Time For Bed  

“A self-utilized gastro particle 

Entered my head the other day,

I thought of the harassment of vegetables,

In the food community.

I saw hard working Indonesians,

And Chinese children making toys that surprise kids.

But the adults, they know.

They know because for every toy they have now toiled,

And for every birthday, is one of reckoning for the unlucky.

Or shall we say unloved, or how about saved individual.

Once I attained that plateau,

I started thinking harder, as to the spelling of plateau

And its grandchildren.

I started asking myself out of my house,

Every time I showered.

How fucked is that?

Then it hit me, with my own bat,

That I was no longer than

The shortest hair on my head,

And that it was again time for bed.”

-Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens

Children 

“Children, let’s pretend we can see everything,

‘But we can.’

I can make the pain go away

‘No you can’t.’

People may think that you’re different

‘But I am.’

Emotional abuse hurts a lot

‘But we know.’

Growing is hating, while hating is growing,

(the children in unison:)

‘We can feel it.”

- Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens

Circus Tiger. 

” ‘A circus tiger mauled and killed his trainer.

I wonder what set him off,’ said the commentator.

I don’t know. How would you feel if separated from your family,

You were shipped to different cities in a cage no less,

Bound of life, with pain/pleasure techniques,

And complete humility for performance under duress,

A whip no less,

If you were a tiger, would you do it?

Would you break away,

Think of escape and if desperate,

Kill and avow your infinite humiliation and guaranteed death?

Do you do it, now, as a human?

If not, then I’m sure you were not sure what set the tiger off, Mr. Commentator.”

- Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens

Self Elimination. 

“Create your own evil empire,

Choose the state and the leader.

War unifies a nation in deep sociological turmoil.

Military business, the profit of aggression,

True regression of man.

You’ve lost your gods,

And now you will sin

The ultimate sin possible for your species,

Self elimination. “

Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens

Now. 

“Time is always now,

Here, forever,

Time is always now

Gone, never,

God is now

The ruler of the present

His son, a lesson,

Born of a peasant.

We stay here always,

As our bodies go

As far as they can see

For now is again now,

Here, forever!”

Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens

Life Savers. 

“The sole nightmare that I cannot face

Is withing my daily reality,

To my subconscious, and leaves me sick, dizzy, and disoriented.

The image that executes such action in my system

Is one tied with my deepest and darkest fears,

The picture of a nice man handling electronic equipment,

The switch of a sound icon.

As my world unfolds in my brain,

My body surrenders to life’s grasp on my existence.

Why mention fear of reality or my mind’s existence?

Tomorrow I awake again to sacrifice for the gods,

Make the machine go,

Bring life savers home, in the rain.”

Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens.

Death. 

“You will live death, in your life,

If all you do with your life, is avoid death.

My goal is to stop reacting in life,

While reacting more in sports.

It is great work to strip man from his home,

Clothes, education, social circle, and job,

In order to preserve his freedom and individuality,

Giving him his own dreams,

Rather than those of society.

Life’s cruelty is in its forced forfeit of all worldly

possessions

In trade for one’s life.

Death should only be the reward,

The aftermath, not the focus of life.

The world lives life according to death,

Rather than death in accordance to life.”

Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens 

“Art”

Page 74 of Cool Gardens

by Serj Tankian

A Mess. 

“Astronomical isotopes murmuring,

The formation of a note,

To detonate the formation of ink,

I think

Nonetheless

I’m a mess.”

-Serj Tankian- Cool Gardens

Words of a Madman. 

“Words of a madman

At the disposal of a fountain pen,

Worlds of a madman

Swords of indecency,

Greed for destruction,

A reduction in the human spirit.

The 11 million chemicals in his house

Are driving him insane,

In the city where the violence and riots

Are started by the police,

In lieu of a strike

Demanding better pay and shinier weapons.”

-Serj Tankian - Cool Gardens