A Dragon in a Glass Cage

By: Gus Victoria

There was a dragon once,

In a glass cage he waged war

Vicious and unforgiving,

All virtue he endangered

For he was a tempting beast,

Hard and hot blooded

Impervious to logic

He trampled vice as well,

The beast knew no master

And could not be tamed,

A libertine among libertines

Evil had no hold

Nor did good,

Blasphemer and heathen,

Penitent saint,

Joyful sinner,

He flew high above reason,

Made strong in paradox

Breathing fire on the righteous,

Leaving the humble alone,

No hero could approach the dragon,

No sage could find his lair,

All wise men invited him in,

All artists knew him by name,

The worlds he touched

Never could be the same.

Gem in an Iron Crown

By: Gus Victoria

She will never know the tears you have wept,

Save them for the one that has kept

The love in faith pure and true

The gem in an iron crown,

Angel in a flowing gown,

Waste not precious time on what never was to be

And enjoy that gift you refuse to see,

The hearts, with Cupid’s arrow, run through

Beat ever faster, always as one,

Captivating, as you try to run.

That other, now a shadow lost, left you alone

Taking the love you swore she did own,

You wandered, troubles not a few,

Until then another bright star

Blessed your path, healed the scar.

Undeserving of the first, second and third

Your worth spoken to you unheard,

Humility, pride once slew,

Broken man, broken dream,

Adrift in a hopeless stream.

Destroyed by an angel,

Healed by another,

Forgotten by self,

Found by faith.

Made whole in love.

Queen of Bohemia

By: Gus Victoria

Queen of Bohemia,

With endless dreams

Borne on sturdy wings

Lent by Mercury to the faithful servant

That ever in your light

Marches on,

Without cease he marches,

Princess of his heart,

To that once-distant palace

Where you promised him a home,

No throne to be his,

No crown atop his head,

No scepter in his hand,

No power to wield

Over man or beast,

Only a humble heart

Of an innocent girl

He thinks now lost.

Queen of Bohemia,

Will you give life to those dreams

That once filled your own heart,

Will you turn lush again

What time has withered?

Princess enthroned

Will you welcome the traveler?

Your Prince dethroned?

Citizen! Citizen, Do You See?

By: Gus Victoria

Citizen! Citizen, do you see?

The Government you voted in,

The men who stand for you,

Sit idly as you suffer,

Sign away your rights,

And fatten their purse

With all your coin.

Citizen! Citizen, do you know?

That all who fought before

Knew more freedom than you,

Had more rights to defend

Against all foes imaginary and real,

Against tyranny

And for despotism,

Citizen! Citizen, you have been betrayed!

All that voted

All who abstained,

Betrayed just the same,

Those in power

Make your children destitute,

While in patriotism they deliver

The death warrant of the Dream,

Across seas and across time,

They linger in shadows,

They watch and they plot,

They deliver death from a distance

And crown themselves Defender,

They murder and steal

And clothe in righteousness their crimes,

Citizen! Citizen, do you not see?

You are no longer free.

Monk in Your Bedroom

By: Gus Victoria

He wears no cowl

Nor a tonsure,

Yet he prays

As fervently as they

In the chapel,

Though he

Recites his words

In your bed,

The temple is before him,

Adoration in his heart,

It races at your touch,

Simple, deep joy

In that careless touch,

Released in a sigh,

Anxiety and insecurity

Plague the goddess

As in her beauty he basks,

She pushes the supplicant aside,

She banishes him

From her presence,

Through her tears

She banishes him,

Confused he leaves,

Hurt he turns,

The monk in your bedroom,

Soon the memory you regret.

Unalloyed Words

By: Gus Victoria

Unalloyed words,

Devoid of pretension,

No inhibition,

Freed without coercion

To wreak havoc

On the field

That the heart has plowed

In violation of Fate’s decree,

Selfish the harvest planned,

More the desires rampant

Giving wing to those words,

Another sip,

Another line,

Time makes distance,

A growing barrier

Space cannot breach,

“I..” began the mantra,

spoken in “love”

that “you” would hear.

Will Be As Will Be

By: Gus Victoria

Dreams are dangerous interlopers,

Uninvited guests to a grand feast

Celebrating a new joy found,

Buried in the past it dug itself out,

The dangerous vision of old,

There is no gamble to be made

For a heart must forever risk,

But never seek to lose,

She wears a red dress while you wear blue,

Her hair is down,

Yours is not,

She and I dance,

As I playfully resist,

You and I sit,

As a broken heart you nurse,

And in the mending,

Without permission

Become queen.

She still haunts those rough borders

Of my tortured imagination,

Yet you in each kiss

Create a new reality,

Each time love is made

Another memory is banished,

It is as it is willed,

Though I will be

As will be.

The Great Illusion

By: Gus Victoria

That you matter is

The greatest illusion.

That your voice counts,

The mass delusion.

A ballot to court,

A mandate to ignore.

The democracy of oligarchs

Is fantasy they give,

As they fuck their whore.

Money from the poor,

Power to the rich,

They take and take,

They rape and fake

Morality on a payroll.

On our backs

The Congressman’s palanquin,

And the Senator his twin,

Pimps and prostitutes,

Jacking off the Corporate dick.

Keeping us dumb,

Sending us off to war,

Keeping us hungry,

Eyes on a distant shore,

You can distract us,

The media and its circus,

But the day will come,

An end to your fun,

We the people,

Will find our voice,

We the people,

Will break the illusion.

We the people,

Will carry you no more.

Week 5 Top 25+ Rankings and Picks

Another week and another four loss performance. I was close on some of the games, two went against me (Fresno State v Boise St. and Notre Dame v Michigan State) and one went for me at the literal last minute (Michigan v UConn). Official Week 4 was 20 -4 (.833) bringing the season count to 67-12 (.848). Not too terrible. With this upcoming week's games where several ranked teams play each other there is the possibility that record might take a hit, but I feel pretty confident about most of these picks. We'll see if that pays off next week.

Rank	Team (1st place)	Pts	Record	Opponent	Prediction
1	Alabama (56)	1,496	3-0	#21 Ole Miss	Win
2	Oregon (4)	1,418	3-0	California	Win
3	Clemson	1,340	3-0	Wake Forest	Win
4	Ohio State	1,320	4-0	#23 Wisconsin	Loss
5	Stanford	1,270	3-0	Washington State	Win
6	LSU	1,167	4-0	#9 Georgia	Loss
7	Louisville	1,088	4-0	Open	-
8	Florida State	1,049	3-0	Boston College	Win
9	Georgia	1,029	2-1	#6 LSU	Win
10	Texas A&M	1,011	3-1	Arkansas	Win
11	Oklahoma State	849	3-0	West Virginia	Win
12	South Carolina	828	2-1	(#39) UCF	Win
13	UCLA	798	3-0	Open	-
14	Oklahoma	689	3-0	#22 Notre Dame	Loss
15	Miami (FL)	687	3-0	USF	Win
16	Washington	559	3-0	(#32) Arizona	Loss
17	Northwestern	477	4-0	Open	-
18	Michigan	450	4-0	Open	-
19	Baylor	441	3-0	Open	-
20	Florida	414	2-1	Kentucky	Win
21	Ole Miss	342	3-0	#1 Alabama	Loss
22	Notre Dame	256	3-1	#14 Oklahoma	Win
23	Wisconsin	130	3-1	#4 Ohio State	Win
24	Texas Tech	127	4-0	Open	-
25	Fresno State	110	3-0	Hawaii	Win
26	Arizona State	41	2-1	USC	Win
27	Goergia Tech	30	3-0	(#33) Virginia Tech	Loss
28	Maryland	24	4-0	Open	-
29	UCF	19	3-0	#12 South Carolina	Loss
30	Nebraska	13	3-1	Open	-
31	Northern Illinois	9	3-0	Purdue	Win
32	Arizona	8	3-0	#16 Washington	Win
33	Virginia Tech	4	3-1	(#27) Georgia Tech	Win
34	Michigan State	3	3-1	Open	-
35	Missouri	2	3-0	Arkansas State	Win
36	Navy	1	2-0	Western Kentucky	Loss
37	Rutgers	1	3-1	Open	-