I’m getting old, and would like to find my place

But I’ve been told, to go for gold, and one day I’ll die in outer space

If I fold, my enemies who scold, will say that they were right

But I’ll never fold, I’m going to break the mold, and leave them in envy of my unequaled might.

The Ballad of a Bee on the Lam

By Cam Reese

Hey mister bee, get out of the rain

I don’t think your tiny wings

Can stand this terrain

You can dry yourself off, on my balcony

He said that he’d come if there’s room for three

Room for the rest of his family

I said, that’s cool with me, I could use the company

I waved them through and

They fluttered up to me

What’s a family of bees doing out of the hive?

He said that he’s been framed

And wanted dead or alive

He’s a bee on the lam, running through the rain

And he’s headin’ to Oklahoma

To live out a life on the plain

I fed them some honey, gave them a bed

Some rations for the road,

And in the morning, they fled

The next day, I got a knock at my front door

Two bees in police uniforms

Looking to settle a score

They said may we come in, we’re looking for a bee

He’s wanted for murder

And we know he’s guilty you see

I said yeah sure come on in, I got nothin’ to hide

Let me make ya’ll some tea

And they fluttered inside

They inspected my house, with eyes of scrutiny

And then they found what they needed

There was pollen on my balcony

They said, you were aiding a bee wanted for double homicide

And what’s this here?

A bottle of insecticide?

We’re taking you in, sir, to see our queen bee

And she’s a mean old bitch

Who doesn’t bend the knee

They took me in with them tiny handcuffs

Thrown into a jail cell

With the rest of them street toughs

I was taken to trial for the crime of abetting a bee

Who was running from the law

With his family

The Queen Bee stood tall, but not taller than me

I sat in a bee courtroom

The first of its kind in history

I saw the family of the victims, their next of kin

And to think I helped a bee on the lam

Like a wanted Mexican

And to know now that those bees weren’t even his fam

He kidnapped them

When he was wanted on the lam

The little bee prosecutor said with his coat and a tie

This man should be imprisoned

Just listen to him lie

He told the police he never seen the wanted bee in his life

He should have did the right thing

Instead he added to the strife

Just look at those kids who now grow up without their dad

See their tiny bee faces

They look so sad

This man should be in jail for helping to curve the law

He knew what he was doing,

This man is a dirty scofflaw

His time concluded and I was allowed to take the stand

The Queen bee yielded

And I tried to make them understand

Listen to me all of you and let me explain

I was just trying to help a bee

Who was standing in the rain

He said he was framed and I didn’t know what to believe

I am a good person and

Of these charges you should relieve

If it was any of you, I’d of done the very same

Because to go without shelter

Is a crying shame

I hope you too, would do the same for me

We can coexit, man and bee

Hand-in-hand in harmony

Let me help, the bee is headed north, and I know where

He said he was off to Oklahoma,

we can trace him there

The jury shed a tear and then rose and said,

This man is not our enemy,

He can lead us to the bee wanted alive or dead

So then, I phoned up the president, Good ole’ Sleepy Joe

I told him about a wanted bee

And he said, come on, man, let’s go!

He called up his generals and activated the troops

Wanted bee on the news,

Playing in 24-hour loops.

And with a little help, from the president and cable news

The walls were closing in

With not a place where he could snooze

And we all went searching, man and bee arm in arm

We found him at dawn

Under a pile of hay at a farm

He was cuffed up in May, tried and jailed in late July

Justice was served

In a dish sweeter than American pie

And then all the bees were happy, the families had resolution

There was a misunderstanding

Diplomacy was the solution

The president gave a speech and said “We captured that awful bee!

We can’t bring back the loved ones lost,

They’re in a better place you see

But we can all rest easy, knowing we got the bee on the lam.

And I love honey, man

It’s way better than jam.”

And then he left the stage, and I met the queen

She gave me a kiss

And said I’m the cause of this scene

Continue to help but you should think first

Be cautious of the needy,

Without assuming the worst

All this began, by helping a bee out in the rain

But not everyone should be helped

Just because they’re in pain

Now everything was cool, the hive was happy, thanks to me

But as I got up to go home,

I got stung by a bee

he past

by cam reese

leaves leave autumn trees when sprucing winds chill them dry but twas the same winds of july not in accordance to locale of sky which by and by grows shadows longer running down hills and hillsides capt of graves duffed with russet leaves waves and waves where man stands solitary holding flowers in hand plucked from earth’s hair where he waits above the love he lay to rest back when the same wind was not as cool and the leaves then were leaves now but some how they taste less sweet and one day soon those two shall meet again and again until he past

Playing with borrowed time

Skeletal and smoking

Reading on the toilet, smoking a cigarette

Looking out the window

Praying for rain for all the wrong reasons

Don’t answer that—

Need five cups of coffee just to go to sleep

Hands is pillows as clothes is sheets

Dreams that go as time too fleets

Eulogy for a childhood dreaming of days tofore

Effigy of an adulthood pining for days of yore

I walk the Stairs

by Kam Reese

I walk the stairs, I walk the stairs

Up to where I sleep and stay

I walk the stairs, I walk the stairs

Up to where I eat and pray

Truths and dares and thoughts and prayers

I walk the stairs, I walk the stairs

Up and down and to and from

I walk the stairs, I walk the stairs

Run and jump and beat my drum

Up the stairs and down the stairs

Sick of thy music whilst I hum

Up the stairs and down the stairs

I’m in and I’m out; dog whistle—dead dreams

Up the stairs, down the stairs

I’ll live and I’ll die; life’s never how it seems

A walk for one or walk in pairs

To do is to be; revolution—pick teams

Walk the stairs, walk the stairs

If I could destroy those stairs

And purchase me a pair of wings

I’d not destroy the course for there’s

Much ado unto princes and kings

For I walk the stairs, o Lord God, I walk the stairs

The same way up, the same way down

I walk the stairs to where I dread to be

But I walk the stairs because I’m meant to me

The dream from which I will not wake,

A dream come true by mistake,

This path I take, I did not make

The dream that's true, the world that's fake

A dream to dream and never awake

Roadmaker

Cameron Reese

Mason of stone, maker of road

Step forth the man of pride and code

To walk afoot bricks of yellow

No safer walk for a fellow

To pave a path for steps to take

Upon the road of stoneman’s make

Yet lost for years down river and stream

Found now the road of hope and dream

Putto in cloud looks on so proud

The abode at road’s end endowed

Though she hides behind gardener’s rake

A dream to dream and never wake

Break My Heart, Please

Cameron Reese

Break my heart, please, so I don’t have to love you anymore

It won’t hurt me, you see, because I’ve been down this road before

If you linger in my life too long, I can’t help but put you in a song

And if you say that you will stay, you know that I’ll never move along

Break my heart, please, so I can leave you in the dust of my memories

I won’t soon forget, you see, yours is a love kept within my heart’s treasuries

Slow Poison

by Cam Reese

(2015)

Slow poison,

Some people call it a medicine

Heal me slow,

I’m Earth’s unholy denizen

Goodbye world,

Looking to get lost on the road again.

Is it killing me slow?

Oh, hell, I don’t even know.

Rather a lifetime of sin

Than one bullet on the go.

I take a smoke with my coffee,

Put a single ice in my whiskey.

If I die today

Not a single soul will really miss me.

Where do we go when we die?

No one really knows.

Until then I’ll snort everything

That I can fit inside my nose.

There’s a pill that treats

Every mood in my day,

Doctor says I do this

Simply to get away.

But I told him:

If I could, I would quit this very day

Two roads… the same destination…

I’ll take the long way.

That’s slow poison.

Some people call it a medicine.

To my Mother,

by Cam Reese

When I was once cast into the pits

Of dwindling spirits

Next to the cries of angel’s death throes,

I was uplifted by a gracious hand

Of motherly tenderness

Who would not let me rest

Whereby a wicked spirit goes.

And I have never given any credence

To my mother’s detractors

Whose deriding crows

Fall upon my stubborn ears

Which have withstood

Throughout the years

Their slinging arrow blows

For me she has done the very same

When those who drag my name

Attempt to punctuate my woes

And her soul I’ll never betray

And in defense I’ll never stray

For eternity waits upon the heavenly meadows.

Cannot Take You With Me

by Cam Reese

No, I cannot take you with me,

I gotta go down this road alone.

I was sentenced to twenty years

But I didn’t stick around for very long.

I went running through the forest,

Running through the dead of night.

Those hounds are coming to get me,

I hear their barking, I see their light.

I hop a fence into a back yard,

I’m going to sleep right here until tomorrow.

When they all left, I split out,

Found some new clothes that I can borrow.

No, I cannot take you with me,

I gotta go down this road alone.

I gotta say good-bye to my sweetheart

But I ain’t got me a phone.

Paid a visit to my little girl,

I haven’t seen her since I went away.

Give me a kiss my sweetheart,

I can’t risk being here too long to stay.

But Theresa didn’t want her knowing,

That her daddy really wasn’t dead.

I’m sorry, honey, I can’t stick around,

Gotta long dark road ahead.

No, I cannot take you with me,

I gotta go down this road alone.

This bridge it has been burnt down,

Gotta find me a brand-new home.

Stole a car, I’m westward bound

Keep my head low out of town.

Traffic stops up ahead, police examining every man.

Couldn’t slip past or turn around

And this sure wasn’t part of the plan.

Federales looked me in the eye

And they knew I was their man

Lights flashed, guns sprang out

The whole crowd gave a big ol’ shout

They shot me dead, point blank in the head

And then there was no more villain about.

No, I cannot take you with me

I gotta go down this road alone.

Baby please remember what I said

Because this time I’m going on my own.

Portrait of a Woman

By Cam Reese

Have you ever been paid

Then lied to get welfare aid

Just to stay above even?

Sent your children to school

Been made to look like a fool

Because your husband said that he’s leavin’.

Racked up countless in debt

Living only to fret

What disaster might foil your schemin’

It’s easy to bleed

With your heart on your sleeve

It doesn’t matter the light you’re perceived in

Can’t bring a new man home

Can’t leave your kids all alone

You got to be home before eleven

“No video games past eight”

But mom, you came home too late

But it’s dad’s fault since he left when you were seven

Push the kids on the swing

Alarm bell doesn’t ring

Whoops, am I in Heaven?

Sleep in past noon

Make cookies, lick the spoon

And take the easy road wherever you’re headin’

Watch a new day dawn

When your kids are all gone

And loneliness is all that you’re left with

You call to stay in touch

But the kids never say much

One day you’ll be a part of their set list

The kids visit you

And suddenly you see it, too

That each and every life is so precious.

"At the Mouth of Death”

by Cam Reese

(written in a hospital bed)

I’m at the mouth

Of the gate

At Death’s doorsteps

I’ll crawl away

If I can.

I made it far

But not far enough

When I looked back

The gate was open

I never thought

Nor was I taught

That such a thing could fly in the rain

Until a winged angel came

To deliver me to where

I was supposed to

Went down on bended knee

Raised my hands to the sky and,

Asked not for

My soul in-body to flee.

Poisoned the flesh

Hath made wicked the soul

I asked the Father to

Remove the wool

Cast over my head.

One last chance

To say goodbye

To the father

Who buried his son

Before he could die.

I’m far now from the tongue

Of the mouth of Death,

Where wicked spirits deliver the young

But at one time,

I could smell its breath.

When You Draw, It’s a Win, Dad

by Cameron Reese

When you draw, it’s a win

For you not to draw, is a sin.

One day you put your pencil away

And said you’d never draw again.

But if you say, you’ll draw again someday

I ask: if not now, then when?

Because when you draw, you draw the envy

The envy of most other men.

Because when you draw, it’s a win.

Hopping with the Bird with One Leg

by Cam Reese

I was sitting in my car

At the gas station

Where my pockets took a punch

From the Biden-flation

And I was eating a corndog

With my feet kicked up on the dash.

My spirit bound to quit

and my flame had turned to ash.

Then a flock of birds flew by

One fell to me below

He was missing a leg

and he said “Hello.”

His left leg was gone!

Chopped off at the knee

Won’t you sing me a song

My little bird amputee?

Then we went hopping down the road on just one leg

I went hopping with the bird with just one leg

Hopping with the bird with one leg.

We went hopping in the road

Went hopping like a toad

Hoppin with the bird with one leg.

I asked him where he was from?

And what happened to his leg?

Then I took the stick from my corndog

And I made him a peg.

He said that it’s been missin’

Ever since he was born

But he puts a smile on his face

And says there’s no need to mourn.

But if I had a loaf of bread,

He wouldn’t have to beg

Because I see a part of myself

Inside the bird with one leg.

Because I know what it’s like

To be hobbling around

Sometimes I feel like a bird

With only one foot on the ground.

And I went hopping with the bird with just one leg

I went hopping with the bird

He didn’t say a word

Hopping with the bird with one leg.

We Live in Time

Cam Reese

We live in time

Morals are ever-changing

One day it’s the law

But the next day it’s a crime

Seats never stop arranging

There are those who chime

When the winds are changing

Many try to build a boat

On the drop of a dime

See the flood over the mountain ranging

“Life is like a video game”

Could not have been said before

We use the nomenclature of our time

Everything is still the same

But some people want it to be more

Try to punish the dead

But they tried their very best

It is easy to destroy

When anxieties lead you to dread

Let the weary spirits rest

We live in time

Unfortunately

Live up to the failed promises

Drudge up the doctrine from the grime

The future doesn’t rise exorbitantly

“America, the Grave of the Brave”

Cam Reese

America, the grave of the brave

Where once we stood as a beacon

We now wallow in a cave.

Our people are poor, won’t someone take our huddled masses?

Of our story, we’ve lost the plot,

For the wicked have indoctrinated the classes.

If history is nothing more than a story we tell

Caution of those who speak ill of the dead, for

The signs of fear tell of a road to hell.

We were once giants who fell from the sky unto the sands of a French beach

No place for fascists to run that they may avoid our mighty reach

The torch raised high with a doctrine to preach, our lady looked out to the sea

And in our homeland, every free man stands on guard of liberty

People pledging to the principles of the piety of our past

Perspectives on the precepts objurgate them fast

A perversion of preponderances not built to last.

And they sail with friendly flags hoisted upon their mast.

They deconstructed the tenements of our cathedral walls

Until it could not stand the scrutiny

And then the cathedral falls

False introspection is the vanity of an idle mind

Domestic decay is the devil who dressed up as your own kind

Take note of what they did to us, for they will surely do it to you

Lop their heads, make them soil their beds, and force them to kneel on the pew

There will always be a voice who shouts from the pulpit

Once you get the microphone grasp it and never forfeit.

Do not show compassion to those who wish to kill

Let not one battle go unfought and be willing to die upon any hill

One day there will rise another great nation

That is righteous and walks to the beat of its own drum

Whose ideas can withstand transcendental migration,

And walk upon the skulls with a whistling hum.

Though countless battles were won, and we ruled with an iron hand

Magnified were our minute flaws and subtle imperfections

By those who sought to criticize instead to understand

If you read this plea and its too late for us to save

Take up the noble cause of natural law

And remember the story of our land, the graveyard of the brave

Knee on My Neck

by Cam Reese

It’s getting hard to breathe with a knee on my neck

A lifetime of fear has left a lingering effect

People profiteering off another man’s death

Please remove your knee, I’m running out of breath

The ink of our blood dragged across the tip of their quill

People politicizing from the pulpit on the hill

The easiest target is the one that remains still

What’s right is right and we know its right

I need not argue with a shill

See my dead body dragged across the west lawn

Do not think of me as just a mere political pawn

I could have been a different man

If only life had continued on.

But before comes penitence, you may have to face death

And I can walk the seven circles without running out of breath

The lasting image of me is a sign of disrespect

Please remove your knee, I’m running out of breath.

how i feel inside

cam reese

I’m well-rested and tired

Life is out of focus

Thoughts carry no sway

I want to go away

Things used to be better

Does it ever have an end?

I can end it myself

I can no longer pretend

The words are dry

My mind is hollow

Next month is July

I only eat to stay alive

I watch my ceiling fan swirl

Around it spins

She reminds me I’m alone

In this filing cabinet called home

Can I think my heart to stop pumping?

Can I drive myself insane?

I’m driving on a one-lane

And my car won’t bade my command

I’m dying inside

Twisted like the clouds

Off the coast by a mad ocean’s breeze

Sitting under an apple tree

Waiting to die, waiting to die

I want to be alone by another person’s side

I remember when I used to cry

No longer do I possess the strength

Of this expanse, I’ve driven the length

But there’s more road oncoming

We Still Have So Far Yet to Go

Cam Reese

Do not be discouraged at the things we’ve yet to know
When the future appears bleak remember that
We still have so far yet to go

Rocket ships rise when imaginations left to grow
Visiting worlds far away where Table Mountains run flat
Do not be discouraged at the things we’ve yet to know

The negro reigns released but only a few hundred years ago
And the seat finally cold where Rosa Parks once had sat
We still have so far yet to go

Cures of crisis’ past seem like a distant woe
How far medicines made it since the days of a deadly rat
Do not be discouraged at the things we’ve yet to know

Pastoral plains of planets where things unseen yet grow
And Earth’s expansionist denizens must remember that
We still have so far yet to go

Mongers freeze where futurists seize and step over what is so

Stand up against the cynics when you hear their doubts in chat

Do not be discouraged at the things we’ve yet to know

We still have so far yet to go

Revive the Olden Days

a villanelle by Cam Reese

Two paths of lovers split and gone in separate ways

Whose shared history inspires the birds in flight

Converge once more and revive the olden days

The scorched stain blighted where once lover’s graze

Shadows of the remains obscured by a dour night

Relight the flame and keep thy spark ablaze

A love once raging yet still a lonely glow stays

Though faces change our spirit still shine just as bright

Converge once more and revive the olden days

Before you move on remember, her love a familiar maze

Whose paths you once walked with a light

Relight the flame and keep thy spark ablaze

A love where you always return despite the frays

Refuge for your soul, your essence guarded by my might

Converge once more and revive the olden days

We can rekindle a love lost yet never strays

Pick up the torch and do what destiny did not write

Relight the flame and keep thy spark ablaze

Converge once more and revive the olden days

Subterranean Homesick Blues (2023)

by Cam Reese

Sallys on Facebook

Spying on her boyfriend

Now she’s on tiktok

Lookin for a new trend

A baby eatin tide pods

Dancing for the tripods

Wifi, A.I.

Two jobs to get you by

Get cancelled, go to jail

Write a blog, you can fail

Look out kid

Your DMs aint hid

Zuckerberg knows everything that you did

You better delete all your old posts

Before the culture shifts the goal posts

Tinder date

Roller skate

College debt you can’t escape

Fifteen minutes of fame

And no one knows your username

Get sick, quarantine

Pay too much for gasoline

Rip the vape for nicotine

Binge the stream shows, buy some new clothes

You don’t need the weather app to know which way the wind blows

If I’d Written the Friends Theme Song

Cam Reese

Friends, friends, friends-friends, friends!

They help to teach you things that you don’t know

They’re the ones in your pocket wherever you go

And if you don’t know, then I think you should

I couldn’t ask for a better friend even if I could

They say you can’t pick your fam,

But you can pick your friends

But if you’re picking a friend,

Then you’re just playing pretend

They’re the people who think

The thoughts that you think

And the ones you raise one to

When you have a drink

Friends, friends, friends-friends, friends!

They’re the family you meet along the way

Rain, Rain, Rain

Cam Reese

Woke up in a sweat

And to the sound of the rain

Gloomy haze, white noise ears

Water pelting the windowpane

My mind is a fog

Around the room I race

Wetted walls waterlog my brain

Thunder cloud my pillowcase

Grey clouds all around

No shadows in my room

Waiting all day in bed

For good weather to resume

I’m so doggone tired, Lord

Can’t even crawl out of bed

And all this rain, rain, rain

Is in my head

I ain’t getting out of bed

Until this rain subsides

Flooded gutters and capsized dikes

Are where my mind resides

It’s been raining all night

And carried into to the next day

I slept for fourteen hours, Lord

Waiting for the rain to go away

Ceiling breathes in wet gusts

Water dripping from my roof

Closed blinds and window shades

They offer little proof

But I can hear the rain pelting louder

And the gutter guzzling water shed

And this rain, rain, rain

Is in my head

I hear the rain pouring

Without no end in sight

I’ve heard it rain all day

And slept with me through the night

I seek to see those sunny skies

And hope to catch a break of day

But these ceaseless sounds still spill

And this rain won’t go away

I found the strength inside

And stood tall through a will of wealth

And this rain is like a rumor

I have to see it for myself

So I opened up my window

To see the sun upon a cloudy bed

It has not rained a drop

And it’s drier than the plains unfed

Next time I hear the rain I’ll,

Ignore the sound that nature said

Because this rain, rain, rain

Is in my head.

I’ll Never Miss Jupiter

by Cam Reese

I’ll never miss Jupiter

Because I ain’t never leavin

The best part about this town

Is that it’s only really got one season

And its sunny out

Damn all the time

Don’t mind if I stay a while

Hangin out ain’t no crime.

I drive by the lighthouse every day

Is it even meant to help a boat?

Because if I lose my way

It guides other things that will never float.

And I’m chillin on down by the inlet

Drinking down a white claw

The folks here actin’ so ignorant

Emotions like a see-saw

And in just a-one day

You can really see it all

Unless you get stuck on Indiantown

At around five o’clock