Quiet Riot

Streetlights hum through cracked-glass grid veins Still drained, caffeine-stained Graveyard shift loops circles inside my Brain till it frays again Whole day runnin’ “yeah,” “true ” playback loops of pain Echo chamber chatter splatter Static in my vein They say, “You good You got rent, bills paid today?” Smoke sits heavy, lungs gray Replay each day’s delay Autopilot body on default sway Grin pre-made clay Mind downloads slow while The clock says stay Break-room echo ricochet off steel tile tone Cheap coffee foam, same drone monotone Clock-out beep marks sheep through gates That moan No one clocks the glitch Till I’m halfway gone Alive off instinct Not epic belief in plotlines cut Flip paper days till meaning’s What? Forgot in rut “You good?” rehearsed, “Yeah fine,” disguise Translation: I’m underwater blinking Fire from eyes Keep it quiet Keep that mask lit tight You can’t see the riot I compress at night Quiet Riot buried under my skin Clock-face grin while the world caves in Peace on the surface, storm within Now my pulse goes Rapid-pattern chatter in the Attic like a data Packet spinnin’ in static Automatic panic Quiet Riot hummin’ low through breath Talk about life while I’m texting death Followed logic through halls Hum hiss static hiss Every door said “truth ” no kiss of bliss One read “heaven,” one “void ” one whispered “Don’t miss this” Equations fade, chalk ghosts drift, dismissed If random rules it Why the target precise If scripts exist, who scripts the device? “Trust the process,” mantra printed in gray Corporate code for “sit still and obey” Bills pin saints, rent drains creed Speed greed feed Snakes sermonize with alphabet seed Gold-tooth gospel bleeds screens in feed Justice buffering, never freed Scroll feed burns my two-inch glow frame Think, “If this the game Who aims the aim?” Drop my gaze, bassline drown the shame Philosopher private, phantom name If my thoughts ran Free alarms would spark So I fold each riot Like shattered glass in heart Quiet Riot coiled deep under skin Smile on cue while circuits spin Peace on top while The pulse grows thin Then quick-trip slip words ripple Syllable missiles whistle brittle Through gritted grins Quiet Riot whispering under breath Talk about purpose while flirting with death Not blessed, not chosen, just welded stress Overclocked nerves in arrested flesh Half days vanish in fluorescent press Evicted from feeling yet owned by excess Run on reflex, no saints, no signs Caffeine scripture, punch-clock lines Black-coffee ghosts tap code in grind Riot still locked in a vault-mind rhyme Ceiling cracks grin like It’s on my side I ask the dark If the code complied Maybe we’re rented pixels fading cheap Carving initials through the dream-code deep If hope breathes here It’s faint and small Just motion, breath, resisting sprawl Still clocking in while engines hum Carrying fire that refuses numb When I say “I’m good ” that’s encrypted bleed Means I mapped through hell Still took the lead Quiet Riot burning right under skin Still clock in daily, collapse, begin Still face frozen, the storm won’t quit Whole brain blazing, I’m living in it Then flash-flow dash code overload I explode road nodes in my Mode while the message uploads Quiet Riot rattling inside this breath Talk about dreams while I bargain death