There are ghosts in your spine
Created from that which came before
Thoughts I once called mine
I take full ownership of no more
We are agreements between elements
Negotiations between factions
Maybe influenced by environments
Leading to actions and reactions
Embrace the us in all of us
Make plural the royal we
Are my envy, hate, or lust
Just a war of ghosts within me?
An engine of looping thoughts
A walking talking analogy
Ghosts maneuvering for position
Wishing it to be their eyes that perceive and see
Gene G. McLaughlin 2019
Tag: Evolution
Devil In The Details
The devil is in the details
Yet God is found in the mistake
And the best laid plans of man pales
To when evolution and conditions awake
Gene G. McLaughlin 2016
I Think Our Eyes Are Aliens
I think our eyes are aliens
Our ears the souls of snails
The nose a mermaid’s mouth
Our tongues the whiskers of whales
Us which came and combined together
Willed ourselves to become one
To think, to feel, to perceive
For promised aware enlightenment
Of which it turned out there was none
The promise was a temptation
A ruse, which came to deceive
Now our minds burdened heavy with consciousness
And a past choice for which
Our combined evolved hearts do grieve
Gene G. McLaughlin 2015
Ouroboros
The world tries to hollow me out
I respect the world’s prerogative
Its capacity for the positive endless
Its pursuit of the negative flawless
It’s ceaseless attempts to consume
The I, the who, the whom
Tracking ruthlessly on my scent
Form of
Food, taxes, utility bills and rent
On the worst of days
I drift away
Most days I just sway
Starting to protest, to say . . .
but I know the snake knows anyway
The devouring serpent
Is aware of
It’s destiny
Soil
And oil
And meat
Becoming that
Treading
Beneath our feet
Today though
I am half swallowed
Head turned toward the sun
The snake and I as one
I do not face the snake
Making the bastard wait
Gene G. McLaughlin 2015
An Ancient Ruthless Language
I do not want to be bitter in the end
DNA is an ancient ruthless language
That which is encoded to be aware
Is encoded to decay
Awareness an advantage
An evolution
Sometimes a difficulty
As the world spins
Bitterness would indicate regret
Which is purchased
And is sustained
By the illusion
That self-determination guided us
Yet the options we have
Are small, but meaningful
Such as the choice of bitterness
About the fate we are dealt
Or
Acceptance of that which blocks our path
And shall never move
To find meaning in stillness
To find peace the inevitable
Gene G. McLaughlin 2015
Need Is The Driver
For the world to be off the rails
It would have to have had them
Need is the driver
There is no Lego playset
Just selection
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Evolved Not Granted
Kindness and empathy exist
Without us inventing them
Traits evolved
Not granted
Lessons learned
Over millenniums
Not centuries
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Live Your Life In Light – A Secular Prayer
Live your life in light
The shadows should only
Be occupied of your own choosing
Live your life in love
The limits should only
Be applied of your own decisions
Live your life with imperfections
Their existence only
Acknowledged by your own determinations
You were sanctified by evolution
You were sanctified from the start
You were sanctified by no ones decision
You are sanctified in whole or in part
Live your life in light
Live your life in love
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
We Came Down From The Trees, Then We All Stood Up
Came down to ground
Now we’re standing up straight
Walked on our knuckles
Now we stride and strut with a gate
Took slowly to taking
Decided to take up writing
Gave up on tails and fur
But not on all the fighting
Some say that some
Should stand straighter than others
But I ain’t see a one
That’s less monkey than another
Some say that some
Go by a different set of rules
But once we started standing up
We were nobodies fools
All I really know
Is that if you are my friend
Than you ain’t gonna to tell us
We don’t have the right stand again
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
The Tech Will Not Be Denied
The tech will not be denied
It keeps its own pace and company
You can hear it in the past
The sound von Neumann heard
In the back of his mind
The hum Turing felt
At the base of his spine
The spark the chimp saw
Pounding walnuts between stones
The ones and twos of it
The spiderwebs of it
We stride next to it
Because we are of it
We tell stories
To mask the data
Narratives to help
Ease through our days
Those who face the light of it
Move us forward
To something different
That is still yet us
The tech will not be denied
It moves without consent because it is us
We are its company and its raison d’etre
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
