"The Wrath of Cons" comes from Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn, which was released in 1982. Due to my father's interest in the Star Trek the film was showed to me at a relatively young age. In the movie the eels crawled into the ears of Captain Terrell and Commander Chekov, which eventually drove them mad. Looking back there were few movie scenes that really affected me on a horror level as much as the Ceti Eels. In this release the Ceti Eels serve as the inspiration and the backbone of this writing.

The eels symbolize critiques against you, and how the things people say can change your view of yourself. Furthermore, how negative voices can breed in your head as a result. One line in this release is spoken as "They're in my brain", but the line is actually written as "They dissect my brain". This refers to the Centi Eels moving around in the heads of the two Starfleet men, but also a statement of trying to understand critiques others have of you. You may then be left wondering whether the hurtful things said are valid. The two second to last lines refer to the eels ability to make their host more susceptive to persuasion. One criticism of mine is that I don't talk enough or am not open enough. In my circumstance these criticisms made me overly conscious of being "too quiet", which persuaded me to talk more, much like how the eels helped persuade Terrel and Chekov. The last line speaks about how the more I talked the less articulate I felt I was. There was a big fear of being misconstrued or thought of as dumb, and no matter what I said language seemed inherently flawed. The line "but human language can't find the right ones" also serves as a slight nod at the many other alien languages in the Star Trek universe.

Love, Lust, And A Goodbye tells the story of a conflicted narrator wondering with how to deal with the end of a relationship. The narrator at first tries to distance himself from the events of the past by effectively telling himself that his past self during the relationship was never him. The narrator instead opts to believe what transpired were events that happened to a friend or a character in a movie. "It’s just a fuzzy film, a projection onto someone’s past". "Fuzzy film" relates to this idea of trying to convince himself it was just a movie he saw, as well as the fact that his memory of the relationship is fading. Later he recounts the relationship he refuses to believe is his, and wonders if he was ever loved. Ultimately, the narrator accepts that the relationship was his own, and forgoes any belief that he wasn't loved. This acceptance and difference in thinking can be seen in the changing from using "he" to "I", as well as the narrator's voice being less digital sounding and more clear.

Nite Of The Living Dead is a horror themed poem which compares coming back to an ex lover to being in a zombie like state.

At the start of the poem the narrator calls to his ex, telling her that he won't be like her other long list of lovers in the past. "There’ll be no return. You're used to killing those you love, you're used to them crawling back, but I’d rather stay in my grave". In doing so he refuses to "lose his brain" by "following his heart". Later the narrator sarcastically encourages his ex lover to find a new victim. The narrator knows full well that she will quickly find someone new to love, only to leave the new guy when things take the slightest downturn. Once that happens she will wait for him to beg to come back to her. This starts the zombification process all over again with someone new each time until she realizes the trail of bodies she leaves behind and wonders why her relationships never work.

The poem was inspired by two movies, Night of the Living Dead, and The Return of the Living Dead. I first watched Night of the Living Dead for a film class I had in my second semester in college. Upon researching that film I learned about and watched The Return of the Living Dead for fun. When it comes to Night of the Living Dead, not only is the poem's title named after the movie, but the movie is also referenced in "I’ll keep to myself like Ben in the cellar". Ben being one of the leads of the movie who survives the apocalyptic night by camping out in a house cellar. Refences to The Return of the Living Dead can be seen in the lines "There’ll be no Return" and "Oh, my Linnea". With Linnea being the first name of the actor who played Trash in The Return of the Living Dead. Other generic zombie references can be seen in the lines "You're used to killing those you love, you're used to them crawling back", "I’d rather stay in my grave", and a brains reference in "I just don’t want to lose my brain". Lastly, "Go bite at your new boys neck" is not only referring to sex, but to the bite that turns people into zombies.

Kill Me Quick echoes a similar sentiment to Transparent Leyes in the sense that they both regard a fall out between two individuals and the possible salvation of what once was.

The difference between the two being that in Transparent Leyes the narrator knows the relationship is over or has convinced themself pessimistically that it is. In Kill Me Quick the narrator is unaware of what the future holds for their friendship, and just wants an answer no matter what it is, even if it hurts them. The line "I can’t live today not knowing tomorrow, and I can’t die tomorrow not living today" emphasizes the urgency and speaks to the idea that the narrator can't live their life when they're worried about the future of the friendship, and they can't die not living their best life. Kill Me Quick compares the feeling of uncertainty with the future friendship with that of a hanging. The most blatant comparison being "You walked away and left me hanging", which can be taken as a literal hanging or the narrator being left without an answer on the future. Other references to a metaphorical hanging can be seen in "It’s all so suffocating" and "find me in my tear-stained sheets". When the narrator states "you put the knife just out of reach" there is a reference to self harm, but the knife can also seen figuratively as being the only way to break free from the hanging feeling. The narrator then asks their friend to "cut me down or cut me off", to either kill what they once had or save them from the suffocating feeling. Lastly "One of us was supposed to kill the other" is a direct reference to The Gun Song by Car Seat Headrest, a band that got me through a hard time and influenced me to write and make these productions

The idea behind City Streets stemmed from my distaste for larger cities, and how I often do not feel comfortable in that setting. However, the narrator in this story is that of a homeless man rather than myself.

The narrator starts with two rhetorical questions, the second question being "How do you suppose a star can shine through a cityscape skyline?" This line references the fact that in a bright city the stars may be dimmed in comparison. The line can also be taken as a feeling of hopelessness that the narrator has found himself in. Later on the narrator speaks on how the homeless are often ignored or overlooked, "Here I stand, just a face in the crowd". The narrator then goes on to ask forgiveness and dreams of "jumping into bed with a single motion". While this line could be taken as the homeless man dreaming of a comfortable bed rather than "shitty city streets" there is another interpretation. The second interpretation being that the man wishes to end his life by jumping into bed, aka the shitty city streets of which he sleeps.

Despite the change in narration my sentiments are echoed throughout. One example is the uncomfortable feeling of being so small while skyscrapers loom over you. This is represented in the line "...the monoliths mock me for my mistakes".

You Never Felt Great/I Never Felt Good is about the disappointment I had upon having sex the first few times. I wrote this piece to bring awareness to the sometimes ugly side of sex, so hopefully others won't feel so alone as I did.

Upon my first several sexual experiences I was left disappointed not only with said experiences, but with myself as well. In society sex is constantly held on a pedestal for how sensual it is. Furthermore, men are shown as sex addicts, and virgins only last a minute their first time. During my early experiences the sex I did have was rather dull, and I found it hard to reach climax. This left me feeling alone, concerned, and frankly emasculated, hence the line "Am I even a man?". I felt so alone on this issue that I was convinced there was something wrong with me, which can be seen in the change from "There must be something wrong with me" to "There is something wrong with me". The first upbeat energetic part represents the physically lustful side of sex. The second and slower part represents the emotional romantic side of sex. The third and silent part represents not overthinking both aspects. Cutting off the music in the different parts show my disappointment with the previously mentioned aspects of sex represented in the music.

Lastly, I want to make it clear that the the line "You never felt great" is not about some supposed responsibility my significant other had to pleasure me. Said line in conjunction with "I never felt good" references the fact that I could not pleasure my ex. The line "I never felt good" does however reference my disappointment, but that is a disappointment I claim as my own.

You Laughed As I Cried is about my own struggle with self worth post breakup.

Immediately after I got broken up with my ex was attempting to show me gratitude for how considerate I was with the breakup and with how responsible I was in the situation, but hearing my ex say the breakup was easy messed me up a good bit. The audio at the end of the recording is cut from one of the few videos I have of my ex speaking. Within the context of the original video the audio clip is lighthearted and playful, but when placed into current circumstances the audio clip takes on a different tone all together.

Transparent Leyes tells a simple story of rejection by a former lover or romantic interest.

Despite the narrator being told "We cans still be friends", he knows deep down that they are lying whether they know it or not. The spelling of "transparent leyes" shows that the narrator has looked through the romantic interest's eyes in order to search their soul and find that they are lying to him. This is also a reference to corneas being transparent. Our narrator then pleads for said romantic interest to "hold up a mirror", and to look into their own eyes, in order to see the truth that he sees. While said romantic interest is looking into their eyes the narrator also hopes they envision what could have been. Throughout the story the idea of vision and site is played with. Examples of such are "thinly veiled promise", "transparent l-EYES", and "search your soul". This theme is referenced again with the narrator loosing his site at the end of the story. Not only is the narrator not able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but he cannot see the tunnel either. This is a cheeky little play on the fact that if taken literally, a blind person not only wouldn't see the light, but also couldn't see a tunnel. However, figuratively the narrator has lost hope for the relationship and or life in general.