Pages From John

Author: John Knetemann

  • Tests for Test-Takers

    What if things really aren’t as they seem?

    What if life is an individual freakshow?

    Things repeat for us over and over but we don’t see the challenge!

    It is all here for you! Yes! Only you!

    It is all here for me! Yes! Only me!

    It is all here for everyone! Yes! Only everyone!

    Walking around in overlapping universes.

    We are with all but also completely alone.

    Are you recognizing the rhymes in your life?

    Are you participating in the conversation?

    There are questions that are being asked.

    There are tests being put in front of the test-takers.

    And the answers cannot be copied!

    There is no cheating on the test of life.

    There is no right way. There is only your way.

    Are you understanding the test?

    Have you found your way?

    Who is to say?

  • A Matter of Life or Death

    To be truly and fully alive is to be responsible.
    To be responsible is to be able to give a response.

    That is what separates a living thing from a dead thing.

    If we give our responses based on how our friends perceive us,
    If we give our responses based on how morally acceptable it appears,
    If we give our responses based on how our government will punish us,
    If we give our responses based on how our priest will reprimand us,
    If we give our responses based on the rewards that are set up in front of us,
    If we give our responses based on a system constructed around us,
    If we give our responses that are contrary to our personal truth,

    Are we actually responding?

    or are we following a response handed to us?

    A response commanded to us!

    We were given life! LIFE!
    And yet we have chosen death.

    A comfortable, easy, thoughtless death.

    Come alive! Come alive! Come alive!

    Take the controls of life!
    Stop being so damn fake.
    Have we ever been real?
    Our life is running out…
    But are we even alive yet?
    Or are we pretending to be a dead thing?

    Are we responding?

    Do we love ourselves enough to be ourselves?
    Or will we continually choose hate and repression?
    Are we going to be grateful for being alive?
    Or are we going to be ungrateful and give up what makes us alive?

    We all must choose.

    It is a matter of love or fear.
    It is a matter of life or death.

    To be or not to be…
    That is the question.

  • Sundresses!

    I could dream of lovely sundresses all day,

    Especially sundresses in the sweet month of May.

    What a beautiful sight on a beautiful sight,

    Daughters, sisters, and mothers making the world alight.

    I sometimes curse the winter for packing them up,

    When the dresses are gone, I’m a sad pup.

    But then spring comes again, and the marvels are back,

    Those flowery and vibrant wonders make my heart crack!

  • Loving a Sometimes Unlikable Crew

    This crew I am stuck with is completely insane,

    But I still pop open a crisp bottle of champagne.

    We seem confused and stranded on shaky boats unsure,

    But is there a difference between the right way and the detour?

    I may not like every sailor and pirate onboard,

    Some appear to have brought a pistol and sword.

    My liking means nothing to my choice of fully loving,

    Even when those with swords keep pushing and shoving.

    I am not so different from those harsh and violent ones,

    I am not so different from any of the sea’s daughters or sons.