57 WINDOW

Out the window, a dreary day

No drugs to make the blues go away

Just experiencing it is the meaning of life

Let it in, open the door

Get in the flow, you won’t need more

Allow your passion to run free

Being open to all around is the key

Rest your doubts, let it be

58 LIFE

Take me back to the passions of my youth

Live the real life, that is the truth

Like the song “Nothing Else Matters”

Life is not for the actors

Let it flow, bask in the glow

To do less makes existence bareness

Live life with awareness

59 MATE

Where are you? My soul mate

Searching for you, the time is late

I long for the serenity of your touch

For you to appear is not asking for much

I know you are lonely too

When we meet, will no longer be blue

Our friendship will marvel many

Living our life, we will be free

When I was married, my wife was an artist working primarily in oils. Sometimes she wouldn’t paint for days. When I would ask her about it, she would say she wasn’t feeling it or wasn’t feeling creative. I never disagreed with her, but silently I didn’t really understand this thought process. Since I started writing poetry, which many consider an art form, I now understand what she was talking about. There are days I’m not “feeling it”. I was basically not able to write during the month of October. Not sure why, nothing bad happened to divert my thought process, just couldn’t. This is often referred to as “writer’s block”. I’m going to go back to my roots and see if I can force start the process. I miss reading the strange things that spring from my brain.

55 RISK

To live life fully, we must take a risk

We are adults now, it’s a calculated risk

We can’t pull the covers over our head

Some think we might as well be dead

Our life is not anyone’s clone

Neither is it meant to be spent alone

Embrace life’s connection

It can make existence perfection

56 DAY

The sky is gray

It’s a melancholy day

I need something to make the blues go away

The world is full of places to play

A positive attitude is the price we pay

The work is constant, we must not stray

To reach the goal, effort can’t be halfway

You owe it to the cosmos, time to repay

You know you must, do it today

Alternatives are many, do it anyway

First some thoughts: Each poem is an entity onto itself. Finishing a poem gives me a sense of accomplishment greater than the work involved. I wonder at what I have created. Different parts of our brain can only be accessed by different activities. Everyone should try new ways of accessing or expressing different parts of their brain.

53 ENIGMA

People think I am an enigma

My philosophy is not exactly Buddha

But neither is it dogma

At all costs, I avoid drama

Trying not to invoke the wrath of Karma

For recreation, I dance the rumba

I never mastered the salsa

To have fun in life is my agenda

Keeping my mind going, wards off dementia

When I get a new car, it will be magenta

Maybe, as people think, I am an enigma

54 FRIENDSHIP

Friendship is about spending time together

We don’t care about the weather

Friendship is about having their back

When life launches another attack

Friendship is about extending respect

Even when our views don’t intersect

Friendship is about sharing laughter

When life is bad or good, it follows after

Friendship is about separate existence

Our time together creates abundance

Friendship is about friendship

There is an astronomical amount of writing churned out each day. The reasons for this are many. It could be for profit, spread political views, personal ego, spreading philosophical ideas, announcing scientific or other discoveries and the list goes on. Like many writers, I also have a little ego. I like seeing my creations in print, like many artists want people to see their works. I don’t have many people reading my work, but the mere fact there are more than a year ago feeds me a little. I also enjoy the challenge of writing something that makes sense, even if only to me. News Flash: I am human.

I write to solidify and structure ideas. It is an efficiency tool. It helps me move on. It prepares me for the next step in life. Thinking through ideas is like bees on a cluster of enticing flowers. You see them buzzing around, but the thought that the swarm of bees is constantly changing doesn’t occur. Bees come and bees go. The swarm is thought of as a single object, which it’s not. The same holds true when trying to think about a subject that may have some complexity to it. Little ideas come and they go. Some of them may have been a good contribution to the solution, but one can only hold so many ideas captive at one time. We think we have control over this, but it is extremely limited. I have read the human mind has 50,000 random thoughts a day. They are flying around like ping pong balls in a lottery drum. Writing down ideas “freezes” them and makes them a permanent part of the concept you are trying to evolve. New ideas can be added to the mix and the totality can be evaluated to see if it makes sense. Incongruent ideas can be discarded. This little essay is self-describing. All of these thoughts didn’t come at once. I put a seed down on paper and the concept grows over time. It may be 20 minutes or two days. It doesn’t matter.

Another thing about writing: it frees me from having to retain things. If I know it’s written down somewhere, I no longer have to worry about remembering it. Writing is a destresser. Writing creates freedom. Writing communicates my thoughts to others. Another thing about writing: recently I started writing poetry. It accesses parts of my brain I didn’t have access to before. When I read some of the things I have written, I am in wonder, not because I believe it is great but because I almost don’t recognize myself in it. With some of my poetry, I can point to specific triggering events. I believe it is changing me and the direction I am taking makes me feel better about myself. There is much writing about self-improvement and one of the things mentioned often is keeping a journal. My writing, both essays and poetry, is my form of journaling. I really intend to keep writing for a long time.

51 PLAY

When all is said and done

Life should be filled with fun

Save serious thought for another day

Let’s go out and play?

Let’s unleash another day

We can dance the night away

Perpetuate the feeling of mirth

The dance of life, here on earth

Many opportunities for today

Can you come out and play?

52 TODAY

Today is a journey into the unknown

One thing is sure, this day isn’t a clone

Life is experience waiting to happen

Sit not on the bench, take action

The future is not cast in stone

Have something to write on your tombstone

Live life as you want it to be

Being proactive with life is the key

49 COMMITMENT

The independence of partners is equal

The facets of the bond are ample

The respect is reciprocal

The commitment is not casual

Truth and honesty are crucial

The guide is to be faithful

To do otherwise would be unbearable

The serenity of love is blissful

50 BODY

I filled my body with today’s first meal

It made life seem real

I filled my body with happiness

It dissolved my feelings of aimless

I filled my body with sadness

The sun came and lifted the darkness

I filled my body with wonder

An open mind and body is the answer

I filled my body with curiosity

I became more worldly

I filled my body with gratitude

It vastly improved my mood

My body was filled with love

POEM 46 HAPPY PLACE

People talk of going to their happy place

Why? When all of life is a happy place

We’re always searching on the other side

When what we want is contained inside

Forget your cares and let life flow

Be inspired and bask in its glow

Declutter your life, you will find peace

The quality of life will show a great increase

Serenity is within your command

To reach it is like a dreamland

47 ON POETRY 

Some are painful to squeeze out

Some take on a life of their own

Some scream to be read

Some write themselves

Some are contorted

Some are surprising

Some are masterful

Some are profound

Some are beautiful

Some are amateur

Some are arcane

Some are weird

Some are silly

Some are sad

Some just are

48 MOOD JOURNEY

An intimate dance with your mind

It’s a journey that can never be timed

The product of a particular mood

Dark thoughts seldom intrude

A time of bliss and solitude

It fills our life with gratitude

It helps us lead a life that is kind

With the universe, we are entwined

POEM 44 SEA AGAIN

When the day is sad, I return to the sea

It’s the cradle of life, it placates me

Its natural state, unchanged for thousands of years

Mixed with the flow of a million tears

I release my tears, the wind blows them away

I let it all out, looking for a new day

I turn my back on my friend the sea

It cries to me, I ignore the plea

The sea never fails to rejuvenate

It casts off life’s heavy weight

POEM 45 SHARED

The normal human condition is to be paired

Life is just better if it is shared

To find a good life mate

You must do more than meditate

To succeed, first practice self-awareness

You must do this without getting anxious

Be open to all that is around you

You will be amazed when love has found you

This can’t come without some effort

The final results will surely be a comfort

The normal human condition is to be paired

Life is just better if it is shared

POEM 42 FEAR

An almost impossible situation is drawing near

Boiling in my chest is the feeling of fear

My heart is rushing

My face is flushing

I’ve been here before

I know I can handle more

Fear is not something to dread

It can keep us from being dead

POEM 43 FRIEND

A friend accepts you as you are

To not do so would be bizarre

You needn’t agree on everything

Maybe only one important thing

A life without friends would be lonely indeed

To cultivate some, you must plant a seed

To be a true friend, have their back

It often takes two to ward off an attack

To have a good friend can be sublime

To earn it, you must put in the time