What can we now do
To face down our culture’s rage
Find a path to peace
Category: Poetry
Numb
Facing life’s cruelty
Weary of watching them crushed
Energy vanished
My Mind woke me
My mind waking me
So very much racing through
Still desire sleep
My mind can be quite creative in these odd hours. Often, though,my waking isn’t about creative expression rather regarding fear.
A Haiku About Mothers
Always honor her
For life is very fleeting
Time flees like fall leaves
I think about my mother often.
My mother died when she was forty. Weird to have outlived her.
Self CrueltyÂ
I hate my mistakes
For I expect perfection
Savage to myself
I exhibit no kindness
This is not a healthy thing
I thrive in the predictable
Thriving on rhythms
Predictable patterns help
Free me from stresses
Chaos stresses me, for good and for ill. Looking back, I once believed I was adventuresome. Now, I see my delusion. Joining the Navy wasn’t radical. Well, I was born in a Naval hospital. There was nothing more known to me. Interesting this notion, embedded within my skull, that this adventure seeker persona was what I was supposed to be. Thus I always presented myself that way. Certainly believed that I was. Now I’m pleased with my domestic persona. That I’m stable, steadfast and sturdy. Funny that my career is full of change elements. And unsought for ones, too. But that’s another post.
Early MorningÂ
Awake
Against my will
My uncontrollable mind
Second guessing my life
Every choice open to
Ridicule
Through my open window
A lone bird’s chatter
This strange, calm click
Answers my insanity
With a call
For tea
Awoke by my racing mind
Resisting waking
My chaotic mind distorts
Damaging my rest
My mind gets going, laden with fear and energy, heat building up in my scalp as the unfocused fears run unburdened by logic or balance. Unreasonable and irrational, disrupting my rest and my day.
Hope’s Inspiration
As I look forwards
Inspired for the future
I’m embracing hope
Reading Gary SnyderÂ
The morning quiet
I’m reading Gary Snyder
His words speak to me
My journey overlaps his
Mountains, rivers without end
Snyder’s has long been amongst my favorites. My personal overlap with his life a big part of that. My journeys through the Pacific Northwest, through Oregon, California; life and an eclectic array of work all make me feel a spirit connection.
Carl Setzer: Word Shaper 