Brian Celio

I was born a citizen of the stag nation. I’m male but incomplete. My masculinity is affected but not hopeless, nor pointless. Unaccompanied, I’ve been searching for a feminine lining to adorn my attire of totality and sublimity. I’ve learned that eclectic melodies can generate electricity, which, in effect, reveal notes hidden by the same old song. For years, I’ve been listening to the frequency on which society rambles and oscillates between two short lengths: one barely rising above positive, the other barely below negative. Therein, revolution speaks in a stutter; repetition so fluently. It’s always been this way. Now I seek to destroy it, but without the claws of nihilism. I can already feel the prenatal sensations within my hands: freely pealing back humanity layer by layer til our sensibilities ring out in cadence. From here, we compose. Guided by none, tuned by all. The world is our apex. And if we have to work our way through shards and ashes, so be it. Foundations need not be stable, only reachable. All things must be destroyed. All things must be considered. A new noise must be heard.

Composed on the 30^th day of January 2008

Inspired by The Shape of Punk to Come

Throughout my life, anger and bitterness clung to my nerves

Like maggots to open meat,

Instilled in me by history,

Exacerbated by experience.

Despite the innate wisdom in my heart

Woven from the bright fabric of God,

I would flick and shake but couldn’t shed

The darkness which stunts the sublimation of man.

Although I knew of love, I wasn’t always the sign of love.

Although I knew of life, I never lived a moment of it.

In truth, I was just as entrapped as the rest.

But while they swayed in the illusion of happiness,

I sunk into a reality of despair.

Throughout my life, I fought alongside artists—

Writers, painters, musicians, rebels with and without causes—

Who also spoke of revival and revolution and freedom and love.

In the end, I was the only true testament to our collage of art.

But as I lived it—(and I did for the sake of the testament alone)—

I faced more defeat than glory,

Because, deep-down, I expected things that I shouldn’t have.

I failed to assume, in whole, the image of Christ.

If I had, the beauty of the world would have been mine.

Instead, I wedded wisps that left me starving til my final breath.

Beneath my favorite tree I lay when the Angel of Death came for me.

He lifted me up and cradled me into his soft humming chest.

Then, without words or journey, I found myself alone in the presence of God.

Artlessly, I genuflected and cried—

Cried in incandescence to be healed of all the pain and despair in my heart.

As God wiped away my tears,

Golden luminescence washed over me,

Dissipating my dew of fragmented memoirs.

Blessed in the sea of infinite clarity,

I stood even with the surface of the Kingdom.

There, God said that I shall never cry

Or feel the heat of misery again;

From light tears to heavy heat, I bade final riddance.

Then from the hands of God I imbibed

The justice once withheld by detractors of the truth.

As I quenched my final worldly thirst,

I understood that all along I had been as true as humanly possible,

But it was only a flicker of human comprehension,

For I transcended into colors, the sweetest colors,

To feel in divine feelings,

My soul become whole and pure in the light of God by the love of God,

And Eternity washed away everything else.

Composed between 2nd of October and 16th of November 2008