As you have probably noticed, I have an affinity for writing about the dark and disturbing. Trauma and violence are where I often find my inspiration but poetry is different. I wanted to experiment with both the good and the bad, the light and the dark of the world. With so much destruction and chaos in the world, I thought it prudent to point the spotlight at some of the better aspects of humanity while still recognizing the atrocities of the past, present and future. “Scream” is a personal favorite and so I thought it best to be first in the list. While the inspiration for this poem was that of pure joy, research on the date and setting revealed the dark background that was WWII. In keeping with the tone of the photo, I combined the happiness and carefree nature of children with the realization that only a year before their country had been in the midst of war; a testament to humanities ability to overcome and move on. I put “Eagle to Gladiator” as my second poem to shift the view from global to personal. After revision, I thought it ironic to use my school mascots to play on the trauma I experienced as a child and that most people have experienced in their lives. Eagles are viewed as majestic and powerful creatures while Gladiators are seen as terrifying and violent; to have one transform into the other, in my opinion, speaks to the often traumatic experience of realizing not everyone can be trusted; a rather large downfall of humanity. My third poem “Death of a Vampire” speaks to the often harmful ideology that being dead is the worst possible thing that can happen to someone. I thought it would be interesting for the reader to see what it is like to find an end to suffering through death. Humanity has reached the point in evolution where many people can recognize and accept death as not being so terrible; whether an improvement or a setback is the question behind the last line. “The Unknown” is the fourth poem as a way to wrap up all the big ideas and introduce some news ones in relation to the previous three poems. This poem serves as a reminder and a warning that humanity still has a lot to learn about the world and our place in it, something we often forget. Lastly, I placed “The Pitbull’s Greeting” at the end as I wanted to take a look at humanity through the eyes of another creature, one that is often judged on its appearance, in order to see that humanity itself is diverse in people, culture, and label. But in the end, each and every human being has an affinity for good and the ability to help others. My Look into Humanity poetry series is a diverse group of perspectives on a complex population that, in the end,  isn’t all that bad.

Scream
All that was heard was a scream;
Manic screams and the rain,
the pattering of small feet
against the dark wet pavement.

The gushing of water
as it spurted from a hose
that made a tower of rain,
Driving laughing children away.

The war was now over;
There were no bombs 
or loud bangs
of Nazis entering houses
to drag people away.

There was joy
and cheers heard
with those small pattering feet,
as children played with a hose
Screaming in the street.

Eagle to Gladiator
I walked into a new school,
My old one closed and forgotten,
The tiles and desks all the same,
New friends, old teachers,
A game waiting to be played.

The playground was a mix
of the old and the new,
Flanders and Power, 
Eagles and Gladiators, 
The smell of the pines 
and the crunch of chipped wood,
The feel of cold metal,
A land of excitement and thrill.

But the bristles turned brown, soft and dead,
The stories became lies
my friends began to spread.
The wood chips scraped me,
My heart molted and dead.
My freedom taken,
Wings black and rotted.

Girl after girl, 
day after day,
I never saw it coming
All the fights and betrayals.
All the tears and the lies.
All the struggles to not die inside.

The school is not shiny
Its halls tainted blue
From Eagle to Gladiator.
From Kind to Cruel.
Alone in my armour
Now dead inside
Not everyone is a good person,
Not everyone is a good friend.

Death of a Vampire
I am alone.
A Child of the Night,
frantically searching
in the shadow of the dark.

I hide in the darkness.
The sun burning my eyes, 
avoidance of the light
to prevent the melting of my sight.

I am alone.
Trapped in my room,
hidden from view
And left to my thoughts of the light.

I live in disguise.
Covered head to toe,
my skin blends purple
peeling off in goodbye.

I am alone.
So tired of being alive,
I’ll venture into the sun
to become ash and dust.

I am alone. 
My skin melting like lava,
eyes graying with blindness
heart stopping from the light.

I am alone.
I lay dying in the street,
the medical autopsy will read
died of Xeroderma Pigmentosum.

How sickly sweet.

The Unknown
I don’t know
anything about anything
the list is so long.

I don’t know
why the creatures of the deep
have hundreds of pointed teeth.

I don’t know
why our planet rains water
while others rain glass.

I don’t know
how the panther plans its move
a calculating shadow of the night.

I don’t know
how creativity runs wild
alive in its own right.

I don’t know
where the dead wander
in the eternity of the afterlife.

I don’t know
where hatred comes from
its damage in plain sight.

I don’t know
who made the universe
a god or a crow?

I don’t know
who exists beyond the stars
little green men or their robotic counterparts.

I don’t know
what theoretical derivatives are
some ridiculous math I suppose.

I don’t know
what my existence means
am I even a living being?

I don’t know anything 
And yet here I still am
Scared of my ignorance.

The Pitbull’s Greeting
The pitbull wandered the streets
looking for people to meet.
It met drunk men and old geezers,
pretty women and grabby children,
Blacks and Asians and Navajo Natives;
infants in strollers and cats on leashes,
construction workers, teachers,
the local handyman and the dog catcher;
teens and tweens of all sorts, 
Goths and Jocks and Geeks by the dozen.
They followed the pitbull,
as it wandered the streets,
to a dirty, back alley box 
full of newborn puppies.