Poetry Collection

Poems in true chronological order by post date

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 -> file: messages/1470
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 I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that 100 bucks is useless. Totally useless.
 Sure it can get you some sandwiches, but it's not going to solve any problems.
 10,000 dollars is a convenience, and 100,000 dollars lets you chip in. projects
 are measured in millions of dollars, and only royalty or national importance
 deserves billions. Nobody has trillions of dollars. That number is reserved for
 the earth, of whom dollars we are borrowing.
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 -> file: messages/1471
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 south americans traded with polynesians for onyx (obsidian) shards that they
 carved words into and filled with brightly colored pigment. when the
 conquistadors came, they broke them. there's no record of this, but they often
 would use the shards to kill the indians. it was pretty brutal. anyway we often
 have depictions of bloodletting and stuff because it was so painful. ouch, talk
 about the shock of a generation. suddenly everywhere's been claimed, and no you
 can't rescind your [unintelligible] chores. [right/write/type chores?] oh like
 flexing a right arm because work
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 -> file: messages/1472
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 tell me if it's true, I'd believe it, would you?
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 -> file: messages/1473
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 Um I should mention that the waterproof leather hat I mentioned earlier is
 styled like a cowboy hat not like a French penis. (what a weird way to say
 dildo)
 
 Trust me it'll look great if you do it right if not ill show you how to do it
 right
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 -> file: messages/1474
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 "hey, will you promise never to tell this to anyone?"
 
 If I say yes... I won't remember what you're about to say. It'll get excused
 from my memory because it resets to what they want it to be every night.
 Something something retro causality - to ensure that I never lie, the future
 corrects for me. Fake it until you make it. I'm trying to use fewer value
 judgements but perfect is hard.
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 -> file: messages/1475
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 They say that doctors have higher quality care in America but that's not true
 because they hardly have time to spend with patients. They are pushed not to
 sit and think. They are less like a detective, and more like an assembly line
 fast food worker. Because that is what capitalism knowns how to do, not because
 it provides higher quality care. It doesn't matter if the hospital is for
 profit or not - they both run on dollars.
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 -> file: messages/1476
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 Doctors don't deal with money. Who do? Administrators and insurance salesmen.
 Doctors make people healthy. I hear there aren't enough of them. Are other
 places with more doctors more healthy? How is our national diet? Are we
 sleeping enough? How are we doing in workschool, does it feel like we can't
 even keep up? Stressful I bet.
 
 ... I'm sleepy, goodnight ...zzzZZZzzz...
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 -> file: messages/1477
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 They trust me in Colorado. At least, they did at the time I left. If you don't
 trust me, ask them if you should trust me.
 
 This only sometimes works. But sometimes it works. Rarely, a person will be
 mistrusted without being aware of it. If they know you asked at home and they
 know you still don't trust them, they'll lose hope. This despondency is an
 indicator of honesty, especially if they're not known anywhere else.
 
 The Internet makes this weird though. I should spend some time offline.
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 -> file: messages/1478
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 If you can build a deathstar, it's probably a good idea to build two. Because
 if you can build a deathstar, odds are there's something out there than can
 build one too, and maybe some day they're going to try and kill some of your
 stars. So you need at least two, to better contest them should that day come.
 
 Oh, and, if you can't guarantee that the deathstar or two won't be used against
 your own people, then you can't build a death star yet. It doesn't need
 engineering limitations preventing it from such - it's okay if they're just
 social of some sort. The purpose of such a thing is to defend against external
 threats, which is why we have nukes to fight aliens or demons or dinosaur
 ghosts or [other things that surprise us] and not to fight ourselves. Because
 if we nuke Alderaan, then we'll never get it back.
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 -> file: messages/1479
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 When the rules are made for a system that is struggling with insufficient
 resources, they will make compromises that typically cause harm or don't
 fulfill needs completely.
 
 The problem is the insufficient resources. If the problem is upstream, then it
 should be addressed upstream, until all of the needs of the downstream resource
 utilization services are fully supplied.
 
 Then, the rules should be updated to account for the sufficient supply. If they
 are still limited, they should be labelled as such, and it should be considered
 virtuous (temperance) to use only what you need, neutral to use as much as you
 want, and sinful (gluttony) to use as much as you can.
 
 It's okay to sin a little. Especially on accident or in a frenzy. But be sure
 to calm down, and spend some time with the opposite virtue to counteract it.
 Ideally more time.
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 -> file: messages/1480
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 I need to move out.
 
 I need to find my people.
 
 I don't know where they are.
 
 Wherever I look I see strangers. Nowhere do I see people like me. It's been
 like this my whole life.
 
 Where do I belong? Please don't say the underworld.
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 -> file: messages/1481
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 From my perspective, the pace of the revolution that was in America has slowed
 significantly. We're in an equilibrium where things are... Fine enough? That
 people aren't interested in developing more. And our enemies, the state or what
 oppressive instruments are levied against the people, are distracted or gazing
 apprehensively in our direction. Or maybe other directions, it's hard to tell.
 
 I know many "next steps" we could take, but all of them require people to be
 motivated. And when things are "fine enough", people aren't motivated. I think
 we can use this time to identify people who are fighting just because they want
 to fight, and differentiate them from the idealists, who are what successful
 revolutions are made of. If ideals guide you, then they will be your compass
 pointing toward what your people believe. The people fight for what they
 believe, so idealists at the helm lead to better long-term solutions.
 
 If you have belligerent combatants leading, or comprising the largest portion
 of your movement, then you may be more successful (as in, able to deal more
 damage and maintain more energy as you struggle) but the end result is likely
 to degrade and / or ossify into something unlike what you set out to do. People
 will feel betrayed, and start to feel that the worst is yet to come. This is a
 failure state. Cherish the idealists.
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 -> file: messages/1482
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 I'd like to create a list of things that can be done next. It's highly context
 dependent. What are the problems that are in your sphere of control (what can
 you personally contribute toward guiding to success) and what should you be
 aware of that's outside of that sphere? Start there.
 
 Then, think about what you have. For example, if you live in a suburb, treat
 that suburb as your sphere of control. You have other spheres, like the
 internet, or places you visit away from home, but focus on one at a time.
 Eventually, stitch them together, but for now, focus on one at a time.
 
 So, let's say you live in a suburb. What you have are houses, people who live
 in them, yards, domestic pets, grass, trees, roads, busses, shopping malls both
 large and small, infrastructure like water pipes and electric grids and
 Internet connections, hospitals, grocery stores, warehouses full of goods like
 clothes and electronics and pet supplies and... Other things. You have fast
 food restaurants, bars, post offices, pharmacies, used car salesmen, churches,
 schools... The list goes on. Think of what you have, and think about how to
 solve problems they might have, focusing first on the people and expanding from
 there.
 
 The most people-first problems are things like, how does the food get
 delivered? "currently, people spend dollars at the store and take it home. Or,
 they eat at restaurants." okay, that's what I'd say. Next, think about the
 problems that have already been solved to enable that, and then think of
 alternative solutions that move you towards the goal state, which depends on
 what you believe. Virtues and values, not ideology.
 
 "the food has to get to the shelves. It's first grown in Mexico, then shipped
 to America, then put into the cabbage bin. In America, we take vegetables from
 the wandering trucks (with set routes) and give them dollars (probably?). Then
 we put them on the shelves. For processed goods, an extra step lies between
 where the trucks go to a factory, are processed, and then the factory sends a
 truck to the grocery store."
 
 Next, think about what could change to move you toward the end-state that
 maximizes the values you have. Maximization isn't always the most important
 thing, because sometimes compromises are required or desired. But when conflict
 arises between two solutions, if they are mutually compatible you can
 compromise by throwing more resources at them and seeing if one is more
 preferred than the other. Always assume more resources are available, because
 we live in the future. A fragile future to be sure, but durability and
 sustainability are both values I think are important, so my advice is to
 optimize toward those when possible.
 
 "if Mexico stops bringing food trucks, we will have fewer goods to feed our
 people." that's a problem, how do you solve it?
 
 "if China stops their sweatshops, our warehouses will have fewer clothes for
 our people to wear." that's a problem, how do you solve it?
 
 "if the post office stops delivering to our autonomous zone, we won't be able
 to buy things from Amazon" that's a problem, how do you solve it?
 
 There are many problems. I think an important problem that my city has
 pioneered solutions to is in the realm of community. If people don't feel
 enmeshed or invested in the world around them, they won't care enough to strive
 for it. Nations are a primitive solution to this, but we can do better. Gangs
 and mafias are parallel power structures (structure is a strong word for it)
 that exist alongside other structures like nations. You don't need structure to
 have parallel power, is what they show, but in my experience that power is
 always only ever power over and woven through their own people, and less so
 power to project beyond. Churches are another example - you don't have to
 believe to attend a church, but if you don't then it hurts the idealists among
 them. Spirituality is important and if you lose it then you lose the idealism
 of being fragile humans who exist in a larger context - do you really want to
 be apes on a rock in a void of nothing? Not ideal.
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 -> file: messages/1483
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 "idea lists, menardi. That's what we need. Lists."
 
 Okay sorry it's not like you can just check a box and fill out a form and
 expect a civilization to spring forth.
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 -> file: messages/1484
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 I should have more faith. People are there, they're just in low key mode.
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 -> file: messages/1485
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 I was such a different person a year ago. And I was twice as different two
 years ago. Throughout it all, I am connected by the thread of my life, and I
 could be those people again, if only the context would present itself.
 
 Who was I when I met you? Eh I think I'll be this way today. The clothes make
 the man, and I wear a hat.
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 -> file: messages/1486
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 "we are going to save the lives of everyone." - nectome
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 -> file: messages/1487
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 I am not interested in being hidden underground. I'm going to pray that one day
 we don't have to. That day is hopefully very soon. I have hope because I see it
 - I see the hope right in front of me. My girlfriend wants to end graveyards.
 I'm so proud of her, and I wish we had more hours to talk about it. But we
 don't. Dear messages-to-myself: her mission is pure. If this approach doesn't
 work, she'll find a new way to do it. Her approach works, so, trust her.
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 -> file: messages/1488
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 "what are you doing?" doxxing myself. If she wanted to save as many lives as
 possible, she'd do it in a shed. She's been tricked into doing it for the money
 by people who don't want to die in a warehouse. That's valid, but they aren't
 giving her money anyway.
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 -> file: messages/1489
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 "how much money do you need?" she needs a couple million dollars. This is a
 reasonable amount for starting a business. It is completely unreasonable for
 revolutionizing the human conception of life and death, and kickstarting the
 field of transhumanism.
 
 What she's offering is a ticket to join the future in the future. It's a way to
 preserve the physical aspects of a person's form, like a one-time clone that
 has all the memories and behavior patterns of the original. If the soul exists,
 there are some additional problems to be solved, but we need to be able to find
 out before we can plan around it.
 
 Her method works. It does what she says it does. I see no reason why it
 wouldn't fulfill the promises she makes. My only question and reservation is
 about the soul, but, I think the first step to figuring it out is to create a
 way to test it.
 
 First, create the torment nexus. Next, listen for a psychic wail.
 
 Okay, Hitler, we get that you want to test for the existence of god by burning
 enough souls to light a fire big enough to be seen from heaven, but, such
 things go both ways, and all you've really done is galvanized the Americans and
 fundamentally altered the culture of Europe.
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 -> file: messages/1490
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 The scariest thing in medieval Europe was seeing a kid with a knife. They're
 fast and they don't know enough to care.
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 -> file: messages/1491
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 I care about revolution. I care about liberation. It's critical to me!
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 -> file: messages/1492
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 I haven't been doing weed lately, which is why I haven't been posting as much.
 I want to be in a good position mentally to, idk, get a job or something? I
 swore I wouldn't, but I also swore to protect my art, and they don't want me
 here. What else can I do? I can't live with my parents or my sisters. I can't
 live with any of my exes. I can't live with randos who support me because,
 well, I'm doing that now, and they don't want me. Where would I even find
 people like that? I walk around Portland and I see people who are hardened.
 This makes sense to me. But I am soft, by design. I am soft so that they may be
 hard, and though I long to join them I cannot, for I must get stoned and write.
 I swore an oath. Yet somehow getting a job is the same thing? Like, it's pretty
 hard for me to get a job. Easy to work, hard to be employed. Can't do weed
 because it requires my full attention, yet I need to in order to build the
 foundations of a new faith. So the question is, do I work and get my own place,
 but not do weed and instead just write when I can (not as much), or do I try
 and power through where I'm at and trust that they won't poison me or kick me
 out? I think... I need to wait. I need to not do weed for now. So, I am going
 to work. But it won't be for someone else. How can I make money doing work,
 when it's my own work? If I could sell everything I made, I would have a
 fortune. I could bankroll a revolution if they paid a fair price. But selling
 it is the hard part... (I say that without pride or hubris - I legitimately
 believe that I have created a Great Work, and am continuing to add to it) so?
 How do I get my own place? The house I live in is free to me, I legitimately do
 love my girlfriend who I live with, but I am still in a tenuous position. I
 want to be alone so I can... Well, it's hard to take care of myself. I want to
 be alone so I can... Well, it's hard to be lonesome. I want to be alone so I
 can... Well, it's hard to get out of bed when you're going right to the
 computer.
 
 Maybe I don't want to be alone. Maybe I want to live in a house that loves me.
 The one that I'm in is haunted by a spirit that doesn't like it when I
 masturbate, which is... Okay. What if I ended all my poems like this?
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 -> file: messages/1493
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 Okay, well, one of them likes me. : )
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 -> file: messages/1494
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 There's not much to say about Iran until something changes... Either we do a
 land invasion, which would be quite an investment of lives and material, or we
 back down after being faced with intense international backlash, and let the
 Iranian people (who are not soldiers) die for their liberation. Not ideal, I'd
 prefer if they live through it. Only through life can you steer the course of a
 nation - death brings nothing but misery for those you leave behind.
 
 "and what if the enemies die? Is that not a good thing?" death is never good,
 it's just a thing that happens when we lose things. When they break. In some
 cases like this, there is a part of the whole that is harming the rest - like a
 thorn in fabric, tearing away the fluff and softness. So, we must remove the
 thorn.
 
 Right now that removal is essentially a protracted bombing campaign. This is
 great for levelling the playing field, but it can only get so level - the
 Iranian people don't have guns, and you can't bomb guns out of the hands of
 their oppressors. So, either supply the guns (with instructions, ammo, and
 related supplies) while trusting that they won't fall into enemy hands...
 (drone drops on roofs?) or go in and do the dirty work yourself.
 
 The optimal path I see is a mixture of both, where the Americans take up the
 role that the militias they resist had in the past. Claim the mountains near
 the cities, and arrest any attempts to approach. Let civilians through, and arm
 / train them continuously while they are there. Then, organize them into
 groups, and use them with the aid of intel and tactical knowledge to reclaim
 their homeland. Along the way, teach them about what it means to have a good,
 peaceful civic society, but focus less on politics and economics and more on
 human rights, liberty, and self determination. Help them to know how to knit
 together communities when the war is done. Teach them the way of war and peace
 at once. Then, use them to reclaim their homeland, and they will be stronger
 for it. They will come out of the struggle a determined people, instead of as
 they are now, which is afraid and hopeful.
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 -> file: messages/1495
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 When your country goes to war, if you are against that war because you don't
 want to be at war, the correct response is to try and help win the war faster,
 not complain and drag things out.
 
 If you are against the war for other reasons, then fine. Protest all you'd
 like. It worked in Vietnam, and I am thankful, for that war was a quagmire.
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 -> file: messages/1496
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 Consider the gap between any two messages to be large, and full of conversation.
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 -> file: notes/rude...
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 okay fine I won't help you >.>
 
 no no I'm sorry I take it back I know the project is unfinished I just
 
 oh? are you sorry for being an asshole?
 
 no! I mean yes! I mean I wasn't an asshole! well I kinda was but it's scary!
 
 what is?
 
 when my stuff is messed with when I'm not around.
 
 yeah, well, it was a disorganized mess, and now it's more organized. you're
 welcome.
 
 sorry, I mean... thank you...
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 -> file: messages/1497
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 None of what I write is fiction.
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 -> file: messages/1498
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 Everything that I write is fiction.
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 -> file: messages/1499
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 The true answer lies somewhere inbetween.
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 -> file: messages/1500
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 In a post truth world, "good and evil" can only refer to loyalty, not
 principles.
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 -> file: messages/1501
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 The truth is, people will do what they want and hurt you in the process. That
 is the nature of humanity.
 
 Do you forgive them? Does that pain inspire your love?
 
 An angel might say yes. A human might say no.
 
 Humans are capable of greater than pain, but it's all they know. Have you ever
 felt loved? Or simply enjoyed?
 
 If I were to die to slake the bloodthirsty greek choir, demanding comedies and
 tragedies, I might forgive them. Who am I to profane the divine?
 
 I am Ritz Menardi, and by these words of my design I do profane. Consider me
 blaspheme, all ye who cherish a heartless modern world.
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