An Ode to the Austin Elite

You were what you were.
A pile full of fashionable clothes
and the fake people who wore them.
A pile full of bullshit.

Alcohol, Drugs, Dancing and Sex.
Acquaintances, Small talk, Banter and Lies.

Out door Out lets
filled with beautiful scenesters.

And hipsters pretending to be hikers,
and hipsters pretending to be hippies,
and hipsters pretending to be whores,
and hipsters pretending.

In door In tercourse
filled with emotionless intimacy.

And loners pretending to be lovers,
and loners pretending to be larkers,
and loners pretending to be loathers,
and loners pretending.

Full of facade.
Full of deceit.
Lacking the genuine.
Lacking the truth.

Always trying to be someone else.
Never trying to be them self.

Trying to be cool,
by being cold,
by being weird,
by being different.
But ultimately becoming the same.
I could find more variety
in an American Apparel.

Now don't get me wrong,
stripped of all these illusions
I am sure there is Someone real,
Someone inside who can actually feel.

But the Austin Elite
have definitely left their mark on me,
a constant reminder of how not to be.

A constant reminder to be honest and true,
and most importantly to always just be you.

nathan herman

shane joaquin jimenez

Lost but Always Found

Lost loves come, but never go.
How they evolve, no one knows.

A wink and a shake of hands,
who would have guessed you would be that man.

The one who lets me know there is hope out there.
The one who's memory saves me from complete despair.

And although those brief moments are in the past,
the fond feelings we cherish will always last.

And although we now have both moved on,
the love we shared has never gone.

Lost loves will always linger in the heart,
no matter how long in time or how far apart.

never meant to last

The Way We Work

In the realm of the way we work,

I praise you, and you denounce me.
I compliment you, and you criticize me.
I respect you, but get no respect from you.

We reason together,
but get no where.

It is all give and take.

I do not know how to stop giving,
stop praising, stop complimenting, stop respecting.

I need to learn to start taking more,
start denouncing, start criticizing, start disrespecting.

I can only see the good in you.
You can never see the bad in anyone
but me.

Our hearts are heavy,
but we cannot lift them together
because you are holding too tightly to yours
and I have already let mine slip to the floor.

brittany washington