Trapped Awake

Know what it’s like to be trapped awake?

For days on end, hallucinate.

An immense strain upon the body

No falling asleep instead passing out

So damned exhausted one can’t count

Thoughts so jumbled as one mumbles

Can’t make sense of one’s own mind

Speaking to oneself, in search of a sign

Paranoid by now, covering all tracks

Forgetting by this time that sleep one so lacks

Beautiful Monster

Drawn and Edited by:  Randy Sturridge

Reaching and stretching, harder I try. 

Slowly, but surely,the farther I slide.

Chainsaws and bullets, I want you to die. 

Beautiful monster that lives inside.

Happy you make me, such a beautiful peak. 

Though never the permanent state that I seek.

Upward you take me, an invincible high. 

Beautiful monster, dare me to die...

Grenades and razors, and diesel fire. 

Beautiful monster, I slowly expire.

Those Who Mumble

Edited by:  Randy Sturridge

On days of respite we should so praise

The wrong decisions that are continually made

Why the conflict in positive grants

When so many kindred characters lose their stance

Times of strife bring about life

Preparing the gauntlet to restructure time

99 Degrees

Delirium Sets in consider it sin

Thirty minutes time and Ill be swimming again

Drivin with white knuckles

Cigarette Smoke Constant

Mr are you okay

Thanks for asking but no not today

Pissed off Putt me on a cross

Everything Colorless

Edited by:  Randy Sturridge

Clones of shattered youth are born

Evacuated shells of previous generations

Emotionless days and vacant dinner tables

Hard tiled floors of a cultureless nation

Perpetuating activism fighting for others

Bi-products of war and deaths of mothers

Speeches of yesterday drown out the skies

Propelling future hopes of past mentioned times

Everything colorless with senses so plain

Society forgotten with faith in nation deranged

Clones built on promises of better days

Slowly accepting all these shades of grey

Randy Sturridge

Toys Asunder

Drawn and Edited by: Randy Sturridge

Rapid descent unmasking tyrants

Boys of darkness cackle irrelevance

Pin cushions, broken dolls erase

Child play, on sunny fun filled days

Shadows deep with purple thick heat

Strengthening evil as all the good recedes

Cloaked in corners, drones of dirt

Mismanaged jigsaw, cork torn skirts

Thunder claps lightning, spider lit sky

Shrieking pointed ringing, heaven and hell collide

Swirl of grandiose masterful plans

Holding so close dangling mortals in hand

Psycho lured dwelling that emboss the weak

Raise them by flesh to rip apart and cleave

Randy Sturridge 

The Cautioned

Chorus of laughter breaks the silent night

Limping sensations drive desires wild

Pack of hyenas shriek laughter in want

Charismatic gestures influence their hunger

Scavenging hyenas seeking out goods

Vulturous rats slop want tongues that drool

Explore the premise of juking The Cautioned

They are so called for they’ve gone quite rotten

Empathy Void The Cautioned are feared

For all of their mysterious Existence these years

Disregard Warning Laughing hyenas engage

Letting long wants drive their masquerade

Nearer they are for rich smells grip the air

Hyenas shriek with lust seek in their Stares

The Cautioned positioned in no particular order

Alone by fire suddenly encumbered by less space

The Cautioned now stand they can smell the want

Hyenas snap bloodlust curses threatening the 

Cautioned to give up the purse

The Cautioned appear alert yet calm

Relaxing, then sitting with smiles all wrong

A great confusion stirs the night

Drawing out of focus the hyenas of night

Laughing erupts but from the cautioned so smart

Readying the feast caged hyenas with salt and small tart

Scavenging hyenas loot nothing this night

Laughing no more for The Cautioned Now Bite

Hyenas of want long tongues now sliced

To late to take warning as The Cautioned Take Lives

Randy Sturridge

Balance Measured

Prior to...

Run your mouth not thinking of others

Confused and surprised when you’ve angered another

Be mindful you must of what you say

If you’re not aware people are sure to hate

Rightfully so as you’ve said passionate things

That in some ears will only make them steam

Everyone has their right to believe

Whatever it is that they perceive

For you are no more righteous than they

Do not upset people with the things you convey

Pay more attention and mind perspective

If you disagree approach with balanced measure

Choosing right words mean all of the difference

In keeping or losing good friends from opinions

Remember this for all of your remaining days

That it matters to people the words that you say.

Result...

Point the finger call out names

Stir the clouds bring on the rain

Pick your poison fix right your sights

Break them down with all of your might

What did they do to suffer the brand

To become the subject by your hard hands

Confused, surprised you scream chords at them

You feel relief and tomorrow you start again.

Randy Sturridge

A Long Night

A girl of twenty puts down her phone

Suddenly realizing that she is alone

Thoughts race fresh with buzzing fear

No longer a joke, All to real

She sits so still on her bed

Not moving, in shock,

After a while she slowly rocks

Back and forth, going over and again

Alone, no money, half committed friends

Parents, brother, significant other

Yeah, time to give him a call

What will he say? What won't he?

New questions never considered

Sit with her while she rocks in thought

Three tests serve as confirmation

She knows a doctor appointment is in order

Verification, for reasons unknown

Of course the question came, and went

To keep or not to keep?

So easy to answer when it's not you

Keep.  She made the right choice

Knowing she just ended her youth

All the parties, kissing booths,

Gone, memories of blurry nights and ignorance

The future, is still there to hope for

She will see this...she doesn't right now

Right now, everything seems impossible

And it will, Ironic how she grew that night

All alone, making decisions, internal fights

A long night, a hard night, A bad sleep

Pregnant and lost, hope without defeat

Randy Sturridge

Come Back To Me

Give me a name, tell me I'm going to travel

Give me a purpose, so I don't unravel

The doors of direction have shut themselves tight

Hoping to secure happiness without having to fight

We begin, We end, We will never start again

A soul, nostalgic soul, I have it out on an errand

Return to me, My girl, Come and make it Better

Come back to me, lift me, light, a perfect feather

I need your love, it makes me okay to be

Gives me Purpose, purpose that I need

Without your face, your care, your touch

Life is nothing, patches of days so rough

We will never be together now that its over

We are a child in the patch looking for four leaf clovers

Alwaying wanting but never being able to embrace

The hope and happiness of living in past days

I am lost and you are free where ever did you go when you left me

My bed is empty, what about yours? Shadowy lives of hopeful discord

Come back to me, lift me, light, a day with a perfect feather

Come back to me, to live for hope or hell, just make it better.

Randy Sturridge

Who Am I

Artist: Randy Sturridge

Lets be honest with ourselves tried we have for three whole years

Never obtaining a moment of calm that's void of miserable thoughts so wrong

How many times must we explode before the answer and truths unfolds

Maybe were not meant for each other when t night in bed do you consider another?

I know that something has got to give cause this is no way to repeatedly live.

So tired and exhausted I've grown these few years

I make it a purpose to avoid how the mirrors stares

I'm no longer the captain at the helm Instead I'm a slave to a deckhand that yells

This very moment that I write these words I feel painful tingles from your hurtful words

I'm sorry you say every single day I always brush off the words and just say it's okay

I tell you now as sad as it feels that if this persists in only your memories I'll dwell

I will have to leave you for you are destroying me, I love you so much but I've had enough

How many chances does one person get, I've lost count of all the times I have chosen to forget

The lasting affects are taking their toll, pieces of me are now rotten with mold

I use to speak and command the room, now I can't wait to leave for my room

No longer positive or proud to be, I can't even remember what I use to see.

Genuine Construct

Never stop, never settle down

One step ahead, on safer ground

Lock the windows, draw the shades

Down with the lights…candles okay

Struggle a constant, picking my head

Must secure a solution unique and unsaid

Perilous days are all that remain

Evacuated majority wanted no more pain

Malicious mistreated revenge declared

Tattered remnants from societal warfare

A genuine construct novel and beyond

Electrical particles tested all wrong

Plausible admonitions cautioned to late

as ideas of wonder influenced rage

Disease took hold unfathomed in stride

Purging the land not a matter of sides

Who are the victims who are the foe

No sides declared just survive with the flow

randy sturridge

The Confident Man

For the confident man with his knees in the sand

For the first time in your life you feel rather bland

All of the treasures and all of your dreams

We have stripped from your soul or so it seems

you don’t have the answers, you  knows not the questions

you are no longer a teacher of life’s lessons

It happened so quick, with the crack of a whip

That all of your  confidence was crushed and stripped

Now’ you’re confused and afraid of the future

A psychological slash we’re sure can’t be sutured