Tuesday, July 28, 2026

The More I Read

The more I read, the less I believe I can ever be a writer.  What happened to my imagination?  My originality?  The arsenal of words I had to change the world?  Have they leaked out over time?  Did I lose them the way I lost my sanity so many times, piece by peace.  Did I drink them away, like my brain cells?  


Maybe, I’m having a mid-life crisis.  But, I’m pretty sure I already did.  In my thirties.  Which gives me a little over ten years left to live.  You would think that would spur me toward new horizons, or at least old comforts, knowing I have a decade or less to enjoy air flowing through my lungs.  The vibration of my beating heart.


But I’ve been fighting the quicksand of depression for over a year now.  Ever since I left my last full time job.  And I’ve tried to stop sinking so many times.  The longest reprieve has been four or five days.  Not enough to get my life back on track.


And now I’m here watching death claim a life.  Minute over hour over day over week.  But it’s not new, just harder to watch.  I’ve been watching death claim me my entire life, save the years I delighted in my young children so much I stopped watching, and enjoyed my life.


Maybe I can get back to that.  I just have to bash this depression over the head with joy, right?


(I know, I probably just need to see a therapist).


Bedside Vigil

I feel tendrils
Of depression
Reaching for me

Just I as sense

Freedom in the air

Mocking my stillness


How do I cleanse death

From this environment

Or should I be

Inviting it in

Welcoming it

So we can live

A new chapter

Remembering

Your face of suffering

Until

The face of suffering

Is no longer yours

And memories

Revert

To the joy

We lived

With you

Healthy

Happy

Vibrant


I feel like

Each day bedside

Erases one more smile

How many more

Will I lose?


Monday, July 20, 2026

The Day

Looms long
What is half

Is that noon?

Midnight?

Different 

Every day?

Like me?


I

Feel different 

Every day

Or is it

That every day

Feels different?

Could it be

That it’s both?


Am I the ocean

Ever changing

Am I the beach

Ever

Being changed

Am I the sky

Watching

All the transformation

And laughing

In my

Indifference 


Am I


Even


Different 

Thursday, July 9, 2026

After Midnight

There is a space
I hold for you
While
Simultaneously
I pray
You don't fill it

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

The Death of Prose

 More specifically, The Prose.

All my years of writing, lost because I can't/won't pay $1.99/month to access it.

It's actually crazy, to not be able to access my own writing unless I pay for it.

I know, I know, I shouldn't have written it straight into the App.

But it felt so safe.

So natural.

Maybe, I can ask someone else who is paying, to screenshot all my writing, and send it back to me.

Yeah, maybe that.

But, either way.

It's the end of an era.

And, I will mourn.  

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Birds in Philadelphia

The music pauses
Birdsong takes its place
On my walk home
(From the hospital)
There were two dead birds
On the same block
My thoughts flashed over them
As I was walking
Returns now
As I hear survivors
Vibrant and alive
Or panicked and alone
I can't tell
I haven't spoken
To quite enough birds
To know

I know
That a part of my heart
Is dying
Right now
In a hospital bed
Or surviving
But not vibrant
And
Tired of struggling

I try to bring laughter
To the room
Just once a visit
She looks at me
As though I've lost my mind
What place
Does laughter have
In that room?

Laughter
Is the echo of hope
The enunciation of joy
She's forgotten
How to laugh
And that's okay
I sit next to her
As a reminder
If she cares
To recognize it

Monday, May 4, 2026

May the 4th

14 years ago
We made our debut
Mother and son
From one
We became two
From me
Emerged you

A poem
Doesn't start
As a blank page
It starts
As a spark
A firing neuron

You
Didn't begin life
As an empty vessel
You
Were created
When love raged

Nine months later
That love had passed
But our love
Will always last

I used to witness
So many firsts
Everything
Was new to you

Now
I beg for tidbits
About your day
Knowing
You're still
Having firsts
Thirsty
For news of them
But relegated
To provider
Of food
And pocket money

I'm tempted
To buy a car
Just so 
I can spend
More time
With you

(leaving this poem unfinished for now...)

14 years!
Happy Birthday Nexen!