“Icarus” by Eli Cuomo

How high can you fly before falling down
How low can you go before you don’t care
How insane are you before you’re a clown
How equal are you before you are fair

Why do we care what other people think
Why are we in a state of conforming
Why do we care if a man is in pink
We all want clothes we aren’t affording

We care about what others have to say
But that means we never think on our own
And there is a very big price to pay
For someone that is real down to the bone

Why do we do the kinds of things we do
Why don’t we do the things we want to

“Before Time” by Eli Cuomo

What was happening before the Big Bang
What was going on before everything
What was there before the infinite chain
The chain that made you, me, and Saturn’s rings

How can something never come to a stop
How can something always remain alive
How can something be everything but not
How can something always live and not die

What is the meaning of the universe
Is there something that we are all missing?
But we can’t find out – we are too nervous
The other side is much more fulfilling

Not knowing our beginning is our fate
And when we do know it will be too late

“Nothing Together” by Eli Cuomo

There is a certain joy in nothingness
And there is a certain bliss in boredom
But if you do nothing, what will you miss
If you stay inside, will you get more dumb?

Doing nothing forever means you’re dead
Doing nothing whenever is a treat
Doing nothing ever can hurt your head
A person’s life can never be that neat

If you do nothing with people you love
It is not boring at all – it can’t be
There is more to do than I can think of
You should try doing nothing, then you’ll see

But doing nothing is not fun alone
You need somebody else to feel at home

“off script” by Anonymous

i keep it inside
in a small little box
tucked away
i’m too scared to tear away at the wrapping paper
the paper lined with rape jokes and sluts and whores that have been so carefully placed there by my friends
i don’t want to open it
i don’t want to overreact
i want to take a joke
i don’t want to be annoying
so i keep it inside the box
i don’t want to stand up
i don’t want to cause a scene
i walk down the street
a hand
forms a skirt around me and i
i turn and i slap
and i wait and breathe and watch
the wave of reassurance rushing over me
the satisfaction
that i can stand up and i can open the box
let the creature rise, a whale breeching for air
as long as no one i know
is there to see it
but once i’m sitting in the room
with the red cups and the damp couch and the saliva stretching from the two kids mouths which is the
only thing they have in common
i overhear the conversation about the length of her skirt
slut bitch whore
i overhear fuck her so hard
hot tits ass
i overhear the jokes and the laughter like the shower running over your head and drowning your ears so you can’t hear anything else
and all i can do is sit there
and pull down my skirt
and roll my eyes, a smile stretching across my face, and laugh
cause i don’t want
to say anything
scared i’ll go off script
i don’t want to stand up
scared someone else will take my place