THE GRANDFATHER PARADOX

The Grandfather Paradox

I was picked for this mission
Because I was in my prime
My conception of what lies around me
And my perception of time

I was but a young scientist
Still learning my own craft
Then a letter came in the mail
That would change my future, present, and past

It was dubbed top secret
For my eyes only to read
The return address was the pentagon
I was someone they would need

The letter had a number
To confirm it was not a joke
And when I dialed the number in
The voice of a woman spoke

We set up a meeting
For that very next day
They flew me in by private jet
And then had me whisked away

A black SUV was waiting
The men who drove did not speak
And when we pulled up to the pentagon
The mood suddenly turned bleak

As I was walked inside
They took me past security check
And as we entered an elevator
My escort had his retina checked

Security clearance was given
And we begun to lower down
To a place kept shy of the public
And hidden deep under ground

As it came to a stop
We were met by a door
And as we entered the room
I was introduced to four

Four men in army uniforms
Those who now controlled my fate
As they sat me down in an armchair
And did not hesitate

I was first made to sign papers
Agreements to keep my mouth shut
Because the words I would soon hear
Would make history book's cut's

They were doing experiments
Based on Einstein's theories of time
And they had built a machine
Hidden by large hadron's design

At C.E.R.N. they built a collider
They said to simulate the big bang
But this machine served a dual purpose
One for which times bells rang

With this machine time travel was possible
But they needed someone young and fit
And someone who knew what they were doing
The science, as well as all of the risks

That's where I came in
At the age of twenty-eight
I was a theoretical physicist
Things like this made my heart race

They would send me in the machine
To the time when my grandparents thrived
Long before I was even a fetus
Let alone in my prime

I was to just go back
I was not to interfere
These were the rules I was given
If I was to persevere

They needed to see if it worked
If it did I would then live scotch free
I would receive government checks
Life would fly by for me

So this I agreed to
And they gave me an iPod
It would allow me to return
Once I had done my job

I was allowed three hours
To dwell inside of the past
I was to visit my grandfather
On his old run down ranch

That's when they took me to C.E.R.N.
And strapped me into the machine
There was but a single chair
And inside of it they strapped me

They told me it would be painful
But that the sensation would pass
Then they turned on the machine
And lights all around me flashed

And then it all hit me
Like my heart being ripped from my chest
The pain was nearly unbearable
It felt like broken bones at best

But then it all stopped
As I collapsed onto the ground
The chair had disappeared
As well as the room and those around

When I got to my feet
I stood outside of a ranch
It was one I recognized
With only a single glance

As I hid in the brush
I stared in at people I loved
Before I ever knew them
Just after they fell in love

They were my grandparents
And it nearly brought me to tears
That's when the realization came
That I turned the clock back by years

What the hell had I done
Did I just travel through time
How the fuck did I get here
Did I just prove Albert Einstein

I searched in my pocket for the iPod
Just to make sure it was still there
And sure enough there it was
As I again fixed my stare

But then something went wrong
I don't know what I pressed
The iPod blasted it's music
The sound I tried to suppress

In the house all came to a halt
As my grandfather shouted "who's there"
Then he grabbed for his rifle
And gave his signature glare

I tried my best not to move
But a twig snapped underneath me
Then BANG came the blast
My grandfather's round hit at my feet

I tried to run for it
That's when he fired once more
The shot scattered across my leg
As I fell down to the floor

My grandfather caught up
He grabbed me by my shirt
He screamed to know who I was
Shaking me in the dirt

I begged and pleaded
Even saying I was his grandson
He laughed saying it was impossible
With not even an expectant son

I begged even more
But he refused to believe
And he kicked me on the ground
As my leg continued bleeding

And then he pointed his gun
Straight at me on the floor
What I did next would seal my fate
And make me question evermore

I knocked it from his hands
In a moment of desperation
We then fought with our fists
I had no thoughts of reservation

I was fighting for my life
Then I got the upper hand
As he fell to the floor
I drew my line in the sand

I grabbed for his weapon
And before he could get to his feet
I fired square at his chest
Until his heart no longer beat

That's when I heard the scream
As I saw my grandmother at the doorstep
The look of terror in her eyes
As saw me with the gun and wept

In the distance I heard sirens
And I knew I had to be gone
I pulled out the iPod once more
One swipe would take me back along

As I pressed the screen
Suddenly the pain returned
I twitched in my place
As my insides turned

But when I came to
I did not sit in the chair
There was no-one around me
At me not a single soul stared

I was alone back C.E.R.N.
I did not understand
Where had everyone gone
I had followed their plans

That's when the door busted down
And soldiers came in from all around
Their guns all pointed towards me
As I st there on the ground

After then came a scientist
One of the men I had earlier seen
He ordered the men to put their guns down
I thought he would be my relief

I thanked him so much
Now that I was in my own time
But he knew not who I was
He told me being there was a crime

I replied it could not be
He himself was among those who knew
About the mission provided to me
The specs, iPod, and time that I traveled through

He then turned his head
Told the soldiers to take me away
I was put into a cell
And all I could do was pray

Over the next few days
They had asked me my name
But when they searched through the system
They said I gave them a fake

My name was nowhere to be found
Therefor I did not exist
That's when the interrogations started
Something I tried to resist

Over the next several months
Scientists debated my case
As I was tortured for information
That if I had I would give in haste

They wondered if what I said could be true
Given all that I said had gone down
They did have the technology
But the machine had been powered down

There was talk of different dimensions
Special relativity and multiverse
If I changed something in the past
This would not be my universe

And that's when it hit me
I realized what I had done
I had killed my own grandfather
And I was his child's son

When they searched through the archives
Is when all the torture ceased
My grandad was murdered in 1956
Fifty years had passed at least

I had returned
To an alternate future
One without me involved
My life had not been sutured

They did not know what to do
To them my life meant nothing
But knowing they caused it all
Must have counted for something

They put me in a nice place
Give me anything that I need
But from the world I am secluded
A danger to the human breed

I would offset the balance
So secluded I am kept
Alone in this god damn house
Like my grandmother who wept

The loneliness kills me
And even though I am alive
I wish they had just killed me
Not allowed me to survive

Just because I'm alive
Dies not mean I exist
I am unknown to the world
Not even a damn statistic

Now everyday I must ask
Do I exist, or am I not
This is a problem they call
The grandfather paradox

-Carlos "House" Gerardo

SILENCED STREETS

Silenced Streets

when we walked the earth
we were the baddest of our breed
we lived our lives based on impunity
and governed by our own greed

the streets had become ours
we had neighborhoods claimed
but then the plague started
and the streets were regained

but this was not by the living
but by dead who walked the streets
their minds were upon our flesh
as they sunk in their teeth

even though we were gangsters
we took care of our towns
and when the people cried out
we would not let them frown

whatever they needed
form no matter what hood
we would take care of them
and do all that we could

this was our understanding
before this tragedy struck
and we would not let that change
we would be our neighbors luck

just one day after it started
the convention was held
from sixteen surviving flags
tensions suddenly swelled

but that's when the leaders spoke
bringing peace to the crowd
who had long lived with hatred
most were raised with from the ground

but this we had to overcome
for the people in our town and hood
we would all band together
this treaty was understood

then our plans were made
gather up all we could find
our warehouses would become fort hood's
as our powers were combined

once this was done
then the tougher part came
most would not make it back
survival was a rough game

we would free those left alive
who had been trapped in their homes
outside for them meant certain death
as their flesh was ripped from bone

over the next three weeks
no home was left unchecked
more lives were lost then saved
but our values were still kept

when it was all done
only six flags remained
but all of them lost their lives
for families left in vain

we banded together
in times when governments fell
and the gangsters well respected
became guardians of A.T.L.

but the saddest part was
the screams died down long before
and now that it was silent
we felt much less assured

from what i could tell
we were the last left alive
the radio had been silent
and this did not help our drive

we had three safe houses
labeled as red, white, and blue
a symbol of the lives lost
and what so many lived through

but by the third month
we lost contact with red
a mere four flags remained
but our blood to would be shed

but who would have thought
we would fall of our own hands
as guardians called themselves kings
and greed again showed in man

for reasons of caution
white and blue had combined
to be apart was no longer safe
the dead's numbers undefined

but that's where things fell apart
as the last of our leaders clashed
and while those they guarded pled
at each other they lashed

when the colors separated
governments formed under each
dictators called themselves blue
the democrats colors bleached

there were of course tensions
but one day sealed out fate's
as the blue shot at bleach
alerting miles of space

in this world one rule governed all
gun use was a resort taken last
the sounds attracts the dead
our lives at risk by the blast

after the shot all grew silent
as the moans outside grew
the sound of it was defining
and the stench like a rotting brew

suddenly nothing mattered
as we remembered our cause
the flags to us meant nothing
if our values would be lost

just three months before
we promised to protect
but all we did was go to war
and caused those we love neglect

so in those last moments
we looked each other in the eye
and when those doors busted down
together fighting we'd die

by the time they broke through
the building had been swarmed
they came in from every side
of this we would not be warned

when it was all said and done
we were but devoured flesh
failed as our people's guardians
our war had caused their deaths

yet our greed we did not realize
until when it mattered least
all it took was one blast
to reveal our inner beasts

so now we lie in pieces
the guardians of A.T.L.
gangsters sworn to protect
but murderers just as well

-Carlos "House" Gerardo

STATISTIC

Statistic

Music is life
And my life is music
This world is my muse
And I refuse to abuse it

Lyrics are my breath
The beat is my heart
And every time I exhale
I tear it apart

Word for word
My beat is my soul
Every lyric that I speak
One more story told

But give me a moment
Now hold up and wait
Because as of right now
I need one to think

Pause for that moment
Exhale and breath it in
Absorb all your emotions
And let them sink in

This is what I feel
This is my every day
This is how I project
And speak the words that I say

This is my po-et-ry
Although it may sound absurd
This is me breathing out
Expressing my spoken word

Welcome to the world
Of the Original P
Till the day of my death
Part of society

These words they run through my veins
Every fiber of my being
They are who I am
And everything I believe

Without them I would be gone
Another face one this rock
Just another sta-tis-tic
Someone that matters not

But I refuse to be that
To me po-et-ry’s all I got
To stand out in this world
And gain my first place spot

Among so many others
All those with the same dream
What separates them from them
Is my ab-il-a-ties

I can throw down a rhyme
As opposed to a fist
Because this gets more done
Than a gun and bullets

But then again
A bullet can change the world
Begin revolutions
And end them as well

But the bullet matters not
It comes down to who fires it
The motivation in their mind
And reason for the shit

But now I’m getting off track
You’ve gone to far in my mind
Let’s get back to the subject
And stop wasting time

That was a glimpse in mind
A spotlight at my muse
The thoughts that run through my head
The things that keep me amused

Yet you haven’t seen anything
For that you’ll have to wait
Because I trust no-one in my head
A subject up for debate

So with that said
I’ll close it out with this
One last thought that I’ll share
For you my mind’s goodbye kiss

If music is life
And my life is music
Do I move to my own beat
Or the world’s own amusement

Because that is what they expect
For me to rebel
And when I write things like this
Stereotypes speak for themselves

So am I a statistic
Swallowed by the machine
Because by just writing this
My nightmare’s spawned from a dream

-Carlos “House” Gerardo

CONTINUUM

Continuum

long ago came the point

where we all lost interest

we had seen all there was

and cared not to persist

we were eon's old

when time for you first began

a race of supreme beings

the universe in our hands

in fact we gave it a start

and know just how it will end

our enjoyment now comes

from watching you imagine

but with age comes boredom

even when the world is yours

while most consider it a gift

i wish i had been ignored

but once in a while

there does come a thrill

his name was Jean Luc Picard

more like a Q in will

this man had no powers

nor was he omnipotent

but what he lacked in strength

he gained back in luminance

but what is it that i mean

well to me the world's very dark

and where it lacked luminance

Jean Luc lit up with a spark

this man was a captain

the best in the entire fleet

hell, he had played my own game

and made me fall in defeat

to this man i gave my respect

an honor i hold even from Q's

because even in the continuum

he did what no other could do

but sometimes i pitied him

with the mind of a supreme

i wonder how it must have felt

to be restricted to dreams

though i would not have cursed him

at least not terribly like this

he would not care for immortality

and eternity's not a gift

although his entire species

thought this of themselves

he was one of a kind

but did not care for himself

but that's why he was unique

unlike us, he did not care

he lived his life to the fullest

even when he felt death's stare

Jean Luc did not deserve

to be a forgotten face

his body like no other

just shot off into space

that's why i took his body

from space's ice cold depths

now it lies in the continuum

with proper human respects

so as i now stand

in front of his grave

with Worf, Riker, Jordi, and Troi

the Enterprise's most brave

we know he died with respect

and the honor of many Q's

a truly brilliant man

that this world barely knew

so even after his death

still in front of his grave i stand

giving all my respects

to the old, ca-pi-tan

-Carlos "House" Gerardo

CHILD'S PLAY

Child's Play

at me my guilt eats away
as we return to our home
from what was a search and rescue
which would chill to the bone

they were a young race
just a few thousand years old
in them we have taken interest
and secretly surveyed their globe

after a long while
we visited them in disguise
this choice we would regret
as we entered their skies

they had seemed so innocent
claiming they'd outlasted greed
yet when we entered their skies
we were met with their fleet

they had remained cloaked
their crafts right under our nose
and once we had beamed down
on us they'd already closed

what their people called peace
was their government's hidden foul play
they had indeed outlawed weapons
but this would be their dismay

we had tried to negotiate
learning their own native tongue
but they refused to accept
that we were just watching the young

that's when things soon turned
as one of ours was shown dead
we called in our own fleets
their blood to would be shed

they had three different colonies
on the fourth and fifth rocks from their stars
and as we destroyed one
we knew this had left a scar

they had tried to fight back
but did not stand a chance
their weapons were child's play
to a race so advanced

we then asked for our people
still they would not budge
they called our men their prisoners
but of this we would be the judge

that's when their allies came
from a region far off in space
but this place we call orion
would also fall in disgrace

this was their last defense
as their fourth world to was destroyed
along with orion's forces
there was nothing else deployed

after what was three days
we reached the world most had called home
then we gave them one last chance
to give us what was our own

and finally they did
our men soon were returned
but not as we expected
their bodies tortured and burned

this sent us into a rage
their home world is no longer there
for their own world they pleaded
but for our men they did not care

but the reason i feel guilt
is because most of them never knew
why we had even come
this knowledge, their government had withdrew

though we return to our home's
the men we fought for now dead
i see the pointlessness of battle
and the conflicts in my head

because a world now is no more
for reason nobody knew
the few that had escaped
left for death to pursue

but part of me has to wonder
the stories survivors will tell
about the aliens called Eve's
who destroyed their fairy tales

because as we step off our ship
to everything we call worth
i wonder who were the true bad guys
as i reunite, with my family on Earth

-Carlos "House" Gerardo

ASYLUM

Asylum

my body now ash
my spirit tells the tale
of how my world was destroyed
and humanity fell

it was because of our actions
that our race paid the cost
denied supplies and civil war
but through this everyone lost

they had come seeking help
from the world they left behind
their supplies would not maintain
and they had limited time

there were three different colonies
each had been terraformed
on europa, the moon, and mars
soon after governments formed

for the first few years
everything has gone great
but then terror struck
and europa met a grim fate

the air was to heated
as the atmosphere became thick
the ice had begun to melt
forcing us to evacuate quick

as we left the (now) water world
we returned to our home planet earth
we were there given asylum
this was our first time seeing dirt

this world was so different
from everything that we knew
we could feel the sunshine
and when the cold wind blew

although we had found peace
we soon found it would not proceed
when came the martian ambassadors
in seek of help and need

their supplies had run low
something had gone very wrong
their animals had died off
and seeds did not keep them strong

this we had to refuse
we just no longer could
because we were offered asylum
on our toes we now stood

it is not that we wouldn't
we just had nothing to give
with the food we then had
helping the europians live

earth had sustained two world
we could not afford three
it just was not an option
so with nothing they would leave

but now due to this
earth had split it two
those who wanted to help
and those who watched as false hope grew

one side was for
the other firmly against
and it seemed once more
that we lived on continents

and for a short while
tensions on the surface grew
we all knew what was coming
and could smell the vile brew

but them one day
the weapons had emerged
from centuries of storage
and in war we were submerged

we all tried to escape
but ships were shot from the skies
what was asylum became a prison
to restricted to fly

on the day that it happened
tears shed as far as the moon
so many people now dead
with all but just a few booms

after this long time of peace
who thought that it would end here
with weapons that had been deemed ancient
and the colonies left in fear

with the home world now dead
they were left with only reserves
this world would not be the end
the moon and mars would not be preserved

this would be the end of our life
the species would soon be extinct
because of the actions of few
who were dead within blinks

so from death i observe
as black clouds fill the sky
another stab in the back
as i watch the world die

-Carlos "House" Gerardo

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

this is our anthem, peotry, and creed, we are the poets, we are the future

Ghost In The Machine

we are the poets
the future is now
the world is what we make of it
and only what we allow

we have created a union unholy
between two separate forms
under the grace of our power
to manipulate and conform

but it is not us conforming
it is those under our will
we've learned to work the system
and have made this our skill

we work in ways unopposed
at least that can't be denied
this is how we get our way
without having our hands tied

now our voice will soon spread
and the rats quickly will multiply
some will call it infestation
but our words do not lie

but we are more than just this
aiding the world is our choice
we speak out to the masses
spreading the importance of voice

a message that will get across
for those who want to succeed
because we only damn ourselves
when silence becomes our creed

we walk these halls like we own them
because these days we actually do
ourselves we have made untouchables
power in our veins run through

the year 2011
is when we will first strike
our wings will soon spread
and we will take our first flight

but we do this not for glory
or to control our own skies
but for the future of this world
fueled by our hatred and lies

poetry is the only truth left
on this sensitive stretch of earth
and voice is how you spread it
this is your right of birth

so often this is suppressed
and that's where the problem lies
our minds are a hidden world
with bitter sweet pink skies

but with our help
we will assure this leaks out
setting poetry in motion
as silence becomes our bout

so as this poem
finally comes to an end
i just hope you realize
this is where the countdown begins

-Carlos "House" Gerardo