Jeff

close the loop
let it fade
dusk was my favorite
as I become night

Crows squawking
Heartfelt cries of solidarity
Life on a branch
While I sit inside
Nature is teaching
While I learn nothing

#heartfelt #vss365

If this wonky graffiti doesn't hit
It's probably not you
I sing out of tune and dance off step
I can't gets these words out
Without a little wobble
Thank you for your patience
Trying to make sense out of what I can't

#wonky #vss365

Been down so low
To stoop to your level
I’ll need a ladder
Climb those steps
To find your lowest

#stoop #vss365

Not trying to be slapdash
I write swiftly
Time of the essence
Have to get the words out
Before critic arrives

#slapdash #vss354

Happy birthday

Trip over words
Stammering stanzas
Rarely make sense
I’m the kooky monster

#kooky #vss365

I can be the tightrope you walk on

Frayed strands of decency
Swim in the neuronal soup
Lifeguards were never on duty
And that may have been the point

Some pain doesn’t come with a lesson.

This week on the To The Bone podcast, I explore Kate Bowler’s challenge to toxic optimism and what it means to live honestly with illness, uncertainty, and a fragile body.

We forget the wrong memories

Delivery of words
Scrawled on this blackboard
Slanted rhymes
From confusing times
Only to be scrapped
For nothing anyone is searching for

#delivery #vss365

I pay rent in chaos
Grace of a panda
With a barbed wire mouth

My self talk keeps me locked in
As I shred what’s left to be found

I no longer adorn the crown of thorns with tinsel
The holidays are over
Snow is gray on the sidewalks
Culturally sanctioned joy must await the next purchase
I'm told it's to love another or the expression of
Yet my heart beats compassionately every day

#adorn #vss365

"love is not a victory march" Leonard Cohen

I only go for the violins
Can't play it or name it
Couldn't give you a reason

Symphony is my airport
With the one instrument
Lifting me out of my mind

#symphony #vss365

Being haunted
Pursued by my own thoughts
An existenial imposition
As sure as the sun rises

Spooked by consciousness
Leaving me abraded
But also patient
Also kind
Also aware of the ghost
Floating in your own mind

#spooked #vss365

Dreaded the diagnosis
Sweated through the waiting chair
Relieved when they finally spoke it
It wasn't what I feared
It was just an oddball

#oddball #vss365

Things break to give me time
To slow down
Ask for help
And slow it down even further
Everything is going to break
These are my speed bumps

Longing for adulthood ignorance
A simplicity of who can play today
Did my friend show up for school
Or do I have to play with the others
Seeking out the past
Clueless of how to find it
I'm grasping at smoke
Trying to put it back into the candle

#clueless #vss365

Existential concussion
Silence ringing in my ears
Forgetting the wrong memories
While freedoms slowly wither
A frozen cocoon of uncertainty
Waiting to be unthawed
Light the match anyways
Burning it down for warmth

This is a teapot whistle
Not words published
No grants given
Balderdash scribblings
For those scrolling by

This is not the manuscript
No agent here
These are bent words
Shaped as key
As I get out of my mind

#balderdash #vss365

When the damn of distractions breaks
Allow yourself to feel it
Cry, draw, paint, or share in your way
No justifications needed
Just allow and notice it all

I walked into Friday
An abstraction of a day
Lines and colors
Seemingly knowing it other

A labyrinth for myself
Instead of solving
Or walking the maze
I took a seat
Pondering layers before me

#abstraction #vss365 #jacksonpollock

Delight in my frights
As I navigate the new

Where does this go?
Fear will be my compass
As I step on fresh snow

#delight #vss365

"There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours," Jean-Paul Sartre

Happy can mean whatever you want it to mean tonight. For me, it’s an acknowledgment of life, as compared to the typical joyful celebration.

Life will hit you. Keep going.

And all my dreams
It´s never quite as it seems
Waiting for changes
The ones only I see
But it never seems to be
The ones meant for me

#dream #vss365 #thecranberries