What is your mission? Yesterday I was thinking that people who have a green way of living will always just be green but if you start off yellow in life and become more green over time you could wind up being blue one day. If yellow is cowardice then how does blue become more magnificent … Continue reading Fortitude Over Uniformity
How are you creative? I don’t know. I don’t fall out of my chair any more!? I recline and use my thumb to poke out my thoughts instead of using my thoughts to say that I’m dumb. When I do speak I speak wisdom like a child instead of poke fun at other adults for … Continue reading Graduated Elf
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we are mites captured at high resolution stuck on the lashes of a sleeping beauty who never wakes again for us to hide our ugliness.
And so I will say it again. “God blast it.” There is no stronger exclamation needed to emphasize more the severity of any statement as a threat against humanity to end all suffering when stubbing your toe can be forgiven by biting your tongue, knowing it will happen again.
Floating in an unknown and ineffable chemical compound somewhere between oil and water, between here and Andromeda, that slips off the body more than it sticks, uncontainable, dense enough to swell and splash but too thin to pool, too thick to freeze, both dark and light, old and new, hot and cold, suffocating like hot … Continue reading Density
What podcasts are you listening to? Originally posted on October 15th, 2019. I could sit here and listen to a podcast where people discuss AI or ancient civilization but the more I listen the more I understand how science and God are connected which traditionally goes against some moral coding, so I will continue to … Continue reading The Lure of Podcasts
As I beat my head against this wall perhaps I should think how stupid I would look if it were an imaginary wall and the effect was imaginary relief because any relief I receive from beating my head against the wall is imaginary and the effect is really stupid.
What would you do if you lost all your possessions? I will rejoice in the wind at the seaside while it cools me from the blazing sun that dries my well fed body after taking a deep plunge into icy water that takes my breath away. The opposite way I feel when my stuffy car … Continue reading Keep Me Out Of The Sun
Where did your name come from? I used to go around for years, even as early as a month ago, saying Erich is right after Enoch in the genealogy portion of the Old Testament. I learned a few minutes ago from “ye old AI” that it is indeed false. I’m not sure what I did … Continue reading Know Thy Name
There, in an alternate universe, I am a giant. I use tree trunks to pick wild game from my teeth. I eat whole herds by the handful that I roast by tossing towards the sun then open my mouth quickly to catch them like I catch peanuts here, in the universe of shrews, bugs, and … Continue reading The Alternative To Growth
Put this line to the test. See if your eyes move fast enough side to side to get to the next line before scrolling to the end of the page to see how much precious time it will take to finish. See if the words move fast enough from left to right to keep your … Continue reading This Is A Test Of The Mobile Variety.
Frank returned, not with a tick or a tock, but with awareness - a pulse, slow and steady, that pulled time inward like gravity into a black hole of meaning. Frank had been watching all along. There were no hands on Frank’s face. There never were. There were eyes - two microscopic irises built into … Continue reading Fame and Fortune for Frank 6
“There is a cost associated with protecting things aside from yourself,” Eric began, a hero’s expression of fame. “Including love inside you that can be received and reciprocated causing you to protect the recipients of mutual love but with the consequence of dying or losing them. On the one hand, protecting your property is not … Continue reading Fame and Fortune for Frank 4
The principles I live by have been with me since birth. They have been inherent to my being from the beginning. Principles are what make me the kind of person I am, have always been, and always will be. My morals developed later, as I began instinctively questioning right from wrong. At times, I responded … Continue reading The Value of Values
I started writing to set my soul free after years of abusing my own free will. Not practicing my talents and having power over that free will has led me to self knowledge that my destiny is not my creation. In the past, I was a writer who never wrote. I will always be a … Continue reading The Cost of Free Will
In the beginning…there were a lot of AND’s…and there were names of places and of people who we’ve heard of before with names we know from songs and books and movies and sometimes real life. Short phrases from the beginning have become elaborate stories interpreting the evidence of imagination inherent in us all leaving unquestionable … Continue reading And Love
If humans had taglines, what would yours be? I’m in a tough, vulnerable spot. There are plenty of people I come into contact with who know far more than I do about living right and who hear exactly where I’m at. There are also many others who don’t follow the rules, yet can see that … Continue reading “Pray For Them”
There it is! The cause. The reason. The solution. Hold onto the solution for the cause will give a reason to inspire. There it is again! The solution. The reason. The cause. Let the cause give way to the solution for there is a reason to inspire. There it goes! The reason. The cause. The … Continue reading Lean On Inspiration
Anguish is the thinking we do that comes when giving into negligence of the heart while disrupting the responsibilities of the mind. If a place in my heart is filled with love and then replaced with sorrow there is going to be more chances for my mind to turn that sorrow into resentment. My mind … Continue reading Intuitive vs. Intrusive Thinking
I am defeated by love, wriggling in bed on a cross titled “ABANDON” for the third time, but I can’t recall being in love any time before this. Just out of reach is the life I have lived and the pain I have now for having not lived right nor loved right any other time. … Continue reading Love Pain and Resiliance
I have to clock this in now so as not to get a time-out by myself later for forgetting. I don’t need to confess the magnitude of a depraved moment so later my ego can ask everybody to forget. If I choose to make myself accountable by calling myself out there is the possibility that … Continue reading Accountability Is Progress
When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out? There once was an acid I put in my head. It took years for the molecule to take effect. It eventually did and fit like a fiddle in the middle of a dj set. I tried to poke at the strings … Continue reading One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why? I would like to be any man who pokes his head into a heated argument to say “there may not be many differences between you two men but there are plenty of people who see right through your differences.” Then … Continue reading A Three Way Tie
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months? Look at me Ma, I have above average looks. Look at me Pa, I’m above average at sports. Papa, I have above average intelligence. Gamma, I’m kinda nice. But that was then and you guys are all gone. I’ve been slipping ever … Continue reading No Hands
There is a river raging across my forehead carving through fossils left behind from an earlier time long ago inside my mind. The deeper it carves fossils are exposed for everyone to see even though fossils are still alive inside of me. The more the river bends the older fossils get the more the past … Continue reading The Price of a Fossil
Do you need time? She lost her mind when she walked into a cavern in the middle of the desert where a heart had emerged with the promise of a new story. With new eyes he let go of her hand and went to gather water, for once, the moment should never end.
What’s something most people don’t know about you? There was a time in my life when I thought I was divine. Imagine how difficult it was to overcome a delusion like that as a young man. And as a middle aged man I still believe some of that to be true because it’s easy to … Continue reading 12 – The Peak
I have to admit that I’m a little bit confused with all the extra thought I put into nurturing little seeds that have been planted by professionals and amateurs alike about my type of thinking that goes along with being both a recovering addict and clandestine schizophrenic. If I am going to get any better … Continue reading The Germination of My Mind
What TV shows did you watch as a kid? Sitting on a porch, older, thinking back to what I wanted to be when I was a younger man who could still make things happen for myself I remember I wanted to go into advertising. I wanted to write a catch phrase here and a jingle … Continue reading “Who’s the Boss will be back in a moment.”
I sweep floors to sweep out ashes from the incinerator of my shortcomings. I have shortcomings so I fall short of pride. I gain pride from sweeping up my shortcomings but the ashes leave permanent black soot stains wherever I sweep. To further burn the ashes of my shortcomings by sweeping floors I hope to … Continue reading The Ashes of My Life
All along I have been trying to get close to the sun but I am lost in the shadow of the moon for being too small. I am only trying to make myself bigger. With a push to get further away from the sun I get even smaller still. To stay the same size I … Continue reading Stuck Under The Moon
If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go? I would like to give one plane ticket to my ego and the other to my pride. I’d have my pride fly to Europe and my ego fly out West. That way when my pride is smashed to smithereens and my ego is dissolved … Continue reading That Was Then, This Is Now
I step up to my window to see bare branches of the oak tree swaying in tune with my spine rocking comfortably planted at home. The glare of a single street light beyond the circuit of branches reflects light onto moist air that produces a nervous orb around me and the tree. I look outside … Continue reading Eyes of the World
What would you change about modern society? If I could, I would change the rules of baseball. I’d make it so you only get three good pitches to hit the ball. If you get two strikes right away you forfeit another try. Two strikes and you’re out. In that way we'll always wonder what the … Continue reading There Is No Crying In Baseball
What bothers you and why? Eric didn’t tangle the hose and he wouldn’t untangle it either. He hates hoses. Any time an impossible mess of string or wire, chain or hose comes across his hands or feet Eric would rather cuss at it, like cussing at the moon in the daylight when it can’t be … Continue reading Just Another Day On The Job
How do you practice self-care? The “incessant fine line” is torturing yourself with history you have no control over when that history is what you can't accept so you try to cure yourself by getting better at acceptance and the current story is all that’s left.
I am writing over incredible thoughts I have just deleted. This is not what I really want to say but it is a much more diplomatic way of presenting my bizarre outlook on (blank) before embracing (blank) as the sole reason for exploring (blank). (Blank) may not fulfill any prophecies expected by us but the … Continue reading The Hand That Feeds Us
When I was young I used to listen to the bottom of the ocean inside of a conch shell but as I grew older I found if you puncture the shell it makes a fine blow horn. This is similar to the relationships I have with my peers. When I was younger I believed I … Continue reading Big Pictures, Little Ears
I took a good look at the back of my hand a minute ago. I gave it the once over and decided it was the same hand it always has been. It is the same hand that blocks my view wherever I look. It’s always there at the angle I choose, the same size and … Continue reading Fooling My Hand
If you’re within earshot of me and can hear anybody other than yourself, you know who I am. Whenever I say something, whatever I say, wherever, I am echoing off of every wall I’ve ever known, my inner ear ringing constantly as the ocean sings within a conch shell heard for the very first time. … Continue reading Everybody Holds the Conch Shell
I’ve made progress. I’ve made about as much progress as my feet do drilling wet sand at the shore of an ocean. As one wave washes free from my wiggling toes any evidence of progress made, if sand were an obstacle and my feet the solution, before the next wave covers my feet again with … Continue reading Wiggle Your Toes
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like? My feet hit the floor. My knees to the ground. My fingers clasped tightly. My voice whispers “how.” My legs find their footing. My arms in a sleeve. My breakfast is waiting. My book opened to read. My friends are … Continue reading Back to the Basics
She’s not coming back. My cat chose freedom and a farmhouse. Probably making a litter of shadows, each independent from each other like floaters that cast black cats off the corner of my retina. There is a time when every cat realizes they are a cat and they begin swiping their paws at moving objects … Continue reading Cat Door 4 (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)
Ptew. Now you are gone. I have spit you out of my head. There are plenty of reasons this will not get read. Number one, I’m sure, is the rude beginning. Number two - I am who I am when pretending to be Eric the Red, Eric the Viking, Eric on the wind or the … Continue reading Step One – Socks
What do you wish you could do more every day? It’s more like what do I need to do more of every day. I’ve been fortunate enough to find out that wishes only come true if you take action. I have had no problems asking for things my entire life. I’ve had success at getting … Continue reading Caution – this mental health post has religious undertones.
Has anybody seen my cat? She may have run away under the cover of night with her ability to turn walls into doorways. She sees in black and white only, moves with grace inside gray areas and avoids round, bright, and colorful objects. She doesn't really see colors which makes her avoid the outdoors, preferring … Continue reading Cat Door 3 (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)
Do you enjoy your job? Yes. There is a profound difference between modern architecture that is built in months or years and ancient architecture that is built throughout decades or centuries. The amount of time it takes to build a structure sometimes reflects how long the structure will last. Ancient architecture showed the wealth of … Continue reading Scribbling for Livelihood (Interpreting Visual Art – Architecture)
I grew up too fast in the 80’s and 90’s which actually stunted my growth. As a child I was shorter than the horizon, never able to look. As a teenager I put my head in the sand to stay young and boast, to keep my head below the horizon and rarely opened a book. … Continue reading Readers Miss Out
When he’s laid to rest the 8th grandson of the first family of trillionaires wants to be laid out in a home away from home. He had a house built far away from the hustle and bustle of New York City, Tokyo, London, Singapore, and Hong Kong where he hides in flats with his royal … Continue reading Throwing Glass at Stones (Interpreting Visual Art – Architecture)
What advice would you give to your teenage self? If I could go back and give my teenage self advice I would tell him to continue writing down any ideas, thoughts, poems, songs, jingles, titles, and stories you have throughout your entire life so you know what you were doing, what you were like at … Continue reading The Game of Fatherhood
My cat has figured out that there is a way to get around our sterile, empty apartment because there are more than just four white walls. There are shades of gray around each corner that lead to other rooms. She has learned that if you keep one eye on the nearest wall at the hallway … Continue reading Cat Door (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)
Why can’t I tell a story? I could try to start a story by picking a name for someone and placing that someone in a place with a name where their name is the same name as the place because either the place is named after the person or more likely the person is named … Continue reading My Protagonist’s Place
I flip the front cover of a book over to land on page 955. I’m sure someone more versed than I has found the exact middle of the book, for it has a beginning and an end. If I were to use a page number to locate the center of this book, would the exact … Continue reading What Is Stopping You From Reading?
Let’s start over. I’ll be the teacher and you can be the writer. Come up with the first line then lean into the second. You are on your way to filling up a page with the progression of an idea you didn’t even know existed before those two lines. Now fill in the body of … Continue reading You Are Brilliant!
How can something never end? Lying in bed as a child I would often ask myself this question. I would imagine myself drifting in space forever without bumping into anything at all. Just surrounded by complete darkness without a view of planets or even stars. How can space be dark when I am closer to … Continue reading Love for the Abyss
What if the greatest scientists on the planet are always wrong? Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Einstein - all wrong. Science could be one big one-up and whenever something is proven it just gets overturned by new scientific discoveries. Take nutrition for example. Your favorite food, once considered healthy, may be found to cause high cholesterol in … Continue reading The Greatest Story Ever Tested
Steady. Steady. Pull. Tearing a bandaid off a tuft of arm hair is supposed to be more tolerable when you have a friend do it. For me it’s not. The moderate pain from ripping the bandaid off will be the same in both scenarios. An element of surprise is better than anticipation when you expect … Continue reading Bandaids Don’t Remove Themselves
Jesus…I…look out for…need…(indecipherable)…for…forget it...Amen. That is how well I pray inside my head as I breathe out thoughts I know I don’t need to say in order to be heard by any one force that already knows what is inside my head. When I pray for others I come up with the same broken language … Continue reading Caution – this mental health post has religious undertones
I am a champion for God sweeping up pieces of paper to put into the heads of storytellers that long to have the experience of explaining poetry to a janitor who unfolds one piece of paper that reads… “You are a champion for God sweeping up pieces of paper to put into the heads of … Continue reading Pouring God Into God
I can’t say that I like people who determine kings to be kings by virtue of other kings. There are more gods than kings. There is only one of me and one God. Gods in the plural is the same as kings in the plural because there is more than one of both. Each one … Continue reading The King and I
Francis Erich McElroy 