Journey
Journey
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cruising the Pacific Ocean on the sunset’s blue side,
my spirits paving a silver wake towards the ski’s end,
to the high counsel...
an exclusive flight with control damage,
seeking the queens’ meadows,
that rumored high-hope mystery...
it's a head trip to Dove Coast Bay,
strong and silent, filled with hysteria,
a magic sunbird protecting an anti-freeze doll,
a wizard of hearts with pistols & roses,
guarded by dead soldiers
a distance away,
I scale the walls of the “Bay of Pirates” castle.
A particular status brat, cold on a throne,
highly handed maids that drain you,
crowned in vapor & scarlet smoke,
holier than thou...
surrounded with regal snow,
taste of honeydew,
I replenished an amphora.
fleeing in the south winds
in my streamer on the ocean crest
you a phoenix in the air above,
take a dashing drive, landing on soft pillows,
Meet a demon lover on a purple bed
between posts of flying dragons
on a deck stuffed with pink clouds and Maple Leafs
& ornamented with candy pebbles
at the end of this journey
it’s just you under me
& momentary dreams end in a titanic blast
so let your phoenix sea emperor
scream against the sky.
At the end of this journey
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lyrics & vocals by azdi404
music credit: Secrets by Exilian
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“Journey” reads like a surreal odyssey through myth, eroticism, and dreamscape—a hallucinatory voyage across sea, sky, and psyche. The poem’s speaker narrates a passage that is at once physical and metaphysical, erotic and apocalyptic, mythic and personal. It is both a literal voyage (“Cruising the Pacific Ocean”) and a symbolic one: a pilgrimage through desire, fantasy, and self-destruction.
Let’s break this down into its themes, imagery, and symbolic architecture.
I. Thematic Overview
1. The Journey as Transformation
The title “Journey” evokes the archetypal voyage motif found in literature from The Odyssey to The Divine Comedy. But here, the destination is not redemption—it’s consummation, both erotic and cosmic. The “journey” becomes an inward spiral into the unconscious and a confrontation with one’s own mythic desires.
“Cruising the Pacific Ocean on the sunset's blue side”
“My spirits paving a silver wake towards the sky’s end”
The voyage begins at the threshold of day and night, suggesting transition and liminality—a passage from reality into a dreamlike dimension.
2. Erotic Mythmaking
As the poem unfolds, erotic and mythological imagery intertwine. The “phoenix,” “wizard of hearts,” and “demon lover” situate the narrative within a mythic erotic cosmology, where the beloved is divine, monstrous, and redemptive all at once.
“You a phoenix in the air above / Meet a demon lover on a purple bed”
Love here becomes both a creative and destructive force—a theme reminiscent of William Blake’s Songs of Experience, where desire and annihilation are inseparable.
3. Apocalypse and Renewal
The ending—
“Momentary dreams end in a titanic blast / So let your phoenix sea emperor / Scream against the sky”
suggests a cataclysmic climax: the culmination of the journey is explosive, perhaps orgasmic, perhaps apocalyptic. The “titanic blast” fuses sensual release with mythic destruction. The phoenix, a classical symbol of death and rebirth, frames the journey as cyclical—every ending births a new beginning.
II. Imagery and Symbolism
1. The Ocean as Consciousness
Throughout the poem, the ocean operates as a metaphor for the unconscious mind and the realm of emotion. The speaker “cruises” its surface, suggesting a controlled descent into depth and mystery. “Sunset’s blue side” evokes both serenity and melancholy—a crossing between life and dream, consciousness and oblivion.
“My spirits paving a silver wake towards the sky’s end”
The “silver wake” is both literal (reflected moonlight) and metaphoric (the spiritual trace left by experience). The “sky’s end” is an impossible horizon—an eternal pursuit of transcendence.
2. Mythic Figures and Surreal Scenes
The poem’s middle section transforms the voyage into a kaleidoscope of symbols:
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“Dove Coast Bay” — dove as peace, purity; “coast bay” suggests safety or arrival, yet “filled with hysteria” destabilizes that comfort.
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“Magic sunbird protecting an anti-freeze doll” — surreal juxtaposition of heat and cold, life and preservation—perhaps an allegory of passion guarded by emotional restraint.
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“Wizard of hearts with pistols & roses” — evokes the fusion of violence and tenderness, love and danger—iconography reminiscent of both tarot and rock mythology (e.g., Guns N’ Roses).
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“Crowned in vapor & scarlet smoke” — image of divine decadence, the spiritualization of vice.
These surreal vignettes suggest a psychosexual dreamscape, where archetypes of purity and corruption, heaven and hell, coexist.
3. The Castle and the “Bay of Pirates”
“A particular status brat, cold on a throne / Highly handed maids that drain you”
This passage feels like a critique of vanity, entitlement, or emotional predation. The “status brat” enthroned among draining maids could represent the emptiness of egoic dominance—a warning encountered on the journey. The “bay of pirates” suggests moral lawlessness, erotic conquest, and the danger of desire unmoored from conscience.
4. The Phoenix and the Demon Lover
Toward the end, the poem ascends into celestial passion:
“You a phoenix in the air above / Meet a demon lover on a purple bed”
This juxtaposition of divine rebirth (phoenix) and infernal temptation (demon lover) dramatizes the union of opposites—sacred and profane, eros and thanatos. The “purple bed” combines royal and sensual imagery, suggesting transcendence through ecstasy.
III. Tone and Structure
The tone oscillates between awe, sensuality, and visionary delirium. The poem moves in cinematic cuts—each stanza like a new scene in a mythic voyage. The diction mixes luxury (“amphora,” “honeydew,” “scarlet smoke”) with violence and surrealism, creating a lush and unstable emotional texture.
The final repetition of “At the end of this journey” forms a cyclical structure, echoing the phoenix’s eternal return. The “titanic blast” isn’t mere destruction—it’s a transcendental unmaking, an ecstatic release from narrative and self.
IV. Intertextual and Cultural Resonance
“Journey” recalls a range of literary and mythic influences:
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Homer’s Odyssey – the sea voyage as a metaphor for human striving and self-discovery.
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Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – the oceanic surrealism and spiritual trial.
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T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets – the concept of journeying to the end to find the beginning renewed.
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Romantic mysticism – Blake’s and Shelley’s fusions of love, imagination, and destruction.
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Rock mythology – the “pistols & roses,” “phoenix,” and “titanic blast” echo the aesthetics of 20th-century musical excess and transcendence.
V. Psychological Interpretation
On a deeper level, the poem could represent a journey through states of consciousness or creative awakening:
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The sea voyage = exploration of the unconscious.
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The castle and pirates = confrontation with ego, temptation, and vanity.
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The phoenix and final explosion = the shattering of identity, followed by renewal.
It’s a vision quest, where erotic and mystical energies merge into transformation. The “you” may symbolize both a lover and the divine—or the speaker’s higher self, glimpsed through the mirror of desire.
VI. Closing Interpretation
At the end, the speaker reaches a paradoxical revelation:
“At the end of this journey / It’s just you under me.”
This moment fuses physical and metaphysical union: love as both culmination and obliteration. The “titanic blast” that follows is not just destruction but the ecstatic end of duality—the soul’s combustion into its own creation.
“So let your phoenix sea emperor / Scream against the sky”
This final invocation leaves us suspended between triumph and annihilation. The sea emperor’s cry is both a song of completion and the birth scream of a new cycle.
Summary Insight
“Journey” is a mythopoetic voyage through the emotional ocean of love and imagination.
It charts how desire becomes revelation, how pleasure borders on apocalypse, and how creation and destruction coexist in the act of surrender.
It’s not merely a love poem—it’s a cosmic travelogue of the soul.
Would you like me to connect “Journey” thematically to “New Religion” and “What I See” next? Together, they seem to form a fascinating trilogy on faith, intimacy, and transcendence through creative surrender—each poem representing a stage in that evolving spiritual-erotic quest.
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