26 November 2008

never get married

it's a piece of advice i have heard many many times since about driving age. there are the failed marriages of family, the random laments of customers in the restaurant and grocery store patrons, friends who found out the hard way getting married young is a ton of work, and most recently, every person i work with, shop and in the field.

i know some people have this dreamy idea of marriage, but the only people talking positive about marriage are the unmarried, the only ones talking negative are the married and unhappy, and the married and content (as far as they show) don't say anything at all, except the occassional complaint.

i see marriage rip people's souls in half, but only most of the time. there are some happy marriages, but even then the compromises and forfeiture of their freedoms is far from encouraging. i don't like what happens to the people i know once they get married, and i don't like the institution of marriage that we know today.

commitment does not bother me. obligation i could do without.

21 November 2008

I hear the system

I hear the system.
It doesn’t speak
to me,
or to anyone,
but the voice is clear,
just behind the wall
separating us from the truth.
Someone calls out,
and then is gone.
Not the system—
the system is always there—
but the someone,
trying to break free,
powerless, alone;
a captive of our society.
And I don’t have the decency
to stop.
We never have the decency
to stop.

20 November 2008

sometimes i try too hard

I see through every shade of hate,
to your very core,
and hoping to see something more,
disappointment reigns—
you are inside
as you are
on the face;
the hate replaces
empty space,
without, nothing remains
unless you call
deceit, pride and disdain
substance.

09 November 2008

walking on rose petals

9.november

the warm folds of my bed
high overhead disappear into the sky
as I land safely on the ground

the earth is lush beneath my feet
I cannot see, but the soft moss
invites me further on

the darkness is calming
following the scent of roses
through this wondrous oblivion

butterflies flutter by
caressing my face with their wings
tickling the lashes of my eyes

the secret unravels as
I walk onto the petals of roses
and drink from their soul

but terror blows its icy breath
on the back of my neck, my feet frozen
wondering where the thorns are

08 November 2008

thoughts after 100 pages of nanowrimo

1. 100 pages is a lot to write
2. the callous on my middle finger and the muscles in my hand were not ready for this challenge, getting better though.
3. my PAD project is a nice break from nano
4. my choice of bic pen (the standard, crystal cased (don't let the name fool you, its really plastic) black pen) only lasts about sixty pages with minimal editing and a few poems
5. my nano region (dfw) voted on a mascot and i missed it, but that's ok because they chose the rhinoceros, which i like, and is crazyfun to say altogether...nanowrimo rhino
6. i bought a small rhino for inspiration
7. i wrote a rhinoceros herd into my story about a prisoner in southeast asia (as a metaphor)
8. i want a nanowrimo rhino t-shirt
9. nano makes me drink a lot of tea

07 November 2008

(untitled fear myth poem)

this is today's poem for my PAD group. my theme is fear, today's prompt was to create or use an existing myth.

usually wouldn't double post, but someone (robbie) might want to check it out...

(untitled so far)

Every ten-year-old is afraid
of ghosts and monsters,
because they don’t know any better.
And teens shudder at urban legends,
even when they know they never happened.
But eventually, people see how silly
all these crazy stories are,
and outgrow the effects of folklore.

Now that I have grown up,
its time to dispel the myths;
demons do exist, but not like the
campfire tales we hid from as kids,
and no amount of covers can save us
from them—
Spooks in sheets are scary things,
but spooks in black suits who snoop
and defy our liberties are what really
frighten me.

Frankenstein’s beast, with pieces
of every poor soul beneath a headstone
had no chance at being loved.
But at least he didn’t try to hide
from the citizen’s cries,
like the lies and shady deals
intertwined in every collaborative
Congressional bill.

Dracula, with no soul,
survives on the lifeblood
of others, while dining in his
castle all alone.
With resigned honor he reigned,
unlike the vampIRS of
today, who choose to live
on what runs through our veins.

You’ll run out of breath,
trying to summon Bloody Mary
from the mirror; nothing appears
when you call there, no matter
how many times you stand
in the dark and whisper,
“Medicare, Medicare, Medicare….”

Haunted houses have hundreds of years
of terror in their walls.
But the Houses today boast only
Fifty-five and Sixty—average age;
those numbers make my skin crawl.

Some myths, even still, are
supported by the powers on the Hill.
They even commissioned the
Department of Ignorance,
to keep us off their trail.
And to feed Cerberus,
the Three-Headed mutt,
entrusted to guard the River Potomac,
so no one can crack the mask
that hides truth, and lies,
all at the same time.
You’d think their resources could
afford a more convincing disguise.

I was that kid, afraid of many things
that go ‘bump’ in the night.
And still am, sometimes,
lying alone in bed without a light.
But if someone asks,
“Are You Afraid of the Dark?”
I’ll say, “I am, but only
when I’m watching C-SPAN.

04 November 2008

new poem and nanowrimo update

taking a break from my novel. i'm about 53 written pages in (who knows what that translates to in type world (hard to be rhetorical in print)) and using the afternoon to relax and work on some other stuff. thanks for the encouragement i've received from everyone so far, it helps more than you know. oh, and PAD is going well. i still have no idea what i'm doing beyond writing poems, but i'm ok with that.

something i wrote thinking about home

Evergreens

The autumn rains
provide flowers
a last chance to bloom,
before the gloom of winter
consumes the land.

In the fields,
stocks and vines
are ripe with wondrous hues,
while dappled treasures emerge
from the somber ground.

And floors of warm houses
are alive with holiday jubilee;
the rainbow represented
on their tables
of fun and fancy free.

But fall is not all
brightly colored things,
and deep shades
of celebration,
surrounded by falling leaves.

Some things endure,
no matter how the wind blows—
forests of never-fading
browns and greens
backdrop every festive tone.

These stoic trees
stand steadfast, just the same
through each bustling season,
embracing the commotion,
with ageless patience and grace.

02 November 2008

NaNoWriMo and PAD

i had no idea what those two acronym[ish] things meant until late last night. i was poking around online, considering taking the plunge and making some of my work available to people i don't know, and i came across a blog for poets. http://poetswhoblog.blogspot.com%20...i/i'm thinking about it.

reading into some of the poems, i stumbled upon PAD...Poem A Day.
http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/default,month,2008-11.aspx. i thought...why not. a poem was already written for the first...why not write one for the second. and then the third. awesome.

looking at some of those poems, someone mentioned NaNoWriMo. it's just fun to say. it stands for National Novel Writer's Month. check it out -->
http://www.nanowrimo.org/. i initially thought 'not for me' because i am not a novelist. i read a bit, and it's not just for novelists...just crazy people who want to try to write 50,000 words of a novel in the thirty days November affords us. still i was skeptical. but then i started writing, and now i think i'm crazy enough to do it.

and the poems

01 November 2008

Redemption, Retraction, Redistribution

A few months ago, I made a post titled "Advertising," (http://whateverescapesmymind.blogspot.com/2008/03/advertising.html) which was a statement of intentions to reward or punish good and bad advertising with my business (or refusal thereof). Beer, oh glorious beer, was something I promised to buy more of as a gesture of acceptance; beer adds are generally awesome. However, Bud Light decided to disallow the reproduction of their "Real Men of Genius" sound clips on a non-affiliated web site. I took this as a hostile action by a company who shuns free advertising, and therefore my customership.

Today (or whatever day the following events took place) is (was) a good day. Bud Light, as a result of pressures from...somewhere, fear of losing my and potentially millions of upset beer drinker's business and probably some degree of not caring, has lifted their outrageous injunction on Whipnet.com (or whoever) allowing the "Real Men of Genius" sound clips' availability at
http://budlight.whipnet.com/. So check it out, listen, download them for later, and remember, give credit where credit is due: buy Bud Light (or at least some, as a way of showing our gratitude).