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Writer's pictureMichael Barnes

My Paradox

Updated: Oct 4, 2021

(written in 2012)


I learned from the martyrs

of before me

And now I'm here

To tell you my incomplete story

Told thru every stinkin'

Sausage link line couplets

Swallow these hollow depths

Of paradoxic witticisms

Sideline spittin' criticisms

Silence filled the air with my voice

Then they listened

So listen--listen up


I walked out on a pair of docks

Straddling scallops with a mismatched

Pair of socks

Dodging federales and a staring cop

Making honest money

But I dress with apparent guap

Confusion stops

Only when the party pops

Panties drop

When the BAC level goes up a notch

Swiggin' scotch

Like a lawyer watching his watch

Watching Sopranos

like a broker watching stocks

Now im swiggin' beer with pretentious hops

Tipped to avenge my sobriety

But I got hiccups

Thought train switches up

Maybe I should mix the liquor up.


Floating towards me was a girl

In a halter top

No cleavage so my demons

Couldn't act up

Not two seconds in

5 dude friends acting blocks

I wasn't shocked

This tiger lily

Was a hot spot

With no tied knot

Knuckle rock

Eyes like tsunami dots

I turned back to my drink

Back to what I got

I wrote a rhyme on a napkin

Flittin' jots

Fearful, confident

Waiting for my album to flop

Left hand on the trigger

Right hand on the self destruct.


The question is can you lead these people?

A fist holds a mic like

A church holds a steeple

What is the nature of rhyming?

What is the nature of

Whatever nature of the nature you're surrounded?

Everyday growing confounded

And yet I persevere

Though I smile while I joke

I'm holding back a tear

Are you not seeing this here?

My paradox.

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2 Comments


Cathleen Barnes
Cathleen Barnes
Oct 03, 2021

1. What's guap?

2. Can you tell me in two sentences what the paradox is? I got

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Michael Barnes
Michael Barnes
Oct 03, 2021
Replying to

Mom! Okay you can urban dictionary guap, I have stretched the meaning a bit, but it still applies generally. Secondly, I challenge YOU to tell what paradoxes there are or what the paradox is. The point of art is not for the artist to give you the answer, the point is for you to interpret and discuss. One joke here is that, much like Alanis Morrisette's Isnt It Ironic song, the only paradox could be that there are no paradoxes in a verse titled My Paradox. I believe there are actual paradoxes here, but if you don't, you can look at it that way, then any way you slice it, there's a paradox. Yazoo

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