Some ponderous thoughts I had at an ungodly hour of the morning based on a few lines that stuck in my head and were allowed to evolve into this. And a few more new adjustments. 

They tell us life is preordained,

Set along a railroad track,

Rigid

Undeviating

Constant motion toward a common goal.

We spend our first months caged in a body,

Our first years watched and guarded.

Then 16 spent in classrooms, learning traditions and rules.

Another 4 and we’re ready to face their world.

This means that we spend 40 years

Caged behind flimsy walls,

Cubicles they’re called,

Or offices,

Suffocating, to staunch the trickle of creativity

Left through all the years of socialization.

Pink for girls, blue for boys,

A rigid system of rules,

Anesthetizing us,

Statues, stood in their place,

Pieces on the societal chessboard,

Like punctuation in a poem,

Carefully cultivated.

No!

Life is spontaneity

Life is rebellion and creation,

Flying without a plane on Icarus’ wings.

Life is falling headlong toward the sea,

Screaming with exhilaration,

Laughing at the absurdity, at everything.

Life is creating, and failing, and trying again,

Stepping onto a creaking limb.

Life is dancing in the midst of a blizzard,

A rainstorm, defiant and free.

Life is not simply believing what you hear

From approved “reliable sources.”

Life is discovering the answers for yourself,

Making assumptions

Conjunctions

Decisions

Connections

Deviations

Conclusions on your own.

It’s like travelling to a different country,

You have the wrong currency,

Use the wrong verb,

Try something with a name you can’t pronounce.

Adventure’s in the blood,

Wanderlust in the heart,

The unquenchable thirst for knowledge electrifies the mind,

Adventure

Excitement

Discovery

Inevitable embarrassment,

Yet confidence regardless.

Life is creation, crafting

Throwing paint at a canvas, or leisurely strokes.

Matching words in a poem

Or letting them flow from your fingers

With no rhyme or rhythm

Except the one that beats in your soul.

It’s singing a song from the depths of your lungs

Extemporaneously,

Nonsense

Recklessness too.

Stifle the quavering fear in your heart

They’ll never see

They can’t comprehend

Rebellion’s a sin

Deviation a crime unpardonable by society’s conventions

Talent’s for the dead, the artist killed by criticism

They say we’re all talentless fools,

Wasting our lives on an unattainable dream

Which they tell us to follow

As long as our dreams fit inside their parameters.

We should have stayed on the rails.

I know what I am and don’t care what is said,

Talent isn’t necessary.

I’ve words in my head, in my fingers and heart,

And they itch and yearn

To be penned on the corner

Of a tax return sheet,

A History text,

A crumpled napkin,

Along with the doodles I can’t control.

Life is stretching my skin,

My soul longs for release,

To fly, unhindered into space.

To dance with the stars

Explore nebula and unknown worlds.

This sphere is a cage and an opportunity

For the only freedom my mortal being can attain.

We are human

It’s in our nature and blood to create

To deviate

To question the norm

Mores are made to be broken

Conventions uprooted

Traditions and patterns interrupted

What use is life if we plod heedlessly

Down the established path?

Tear off the chains of obscurity

And crash through the metaphorical woods

Breaking paths of your own

Through the thorns of convention

Where contrition and obligation

Tear at your skin

Poke at you mind

And wheedle into your heart.

There’s a life out there, not careless and free

But choking with opposition

Condemnation

Prejudices

Disapproval

Persecution

A hurricane of negativity.

But there is nothing in this world,

Aside from up above,

That I have found worth living for

Than having a life well lived.

A life well loved, even if only by me,

A life well used and run.

Life is short, a handful of years,

And we start our own race late.

Every day is an opportunity

For adventure,

So take it,

And live life creatively.

Live life free.