i don’t need these words.
i don’t need to say it.
i don’t need their words, either. they need not say a thing.
sometimes, one look can say it all. sometimes, their open arms can do all the talking.
“we’ve missed you,” they cry.
“welcome back,” they say.
“welcome home.”
complete (adj):
1. having every necessary or normal part or component or step
2. perfect and complete in every respect; having all necessary qualities
3. having come or been brought to a conclusion
our time is devoted to constructing our lives. we choose our company, sharpen our skills, find new areas of fulfillment, and mend our mistakes. we tweak and edit our lives and ourselves in order to find “it,” our ideal. every so often, we attain it. all our efforts are realized, creating a sense of contentment. when we notice it, all we can do is sigh- breathe in, breathe out, absorb every facet of the moment. it won’t last, but for that day, week, or month, we are complete.
over the wall - “a grand defeat”
at some point this weekend, I looked around, smiled, and sighed. for now, even with all my uncertainties, I am happy; I am whole.
like a roller coaster. up gradually, slowly, a steady pace full of steady reassurance. and then at the peak, everything turns downward. the fall towards the floor isn’t nearly so gradual. picking up speed, losing control so only splashes of color and hidden emotions register. Everything around feels so steady, so stable. but the spinning doesn’t stop. not until everything is black and exhaustion overcomes.
when the darkness lifts, the roller coaster has slowed, but a churning sea remains. hot, unpredictable, and ready to boil over. now is the time to regain control, to find out where the next climb to the peak begins. it’s time to create a new beginning. like being trapped in a dream, legs heavy, heart and soul screaming, the real work begins. step by step, moving forward, one foot in front of the other. hope guides this shaken journey, hope protects it from the uncertain ending. one foot in front of the other. one, two, one, two, one, two, one…
sometimes late at night when i’m driving along the highway, i pretend that the gulf of darkness extending to the west is the ocean and that i am only seconds from the sea.
the familiarity of that notion extends far beyond the comfort that only a coastline can provide; it encourages in me a sense of serenity, of peace, of strength.
lately, though, i’ve forgotten about her. and in doing so, i have only forgotten myself.
but i am beginning to find the shore once more. and to my surprise, i’m falling in love with the sandy seas of the desert.
amos lee - keep it loose, keep it tight
our current existence can be an overwhelming experience of sensations and emotions. everything is biased, intertwined. these heartstrings are veins that have infinite beginnings but ultimately end at the soul. by untangling them and following their path, we can find unexpected sources of joy, depression, completion, and torment. unfortunately, they usually stay just under the skin. we rarely stop to dissect and find the cause of these emotions. things are never fully understood, but we find comfort in knowing the present will become the past. with its permanence and detachment, the past provides a certain clarity the present can never reveal. the past has closures, the present has complications. then again, if we live for the certainty, we’ll never fully experience how it feels to be alive.
oren lavie - “her morning elegance”
hospital ships - “baby for J”
beirut - “my night with the prostitute from marseille”
is it too late to start tracing the lines?
where one path diverges, another begins.
it would be easy to say that the pathway becomes something different, but it doesn’t. it just changes. it adapts. it morphs into a trail that would have originally been impossible if not for that first yielding divergence.
so, i walk this path. but i never forget how it started, for the first steps of that beginning are the footfalls that carry me along the way.
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter - bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart.”
- Stephen Crane
hindsight is not 20/20. how many times have we looked back and said, “where did things go wrong for us?” we both know how much we fought and screamed and said the most hateful, hurtful things just to see who could make the other one cry first. we weren’t happy then, but we aren’t happy now, so we tell ourselves that it is better to be miserable together than miserable and alone.
frightened rabbit - my backwards walk
i like to say that i never make the same mistakes twice, but the reality is that in the land of repeatedly making bad decisions, i would be king.
Sometimes I feel like such a fool, such a jerk, when I talk about my friendships.
He knows better than I do what it means to miss someone. He knows so much more.
I can’t decide if it’s wrong or right, but I feel his sadness and his loss so intensely, I am embarrassed.
He has such strength, such courage, to love someone when it means risking everything.
I have so much to learn from him and that is why I love him.
knuckle down, chin up, chest out, shoulders back - don’t let anyone see how scared and sad and lonely you really are. make that smile look convincing, make your laugh sound sincere. when you are the emperor, you get to wear such delightful clothes.
bodies of water - i guess i’ll forget the sound, i guess, i guess