There Be Squabbles Ahead

Do not! Do NOT spill the water when you're drinking it Through your mouth What happened here, nobody can say but it hasn't been the same Our lips are pressed to the ground Running with a cup Thrown off! An experiment gone wrong All of a sudden under us The drains in the street Bubbling up.... Do not! Do NOT spill the water when you're drinking it Through your mouth We're so desperate now Look at us sucking up mud and blood With our lips pressed to the ground When they came to us no one thought Such genius could have gone wrong Never questioning until we saw The drains in the street bubbling up... Do not! Do NOT spill the water when you're drinking it Through your mouth What happened here, nobody can say but it hasn't been the same Our lips are pressed to the ground Whose idea was this? All the kids have random stains on their skin If they scratch at all, their fingers dig into their flesh Whose idea was this? Do not...

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Seal the door (of which only one lock works) What is expected of me now…who knows With tacks stuck in toes Debating on what's likable But certainly this isn't home Certainly not It's not so funny Skipping breath, inhaling rope It's always just when I need to see That the lights flicker and short out on me Rootless over-thinkers in the mirror One after the other after one after the other Taking turns in my behavior Taking their turns in my behavior It's not so funny Skipping breath, exhaling rope It's always just when I need to see That the lights flicker and short out on me I am the best at seeing things When the captive worms in the tin are freed But begin to lose sight one again When the dust is finished settling And my friends in this room are weakening With their penchant for conditioning And their dispositions on a swing From the toxins and distracting means Just when I need to see, the lights flicker Flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker It's not so funny, skipping breath Inhaling and exhaling rope Just when I need to see The lights flicker and short out on me It's not so funny, it really is such an awful fall

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

(Filistata) Crawling all over, behind ears and behind words When you are alone and you're not one of the boys and girls You fall out of your web, dancing on a crooked ledge You're falling of the edge Is someone going to end up dead? There is no cure I am my only curse No way—I'm sure—to get this spell reversed The Filistata crawling all over my head It's like I'm always caught up, safe in the messiest of webs But when it falls out, and like my mind falls out of me It's hard to get back in It's hard to regain sanity Up on a cliff, doing the dance What happens if I lose balance? (The Filistata) Constantly creeping away from people and from noise While everyone's sleeping, I'm scared to death, it's not my choice There's a web inside me, behind my eyes, it pounds and pounds There sits Filistata, it's growing there but makes no sound There is no pain Just hate and empty tears Blind, hollow eyes and webs over the ears And in the end, will I have wasted years?

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

It could be a deadbeat A smooching kiss of death Going on the defense Binding to bitterness Throw it off, throw it off Got your name, got your face, got a record of your mistakes It's too easy To end up sneering It's been too long now Yes it was tough, now free yourself, cut it off You could ages so quickly In a year of judges And if you stand there dwelling You're no better than your grudges Oh how it burns, oh how it burns It's too easy To end up sneering It's been too long now Yes it was tough, now free yourself, cut it off Don't let it stop, no, free yourself, cut it off It could be better, free yourself, cut it off Yes it was tough, now free yourself, cut it off You could age so quickly In a year of judges They see you fall on your face Cut yourself off from the smudges Oh how it burns, oh how it burns

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

At their worst, their stares are a killing force I go out of my way to avoid I fall, fall, fall and stop Stop at you, at where I don't go Stop at you, at where I don't go I'll follow you into there Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract Oh, you're so close Oh, you don't know about it No, you don't know Oh, we're so slow about it All of the same here More of the same here I'll follow you into there Just what I run from you’ve made me Something like them you make me But I'll follow you anyway Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract Oh, you're so close Oh, you don't know about it No, you don't know Oh, we're so slow about it Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract At their worst, their stares are a killing force I go out of my way to avoid I fall, fall, fall and stop Stop at you, at where I don't go Stop at you, at where I don't go I'll follow you into there Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract Stay back and wait for the attack Way back, they want you to retract Oh, you're so close Oh, you don't know about it No, you don't know Oh, we're so slow about it Oh, you're so close (You don't know about it) Oh, you're so close

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Notebook Scrapbook Somehow I've misplaced you You were a scratch on a paper, ink and a voice Not meant to look back at me The something or someone played a joke Put on a twisted show And there we were I remember just listening Looking up to a fantasy Til the day it was right in front of me Now it's ruined, now it looks like tablescraps and nothing else It kills me to think about all the things I threw around while hiding My nature is and always has been that of a pill-bug When someone gets too close I now can see how you saw me when I couldn't see myself But there we were I remember just listening Looking up to a fantasy Til the day it was right in front of me Now it's ruined, now it looks like tablescraps... I don't think that I really wanted any of it But before I could understand anything that was happening So quickly, the bottle, the squinting I could not undo the knots of an undeveloped mouth ...On the way back from the island The turbulence hinted at no end All I got, I barely saw... Now I've finally tied it up with no regrets But I remember… just listening Looking up to a fantasy Til the day it was right in front of me Now it's ruined, now it looks like tablescraps and nothing else Now it looks like tablescraps All that's left are tablescraps All that's left are tablescraps Tablescraps and nothing else

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

( Shriek of fervor )

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Even in buildings and still alleys There is a sneaking threat breaking in A little like fog, a little like heat Too much like an invasion of safety (Breaking in) I don’t know why the dogs are barking (Breaking in) Or why the gate is shaking (Breaking in) It’s not just the roof settling (Breaking in) What is it that has followed me? I really do wish you had minded your eyes And now a chain has been set off that can’t be wound back up And late in the night there’s a clanking and clanging of sounds Way too loud outside Eyes perpendicular to the ground Pulling the corners down even more When they moved from top to bottom A cringe came to catch up with me later on (Take it back) When my feet run the things I say (Take it back) Retreating back to what is safe (Take it back) A self protection policy (Take it back) In spite of all that it still has followed me I really do wish you had minded your eyes And now a chain has been set off that can’t be wound back up And late in the night there’s a clanking and clanging of sounds Way too loud outside Black face and white wool... I’m counting but it doesn’t help And if you had just minded your eyes I wouldn’t be so wound up as I’m winding down And on my shelves all my trinkets Shoved aside for what’s way too loud outside The streets growing out strings Tugging the line, subtracting the winks Following something I’m hearing Doors will scare me, windows leave me blind On the tips of my toes (Following) Trailing the tracks between the gray and glistening (Following) A changing face loses shape What is it that I’m following?

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

I can see the lifeless I can feel the darkness under you I can see behind me I can try to hide it But without a will to see the truth I can feel the heartbeats Slowing into nothing Why don't I go? When I know there's nothing I should want here Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing I should say As I stand behind you Lost in all the things that I would do Never really with you Quietly, halfway in the room Do you see behind you? (Do you see behind you?) Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing I should want here Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing you can see Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing I should say Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing for me here How I see you Now is all wrong With my hands full And it's all wrong And I shouldn't have looked 'Cause now I can't look away and... Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing I should want here Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing you can see Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing I should say Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing for me here Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing I should say Why don't I go? Tell Me Why do I stay? When I know there's nothing for me here

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

The days are colored, the days are colored Painted by numbers with dirty little fingers The trial and error, the trial and error Put me away from this fleeting exterior Will I leave her in the distance? Out there hiding, where are you hiding? As a monkey, dancing faster, eating traces of disaster Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself The days are colored, the days are colored Painted by numbers with dirty little fingers The trial and error, the trial and error Put me away from this fleeting exterior It's been greasepaint in canisters It's what I'm not that breaks me faster Running away from the paper The tallest tales are the letters Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself If I bend my hands back enough What can I pull out of my blood? All the stories that my spirit runs away from Have they erased me? Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself Will I wash my hands of me? Point to yourself Will I wash my hands of me?

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

The world is a ploy The world is a ploy To train you and shame you A leash of employ The rake sweeps and severs, dry leaves are the weak A breakthrough could break you the day that you see Hanging by a thread to the miniature things Our loved ones are leaning on something they can’t see If you want to take, if you want to give When you find a meaning, you’ll find it short-lived The gifts and opportunities that come and go or stay The buttons there for you to push are only in the way Buttons so vivid, your soul could seem gray The world all around you entices you to play Come on! Come out! Come on! Come out! You have a choice to make The push button glows in wait The more you believe, the less that you think The less that you think, the more that you speak The more that you speak, the less that you see The less that you see, the more you believe The world is a ploy The world is a ploy A breakthrough will break you A breakthrough will break you The less they are thinking, the more they believe My loved ones are leaning on something they can’t see Come on! Come out! Come on! Come out!

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

I'm going to start a fight, it's clinging to my eyes I'd hoped to rely on something else I'm sure it isn't right I know someone should anchor me But if you had heard the things I did How anyone like that could live? I'm sorry you had to see this side of me A mistake has fallen on my knuckles Desperately, my wish is to main you And no one should ever have to feel that way Taking over the better half of the conscience No control, no better way to resolve it Can't see with the blood seeping Red and rushed, frozen speech Stinging scales of skin scraping Scales and skin scraping Can't think with the heart speeding I'm ashamed this had to be And no one can take your place The last thing you see will be this side of me

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Pushing Pushing Pushing Pushing The world is a ploy

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026