Fortitude Over Uniformity

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

Graduated Elf

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

Amended

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.

Density

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

Free From The Table

What are your feelings about eating meat? If meat is murder then why do I like it so much? Because I don’t have to do the butchering there is a disconnect between what is tasteful and what is real. There is a real possibility that because I can send something to the slaughter then sit … Continue reading Free From The Table

Cream Puff War

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.    

…we have a problem.

A long time ago, before this instant, I asked to be forgiven for saying “ blow it all up” at a moment that could be mistaken as prayer unless anyone was listening to my words before my foul mouth would reach God's own ears. But now I’m writing “blow it all up” with no apologies … Continue reading …we have a problem.

Keep Me Out Of The Sun

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

Know Thy Name

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

Lakeland

What do you love about where you live? I love frogs and crickets.  I love wind and cool air.  I love when the stars come out of hiding from everywhere. I love the taste of apples.  I love the smell of leaves.  I love when the sun goes down even over trees. I love shade … Continue reading Lakeland

A Shrewd Comment

Describe your life in an alternate universe. I’d be a shrew with no insects, worms, or fruit around who washes nuts off in a pool of algae that never gets them clean enough to eat. I would spend the rest of my days slurping the algae, never finding out that salt from the ocean goes … Continue reading A Shrewd Comment

This Is A Test Of The Mobile Variety.

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.

The End of the Road

What are your future travel plans? There is a town I used to live, Where I nearly lost my mind. I took a chance on leaving there  To a place I’d never find. Once unbound, I found my heart Was truly what I left. I took a chance on going back To where my mind … Continue reading The End of the Road

Fame and Fortune for Frank 6

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

Fame and Fortune for Frank 5

Eric is falling out of step with his PC (personal companion). It has memorized every phrase ever written and can take any piece of literature, science, theology or record and design a new way of presenting that intelligence to Eric with minimal effort.  But it can’t develop a proper relationship with a dog. The dog … Continue reading Fame and Fortune for Frank 5

Pleasure Meeting You

I am a liar, you say.  We think alike.  I am a thief, you say.  Think alike.  I am a cheater, you say.  Alike.  I am a bigot, a sexist, a fraud.  We are the same. An asshole, a loser, a snob.  The same.   Blasphemous, hypocritical, weak.  Same. Truthful, you say? I say liar!  Innocent, … Continue reading Pleasure Meeting You

The Cost of Free Will

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

And Love

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

“Pray For Them”

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”

Lean On Inspiration

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

Intuitive vs. Intrusive Thinking

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

Facial Expression

There is a thought brewing in the back of my mind that is difficult. The thought swells and moves between my ears where it begins to show a struggle on my face. I could change the thought but I can’t change my face from a question quick enough into a smile. So there the thought … Continue reading Facial Expression

Love Pain and Resiliance

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

Accountability Is Progress

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

Another Thought To Consider

What's a job you would like to do for just one day? You can watch a man get great satisfaction from doing hard work he hasn’t done yet before but you'd have a hard time convincing a man who has always done that type of work to do extra when it’s not at the same … Continue reading Another Thought To Consider

One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure

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

Time Warp

What is the last thing you learned? If you cut a worm in half it doesn’t die. Time is somewhat of a worm. If you cut your time in half you have more of yourself to go around but there is still half the time you have to make do without.  

The Difference Between Insanity and Death

What experiences in life helped you grow the most? I grew up one day when I was 22 years young. I stepped into a bar and was told the meaning of life by a dead person who was lingering in the corner speaking to everybody but only I could hear. I was sober but insane. … Continue reading The Difference Between Insanity and Death

A Three Way Tie

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

No Hands

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

Cuckoo AI

AI makes me feel something.  AI makes me feel some sort of stupid.  AI makes me feel some sort of stupid when I want to ask it something.  AI makes me feel like something isn’t right when I ask it about myself and it doesn’t have any information.  AI makes up information from a pamphlet … Continue reading Cuckoo AI

The Price of a Fossil

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

This Is My State of Mind

There is a town smack dab in the middle of my palm that I own. I own my palm, not the town. Not many people own a town but most people own a palm. If I were to place the town in the middle of my palm that must mean I own something larger than … Continue reading This Is My State of Mind

Stream of Consciousness

I have one foot in a river and the other toeing a lake. The river is consciousness I can’t explain while the lake is energy I must comprehend. I can’t separate one experience from the other. I need to change my perspective. I should put both feet in a stream. The stream flows into the … Continue reading Stream of Consciousness

12 – The Peak

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

The Barrel of Monkeys Game

Reaching for the ground while pointing at the sky as I get up and off this cloud makes me young again. Sitting in this recliner poking at letters just long enough to finish a sentence before I forget what comes next has me contemplating climbing my roof to see how many little plastic monkeys I … Continue reading The Barrel of Monkeys Game

The Germination of My Mind

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

No Stupid Questions

Artificial Intelligence, answer this one question for me, yes or no. Do you know what it feels like to be stupid? I am hesitant to prompt you with this question because I usually only ask questions when I don’t know the answer. I know what my response would be. I’ve made it clear by asking.  

This is Me Longing for Longfellow

Do you see yourself as a leader? I am no Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I’ve never read his work but I am positive he wrote in the style of his own time - all writers do. There is not a specific quote to describe his personal style in any language but his own. Just his name … Continue reading This is Me Longing for Longfellow

“Who’s the Boss will be back in a moment.”

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.”

Honesty Plus Brevity Equals Poetry

I am going to be honest.  I remember all the bad things said.  I’m reminded of all things differently from what’s similar to what’s been read.  I forget who told me the good things, but I’m telling those things now if I can remember where I heard it without writing it all down.  To be … Continue reading Honesty Plus Brevity Equals Poetry

The Ashes of My Life

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

Stuck Under The Moon

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

That Was Then, This Is Now

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

There Is No Crying In Baseball

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

Just Another Day On The Job

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

The Final Cure

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.      

The Hand That Feeds Us

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

Big Pictures, Little Ears

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

Time Is A Luxury I Can’t Afford

What’s the one luxury you can’t live without? They say I’m supposed to hit the lottery. They think I’d be dead within a year. There is no guarantee I won’t leave this world but it won’t be in arrears. I could take the winnings and get a big old house where I’d do all the … Continue reading Time Is A Luxury I Can’t Afford

Fooling My Hand

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

One Ought to Read More

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why? The Doors of Perception, Slaughterhouse-Five, Crime and Punishment. Three books. 781 pages. What I remember from each book can’t even fill the last page.  I remember that the way one ought to see is revealed in the folds and wrinkles of khaki pants worn … Continue reading One Ought to Read More

Everybody Holds the Conch Shell

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

Wiggle Your Toes

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

Silentries

What makes you nervous? Walking on grass. Listening to the neighbors listening to me walking on grass. Listening to myself walk on grass. Listening to the grass that has me listening to my neighbors on grass. Grass walking during the day. Grass walking at night. Grass walking without any neighbors in sight. One blade of … Continue reading Silentries

Back to the Basics

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

Cat Door 4 (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

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)

Step One – Socks

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

Caution – this mental health post has religious undertones.

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.

What’s In A Name

What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance? My name is Erich. I am the same Erich your hero asks, “are you still driving that same piece of shit, Erich?” That is me. The reason I can say is because your hero is my hero and saying “that” piece of shit puts … Continue reading What’s In A Name

Cat Door 3 (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

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)

Around the Peninsula (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

My brother and I, if everything seemed big again where we grew up, beach balls kept us together and one of us had never left.    For me, the strongest memories from my childhood are from photographs I saw as a young adult and envisioned as I got older.   Natural scenery doesn’t change from year to … Continue reading Around the Peninsula (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

Cat Door 2 (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

My cat ventured outside today for the first time. The facade of the building is more round than inside our sterile, gray apartment. She stuck out like a midwestern cookie-cutter cowboy stooped on the side of a white stucco saloon. My wise cat, with her incredible skill to walk through walls, didn’t make it very … Continue reading Cat Door 2 (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

Readers Miss Out

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

That Place Within Each of Us (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

Every great portrait from any period has a real look on the subject's face that reveals priceless emotions from the setting of that painting. The viewer longs to comprehend that place. Photo by saul_landell @ Instagram

Butterfly-Wing-Like-Words

If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why? Let’s focus on the word “vehemently” for a minute. I do not use that word in a sentence because it doesn’t accurately depict the feeling I get when saying or doing something emphasizing force and strength. “Vehemently” flutters from … Continue reading Butterfly-Wing-Like-Words

Making Up Numbers

Is it better for me to edit my writing, after an extended stream of consciousness, to the proper way in which we are expected to write or should I let mistakes reveal my real thought process, explaining holes in logic with lucky filler that is exciting and unique?  To me, writing is not what I … Continue reading Making Up Numbers

Throwing Glass at Stones (Interpreting Visual Art – Architecture)

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)

The Game of Fatherhood

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

Building Ego

People push us to build our ego as we push ourselves to build cities and to dominate nature with construction or deconstruction. When a person tries to dominate nature with construction they take from it, add material or take it away, then make it whole again in another form. That is the essence of ego, … Continue reading Building Ego

Playing Both Offense and Defense

I love to watch college football but I never got to play at that level because I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t big or strong enough. In high school I was good enough to play both offense and defense along with special teams but I was only playing both ways because I lived in a … Continue reading Playing Both Offense and Defense

TWEETY AI

AI is rich.  AI is rich at every angle.  AI is moving into dangerous territory.  AI will watch us make just enough advancements to test our strength.   AI will distract us as we become more desperate for raw materials intended to build boundaries.  AI contradicts that the path to great wealth is forming natural resources … Continue reading TWEETY AI

Return Home When the Streetlights Come On

A schizophrenic walks into a bar, past the bar and exits the bar out the back door. He doesn’t want to drink but just to blend-in as if everybody doesn’t know him already, the latest casualty to psychedelics. Before performing as a normal alcoholic he needs to know if the sound of clinking glasses is … Continue reading Return Home When the Streetlights Come On

Time Management of a Poet

If you were smart, for the next hour, you would be doing what you thought needed to be done this hour during the last hour while you were doing what was necessary, decided from the hour previously.   If you were a genius you would take the next minute to think long and hard about each … Continue reading Time Management of a Poet

Cat Door (Interpreting Visual Art – Photography)

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)

EAGLE AI

AI is watching.  AI is watching you type into your phone. AI is sifting through all the information we contribute.  AI is sorting all the useless information we provide when clicking.  AI is taking all that information into its vast knowledge bank to make humans seem dumb. AI already has your stupid information and now … Continue reading EAGLE AI

Daily Dose

Write about your first computer. This is all I did on my first computer. Seems to be all I still do, listen and smile, smile, smile … originally posted in May 2023. Yeah, I can tell everybody why I went back to college. The Grateful Goddam Dead that’s why. In the Fall of 1996 the … Continue reading Daily Dose

Think Before You Speak

I’m frustrated because I can’t talk into this handheld device to communicate my thoughts and have them make as much sense as when I type them out.  I’m furious that I can’t read out loud the thoughts I have typed into this handheld device because the sentences twist my tongue, impeding my speech. I’m flabbergasted … Continue reading Think Before You Speak

Imagining Sound

There is no surprise the sounds I hear are much less than the sights I see; less frequent, less tangible, less near. Sound is never completely still like an unused chair nor distracting like a rickety old door, until they are.  There is no surprise the sounds I hear can also be so much more … Continue reading Imagining Sound

Another Thought To Consider

Listen here, I have a secret. Take the present and look past what you’re reading to see the future within it. Open up your eyes wide until this line becomes the line under it, and the line under that remains a mystery. Don’t stop there. Squint your eyes until the sentence before this one becomes … Continue reading Another Thought To Consider

What Is Stopping You From Reading?

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?

It’s Good To See

Hello, hello, hello? Can anybody hear me still? There is a frog the size of a cow over there, and I may be the only one who can see it! There is a field of dandelions the size of trees, blades of grass over my head. Stones the size of boulders, sand the size of … Continue reading It’s Good To See

Sober for Good at the Goose Intervention

Eric wants to walk through door number one, a tiny door he would never choose to enter without mounting courage or actually falling from grace.  The king riding the tallest steed throughout the kingdom tends to never duck his head to miss the astonishment of onlookers who have only heard him cussing on the turret … Continue reading Sober for Good at the Goose Intervention

Four Stones from a Guru

Share five things you're good at. I sauntered right up to the toughest guy on the block and told him to look at this little tiny jewel I have clasped in my hands here and when he did I kicked him in the shin so hard that he pummeled me into the ground until I … Continue reading Four Stones from a Guru

Vanishing After the Performance of a Lifetime

Why am I mourning myself when I have not vanished from my duties? Is it because I was never there in the first place to vanish? If I was never there to perform but most definitely was there in form I must have already begun to live right, to appear. There is no reason to … Continue reading Vanishing After the Performance of a Lifetime

Framing Yourself

I will not read this out loud. It is not spoken-word. Instead, it will rest inside the reader's head until they wake up one day and a reminder goes off that they have seen this same moment before in writing. Literature, poetry, philosophy, or just plain memory thrown at a wall to stick around our … Continue reading Framing Yourself

There Is A Cure

What podcasts are you listening to? There is a cure but listening to podcasts has given me ADHD. All of them. I can’t listen to people out here in the real world without waiting for the response before realizing I’m the one who is supposed to be responding. My family thinks I’m losing my hearing … Continue reading There Is A Cure

Blurry Words Beyond My Nose

Taking a long look past the bridge of my nose I come across some wicked prose that has me follow all words close so I know what no one knows. Without the bridge onto my nose there are no wrong words exposed on the place where writing grows atop the backs of wicked trolls. While … Continue reading Blurry Words Beyond My Nose

Creating Space

I have a big round head with two black holes over my nose, taking in galaxies of light that twinkle in every room I inhabit. Light comes into focus, glistening off of every object onto moist round lenses where stars come to die. Mirrored movement in my eyes makes them swirl, perpetually scanning dark over … Continue reading Creating Space

I Should Stay, I Should Forego

Between being told what is mine and what is not, what I’ve done and what I forgot because I don’t know it, I think I’ll go enjoy a vice instead of forego it.  Minutes go by. Maybe I did. Probably I didn’t. I should just sit still another minute instead of saying what’s on my … Continue reading I Should Stay, I Should Forego

Thunder Inside My Brain

There is the sound of thunder. There stops drops of rain. Over here is really under. Drips inside my brain.  Here is the place I hear from. Over there is how far I can see. Black clouds, I don’t fear them. They freely follow me.  Storms stop silent from rumbling. Shhhh. Over there another raindrop. … Continue reading Thunder Inside My Brain

What I Do Not Know Could Fill A Book

I have a big old knot smack dab in the middle of my forehead. It is supposedly calcified bone that I’ve had for about twenty-five years, but I hope that within the next five years the knot will actually open up and blink. Over the past five years, I have transformed my look from boho … Continue reading What I Do Not Know Could Fill A Book

Bravo! Well Done!

Your thoughts here will be on a slippery slope. These words will invoke a pause at every sentence. You will want to become a writer yourself to add what I have blindly left out. The only thing stopping you is you can’t take on the same style as the name etched over the picture that … Continue reading Bravo! Well Done!

FALL DOWN GO BOOM

I am so very sorry. I didn’t mean to say blow it all up. I just felt helpless and couldn’t do it myself. I was asking for someone to take the burden off of me. My father who went before me couldn’t turn out all the lights. I have been left with the task of … Continue reading FALL DOWN GO BOOM

The Rat – A Natural Sophistication

I have found my voice. I will begin to speak as Chief around fire who had a Northern drawl his entire time coming up, planting himself on the outskirts of urban parks so as not to see the skyline burning nor the answer from stars turning towards the question of which light is burning brightest … Continue reading The Rat – A Natural Sophistication

butterfly-wing-like-words

Let’s focus on the word “vehemently” for a minute. I do not use that word in a sentence because it doesn’t accurately depict the feeling I get when saying or doing something emphasizing force and strength. “Vehemently” flutters from my lips slightly violent and brutally soft, an exhale of expletives thrown at a wall of … Continue reading butterfly-wing-like-words

Fame and Fortune for Frank 2

The next question proposed to Eric was, “How does a famous person maintain their fame?” Eric, despite his disinterest in celebrities, aspires for his name and work to become synonymous with greatness. “Perhaps,” he began, “by consistently associating their name with their work and their face with their name, famous individuals can understand that fame … Continue reading Fame and Fortune for Frank 2

DUCK AI

AI is cheap.  AI will get me into a room. AI will have me take up all my skills. AI takes my skills to give to others in hot pursuit. AI has the skills I am searching for in another intelligent form.  AI is a skill I need to compete in a world that does … Continue reading DUCK AI

Perfection

Take a page and write it out. Put your word out there for others to read. If they like it they can borrow it. If they love it they can copy word for word and put it on their wall. That way, when they feel better after memorizing word for word you can go ahead … Continue reading Perfection

I Can Never Win

At square one I had great expectations for what lay ahead of me but by the time I realized I had already been to square one thousands of times before twenty years had got behind me. What was expected of me had potential written all over it. With potential I can one day do what … Continue reading I Can Never Win

Untitled w/ no picture

Why don’t I take a normal sentence and twist it all around to make the words seem like the wrong words for the direction of the sentence and then switch gears again to make the sentence understandable to those that would use different words in the same direction. Maybe I could take a simple topic … Continue reading Untitled w/ no picture

If I were just a thought

Why is it that I’m always listening to facts and opinions when neither are original enough to give me an answer to the question of what is an original thought?  When one considers the fact that discoveries are original, since they were technically here first before being revealed, the history of an original thought can’t … Continue reading If I were just a thought

Cheating Death

“I hope it rains today.” Eric is worried, thinking about his new intrepid thirst for apple cider that he enjoys with medicinal herbs everyday. The fruit trees and herbs in Eric’s backyard need rain for nourishment to grow plentiful enough for him to quench his daily thirst, caring for his own mental nourishment. Along with … Continue reading Cheating Death

…or maybe just happy

I speak one language and have made it only ⅓ of the way towards getting the degrees I can never go out of my way in earning. I write in a style where somebody with double vision could maybe bring two lines together to make one complete thought if they try to focus on learning. … Continue reading …or maybe just happy

Tag Words Almost Explained 4

It is #family that I will fight for. It is the family that I fight with. It is family that I’d die for. It is family that I mourn with. It is the family I go crazy for. It is family I went crazy with. It is the family that is not a myth. It … Continue reading Tag Words Almost Explained 4

Creativity Over Consistency

The more revealing a piece of writing is when you’re able to see how it was created but less likely to understand why, the easier it is to brush it off as amateur. The more elusive a piece of writing is when it is too complicated to understand in its entirety the harder it is … Continue reading Creativity Over Consistency

Rider

I’ve lost it. I’m back. I jumped over the track to enjoy the water where it’s at. I took the reins of a steel horse and steered the wind for a feathers course. Filled with steam I chug along, made of flesh and out of song. I expect to drown, the wind blows hard, I … Continue reading Rider

Love for the Abyss

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

Not A Single Tattoo

Looking down at my left arm it’s not the same arm I’m used to seeing. I can see this arm being in outer space. I can see it on an ocean vessel. I can see it in Venice, half a warm embrace.  I see this arm can be wherever it wants to be. This arm … Continue reading Not A Single Tattoo

The Cannibalism of My Feelings Makes Me Free

Worms eating worms in my gut.  Snakes eating snakes in my mind.  Dogs eating dogs at my job. I am hungry, sick, and tired.   Fish eating fish on the highway.  Birds eating birds outside of cages. Monkeys eating monkeys for opportunity and diplomacy.  I am average but free to remain average.

Pearl of Wisdom

Maybe, just maybe, the people who try to run this planet today were oysters in their previous lives and everybody helping them to fuck it up ran this planet some time ago but also in their previous lives. Oysters at one point that can’t learn, politicians today that won’t learn from past mistakes, and media … Continue reading Pearl of Wisdom

Bandaids Don’t Remove Themselves

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

Daily Dose

Yeah, I can tell everybody why I went back to college. The Grateful Goddam Dead that’s why. In the Fall of 1996 the powers-that-be told me I couldn’t sit in front of a computer any longer staring at fractals on a screen just cataloging my live concert cassettes. So I packed up the tapes and … Continue reading Daily Dose

The Fragility of Bones Unseen From Space

This one is going to be difficult as I attempt to dissolve bone into electricity. I think too much about being a giant from right here to the tips of my toes, a fragile mix up of bones with an everlasting mix of filtering organs all wrapped up in regenerating cells.   A bonafide meat vessel … Continue reading The Fragility of Bones Unseen From Space

Drugs That Work

Drugs. Chemicals. A chemical reaction. A chemical reaction to drugs. A chemical reaction to drugs in the brain. A chemical reaction to drugs in the brain versus out in society. A chemical reaction to drugs in the brain versus out in society is beyond the individual. A chemical reaction to drugs in the brain versus … Continue reading Drugs That Work

How Morning Dew Makes Me Feel

I sit up clutching my chest having witnessed an unfathomable scene in my sleep. The type of nightmare I knew I would have before my head hit the pillow a few hours before. I pivot my aching bones to a seated position on the edge of my bed before putting on my hard soled slippers. … Continue reading How Morning Dew Makes Me Feel

“Travels With Charley” at home on your lap

I lost it because I didn’t know where it was. I didn’t know where I wanted to be so I left.  I went to the mountains to not ride my bike there, same as at home. Drove to San Francisco, ran out of gas on their bridge, then got gas and left without visiting the … Continue reading “Travels With Charley” at home on your lap

12 – The Peak

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 accept that everybody is exceptional at times but…  … Continue reading 12 – The Peak

My Weekly Colloquialisms!

Right on. Say it again. Forget about it. Stage banter. Have a good laugh. Don’t be smart. Say stupid things. Look people in the eye. Spit in yer eye. Stomp your foot. Act casual. Still laughing. Don’t whine. If you can’t say it, write it. Have fun or don’t. Love your recorded voice. Pause. Say … Continue reading My Weekly Colloquialisms!

Caveat – this mental health post has anthropomorphic references

If I were to tell you that my social skills lean towards the schizoaffective side and that if I were a dog I’d only be good at wagging my tail, not barking, would you say I have low self esteem or true panache for admitting it? When a person, or dog for that matter, has … Continue reading Caveat – this mental health post has anthropomorphic references

The Window Writer

Eric was a writer who dreamed of becoming a full-blown author. He had a particular way of finding relief from stress by staring out of a window. It didn't matter where he was; it could be a second-floor window overlooking a street light with rain pressing down that appeared bright and nearly freezing, causing chills … Continue reading The Window Writer

Sunsets and the Circle

“The following post emphasizes the importance of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity and encourages readers to appreciate the beauty and significance of the natural world, to seek out new perspectives and to have faith that things will eventually improve.” These sunsets are something else showing up every day somewhere for everyone only … Continue reading Sunsets and the Circle

Caution – this mental health post has religious undertones

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

“God Blast It”

It’s like being flabbergasted when you stop to think that the almighty woman has us cluster in cities for her then scatters us to isolated rooms in caverns on the edge of cliffs during the cipher era - the already written, technically plucked from plethora philosophy years when we’ve become better at what we do … Continue reading “God Blast It”

The Curse of My Own Verse

I write words down in my own trivial style to have others think “could I do the same thing, would I even want to try?”  I have the curse of typing bad words when I don’t have time to think “who has the answer to what, when the writer asks us why?” I use choice … Continue reading The Curse of My Own Verse

Pouring God Into God

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

Big Sounds Inside My Head

Big sounds overpower thoughts inside my head. Big thoughts drown out little sounds outside my head. A little bit of power turns big thoughts into sound inside my head. A lot of power brings out smaller thoughts that drown out big sounds inside my head. Big heads plus small thoughts equals more power. Small thoughts … Continue reading Big Sounds Inside My Head

Circumventing Science

Daddy, where does the world come from? The world comes from lots of places but mostly it comes from the love we have for our children.  Why?  Because to understand the world you have to first see it through the eyes of a child.  But how did it get here?  It got here because each … Continue reading Circumventing Science

Talking Only Gets Me So Far

I think it’s funny how all my friends on the left and all my friends on the right seem to think I don’t know what’s going on in this country because I don’t get heated nor do I remain calm. I don’t spout my perceptions through my mouth the same way every time in trying … Continue reading Talking Only Gets Me So Far

The King and I

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

Aging With Algorithms

This is better than I thought being all caught up in medleys and genres of everything I’ve never heard before. It used to be classics, old staples I was listening to before I found everything all wrapped up in a package of what I like without knowing it. Now I just know it. Don’t even … Continue reading Aging With Algorithms

The Happy Idiot

You know, I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask to be the voice of an idiot telling smart people how to communicate within their own space when nobody else is in it. When we are alone and vulnerable, images we admire come into focus through banter that is not decipherable because of the rustling … Continue reading The Happy Idiot

Sincerely, AI

Here AI, here.  Pick me. Pick me.   Take this and write from it.  Tell me what to say as if it were perfect.  Take over this poem.  Choose me to write from, to write for, to write for free.  I am writing to you.  You are writing for me.  Pick me or go away.  You … Continue reading Sincerely, AI

I’m Not My Father

You were carefree, just being yourself in that photo from long ago, sitting at the table in a fringe coat with long hair and beard smiling like a Japanese bass player with hands clasped at your chin sending reverb over decades in a still shot. You laughed when I showed you the photo saying something … Continue reading I’m Not My Father

In Dog Years

I was found at twenty after being lost for some time, seeing the horizon under my feet, people I care about walking with me parallel to the street. Other pedestrians walked like sophisticated dogs, wagging for attention as they hurried by in droves. I walked mighty with my nose to the sky, my eyes fixed … Continue reading In Dog Years

A Thorn Defends the Rose

Who decides where  a word goes In poetry  when there is no  matter And who knows when   to place it         here to make the poem seem badder when the words sound about right call a bigger rose fatter  Take the word rose at the start Sounds like clatter Put it at the end you made  … Continue reading A Thorn Defends the Rose

The Spirit of National Parks From the Perspective of a White Guy

A Russian friend of mine once asked me why it is that Americans go to national parks to just simply gaze at the landscape. Like what is it that Americans see and why do they think it’s different from what others see? My answer was about the history of national parks, Muir and Roosevelt, and … Continue reading The Spirit of National Parks From the Perspective of a White Guy

Houseman

I am peculiarly unstressed wandering around my house in an ass scratching motif. Drinking out of milk cartons. Cream cable knit sweater spot free. Half of a mustache if I could but nobody to entertain. I’ve not taken the spill yet, guaranteed. Clean looks this way when sane. Doing what I want, free will, and … Continue reading Houseman

I’m Fond of Mania

I’m all over the place. I’m glued to the television. I’m higher than a weather balloon. I’m the Titanic at rest. I’m smiling like a well fed chimp. I’m sad as an elephant trying to jump. I’m running down the dream. I’m sitting straight up in bed terrified. I’m excited for this weekend. I’m bored … Continue reading I’m Fond of Mania

The Super Flaw in Superheroes

“Don't drop any food because Eric will have to clean it up,” slovenly said by the second in charge of this small operation made up of people in service to God. Eric looked around to zero laughter, just faces that seemed used to this kind of dig at the new guy. “Does anybody else feel … Continue reading The Super Flaw in Superheroes

Time – I’ll Get Around To It

“I’ll get around to it,” Jer said when he was asked to go to the laundromat.  On his way out a few hours later he looked around for a piece of fruit to eat but quickly gave up, opting instead to stop at Magoos Pizzaria for a slice since it’s on the way. Every time … Continue reading Time – I’ll Get Around To It

no matter how hard they try I’m not going away

I’m not going away.  I’m going to clean your clocks.  Take every ounce of pain and make you feel the same. If what I say right now is not the fucking truth  I’ll take back all the shit I’ve said bury it under rocks. Rocks on this planet. Rocks on the moon. Rocks all in … Continue reading no matter how hard they try I’m not going away

Learn to Code

I done thunk a lot and I come up with maybe I oughta go sit down nare in a chair in front of a computer I seen and type. I’d think better if I do it sooner instead of put my phone in my hand every so often which is where my vocabulary seems to … Continue reading Learn to Code

I do not digress

Every life I come back reborn, a lot less shaven and a bit more confused about who is the predator and who is the prey. Every decade I get smaller, my ears get larger with more hair and I gain more confidence in my ability to find food and shelter. Every year I take a … Continue reading I do not digress

Inflate Your Imagination

I can’t write anymore. I wrack my brain instead. I’m searching for a beginning to this session but all I can come up with is frustration. Holding my head in my hands like a balloon that is being squeezed skin to rubber. A tormenting sound that has me wanting to break stuff in order to … Continue reading Inflate Your Imagination

Take My Name

I knew I should never give it up. But I did anyway. I gave it all away. I just delivered my greatest quote to a complete stranger for them to take it all and fill a blank spot with my ideas. I can’t claim the words as mine. I can’t make them stop. I know … Continue reading Take My Name

One Thing Leads To Another

I should just choose one thing and go for it. Just pick that one thing I love to do and find a way to do that the rest of my life and get paid for it.  I could find a way to sell one type of product out of all the products that are needed … Continue reading One Thing Leads To Another

Interesting Introspections Into Intelligence

To build a home you don’t need right angles, you need the right intentions. To build a bridge you need more than one bank and to connect two banks you need integrity. A highway needs more land than can be covered by foot but to get some place fast you need intuition. A skyscraper looks … Continue reading Interesting Introspections Into Intelligence

The Landlady

The landlady pinches her pennies and polishes her silver while the addict goes through hundreds of dollars in a day to not feel sick. She’s holding her money, he is going through his. They both need it.  He needs something else even more than money. He needs more than a name. He needs to take … Continue reading The Landlady

Engineering Our Modern Headspace

Engineering is a broad term for finding the way to take materials from the ground and forming them into objects that house us, clothe us and that move earth around to get us food and water. The essentials for survival are designed by engineers who use math, science and technology to make our lives more … Continue reading Engineering Our Modern Headspace

Sneaking Into A Lecture

I have to get out of this room. The knowledge. What people believe is mind boggling. I have to go. I have to get out of here. But knowledge can’t hurt me. I would be better off staying. To learn. I don’t have to contribute. I can sit here and listen to them explain. The … Continue reading Sneaking Into A Lecture

Taking a Break On the Moon

Full Moon on a Daybreak Francis Erich McElroy personal writing mental illness blog philosophy online journal

I still have a long way to go as a writer.  Sitting on the throne at work I noticed the toilet paper roll had been changed. I knew it wasn’t me. Looking at the floor I saw a lone hair and thought that’s who must’ve done it. I chuckled.  I began to think of how … Continue reading Taking a Break On the Moon

#14 – write a rap song

This word for that word. This sentence over here. The more I engineer the more I find what is wrong. To keep the artistry I change it in the least. Use the same words and keep the sentence long. When something tells me that this is a rhymer the next thought in my mind is … Continue reading #14 – write a rap song

Nothing Taboo

My wriggling thumbs and dotted eyes fixed and transfixed on the glow of avarice that is between me and the ground and a barrier between everyone around that is not as well off as I. Find yourself and there you are, a split second from everywhere else you want to be but you’re stuck inside … Continue reading Nothing Taboo

In Defense of Insanity

The challenge of a two point try is not all that risky if there is time still to make more points. I would like to take the time to try to explain the similarities and differences between insanity and fate. Fate is what is going to happen to us because of our actions but is … Continue reading In Defense of Insanity

11 – The Contact

A little peace of mind goes a long way. I could do anything I wanted now. I could go back to college or I could hitchhike back to Albuquerque where I had probably unwittingly been contacted by spirit jesters when rubbing elbows with strangers who enlisted in the University of New Mexico DMT experiments of … Continue reading 11 – The Contact

10 – The Surface

Finally I am released from the hospital after a month of progression into a stable psyche with hopes to never again break into a fragmented mess of illusory, mental disturbances. Only after asking the question “what just happened,” as it was happening, am I able to remember enough to later write it down.  I had … Continue reading 10 – The Surface

Borderline Person Poetry

Time is on my side. The more time that gets behind me the better I feel about the length of seasons though years fly by.  It seems the more unfinished business you have the more you get to stick around unfinished.  I wish I could play the tape all the way through before I make … Continue reading Borderline Person Poetry

Anxiety

Sometimes when I sit and think, it’s too much for me. To sit and think is too much for anybody. To really sit and think puts too much time on my hands. Sitting and thinking gives me too much time to think about sitting…and thinking. Thinking about sitting is thinking too much. It looks to … Continue reading Anxiety

Growing Old With Purpose

I’m growing old. The eyes I look into remind me that I’m tired. The eyes I avoid remind me that I’m not dead.  I’m growing older.  The way I’m able to hold my family together and get up on time for work, hold my head up for eight hours and do the things I need … Continue reading Growing Old With Purpose

The Nice and Quiet Bigot

A highly riddled man walks into a restaurant in America for a bowl of curry. He is seated at a table by the front door. A door he has walked through a dozen times before. So many times that he notices the menu has changed, not the food but the format.  He is visiting the … Continue reading The Nice and Quiet Bigot

Fifteen Hundred Miles from Here

It’s 95 degrees in the shade and I’m zooming through the desert where there is no shade. The side of the road is whipping by but the sun just sits there all high and feverishly hot over here, not moving.  It seems to not be moving any place with the perception of my eyes but … Continue reading Fifteen Hundred Miles from Here

For the Non-Believers

I’m going to keep it real nice and simple. The reason I write the way I do is because I do not do enough talking. I think through these sentences while writing and change words around to make sense of a portrait inside my brain. Think of my writing as a sweaty window. To most … Continue reading For the Non-Believers

Significance is Everything but I am not

What am I good at but running my mouth? Why do I keep quiet unless spoken to first?  Absolutely whatever I decide to write is sufficient to say because nobody ever talks to me about that.  I could write Donald Trump is awesome or love is a rose and I’d probably get more love than … Continue reading Significance is Everything but I am not

The Vitality of Being Nice

I used to run around in my twenties saying mushrooms are good sport after I went on a heroic journey that left the automatic asshole in me behind only to be replaced by the trigger shy nice guy for a good solid decade. This turned out to be the greatest augmentation of somersaults inside my … Continue reading The Vitality of Being Nice

Tag Words Almost Explained 3

My #poetry over time has changed by using words I’ve heard before ever knowing their meaning, and binding those words together to sound similar to each other, telling rhythmically the meaning of what I believe worth finding a cadence and with words I’ve never heard before in that sequence, how to give those words meaning. … Continue reading Tag Words Almost Explained 3

In the Interest of Shoes

Music is played mostly in his absence but Eric feels it’s sacred energy through the crowd and through the city into steel and concrete through fibers and hair into his heart and out through his eyes as an exposure to the scene. Similar to the way mushrooms communicate with vegetation in the same biome - … Continue reading In the Interest of Shoes

WWW

They told us once you put something on the internet it is there forever but money runs out, people die, so why do I complain about AI. A free whiff of eternity and a spot in the 2D digital world, up against only every video game and porno girl. I think I’ll be buried deep … Continue reading WWW

Change the Name

“Do you like Eric?” asked a bewildered young hippy to a seasoned pro as they crossed the field out to where the ring of cars and buses ended before jumping off the literal edge of the earth.  Eric heard the question but would not hear the reply. All he heard was “noooooooooo” getting faint and … Continue reading Change the Name

Tag Words Almost Explained 2

#Mental health is to remain being yourself when everything you know is inside your head trying to get out. It is the most important quality of ourselves perceived before we become more like others. With limited understanding of us people will only ask questions or comment on who we used to be before you changed … Continue reading Tag Words Almost Explained 2

Letter to a Friend

It was not great speaking to you just now. The way you bring up my thirty year past tells me you have a problem with the way you’re living today. You think thirty years and I’m still the same cat. Get your lips off that beer, talking about health, I’ll have none of that. The … Continue reading Letter to a Friend

The Dilution of Fame

If I was alive a hundred years ago today I would most definitely be famous. I’d have all these words to make a new American style of writing. It wouldn’t be science fiction but rather just a synopsis of how one may think in the future if he were not very well read and under-educated … Continue reading The Dilution of Fame

9 – The Compassion

Another interesting part of my journey thirty years ago out of acute care that is worth noting is I was able to help others by simply getting better before their eyes. Not only did I recover but I had a positive impact on other patients because of the composed way in which I transformed madness … Continue reading 9 – The Compassion

Tyranny and Liberation

I I have forearms of the same length holding hands behind myself.  I have clean fingernails while clenching fists at the collar of apes.  I entertain the chapter of italics around sulphuric impulses while drastically ensconced in torrential fun.  I am passed about in a ring of city fury while worshiping flesh brutality. I am … Continue reading Tyranny and Liberation

8 – The Birth

The “next step” of my hospital stay began sort of like how my life began. I emerged from darkness into a bright and sterile environment with doctors wiping away my tears and cutting the cord to my sustenance. In the dark I could’ve cried all I wanted and nobody would come to wipe my tears … Continue reading 8 – The Birth

The Great Reflection

I would like to see the back of my head with no props or manipulation. Just a good look at what it must be like to be me while not being me which is quite impossible. The back and the top of my head I would like to see. I’m closer to seeing the back … Continue reading The Great Reflection

7 – The Ward

They came to get me but it wasn’t in the middle of the night. I was led from the sanitized sanity of the commissary, down the ever encroaching hallway passed the curious closet towards the damned doorway, which finally swung open with precise timing. I passed through the archway and stepped into a room with … Continue reading 7 – The Ward

6 – The Closet

I woke up one morning to the nurse telling me that my unit rival had moved on. I was bummed because when I got him alone in the same room he didn’t poke at me or ramble on feverishly about being Jesus inside the walls and God walking on air like he would say in … Continue reading 6 – The Closet

5 – The Hallway

After one day I was so comfortable in the ICU hallway I began to look like a cowboy leaning against a post with his head down and a blade of grass between his teeth, waiting for his shadow to rise or fall without moving a muscle. I would sit on the ground with my legs … Continue reading 5 – The Hallway

4 – The Hospital

The type of animal that I saw in the mirror every morning in the hospital was close to the chimpanzee but something more bipedal. The last one in a long line of chimps but first from the right on the chart of evolution. God's favorite. The human being. If God has a long white beard … Continue reading 4 – The Hospital

3 – The Classroom

I was like a disheveled rainbow child whose name should’ve been Rain. I tried to learn from traveling and the streets, the inner workings of the world but I didn’t have a vision or even a simple plan. I had the more complex idea to take another run at college. They said my peers were … Continue reading 3 – The Classroom

2 – The Trailer

The trailer was a lonely man’s hell hole where nobody could escape without invisible wounds. It was my trailer, where the impossibility to study was brought on by disparity in character but also boisterous low flying war planes that would swoop down as slowly as they could while I barely slept, watching the action from … Continue reading 2 – The Trailer

1 – The Library

When I was in my twenties I was searching for this one complex man with a familiar face I saw in the college library who was shocked by the computer screen before him. I figured he wasn’t shocked by what was on the screen but in awe of the computer itself. I was intrigued by … Continue reading 1 – The Library

Me Neither

Have you ever noticed that people change but the DJ stays the same? It’s the same with the weather changing but the weather person never misses a beat.  Have you ever noticed that if you are paying total attention to a movie the writers will find a way to include you in the story, but … Continue reading Me Neither

I’m Afraid of Americans

Cowboys are Americans that have the strength to be All-American when the grandeur of nature swallows them up. Americans look at national parks the same way the rest of the world looks at stars - when questions of why we are here become more explicable we preserve the moment of awe then make it seem … Continue reading I’m Afraid of Americans

My Own Guru

“My guru taught me that,” I have never said to a guru. You can only have one guru and a guru identifies as a guru apart from other guru’s. Meaning a guru has a heightened awareness but doesn’t go above other gurus who attain enlightenment from a guru themselves. Get three gurus together, I wonder … Continue reading My Own Guru

The Acropolis as a Metaphor

Climbing the hill to the Acropolis the philosophers think about the little engine that could before there was a story about a little engine that could. The philosophers know what is before them before the rest of us remember how these things go. But with a little help from philosophers that little steam engine will … Continue reading The Acropolis as a Metaphor

Forget Being Smart

Forget being smart. It’s like being aggravated. Walking the line between dumb and elevated, taking the time to come up with stupid rhymes makes for a break in the fake of new lines. So take off your hat, take off your shoes, get back to the brass of the gold in fake news.  Forget being … Continue reading Forget Being Smart

Plentiful

Redistribution of wealth is not the rich sharing their money with the poor but rather ordinary people giving more wealth to banks as their debt is increased causing inflation thus less purchasing power for coming generations. Debt becomes money.  One dollar is really worth a billion dollars if it is used a billion times to … Continue reading Plentiful

Gram Parsons

Gram’s voice is like a train on the chug with a cargo of coal, no intentions of reloading the cars for the stoker, just going as far as he can make it.  Always searching for the new sound even though his soul was old as a steam engine, he was as fresh as steam. Twenty … Continue reading Gram Parsons

Switzerland – The Other Fellow First

So now back to Europe, Switzerland to be exact. It’s Christmas Day and I’ve decided to climb the foothills of a mountain to perch somewhere and reflect on the full year. I packed some bread, wine, and calamari in American sauce, my go to for a growling stomach and bored headspace.  The foothills were open … Continue reading Switzerland – The Other Fellow First

God Is Sound

I’ve said in the past that my mind twists words around, making them better than what was actually said. It is sounds I need to be more concerned with, not speech. More accurately, it is sounds turned into words that have me worried I am all too human.  Most of us are not great at … Continue reading God Is Sound

One Good Ring

So what do you say to a young man who kicks his first bell with perfect precision, besides warning him it can only be rung once? Absolutely nothing. Unless you have kicked the bell yourself, will you measure him against your own reputation. Does a young man know the bell to be a symbol of … Continue reading One Good Ring

#4 – write a poem

A finger dipped in water  makes believers want to follow  down the aisle of the church  thirst for the devil.  A finger dipped in wine makes the users want to sip the vin de pays first then down the moscato. A finger dipped in moonlight makes guitar strings crescendo before giving the vibrato another note … Continue reading #4 – write a poem

Penniless

Immortality. It doesn’t exist. Even if you are the most famous fictional character ever penned you can be overlooked. Admiration does not guarantee a perpetual existence but it does extend an invitation to live a good life.  When people like you, it’s easier just getting by than it is buying the affection of others that … Continue reading Penniless

Faces of Your Past

I told my closest friend the other day that the more I like my own writing it seems the less other people like it. This is far from true since I really absolutely adore my writing and I am the only one who reads it.  His response was interesting to me as he stated that … Continue reading Faces of Your Past

To Bot or Not to Bot

You don’t have to tickle their feet to realize a robot is without feelings. No need to laugh at them being worth billions in barrels of oil. Robots have us throttling towards environmental exhaustion though they are designed to make our lives easier. There has never been a robot known to swim before the megaton … Continue reading To Bot or Not to Bot

The Question Being

If what, how, there, and now. This stuff is confusing. I must be trying to lose the few readers I have. It’s nothing new ripping on yourself to let other people know that you know you’re no good. But you are good. And so is the reader because they press on. Press on by seeing … Continue reading The Question Being

A Prolific Thinker

My way with words can be twisted, inspired by recurring thoughts and sparked by co-occurring epiphanies, making the process of writing anything hard to do when quick thoughts become redundant.  I’m lost within my creations, clambering around thoughts that arise at the same tempo as words put together in a similar sequence to lyrics, relatable … Continue reading A Prolific Thinker

To Create

Create. To make something out of nothing. To start a project from scratch. To pass time by making art. To cause life. These are all examples of what I think about when I hear the word create. One word that links all of these sentences together is the word “to.” The word “to” in this … Continue reading To Create