Day 110: Present

Thinking about time and space again this morning, as well as personal goals, both for this year and for life in general. I’m passing several major milestones and it has me thinking about where I am right now, where I wanted to be, and where I want to be in the future knowing and experiencing what I have. It’s given me a particular appreciation for my current positioning in space-time. More than appreciation, I feel as if I am, perhaps somewhat belatedly, learning to use my present for more.

Present

Day 186: Mountain Rising

Some days you have to climb a mountain. Sometimes the mountain is bigger than expected. Sometimes the mountain gets bigger even while you’re climbing it. It still needs to be climbed, so the best thing to do is grin and find the joy. We’re mountain climbers, after all.

Mountain Rising

Day 180 & 181: Information.Energy, The Wealth If a Journey

Yesterday’s poem delayed courtesy of computer issues that brought about a more than mild panic. Fortunately things appear to be in working order now. Yesterday’s poem was inspired by a conversation with a new friend and coworker about the imperfection of communication and how no matter how hard we try, information is always lost in the transference. Just like energy.

Information.Energy

Today’s poem was inspired by the realization that tomorrow marks day 182, which is more or less the halfway point (365/2=182.5~180). How awesome is that to consider! I’ve been at this for almost half a year!

The Wealth of a Journey

Day 175: Obstacles Made Offerings

Wow, day 175. We’re almost halfway through the year.

Definitely purging a little bit today, perhaps using my poetry to process my own life’s journey. This theme may be a tad redundant but writing this poem definitely helped me with my mindset and perspective going forward today. Here’s hoping someone else will get something similar out of it.

Obstacles Made Offerings

Day 174: Endless Waves

Spending some time near the beach today with my bride talking about storytelling. I found myself admiring the never ending series of waves that surge up to glide into the shore and it inspired today’s work.

Endless Waves

Day 167: Dragon Treasure

Twice I have been given assigned the exercise of personifying my muse. The purpose of this is not to create another identity within yourself–that’s simply unhealthy–but to give oneself the vision of something that can be trained or overcome. We are creatures of story and when you give a story to your creation process it becomes something more manageable. By training your muse, by overcoming it, you are in effect overcoming your own internal obstacles. It should come as no surprise to any that know me that I envision my own muse as a dragon.

Dragon Treasure

Day 166; Predation

My bride and I are attending the Houston Symphony tonight. They are performing in conjunction with footage provided by National Geographic and we are both very excited. Needless to say, today’s poem was inspired by my excitement and expectations. The idea of something so decidedly human as music juxtaposed to imagery of that which is untouched by man brings to mind thoughts of our relationship with nature and nature’s relationship with itself.

Predation

Days 162 & 163: Untitled; Living a Story

Confession. I hate yesterday’s poem. I’m sure I’m not alone as a poet who occasionally produces something he or she is unhappy with. I kept waiting for inspiration to strike me with something better and it never came. Lesson learned: push forward anyway. Momentum is more important than perfection. I’m beginning to suspect that I’m a rather dense student because this lesson seems somewhat familiar by this point.

In that spirit of moving forward, here are the poems for both 162 and 163.

I wanted to write about prosperity and this is what came out…

Untitled

I was contemplating the nature of control this morning and realized that I have several personal hangups surrounding it that I need to work on. One of which is the struggle with the idea that I am not the author of my own life, but rather the protagonist in my own story. It’s an interesting reframing that’s given me much to think on and at the same time is more than a little freeing.

Living a Story

Days 157-159: Enough for the Stories; Free the Fear; Sniping for Success

I’ve got a bit of backlog again. I’ve been writing but not publishing my writing as I should. I’d intended to spread out several of these backed up poems out over the course of the day but the day had other plans. So did the next. And it has been brought to my attention that when a backlog such as this occurs, that those following his blog do not like being suddenly inundated with multiple updates. So, here is my attempt at compromise. One post. Three poems. Today’s own post will follow shortly.

Day 157: Enough for the Stories

This poem was written in an effort to recapture the loss of the poem, Creative’s Career, which I started in a moment of inspiration that was cut short and the scrap of paper I’d written it down on was thought lost. While the opening is very similar, It ultimately became its own thing. Every time I finish a book, my mind is overwhelmed with ideas. Many of them for entirely new projects or for things I’ve set aside to do later when often what I need to do most is push forward onto the next book in whatever series I’ve started. So many ideas. So many stories to tell. It’s a little overwhelming.

Enough for the Stories

Day 158: Free the Fear

I have been my own worst enemy with my writing. I’ve said before that part of the reason I use pennames is because they give me permission to fail. Permission to simply write. In essence, when I go into a piece knowing that I am going to publicly claim it as my own, I am writing from a place of fear and I think it is undermining my efforts. That got me thinking about the nature of fear and courage and what is required of me with regards to both if I am to succeed as a professional creative. Perhaps what is required of many of us going forward.

Free the Fear

Day 159: Sniping for Success

There is a principle in professional investing that is difficult for many to wrap their heads around, let alone embrace, and which I feel applies to many areas of life. Diversify your investments. Bleed money. Aim wide. The idea is that you’re waiting for something called a “black swan,” which is to say the rare and unpredictable success. Something is going to do well eventually and it all boils down to a test of endurance. Waiting for that single critical moment to strike, the build off of. Then repeating the process over again.

Sniping for Success