I can see my breath today
Changing direction with the wind
Giving its shadow to the ground
Soon disappearing, cold again
-a.r.
Photography: Numb by Shelby Robinson
Expiration
•January 16, 2015 • 2 CommentsMy Own Light
•January 14, 2015 • 3 CommentsI have been trying too hard
Struggling straining squinting to see
Training my eyes for even a blink
A wink or a flicker of some kind
I have seen nothing so far
But a liquid wall of darkness beyond
The tip of my own flawed senses
Doomed as this bleak season closes in
Perhaps it is finally time for me
To throw myself into making a choice
Grab my favorite fake and get to work
Wallowing in my very own lie(ght)
-a.r.
Painting: Yellow Lamp by Anne Hoenig
Paper Bag
•January 11, 2015 • 7 CommentsPretty sure I am
Full of shit only some days
I can hide the stench
-a.r.
Painting by Darren Maurer
Rebirth
•January 10, 2015 • Leave a CommentWhy do I fight
The urge to filet myself
To gut myself from groin to gullet
I could let my contents spill freely
Splat, with room inside to move
I’d grab ahold of a rib or two
And climb out of this cracking carcass
Emerge anew, embryonic and elastic
Shiny and sure, unable to speak
To sit upright, or feed myself, yet
Soon I would babble, squirm, and learn
Let them have the old pieces
A bit of me for each family
They can hang it, dance around, and hit
Or throw my leftovers on a spit, I’d like to
Finish this trial by fire and let them consume
While the new blob of me wiggles away
Glistening and glad of it
I’d find another future
Maybe the next me will own my own skin
It’s almost time, as I eye the knife
To begin again
-a.r.
Paintings: Three Studies for a Crucifixion by Francis Bacon
Desire
•January 9, 2015 • Leave a CommentAs Breathers we are
Tempted into Existence
By The Big Other
then there are moments
i am tempted and able
to deceive myself
-a.r.
Painting: Ocean of Shit IIby Conrad Botes
Be Mindful
•January 8, 2015 • Leave a CommentBe mindful not to bliss so much
That our thinking stalls, complacent
Some agitation must be felt
To cause movement, to change things
Be mindful silence does not seep
Beyond the borders of our cushions
Sometimes our voices must be harsh
For truth to topple institutions
Be mindful not to sit so long
That our eyes get used to blindness
Discomfort helps us seek new ways
Beyond the ease, the dark, the silence
-a.r.
Painting: Meditation 2 by Mario Ortiz Martinez
New Year
•January 7, 2015 • Leave a CommentBeautiful blank slate
Crisp canvas on which to paint
Anything but pale
-a.r.
Painting: Still Life with a small blank canvas by Victor Ponomarenko
Happy New Year to all my readers. This is as close to a New Year’s resolution as I will get.
My Stuff
•January 5, 2015 • Leave a CommentThere is a comfort found in packing
Folding neat and zipping tight
All my needs checked neatly off a list
Convincing me I’ll be alright
There is discomfort in unpacking
Sorting out the crumpled mess
Deciding what is clean and what is not
And leaving in that bag the rest
-a.r.
Drawing by Stephen Wilks
Drifting
•January 4, 2015 • Leave a CommentYou ask me to explain
How I live without faith
And I tell you the world ain’t fair
You do not believe me
But it’s simply that easy
With all this suffering everywhere
-a.r.
Painting: Rise you O’ sea by Ishrath Humairah
Inspired by a bit of Langston Hughes, a bit of Johnny Cash, and a bit of my family.
Sylvia
•December 31, 2014 • 5 CommentsI will serve no one
Not even me, only living
Will be my lover
I will serve no order
Not even thine, only chaos
Will be my minister
I will serve no wellness
Not even mine, this sickness
Will be my mistress
I will serve no comfort
Not even bliss, only suffering
Will be my savior
I will serve no silence
Not for long, this voice
Will be my villain
I will serve nothing
Not even my self, impermanence
Will be my master
-a.r.
Painting: Lady Lazarus — Sylvia Plath
by Aleksej Daniel Djermanovic
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