Keith Perks

remember your youth

Keith Perks — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:14:14 +0000

remember your youth.

when you stood for something.
when things,
important things pissed you off.
so much that you didn’t just fight back,
but you planned attacks.
you had an open mouth
with important words coming out.
you had a fist that slammed
down hard on subjects that mattered.
you were a shit storm of fire
and strength
and pride.

remember your youth.

when you cared about something.
you cared less what was on tv
and more about the music.
you read.
you dreamt.
you tried things for the first time.
and one more time just for the hell of it.

remember your youth.

when you laughed at the old
and swore up and down you’d never get that way.
you would never slow down.
you would never grow old.
you would never grow up.
or give in.

remember your youth.

when you cared about everything,
but could give a fuck less
about anything.

remember your youth.

it’s not so far behind
that you can’t grab a bit of it again.

-k. perks 2010

until next year (will i find you again?)

Keith Perks — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:09:34 +0000

where did it go?

i feel like i didn’t even leave
yet here i am and the end of it all
i don’t think i even got settled
and i’m back at the desk again
in the grind again
stuck again

where did the streets go?

i hear the music we played
that led us away
and i can almost feel
that feeling of freedom
but it’s faint
and it’s fading

i’ve been chasing it
and maybe i didn’t reach
far enough
or hard enough
and i can barely see it now
and that chance is now left behind

until next year

-k. perks 2010

we won’t fade

Keith Perks — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:04:38 +0000

sometimes far away isn’t far enough
and wherever that is
i want to take you there
there are no maps
i know that much
we just have to keep feeling our way through
and we’ll find it
with windows rolled down
and burning blacktop flames beneath
we’ll scorch the streets
with our engines running high
like horses stampeding under a rusty hood
we’ll aim south
and the stars
all those stars
they’ll wish on us
because we’ll burn brighter than they ever could
we’ll light the skies and make the moon mad
and we won’t fade baby
cause things like us can’t

-k. perks 2010

vanishing

Keith Perks — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:02:58 +0000

there’s only kind interest
and polite questions
yes men and yes women
offering only
what you’d like to hear

i see it in their eyes
they only care a little
because they are preoccupied
with their tv
their couch
their punch in punch out
nine to fivers
they are weighed down
with contentment
held back
by arms of the ordinary
in love with the standard
coddled by the constant

they stopped fighting it all
something happened
to make them give up
and now they are polite and kind
because they know no other way to be
unchallenging
unable to notice
and tolerable
complacent
and vanishing

-k. perks 2010

there wasn’t much

Keith Perks — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:16:29 +0000

i don’t know if it’s laziness
or happiness,
but i haven’t written
in a while.
i hope i haven’t
lost my touch.
(if i even had one
in the first place)
trust me,
i’ve had just as much to say,
but not the time or need lately
to say it.
i’ve been busy
and that tends
to make me happy.
(i write better when sad)
and in the down time
i have been a bit lazy.
but i haven’t stopped thinking.
just the other day
i had a few moments
and i thought to myself,
if i could write
right now,
what would i have to say?
and just like now,
there wasn’t much…..

-k. perks 2010

more bad than good, but that’s ok (i tried)

Keith Perks — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:16:02 +0000

i keep having this dream
that people keep telling me
that i don’t belong
and it’s not so much a dream
as it is reality
and they don’t say it
so much as show me
which hurts even worse
because being ignored
is worse than words
because atleast they’re
talking to me

but maybe they’re just mad
because i’m open
about all things
the good and all my bad

and some of the bad parts
i think they wish they had
because what they call
the bad parts
aren’t so bad
they’re just the ones
that showed i tried to live

we all know
the ones with only
the good parts showing
are full of shit anyway

-K. perks 2010

well worth the wait

Keith Perks — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:14:58 +0000

there are times.
there really are.
when all beauty
shows it’s face.
when all beauty
falls into place.
and the liars
and the bastards
and the pricks
and the fakes
are nowhere to be found.
they grumble behind hope
as the grey clouds vanish.
they run and hide
from the light.
and if for only a few moments,
the grass is the greenest
it will ever be.
and the sun is so bright,
but not so bright
that you can’t stare
straight into it.
you feel it’s warmth
on your face.
and you smile
with your new strength
and you stare through it
to a heaven
you forgot about.
and it’s not like a heaven
with clouds and angels
and gods and stars.
it’s a heaven of peace.
of knowledge.
of calm.
of just simply
the acknowledgment
of the moment you’re in
and the knowing that
this moment won’t last.
and it’s ok.
and you’re ok.
because when the liars
and the bastards
and the pricks
and the fakes
make there way out again,
as you know they will,
you know deep inside
as the sun starts to vanish
and that momentary
and comfortable heaven fades,
sometime in the future
this moment will happen again.
and you know
it will be well worth the wait.

-k. perks 2010

once

Keith Perks — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:12:33 +0000

there was a girl once
but there was a guy once
and i was sick once
and that guy wasn’t

for that girl
opportunity knocked once
and she opened the door

even though i got better
a part of me died
once i learned she wasn’t there

however i grew up once
knowing you can’t
fight two battles at once
and the one i fought
was the bigger of the two

and i met a better girl once
who keeps her door closed
locked
with me inside

-k. perks 2010

dumb dog

Keith Perks — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:12:00 +0000

like a dumb dog
returning
to the hand that once fed
that still beats
returning
others have turned away
but like a dumb dog
i keep going back
remembering
that this was done before
said before
but in different ways
games similar to fetch
here’s the love
go find it
and bring it back
returning
like a dumb dog

-k. perks 2010

Keith Perks — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:11:38 +0000

simple things
are the most important
i don’t care what anybody
tells you
right now i’m thinking about
driving up and down streets
with summer winds
blowing on my face
sand between my toes
and sweat dripping down my back
there’s a freedom in those streets
they are so far away
yet they are closer than home
i am free there
more than i will ever be here
and it’s not for lack of trying
those small moments
they need to be more often
driving slow
up and down southern streets
with shoulders that are up
just a little bit more
head back almost proud
and a smile
that only those streets
bring me
i find happiness
in those small things
and i want them more

-k. perks 2010