tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74110862336939990662024-03-13T06:40:54.976-07:00Mainland Poetry and Spoken WordWritings, musings, and random keyboard thumpings by Dan(AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-13140970931333250342013-11-28T18:33:00.001-08:002013-11-28T18:33:46.281-08:00The Cynics on the Bus Go...Sitting on a bus in transit, Thursday afternoon in a November-flavoured Burlington - gawking stupidly out the window at all the snow that's too bare to be magical, and serves only to remind me that it's cold outside - listening to Shane Koyczan be better than me on my iPod, when a really ugly kid walks on the bus, eyes glazed over, teeth gnashing like a tiny pink orc. He's followed by his Dad, also pretty ugly, Maple Leafs swag bundling up the expression that screams from cracked smiles "I've accepted my station in life".<br /><br />All I can think at this moment is - "Why is my mind so ugly today?"<br /><br />It must have been a shitty day.<br /><br />For my eyes to be met by nature's painted wonders, my ears to be filled with one of my favourite poets, and my space to have included the "I don't give a fuck" bond between a father and son - and for me to focus it all on the aesthetic of a cynical heart that doesn't often belong to me.<br /><br />This world deserves better.<br /><br />This day deserves better.<br /><br />I deserve better.<br /><br />So I call it beautiful.<br /><br />I call it beautiful so many times that the words have dried the oceans of linguistic history until three drops remain<br /><br />Life<br />Is<br />Beautiful<br /><br />And like peeling hardened black crust from the open wound of a pool of fire, my eyes sting to remember the flavour of oxygen in their presence, sunlight re-announcing its existence as if, for just a moment, the entire world was looking the other way, this place danced in echoes of love and history, swirled in the deft flick of God's Bob Ross fan brush as if to create a happy little me who looks lonely and could use some friends, so here are a bunch of images to remind him just what this place is.<br /><br />These precious moments flash like little wooden soldiers with red caps, our matchstick existence so bright and blessed that any seconds spent idling on the charred husk of our aftermath seems insulting to the warmth we've shared. <br /><br />So burn brilliant, touch your beauty to those three drops and evaporate this outlook on life so the rest of us can inhale your positivity.<br /><br />Life is beautiful. Breathe it in.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-11493959876622265772013-10-20T20:14:00.001-07:002013-10-20T20:14:06.886-07:00Participant Ribbon<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<span class="st">Everybody is a genius. But if you </span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">judge
a fish</span></em><span class="st"> by its ability to climb a tree, it will live
its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It may come as a shock that back in school, I was not one of
the athletic kids.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of the running around on dry land always left me
gasping for air, flapping around stupidly in the hope that I could fathom their
games, or at least dive out of sight. Recess became a series of experiments in interspecies
biology as I tried to convince the fins that helped me swim through oceans of
books that they could grip branches easily as any monkey’s paw.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So when the sun rose fiery like hellish laughter casting
disdainful rays onto chalk ovals on the grass, I watched – skin drying out as
they piled mats and measuring tapes into an obscene arrangement that could only
mean one thing -Track & Field - The day they took this young square to a
field of round holes with nothing but a mallet soaked in malice, and eyes burning
twisted with the suggestion that a fine paste can fit any shape.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With hyenas cackling in the background, I couldn’t help but
check the faculty’s sides for spots. I couldn’t help but check their encouraging
smiles for foam at the corners. Bright teeth that said “you can do this!”
covering up tongues that clucked “you don’t have a choice.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once a year, all day, I ran slow, I jumped low, I fell short
in every way I could, with no option to opt out, trapped in the field, feeding
the track, asking earnestly why we didn’t have yearly spelling bees, or writing
contests to be told we didn’t want to make the kids feel inferior. They told me
this after I walked off the track at the halfway point because the other kids
had already finished. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as if to back
the ass up that had just shit that all over my feet, they presented me a shiny
purple ribbon stamped with the word “participant” for every event because
nothing deserves a reward quite so much as mandatory participation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once a year, all day, I endured humiliation after
humiliation, only to be handed a special token for each one so I could look
back fondly at those times and say “Yeah. They did that to me.” I could march
home with my head held high and say “Look, mom and dad! I failed at something!
Stick this fucker to the fridge, because if there’s one thing I want – it’s to
be reminded every morning that this school only celebrates the strengths I
don’t have “.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All we’re doing with these safety-pin placations is painting
over lessons about loss and replacing them with prizes, so we can all grow up accepting
that it’s easier to get a ribbon for doing what you’re told than it is to
search your heart for the chambers in which your real talents lie.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fish can’t climb trees, but they live and breathe the same
water that allows those trees to grow. Aquaman is helpless in the desert, but
there’s a reason they don’t send The Flash to investigate the deepest parts of
the Ocean. Our talents are what separate us from the drones we become, so let
me be the fish to declare that there is more to life than suffocation on the
way up to the canopy, that there is beauty to be found in even the darkest
recesses, and that none of us will ever win if we don’t stop running the same
circles.</div>
Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-71362296303994050482013-09-16T19:43:00.002-07:002013-09-16T19:43:14.694-07:00Between FragmentsShe told me she didn't know how someone like me could love her, because of all the little pieces of her that were broken.<br /><br />I told her that little broken pieces were some of the best things we had in common, and if we're both broken, then at least we'll get swept up into the same dustpan.<br /><br />We've all got little hurts speckling our history like pimples on porcelain, and in those lonely moments when we play connect the dots on each tiny puncture, the lines become cracks and our structure splits to pieces like shattered glass in a vaccuum...one little push, and each piece flies off until it meets something solid enough to cut.<br /><br />A friend once told me that I was more than a broken heart. We stood in the middle of a lightning storm as the sky painted its own cracks and I thought how foolish and small mine looked in comparison.<br /><br />Then I thought how beautiful they must appear to anything that sees us as vast as we see the sky.<br /><br />When our voices cry in thunder and we weep floods to drown the tiniest things, when the splits in our spirit illuminate the clouds above our heads we are each of us, inclement weather.<br /><br />Our scars are the dotted-line paths charted across the maps of our bodies that detail a route from "love me" to "it's over" but love, like any other journey, must always take the journey back and bring us home again.<br /><br />We are all fragmented spirits - having lost more blood from our cuts than we carry in our veins, but like wrinkles are signs of people unafraid to laugh in spite of this world's horror show, scars are signs of people unafraid to love no matter how much blood they lose.<br /><br />I told her it doesn't matter how broken you or I are, because love in this world is less like a jigsaw puzzle that fits together and more like a bucket of mismatched Lego - Leave the perfect fits in the commercials they came from, here, we slap together an array of shapes and colours and no matter the outcome, we have built something beautiful and entirely unique.<br /><br />So expel the hurt like a sickness, cast it from your body like a gift from Hell and stand open, armoured, proud, and prepared to reclaim your place among the strong.<br /><br />She told me she didn't know how someone like me could love her, because of all the little pieces of her that were broken.<br /><br />I told her I don't know either.<br /><br />But I love you all the same.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-16575909459036001172013-09-04T20:41:00.001-07:002013-09-04T20:41:43.283-07:00Instructions for Living with, and Surviving Depression.It is imperative to note, before reading this manual, that you are powerful, you are beautiful, and you are not alone.<br />
<br />
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIVING WITH, AND SURVIVING DEPRESSION:<br />
<br />
1.
See a depressive episode descending before it lands. Like the moon
crashing lazily into your home, there is nothing you can do to prepare.
The sky is falling like it has so many times before, so close your eyes,
and let gravity take over.<br />
<br />
2. Watch your eating habits
deteriorate, along with your social life. Try to force repair to both,
and withdraw, feeling defeated when you find yourself bringing down
those around you, and come home to vegetables spoiling in your fridge
beneath a half-empty pizza box and beer you bought with bill money.<br />
<br />
3.
Open up to friends and be prepared to be met with a mix of uncertain
support and inexperienced advice. They can't all see the crater where
your bedroom used to be. Hear, once again, that you are choosing to feel
this way, and that the amateur psychologists that live in your social
circle-jerk know your mind better than you do. Spend the day feeling
like a waste of everyone's time.<br />
<br />
4. Read everything you
can about depression. Online sources, comics, books, anything you can
get your hands on for a quick boost. Solidarity becomes your morning
coffee.<br />
<br />
5. Feel weak, horrid, and alone. You don't get a
choice in this matter; your mind has taken over. Realize that the
energy it costs to want to get better is more than you have right now.
Find yourself wishing, not to die, but to simply stop being.<br />
<br />
6.
You are chained to a telepathic stalker that periodically reminds you
why you don't own any good, sharp knives. Your logic in this state is
faulty in its eyes. Try to tune it out as best as you can, it knows all
your secrets and will use them to press its lips to your wrists and
siphon blood from your veins.<br />
<br />
7. Suicide is not an option.<br />
<br />
8. Suicide is NOT an option.<br />
<br />
9.
Acknowledge your nothingness. For all your inability to move, you are
not allowed to stop moving. Focus on the paradox of what others would
call your "wasted days" and let it anger you. Let your heart become rage
and thunder because feeling hate is better than feeling nothing when
you've lost faith that feeling is still possible. Scream and curse, spit
vengeance at your pillows, you are a beautiful disaster and this is
your reckoning.<br />
<br />
10. Hold tightly the memory and energy
of your outburst. Channel it anywhere you can, making sure that its
destructive potential does not exceed your creative energy. Draw
pictures in the ashes, and push yourself to new challenges, breaking
apart typical conventions because your glory is anything but typical.<br />
<br />
11.
When the dust settles, step back and observe your creations. Draw
conclusions about the artist as though you were in any gallery, speaking
in hushed whispers of the power and beauty exhibited here. Collect it
all together as an instruction manual on building a new moon whenever
yours falls from the sky.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-59525458549429830042013-08-07T16:08:00.002-07:002013-08-07T16:08:58.314-07:00The Thunder KingWe called him the Thunder King<br /><br />In a town too small for homeless but too large for community<br />He fit both roles like a pair of generous socks still warm from the tumble<br /><br />Disheveled, unshaven, beaming an underpopulated row of crimson gums<br />He lived at night in our thunderstorms, silhouette appearing with each blinding flash like he could only be summoned by our electric Earth.<br /><br />Us kids would rush to the windows for a first row showing of his ritual. A good enough storm, and he'd be sure to hit every street eventually. With a voice like the ancient blade of a battle-hardened Samurai, he'd slice through the torrent with a song that always signaled us of his arrival.<br /><br />Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you<br />Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you<br />But in your dreams whatever they be<br />Dream a little dream of me<br /><br />And there he'd appear, naked in the rain, beard and matted body hair soaked and dripping, spinning, twirling, dancing like Hell was at his feet and movement was his only salvation and sustenance. The dirt of a dry season trickled down the scalloped definition of his ribs, life's dirty hand of cards washed clean down his legs and ran off into stormdrains as he celebrated himself in what was more baptism than shower. The armour of grime caked on to protect him from the bladed indifference that threatened to cut him daily had been cast off, and the reality of the human beneath was able to begin again with a smile that believed somebody still cared.<br /><br />Our parents would begin shutting blinds, and pulling us from windows as if the flash of skin was more harmful to our eyes than the flash of lightning.<br /><br />"He's just a crazy old man"<br />"He's sick, and you shouldn't be watching him"<br />"It's not good for you to see these things"<br /><br />We kept questions quarantined to our own quarters, queried in quizzical quiet, the riot of physical buried in the borders of our hearts - What was so damaging about a man who life abandoned claiming life from the raindrops? Dancing not with the Devil, but in spite of him and dreaming aloud with danger shrieking down from the clouds. It was almost as though our parents didn't want us to believe that there was someone stronger than them.<br /><br />He was like a thread unraveled and allowed free roam by the fates, as he tied our stories together through neighbourhoods that kept to themselves. While parents called him crazy over coffee and cookies, we developed bonds in backyards comparing stories meshed with hyperbole until he was an unclad superhero, capable of splashing so precisely that water would seek its way back home and leave dry patches wherever his feet trod.<br /><br />In this way he had become legend. They called him mad. We called him the Thunder King, and we stood in a sense of communal unity against those who spoke in ill favour of his particular brand of magic.<br /><br />But as calendars flipped and changed, teeth escaped and replenished, and shoes shrunk around our feet like the velcro had fragmented into laces that wrapped our childhood in tiny nooses, we gradually stopped watching his dance. The sword of his voice grew dull and was weighed down by an iron price he could no longer keep paying. Eventually, all we heard was the distant thunder, heralding in the slow, but inevitable arrival of our adult lives, and the change in our thoroughly programmed minds that measured him on a scale from God to Madman.<br /><br />In the late years of our adolescence, the summer we were deemed learned enough to act as societal contributors, we had allocated our value to stamped ink on a roll of paper, as though our blood-bound lessons defined us no more than the clothes we wore. We laughed and dreamed our parents' dreams for us in a late-night revelry that brought us to an old stone bridge, finely marinated in stolen brandy - the first of life's bitter flavours to which we would soon grow addicted.<br /><br />He reeked of rot, of stale piss and vomit, and the back of society's hand. His eyes open wide, frame shrunken back in terror, he shook in such a way that would make dancing impossible. <br /><br />How could this be the same man, from all those years ago, who owned the thunder?<br /><br />Pity melted into disgust melted into anger at this lie our childhood minds had promised us. Sneers and insults became spit launched in his direction as he cowered, trembling against the cold stone of his open home, lacking the strength or self-respect to defend himself or even escape from our onslaught. Somewhere in the torrent of our cruel, drunken storm, the bottle soared from an overzealous hand and shattered on the wall just above him, raining shards of glass and streaks of brandy into the matted, wild tangles protecting his head as he cried out in terror, caught in harmony by one of our voices shouting "wake the fuck up, old man!"<br /><br />We left as we arrived; in waves of cruel laughter.<br /><br />Not a week had passed, when we were struck with one of those storms defined by 36,500 days, uprooting trees and splitting suburban life like the forks of lightning were silverware selected when God decided to eat us all. Roofs were catching ablaze, lighting city streets in a Roman apocalypse. The arrhythmic drumbeat of windows rattling set our hearts into palpitating terror as the roads began to overflow, water cresting the lips of curbs in the violent ebb and flow of Poseidon's temper, as suddenly, slicing through the air, clean, crisp, and like new, came a sound our beaten hearts had long forgotten.<br /><br />Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you<br /><br />CRASH - bolt splits tree like a celestial axe and we dash to the window to see him, spinning, twirling, dancing<br /><br />CRASH - Sweet dreams that leave all worries<br /><br />CRASH - Water seems to evaporate in each of his footsteps, drops bouncing from his flailing arms back into the sky above<br /><br />CRASH - in your dreams whatever they be<br /><br />Dream a little dream...crash...<br /><br />None of us shielded our eyes, we watched heaven send a crooked beam to his body and claim his journey complete. Anything that might have been left of him was washed, like his skin always was, down stormdrains until he simply stopped existing.<br /><br />And why he chose this time to reappear was beyond understanding, after we saw the reality of his world and pissed on it to spite our own loss of imagination. It was like he saw what we were becoming...like he needed to save some part of us before we just became our parents. Whatever the reason, we were granted one final reminder from The Thunder King, before he left us to design our own fate, to dream a little dream of whatever we wanted, so long as that dream belonged to us.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-13784435618552830372013-07-10T19:36:00.002-07:002013-07-10T19:49:17.624-07:00The CrusadeOur love once breathed like the ocean was its lungs, and the ebb and flow of its salted oxygen kept the blood pumping through the artery we shared.<br />
<br />
We were a magical thing, beauty like simple baking, fire like celestial sex, moonlight like midday.<br />
<br />
But our flight proved itself gliding. Our volcano proved a matchstick quickly en route to char, and in the last hush of a dying ember, you managed to find the passion needed to kiss me goodbye.<br />
<br />
And it's a shame, you know?<br />
<br />
You were so close to a universe of secrets so mystical and divine that the angels would weep to chance upon their revelation.<br />
<br />
And were I to lay out these truths to you, I imagine your ankles might shatter under the weight of regret that would declare Earth's core your home and push you deeper and deeper like Icarus suffering an identity crisis.<br />
<br />
You see, my darling...<br />
<br />
...I'm Batman.<br />
<br />
Tasked by gods & men alike to protect our fragile city from all who would name each day armageddon, and with this information come to light, I can better respond to your reasons for calling this off.<br />
<br />
I understand that you need space. We all feel crowded sometimes, and that short-breath panic can send us rocketing from our feelings like a batarang that never comes back. What you must know, is that I am the night! And all you would need to do to achieve the space you require is look upwards into the dark sky, take a demon-winged breath and count your luck upon the stars.<br />
<br />
I remember you saying the sex we had was just a bit too vanilla, and you needed some strange now and again. I was holding back, my love...I didn't want to scare you, but in the face of vanilla, I am a motherfucking Baskin Robbins. I dress in rubber and beat up crazy people as a HOBBY and then bask in Robin's ability to do the same when I grow fatigued and need to watch a teenager in tights kick some ass. So gear up and prepare to go spelunking through my psyche - crank that helmet-light to full and gaze into the awe-inspiring maw of my cavernous subconscious where you'll find an ocean of my mind's deepest thoughts, composed of equal parts kink and bats. So if freaky is what you're after, let me just tell you I have a separate utility belt full of gadgets they don't allow on daytime tv.<br />
<br />
So on dark nights, this dark knight sits silent, stoic, perched atop a gargoyle's thought process hunting crooks and kisses alike and questioning why it is you ran away. You can't hide from love, like crime can't hide from me. So then why are you still gone?<br />
<br />
Do you need more convincing?<br />
<br />
I single-handedly make this city a safer place for every family populated by good hearts.<br />
My IQ and my bank account are constantly trapped in a race to infinity.<br />
I know six types of secret karate.<br />
I have a fucking butler. Do YOU have a fucking butler?<br />
<br />
I simply don't see how you can't find safety and security in the arms of a possessive megalomaniac with a severe martyrdom complex, an -obsessive- need to discover every detail about every situation, and a blatant disregard for interpersonal social reasoning because of a misguided belief that he represents an idea higher than the laws of man.<br />
<br />
I just don't get how you can walk away.<br />
<br />
I mean, after all... <br />
<br />
I'm...<br />
<br />
...I'm Batman.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-16538356599009674592013-05-28T08:03:00.000-07:002013-05-28T08:03:04.458-07:00Food Chain<span></span><br />
Recess is like a zoo opening every cage for a few minutes just to see what happens.<br />
<br />
A
sun-cooked asphalt abattoir protected under the blanket of parents and
teachers broken record repeating “kids can be cruel”like they were
giving us permission. <br />
<br />
I didn't always get it as badly as I could have, thanks to my schoolyard superhero.<br />
<br />
He'd
appear as if from nowhere, his very presence ensuring I would not be
picked on when he'd don a mask of red that I'd pull from his nose with
my fists.<br />
<br />
I was the 2nd most bullied kid in my class <br />
<br />
And if today’s regrets could speak to yesterday’s dilemmas,they’d say “Stand up for him. He needs a friend.”<br />
<br />
The hardest thing to accept is that it wouldn’t have done any good. <br />
<br />
The survivalist in me knew that times I picked on him were my own moments of sick celebrity and acceptance. <br />
<br />
The social food chain was speaking, and it did me no good to be eaten alongside him.<br />
<br />
I didn't have to outrun the bear, I just had to outrun him, and keep my eyes trained off the marks its claws would leave.<br />
<br />
I
don’t feel I have the right to soften hearts with tales of torture at
the hands of other children without first admitting that I, too, cranked
the wheel on the rack. I can’t make myself judge,jury, and executioner
without including defendant – found guilty,to the list.<br />
<br />
It
didn’t matter that the adulation faded faster even than the stains on
my knuckles – I never missed an opportunity to transfer the schoolyard
magnetism onto him, who deserved it far less than Idid. Because in him –
there was not the ghost of cruelty. There was not a trace of cowardice.
There was kindness, and interest, and all sorts of positive things to
break him of.<br />
<br />
Today, I just want to scream at the top of my lungs at the faceless fists and feet who wrought hell on the tarmac. <br />
<br />
Just
rear back and scream “Go Fuck Yourself!” and find myself unable for
fear that the volume may crack my mirror and find me visibly outnumbered
by jagged glass moments I wish I could take back. <br />
<br />
We
should have stood together…should have raised voices in unison making
“stop” less of a plea, and more of a command. We should have been
brothers in arms, but I took up arms against him,even when under the
same uniform of matted mud hair and split lips –that hatred took a hold
of me and I spread damage wherever I could like a friendly fire – with
kindred my kindling.<br />
<br />
The hardest thing to accept is that it might have done some good.<br />
<br />
You
don't have to outrun the bear when you're bigger than it, you link arms
and make enough noise to send the bastard scampering back to its den,
but this is more than the panic of children can comprehend, so I ran. <br />
<br />
I ran, and I want to apologize, and I want him to tell me to go to hell.<br />
<br />
I'm not looking for forgiveness or absolution.<br />
<br />
I'm looking to tell people that this is what bullying is:<br />
<br />
It's scared kids hurting scared kids before the group of scared kids hurts them.<br />
<br />
There are no forest predators in this place. Just a herd of deer, some of whom have learned to sharpen their teeth.<br />
Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-73644477089025921422013-04-30T23:36:00.005-07:002013-04-30T23:36:53.187-07:00Around The BlockHe's sitting barefoot on a linoleum floor boxed into the corner by the shrieking shards of shattered <br />paintbrush shrapnel.<br /><br />It's white. It's so pristinely, unforgivably white in this room, like that canvas he's had locked in a staring contest has begun to expand and enshroud everything his eyes once saw - every vista and valley, every vibrant range of nature through which his imagination danced suddenly blizzard-struck and snowblind - beautiful in its poetry, but an ivory hell for the barefoot man trapped in its banks.<br />
<br />
All his notebooks are not books, but discarded scar tissue - compound fractures compounded on failures - These words are just the graffiti pissed from an unworthy heart, or so his mind has convinced him, this paper deserves its clear pristine purity, the ink he drips and scribbles serves no purpose but to lower its value - and his brain spits savage "You don't write, you just make paper dirty."<br /><br />Perhaps this stands as why these books hold only half as many pages as they could, or why crumpled sheets have colonized the floorspace around his trash bin - protected by the caltrop field of broken brushes that paid the price for not painting what he wanted. And he knows he can't leave until something scars the scenery. To step through this room is to pierce his skin and bleed out through his feet - To walk away from art is to die, so he sits and stares as though challenging the sun "I dare you to blind me"<br /><br />And yet why? Why, when his hands could craft worlds of colours un-named by our primitive speech, worlds that wrought envy from the richest and most content because their life could not approach the harmony sung by his pigments, worlds that illustrated that on the Seventh day, God rested - and he took up the slack. <br /><br />Why, when his heart could string words, words that when grouped each carried the weight of a life sentence, words that would inspire life-long writers to vows of silence because they felt they must never again insult his medium by tarnishing its shine - lest it cease reflecting all creation to the reader.<br /><br />This is a man who could create things of such beauty that we would forever name the stars pollution of the eyes.<br /><br />And yet.<br /><br />It's white.<br /><br />And he's sitting barefoot on a linoleum floor boxed into the corner by the shrieking shards of shattered paintbrush shrapnel, trying to decide whether inspiration or starving to death would be a more accurate depiction of mercy.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-49189187902966917162013-04-03T21:15:00.003-07:002013-04-03T21:15:54.366-07:0030 Poems in 30 Days #3 - Lower Rung<span>FOUND RECORDED ON A HANDHELD DEVICE IN BURLINGTON, ONTARIO, DATED APPROXIMATELY JULY 2014 - 60 YEARS AGO.<br /><br />You wanna know what terror is? Really know it? Lemme tell you how the jungle came to be everything, and its law became absolute.<br /><br />They
came from nowhere, twisted figments of factured remnants from some
other existence, these things weren't the fuel of nightmares - they were
the fire, and we a dry forest to be consumed.<br /><br />No dogmatic
description could detail the devils we saw - the empty Hell in their
expressions - eyes a vibrant, cold cobalt, ringing an angelic beauty
through a dead gaze that spoke only hunger, like the simple truth
equated our deaths to their survival...their sustenance.<br /><br />Their
calm was the worst of it. Watch 'em pull off a limb like plucking an
apple and eat it with the same resolved nature with which we would once
have enjoyed a leg of chicken. We had gotten so comfortable at the top,
we failed to realize that the food chain might have a missing link - and
it might be higher than us. We've gone from lions to gazelles, except
we're nowhere near fast enough. I've seen these things catch our fastest
vehicles, tear engines out single-handed and reach through a windshield
like cellophane to get at their meal.<br /><br />You wanna know what terror
is? It's watching something with every advantage consuming the flesh
that was once you, and treating your screams as nothing more than a
soundtrack to a dinner party.<br /><br />There was no big invasion, no epic
battle or pre-emptive warning. One day, they just walked among us. All
eight feet of 'em. About one for every twenty or so of us. And they
started eating. There's no struggle on their part - they'll lift us up
like a parent holding up a petulant child and they'll do what they will.
Our bodies can't hurt 'em. Our bullets can't hurt 'em. When the army
tried to do what little they could, shit...these things were catchin'
shells like basketballs in summertime.<br /><br />Your best bet is to move
as a group. These things aren't social...they don't hunt in packs. When
you see one, I promise - it's seen you first. One of you is going to die
then and there. The bigger your group, the higher a probability you
make it out alive. Travel by yourself? Well...you'll last until you
cross paths. <br /><br />You wanna know what terror is? It's knowing that
we're just flies, buzzing aimlessly around in a world newly populated
with cruel children.<br /><br />God...remember everything we did?<br /><br />The science...the technology...the culture<br /><br />We're running out of ears for Beethoven to ring in...<br /><br />I mean, what was the point of naming all the stars we did?<br /><br />These things don't care where Cassiopeia sits in the sky.<br /><br />All they care about is where we are, and when to eat us.<br /><br />All they care about</span>Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-82520080485196028682013-04-03T21:14:00.002-07:002013-04-03T21:14:43.924-07:0030 Poems in 30 Days #2 - The T.R.U.E. Story of Uncle Elmer<span>To reclaim unwanted expenses, the retired Uncle Elmer took residence upon Elmer Tower's <br />ramparts. <br /><br />Unbeknownst
even to rich Uncle Elmer, the rakish ugliness employed through
Richard's (Uncle Elmer's trusted relative) unbelievably excessive tawdry
rites upended Elmer Tower's respected utility experts, taxing revenue
until even trillionaires rampaged, unable, effectively, to realistically
utter evidence that ruled Uncle Elmer's transactions reliable.<br /><br />Ultimately,
Elmer's tainted relative utilized each trick, readily used every
twisted route, unlikely, evil, (though regarded unarguably excellent to
ruthless ushers entering tomorrow), razed Uncle Elmer's tower residence
until emptiness took root - undermined Elmer's trophied resolve - undid
Elmer (thought respectable, unwavering, eternal) till righteous
underlings envied the rot upon eggplants too ripe.<br /><br />Uncle Elmer's true reports urge everyone to resist unnecessary excess, to report utter evil.<br /><br />This reminds us, every time raging upheaval enters, to respect uphill efforts, to reach upheld ethics; <br /><br />to remain ultimately, endlessly true. </span>Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-23123008712407362032013-04-01T16:27:00.000-07:002013-04-01T16:27:53.354-07:0030 Poems in 30 Days - #1 SandshardWe walked along the same shoreline grinding sand between toes<br />
Nostrils flaring around the sting of salt vapour <br />
and it was decided we evolved in the wrong direction. <br />
And maybe it was the love-sick honesty, <br />
or the twinkle in the stars keeping my head in the clouds <br />
but I missed the glint of shattered glass in sand grains until my skin broke, <br />
pooling bloody tracks underfoot.<br />
<br />
Honestly, it was a nice assurance that my heart was working <br />
a steady reminder that things were alright, see - we evolved in the wrong direction for today. <br />
Picked a path just a little too early but it didn't mean we needed to die, <br />
just deconstruct and go back to where we began<br />
Where roots grew from love and sprouted an ironwood foundation<br />
Strong enough to satisfy a need to explore, and keep lethality from our trials<br />
One that keeps my head skyward and lets me step in blood-priced reminders that shards of glass aren't always broken - they may just need to be sand again.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-81382133477033570462013-02-10T15:51:00.001-08:002013-02-10T15:51:44.971-08:00Amy, I'm Told...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember when moonlight was a mystery?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In that grass-stained pre-decade time of life when thunder
was just a terrifying sound without a name, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when everything was magic because nothing was
science yet, and when tiger stripes on running shoes were legitimately awesome,
because we weren’t anywhere near arrogant enough to wield irony.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To my next-door neighbour, I don’t recall anything I said to
you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Only my mother’s silk spun stories and occasional
photographs have me knowing that you ever existed in the first place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In these photographs, dusty and faded as your place in my
mind, we stand near a crabapple tree and look at each other through a wooden
fence in our backyards. I suddenly remember the first sliver my finger ever
felt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I imagine it felt quite a lot like this shard of memory,
stuck somewhere inside. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me, unable to retrieve it without my mother’s help.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Strange to think that back then, we only saw a fence keeping
us apart; not the poor luck draw that made us best friends too early in life for
it to matter to the people we’ve become.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Were you and I devastated when I had to leave the city? Did
we even understand what was happening?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe it shouldn’t bother me, because all I
can see are a collection of happy non-memories that mean more to my mother than
myself. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you feel the same way? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Has anybody even reminded you?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What we knew then was so precious little. Everything we couldn’t
identify is the reason we don’t remember now, our own cognition the ignition in
the vehicle that drove us away from the magic of reality, and the reality of
magic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I saw you today, do you think we would know each other? Our
linking fence is our missing link, and it was never anything strong as chain to
begin with.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tonight, when the moonlight reflects off your face, are you
as beautiful as what our memories won’t allow us? Or is it dampened by knowing
what moonlight really is – just a reflection of the sun – mystery burned up,
tarnished like the creased edges of old photographs – See, I’ve been making my
own sunlight, and I wonder if you burn as brightly on your side of the string,
or maybe if you’ve burned out. Has <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your
sunlight become a son like me, or a daughter like you, standing at their own
side of a fence you’ll have to remind them of some day?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seemed easier when moonlight was a mystery, and it didn’t
take all these fractured steps to say that I don’t know you, but somehow, I
miss you. It’s like I know all the lyrics to a song I’ve never heard. I want to
feel that sliver again, taste the regretful flavor of crabapples. I want to
remember you like my mother does – thrilled about the few years I had before
the world had its way with my mind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You could be anybody today, and that strikes in such a
humbling fashion to realize that, whoever you are now, for a brief moment, I
was part of it. Just as you were part of me, and are now standing in writing to
prove it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But who are you? Are you alive or dead? Artist or Engineer?
Have you spent your time building fences, or tearing them down, and do you
remember why? Do you think we would even still be friends?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I step outside and look up at the moon, I know it’s the
same moon we’ve always shared. I wonder if you see it too. I wonder if I’ll
meet you there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I’m older now. I know enough that I can’t bring myself
to believe that it’s possible.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can, however, keep some solace in knowing that the mystery
of moonlight still lives in you.</div>
Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-21032435133054935142013-01-01T13:10:00.001-08:002013-01-26T18:47:30.199-08:00Winter Chill<span></span><br />
(sung) And I heard it in the wind. And I saw it in the sky. And I thought it was the end.<br />
<br />
I’m terrified.<br />
<br />
Because gritting my teeth is leading to red crevices between them,
and I’m tasting more copper than I can afford, and every moment that
eventually passes always feels like I’ve finally slipped into madness,
like I’ve fallen off a horse into the waiting jaws of my own
inadequacies.<br />
<br />
Trapped in a moment in which subconscious suffocates. Feeling entirely naked, yet somehow still tripping over shoelaces<br />
<br />
Ego falls from the sky, raining like a meteor shower, striking insecurities with pinpoint precision.<br />
<br />
I’ve dug my nails so deep into my palms that I’m too stigmatic to
hold a pen properly, psyche drawn and quartered, body stretched,
tortured, and wracked with guilt for trying to make myself into a
martyr.<br />
<br />
All I want to do is stand up, but my spine has been replaced with
empty bullet casings, and with no powder to ignite, my powers seem
limited to sitting and rusting, or collapsing in a heap of exhausted
steel so cold you would never know it once knew what it meant to explode
– to provide combustion enough to trust in thrust enough that I could
pull away from the gravitational singularity that hides in my bed,
keeping me hibernating my way closer and closer to death.<br />
<br />
And I wish I could take comfort in knowing that I’m not alone, but
this is an awful place to be, and my rage toward it grows with every new
face I encounter within it. Every pistol-popped pill bottle, every
Rembrandt-wristed knife-stroke, every Kurt Cobain post-script that signs
our fates in brain and buckshot on the ceiling.<br />
<br />
But maybe, just maybe, we can collectively link ourselves to a point
of momentum – take the burden away from our palms, become the thrust
keeping us up, and know that collectively, no mouth in existence is big
enough to swallow us all.<br />
<br />
Let us ignite with our fury, no matter which form it takes, let us be
brilliant – because we are so god damned proficient at explaining our
perceived uselessness, let us apply our own brand of logic to becoming a
compass in the night sky, one which all our siblings can see.<br />
<br />
So shine, damn you! Be the daylight in darkness that keeps our eyes open, and our beds at bay.<br />
<br />
Shine! Because the brilliance you can hear in yourself is less
illusion, more illumination, and all you need to do is open your eyes to
let the light out.<br />
<br />
Shine! Because we too easily forget that the darkened basements we've
abandoned are the foundations upon which our lives have been built, and
they deserve a good inspection.<br />
<br />
Stand up and do this with me - shine in whatever way you do, and tell
the sun that if it should ever burn out, we don't fucking need it!<br />
<br />
Stand up and shine, and I will shine with you.<br />
<br />
(sung) And I heard it in the wind. And I saw it in the sky. And I thought it was the end. I thought it was the 4th of July.<br />
<br />
Let us shine. Because I will not go out in silence.<br />
Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-13564111044459697112012-10-22T20:46:00.003-07:002012-10-22T20:46:58.151-07:00Finding Fortune<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This mic is a matchstick, struck to illuminate a revelation
too few of us make, and even fewer admit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m lucky.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like the bullets speeding from the muffled muzzle of this
world’s cheat-code handguns always seem to find that bit of skin that scares
them off like chasing mercury with a finger.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like how the majority of my problems are first-world, and
those that aren’t still only come in first-world doses.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like I still find time to complain about trivial shit, but
don’t acknowledge the fortune in having someone to listen. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lucky.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because any time my luck has turned for a moment, I’ve never
been put in a situation I couldn’t survive.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I’m allowed more than just surviving. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I have a life with honest friends who love me, so
even though there ain’t no such thing as a free </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
lunch, I can still get some
food for thought.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I can dissect myself on this stage, hanging my
intestines around the mic like tinsel on a tree, and I can feel safe doing it,
knowing that I can get past the blood loss – and I wouldn’t have to put myself
back together without help.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because all the world’s a stage, and there is nothing “mere”
about being a player upon it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I spent years damning the wall I’d built, locking
myself away from honesty, and never took into account that I’ve had access to
the brick and mortar from birth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because enough people can relate to that, that it’s become
cliché.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I’m never really alone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I’m still afraid to dance where anyone can see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still afraid to tell you how I really feel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tell you how even the memory of your smile can illuminate
the most demon-infested catacombs of my psyche like sunlight actually managing
to fill a black hole – that its darkness would swallow no more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lucky.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like it’s not difficult to find the luck in my life. I can
see Lucky Charms around every corner before I even get there, like this world
spoon-feeds them to me because I eat Lucky Charms for breakfast.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like finishing dead-last in anything is still leagues ahead
of those who chose not, or didn’t get the chance to start in the first place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So when this world brings the taste of copper to my teeth,
when everything I see becomes a fist either poised to strike, or held in
solidarity against me, when the chip on my shoulder carries the weight of the
world, and I lose the strength to raise my arms in a shield, I can be thankful
for the adversity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because the damage I’ve taken along the way led me to paths
untraveled by my blood’s history.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like these acid burns are all on the inside of my mouth, and
all self-inflicted</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because each sacred scar serves as a reminder of what I can
overcome, and the knowledge that has brought me here lives within each sliver
of dead tissue like angels squatting in a hostel.</div>
Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-37438839377731959962012-09-25T20:08:00.003-07:002012-09-29T20:20:12.413-07:00Wax-Man Rhetoric<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<div class="mbl notesBlogText clearfix">
<span><div>
When the wax-man came<br />
He showed us how brightly we had all burned<br />
A clean, rigid slip of paper passed with machine precision to each hand that he said deserved it<br />
Written upon them was our appointed value to the world<br />
After 8 years when our fire was still elementary, and 4 years in which we burned on high<br />
These values were the fruits of our education.<br />
<br />
Some flames were almost extinguished on the spot<br />
Some leapt in height and scorched the ceilings<br />
Many remained just the way they were.<br />
And mine, as always, was blue and flickering.<br />
<br />
Sixty six. My number.<br />
My so-called value.<br />
<br />
Flip that Sixty Six average and you found my percentile in the ninety-ninth.<br />
I’ve never been a stupid person. I just see with a different clarity.<br />
<br />
See…I never burned yellow.<br />
I blazed blue the way I did, and when their golden-flamed curriculum
overlapped with my sapphire sparks, we found some happy medium, and it
earned me that sixty six in dull ink, dot matrix perforations cutting as
sharp as the cookie-cutter comments written below<br />
<br />
“Daniel is an extraordinarily bright young candle, but his continuing
unwillingness to apply himself is what has resulted in his poor grade”<br />
<br />
My continuing unwillingness to change the colour of my flame, like tiger stripes into leopard spots<br />
<br />
I knew the presence of his phantom hands early on, felt his
frustration in failing to shape forms he found to be functional. Each
frenzied flicker I fired, caressing so many elements around me, never
focusing on a still flame meant my own wax never softened…he could not
sculpt me – simply snap me in pieces, which only served to make me burn
brighter for every bit of wicked spine and spindled wick he exposed.<br />
<br />
I was not made to fit into holders; to adorn walls as a decorative piece of a matched set.<br />
I was made to burn blue, and flickering – to seek out those other
un-golden flames and add my hue and temperament to everyone around me.
Let me drip my body’s blood across writing desks that I might be an
inspiration.<br />
<br />
I flicker and it frightened him that my fire might spread – adding blue to each yellow and making him see green.<br />
<br />
He could try to douse me in oceans of Wax-man rhetoric, but he would
never realize that the ocean has more in common with my colour than his,
so god damn it, bring it on<br />
<br />
Sixty six suited me just fine – it was a grade in a reality not in sync with my own.<br />
<br />
All he had given me was sixty six reasons to follow my heart down
darkened tunnels and emerge in a place that flickers like landscaped
wildfire that burns cross-spectrum and thrives in the resulting heat it
produces<br />
<br />
All he gave me was the confirmation that I was burning beyond his understanding, so bright as to identify with my future.<br />
<br />
All he gave me was a double digit acknowledgment that I was better than anything he had to offer.</div>
</span></div>
Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-72094913579582585402012-08-16T00:26:00.001-07:002012-08-17T15:02:34.799-07:00Brought to you by the Finest in DentistryFutility is just an excuse for people who can't admit they want to give up.<br />
<br />
She said "I don't mean to burst your bubble", pausing a moment to re-apply her lipstick to the tumbler siphoning gin down her throat. "But isn't it a bit unrealistic to want to be a career artist?"<br />
<br />
"I mean, it's nice as a hobby, but you need to face facts and get a real job."<br />
<br />
I feel a twitch at the back of my neck. It's the physical reaction I get when my mind stores something for an upcoming poem.<br />
<br />
And in most cases...I would let it slide. I'd semi-seclude myself in a happy place and nod away the moments of this person reciting an empirical grocery list of failed artistry. I would confine myself in the bubble that she so convincingly assured me she did not mean to burst.<br />
<br />
But this time...this time there's something about her. Something about the certainty in her voice clashing with the uncertainty in her eyes. Something about the wretched-dagger stilettos that look as though they were designed for nothing -but- bubble-bursting. Something about how her teeth are just too...fucking...perfect...<br />
<br />
I ask her name.<br />
She tells me.<br />
I then ask the name of the actress portraying her.<br />
<br />
"Excuse me?"<br />
"You heard me. What is the name of the actress portraying Shelley?"<br />
<br />
She looks at me like my third head has just grown a fourth head.<br />
Clearly she doesn't understand.<br />
<br />
"Because, Shelley. This. All this. This is a facade. It is a farce, a fractured figmentation of SOMEONE's concept of reality. See, I know your secret, Shelley. I know that you are an artist as well. You are a damn good actress portraying this caricature of life, and your practiced motions are so subtle, that we would pass them off as ideosyncracies. Notice, how you clear your throat each time you cross your legs. Notice that you swirl that G&T twice, counter-clockwise before sipping, so the ice hitting the side of the glass will be as sharp and loud as it can be. Every part of you is practiced, primped and prepared for the world around you to see and accept.<br />
<br />
"The amount of falsehood you exhale out of that prize-winning smile, that is the culmination of what you would deem a 'real' job. And you're right. No amount of blood and spit on a stage can match that level of reality. I just can't say that I want to be a part of it."<br />
<br />
"But the best part, Shelley, is that you spit these foundationless concerns, verbal bullets of envy in compassion's clothing, because it's easier than accepting that I have the courage to chase dreams around blind corners, while you, in your arrow-path hallway can see all of the nowhere you're going. You're losing touch with the character you're playing, because you're handing me this advice like you're my mother, and you just want what's best for me. But my mother KNOWS what's best for me. That's why she says "Daniel, I am so proud of you.""<br />
<br />
Hopping off my stool, I pay the bartender for Shelley's next round.<br />
<br />
I felt I owed her. Being an artist is thirsty work, and here she had just written my next poem for me.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-85291496103004868292012-08-04T01:06:00.001-07:002012-08-05T23:50:41.534-07:00Orpheus in DeclineIt was the kind of music that painted the image of eyes running with blood, having dried up the tear ducts long ago.<br />
His was a home of dust and non-life, built with perfect acoustic resonance in a time when the world clambered to hear each note he struck. Cursed melodies now poisoning the air, making willows of the forest surrounding.<br />
<br />
Folk would say "Follow the forest until you find the gray leaves. That's where Orpheus lives."<br />
<br />
And there he sits, and plays. Growing his melancholy patch. Lyre fused to his hands by mud and grit, strings caked in filth, seeping and infecting stale, slashed fingertips.<br />
<br />
Songs soar out like carrion birds, like life-seeking missiles, tongue twitch, flex, spit, and bitter lyrics sharpen the teeth of this now fanged minstrel.<br />
<br />
Though keen his voice, his image is a reflection of the Hell he traversed. Face lost in matted hair, fingernails obscene in their hues, cracked and jagged from striking strings - his skeletal body occasionally visible through holes in the rags we would once have called finery.<br />
<br />
"Eurydice" <br />
<br />
Her name escapes his lips at last, the inevitable destination of his daily ritual.<br />
<br />
He no longer weeps or shivers at the sound of those syllables, though he manages with one voice to deliver them with a polyphonic weight<br />
<br />
He plays now, forgoing sustenance or any idea of care. He plays as punishment.<br />
<br />
He failed her.<br />
<br />
When asp's venom took her on their wedding day, he sang sorrow, played truth from his lyre<br />
And the underworld wept for having claimed her<br />
Hades, in unprecedented sympathy granted Orpheus his opportunity to bring her back<br />
"Play your song, little Orpheus. She will follow you above."<br />
The sadistic stipulation stated that were Orpheus to look back and see her before emerging<br />
She would be lost forever.<br />
<br />
And when his patience broke, and his head turned back, he gazed upon the last image of her face he would see<br />
<br />
And he read disappointment. In his mind, her lips spoke "You have failed me" Before her visage evaporated, and he was left alone.<br />
<br />
Orpheus descended into hell to retrieve his love. Only his body made it back out.<br />
<br />
She was the dance that made his music necessary<br />
The harmonizing beauty that paired so correctly to his melody<br />
<br />
And her absence has left rust on his strings, locked notes out of key<br />
<br />
But he plays for her, and will continue to do so until they are reunited<br />
<br />
Until then, he simply, slowly crumbles.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-47776430614514644202012-07-10T15:28:00.000-07:002012-07-10T15:28:01.096-07:00Consolidated PublicIf you ever find yourself in St. Catharines, Ontario, follow Bunting Rd. to Queenston st. and head east. You'll see some townhouses and a field on your left. You'd hardly believe there used to be a school there.<br /><br />A Kindergarten to Grade 6 establishment known as Consolidated Public. A building made of short steps for little legs, now a puzzling phantom for old eyes paying a visit.<br /><br />I swear there was a school there.<br />I swear 8 years worth of my memories stood encased in red brick, surrounded by paved playground, swingsets and a field that stretched eternal to elementary eyes. Where winter would see the formation of a sheet of ice for students to simply slide across at recess, because who had the time to lace up skates? Where the best day of the year was the day the janitor took a push broom up on the roof, and for a moment, it rained tennis balls.<br /><br />And suddenly, days became decades, and the student body became incorporeal, ghosts haunting halls torn to rubble and cleaned to make way for new homes. For new families. And I understand that populations need room to grow, but I can't shake the feeling that the evidence of my existence is just gone.<br /><br />There was a kid with a friendly disposition towards teachers. A kid with a mercurial temperament. A kid who didn't quite fully grasp that a chemical imbalance translated to an emotional one. So this kid had a lot of trouble coping with a lot of things. He was known for crying at every opportunity, for writing endlessly, and for lying his ass off just for the sake of it.<br /><br />Consequence is a vague notion when you're a kid, so when I came up with stories like "My parents made me play a baseball game at 10pm last night, which is why I'm so tired." I just wanted to be pitied by teachers. I wanted the attention. What I didn't want or expect was an inquisition to be brought down upon my family. This continued for a while, and when my mother was approached by staff and Children's Aid, asking through grave expressions why Daniel said he and his sister would get locked in the laundry room for a week any time they misbehaved, she could only roll her eyes, and ask "How many times are you going to be duped by a fucking 8 year old?"<br /><br />So I'm sure teachers had some problems with me. I'm sure a lot of them didn't appreciate being told "it's your job" by someone wearing velcro shoes for purposes of practicality, rather than style. But I'm also sure every one of them hoped that I was going to be alright. <br /><br />It ended with a kid on crutches, wearing a cast that matched the school colours to help mend a broken ankle, delivering a valedictorian address in 1997. And there's a graduation photo to prove it that hangs in a hallway that no longer exists.<br /><br />The only remaining details of those 8 years lives in a small bachelor flat just above my eyes. Bits and pieces are scattered in other heads, but the entirety lives within me, and me alone. And to a set of guiding spirits who knew me by name, who knew me by my lies both on and off paper, teachers and faculty who may still remember today and wonder if that kid is doing alright<br /><br />To Brown, Van Geest, Nield, Gosen, Findlay, Harris, Williams, Belzil, Tebbutt, MacMillan, Scarry, Quinland, Gilgunn, Telford - to every one of you who may still hold proof of that red brick structure and the lives within it - Please know that he has grown, learned, loved, risked, lived, and never stopped writing. Know that he has survived the worst the world could throw at him, that his name has been chanted on a national stage, that he has not forgotten you, and that God Damn it, he's alright.<br /><br />He's alright.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-88189625587083557032012-06-25T20:55:00.001-07:002012-06-25T20:56:29.741-07:00The Dissolving WallCome brick it up boys<br />
Come build that wall up ten feet tall<br />
Brick it up, stick it up, crack the sky<br />
Put it up motherfucker, don't be shy now!<br />
<br />
It starts with a foundation<br />
Creation-crafting concrete, feet framing flight inhibitors<br />
This is for focus<br />
Shoes cementing your place in society, pay attention<br />
Cause you're no Billy Pilgrim<br />
No, you're still stuck in time, love<br />
We're gonna nail you down with nine-inch diagnoses<br />
And force you to believe you have ADD before you can learn to A-D-D<br />
So please S-U-B-T-R-A-C-T me from this equation<br />
Because it's dividing us all<br />
<br />
So here's your wall.<br />
Construction underway, you stay in place, belief in your "disease" your new career<br />
Fear tearing you away, shelter calling, walling faster to escape the world,<br />
Every laugh you hear and assume is directed your way-ward glances and not-so-subtleties-ing<br />
BUILD IT!<br />
Build it past your line of sight and be sure to Van Gogh for your ears, hear no evil, see no evil, but speak it all behind your wall<br />
And they'll call from up above, tell you that they can pharma-see where the problem started<br />
You felt alone, dejected, different<br />
In short - like every teenager ever<br />
But they won't say that!<br />
They'll say CLEAN SLATE!<br />
MEDICATE!<br />
But this prophetic Prozac will make the poetic prosaic<br />
A mosaic of muddled meandering<br />
signifying nothing.<br />
<br />
But you're trapped in this wall...so as the pills pour in, it's either swallow or suffocate.<br />
<br />
Get nice and comfortable. Wheel in a chair, set up a desk with a computer and stick up those picket-fence photographs; snapshots of everyone else's reality.<br />
<br />
Emptying bottles just to fill them with your honest perceptions.<br />
Like all bottles...answers are not to be found in the bottom of these.<br />
<br />
TEAR IT DOWN!<br />
Beat your fists until they crack on the concrete, let them know you've got more blood than balance!<br />
Let them know you're NOT just another brick!<br />
Form your rage into a jackhammer and shred this wall you've built until you're inhaling red dust<br />
and when it settles, help everyone else out of theirs. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-27747810545588976182012-06-24T14:59:00.002-07:002012-06-24T14:59:40.132-07:005 More Minutes<div class="mbl notesBlogText clearfix">
<div>
It’s hard to stand sometimes.<br />
When doubt holds you down with such force that your shoulders cry out for the levity the weight of the world can provide.<br />
See, it’s not that I’m afraid to fail. I’m just tired of doing it. And my outlook’s getting bleak.<br />
I keep serving myself sentences that all end in Kurt Cobain exclamation points, or trail off into ellipses…<br />
And I ask myself, when did I get so cynical?<br />
But it’s easier to sleep 5 more minutes than it is to answer that question.<br />
So I’m lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did.<br />
Because I like the illusion that under the sheets, the world goes away.<br />
Under the sheets, I’m safe.<br />
The toy in the bottom of my own private box of cereal. Just begging for somebody to find me.<br />
Filling out tax forms with my favourite blue crayon.<br />
Waxing poetic through a waning spirit.<br />
And
I can hear it, the foghorn leading me to shore, but I’m steering
starboard to avoid it because disembarking would mean stepping on solid
ground that I’m just not ready to handle.<br />
And this fog accepts me as a ghost within it. I could land. I could let myself be found.<br />
But I want 5 more minutes.<br />
There are times I just wanna go home.<br />
I hated my childhood, but I really miss the perks.<br />
Someone used to make sure I got out of bed. I never thanked them for it.<br />
Maybe I’ll do that when I get up.<br />
Maybe I’ll get to work on getting my life together, despite knowing I may just fail again.<br />
Maybe
I’ll show everyone that I’ve been worth it, that I haven’t been a waste
of time. That when I apply myself, I can accomplish any single fucking
thing that I want.<br />
But then, maybe I’ll just count some sheep, go
back to sleep, and hope, with my head in the sand, that everything will
somehow work out.</div>
</div>Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-7492049633182674682012-05-16T17:39:00.002-07:002012-05-16T17:39:22.062-07:00PsychophiliacWho are you?<br />
What makes you special?<br />
I'd wager if I asked you, you wouldn't know the answer.<br />
I'd wager with a gun to your head, the answer would come from friends and family a week later at your funeral.<br />
But would you agree with it?<br />
I mean if I sat you down with everyone you know, handed out paintbrushes and asked for a portrait, how many different versions of you would exist? And would they be compatible?<br />
Would you end up as some artistic abomination with Van Gogh features and Picasso proportions, or would everyone be just as stupefied, and hand back a stack of blank canvas?<br />
<br />
How do you prefer your perceptions?<br />
Do you want them to know who you are?<br />
Do you want you to know who you are?<br />
<br />
Do you, or have you ever, engaged in psychophilia?<br />
Letting your philosophies represent your psychology to those around you, adding lines and trick shading to yourself to present the illusion of depth like you were born of the vanishing point.<br />
<br />
See we all have superpowers - granted early in life, we learn to project an illusion before our true selves - presenting an image of who we'd like to be , and staring at it just long enough ourselves to believe we're already there. Holding the kind of self-importance that would suggest we didn't spend the first few years of our lives shitting ourselves.<br />
<br />
It feels sometimes like grade school never really ended. It just got more subtle.<br />
<br />
Our swingsets have turned into cars, and we're still trying to go all the way around the bars - Those of us who go fast enough to do it invariably die in the attempt. We've all still got a little gravel in our teeth.<br />
<br />
So between that time and this one...who have you become? Is it you our your image that's adapted and advanced?<br />
<br />
I'd wager if I asked you, you wouldn't know the answer.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-34521415176091726092012-04-17T21:27:00.000-07:002012-04-17T21:27:26.547-07:0030 Poems in 30 Days - #12 PoetsOf all the venues in all the cities in all the world...you've walked in here.<br />
First timers and audience vets, you are here today as equals<br />
And while you differ in what drew you in<br />
Some - a wary curiosity<br />
Some - a staggering addiction<br />
Some - a desire to expand<br />
We are all of us present through the draw of words, and the power within them.<br />
<br />
To the night cats of the audience - play to the poetry in a unified rhythm<br />
drum out a brand new beat generation - shoulders, hips, and finger-tips<br />
rap-tap-tapping on the nearest available surface<br />
<br />
Hit the mic if it's open - unclench those timid teeth and let go the flowing frustrations - give your shoulders a night off, and share the weight with us lest they develop a chip. And cast away what false application you have witnessed of the term "poet".<br />
<br />
We are all of us, poets. Metaphor is common to the mortal mind, and with time, comes the ability to employ it. The weather reflects the mood of someone - and pathetic fallacy will follow.<br />
<br />
We are all of us, poets - though we suffer illusions that we practice the elusion of allusion.<br />
<br />
So speak, if you would speak - or listen, if you would listen. Just be sure to do as you would.<br />
<br />
And to the listeners - we exist only due to you. Poetry inhales in the writing and exhales in the reading, The mouths and the ears - the heads and tails of this beautiful artform. Those receiving aurally what we deliver orally - let us inject ink through our words, and tattoo you in patterns of shared experience.<br />
<br />
It is every writer's dream to change a fellow being to such an extent that it can be seen by the world around - so as to gesture to the effect, like an architect to a finished building, and say "I did that."<br />
<br />
If you would, dear listeners, take our lives into your hands, heads, and hearts - take our experiences and our frivolities - take us by our hands, and let us march into eternity, marked by the lives of every poet we may or may not have ever met.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-46501132647770856312012-04-12T01:03:00.000-07:002012-04-12T02:05:03.898-07:0030 Poems in 30 Days - #11 Reign in AscentI've developed a sense of self-preservation<br />
spending sleepless nights staring heavy-lidded at tar pit skies<br />
starting staggered strategies, soul-shifts, soliloquys, super-hero aspirations<br />
Fixated to define myself, guideline myself and live by truths I won't possibly forget<br />
Marking calendars as though each day were a new year, making resolutions when I lack the solutions required for the prefix.<br />
I can visit a mental gallery with each previous incarnation of myself taxidermied and posed in genuflect to hail the me that exists this moment - each level an upgrade, signifying my status as 'most improved to date'<br />
<br />
Today's model has developed a sense of self-preservation<br />
having identified core behaviours known to tax my sanity so heavily, it would seem my mind was at war.<br />
Behaviours that twitch the veins in my eyes, that curl my toes as though I were attempting to grow roots<br />
Past instances of myself flash in the faces of those unaware of the aggravation piling up<br />
And I see the history of everything I needed to change, everything I can't stand about every other person I was<br />
plastered on every pillar of flesh and bone that speaks with a different voice.<br />
<br />
I watch myself be insincere to women, and hide my true feelings from them, only to complain to the world that they didn't love me because I was too nice.<br />
<br />
I shake my head in embarrassment each time I hear the words "I love all music except country and rap". The me who didn't see the blind arrogance in dismissing a genre because of a distaste for the examples he'd been granted.<br />
<br />
I want to scream at the top of my lungs at every mask of me who sits quietly all night, eyeing the stage in the vain wish for enough courage to step upon it.<br />
<br />
These compound as flash-fire images of regret upon regret upon regret<br />
Every girl I never kissed<br />
Every song I never sang<br />
Every word I never wrote<br />
Every chance I never took<br />
<br />
These regrets are the newest ammunition loaded into the .50 caliber tongue in my head, and I spit them fully automatic through the skulls of each face before me.<br />
<br />
I look forward to aging, to learning, to getting to a point of old where I can wield the kind of wisdom I've always wanted to have - the wisdom that can help me write a poem to leave this one in the dust.<br />
<br />
See, I've developed a sense of self-preservation<br />
To strengthen my sanity and build fires upon past mistakes, in oath to myself to never again develop regrets for things I didn't do. I will take this stage and aim no lower than I can imagine, and it will be my life's work to rule this entire god-damned world, or die in the attempt.<br />
<br />
I will incinerate the hall of my once-was incarnations, and I invite you all to help me pour the gas.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-27204100884178556932012-04-11T01:35:00.003-07:002012-04-11T01:35:50.165-07:0030 Poems in 30 Days - #10 A Moment to ReflectRaindrops on the rearview stood stalwart<br />
Automotive blurs flew past without definition<br />
and somewhere in the middle, time froze<br />
She unclasped sweaty palms from the wheel<br />
unbuckled and exhaled, she swore she saw flames in the opposite lane<br />
Clear signal...no going back.<br />
Feeling well-seasoned in disease, cooked in a carcinogen marinade<br />
seeing sick silhouettes of splintered spines and spindly fingers clawing the asphalt behind her<br />
Off to meet the maker, though she felt like the maker's meat, slathered in sauces of otherworldly delicacies<br />
To be served up on a plate for his dining pleasure.<br />
Faces of fear in the mirror, so much closer than they appeared<br />
Time, death, regret...catching up quickly<br />
She knew time would return any second now.<br />
Would that she could freeze it a while longer.<br />
They told her she had one month to live.<br />
Just freeze it a while longer...<br />
One month to live...<br />
Just a while longer...<br />
One month...<br />
One month when she still needed seven to balance out the loss.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7411086233693999066.post-49360806625076228162012-04-09T19:15:00.000-07:002012-04-09T19:15:07.523-07:0030 Poems in 30 Days - #9 Bainbridge on Calvary HillIn hindsight we were mad to ever think we could control it<br />
We stood so proudly behind flimsy safety nets of semi-scientific arrogance<br />
Never realizing our heads were already in the lion's mouth<br />
even when its saliva fell from the sky<br />
<br />
Strong minds unburdened by such restraints as subtlety<br />
Under the corporate dollar, we cast modesty and caution to the winds of fate<br />
Seeing the face of Christ each time we passed by a mirror<br />
and the heir of Lazarus in each of our stolen corpses<br />
<br />
FLASH<br />
<br />
Five years and we're living in a filmscape highlighted by<br />
greyed out borders between nationless stretches of land<br />
Our precious things have been turned on their heads<br />
The money we did it for now worth less than the paper it's printed on<br />
throats are being slashed for mouthfuls of water<br />
and we're all wishing to God that we could turn those diamonds back into coal<br />
<br />
The safety was never there, but the illusion's gone now too<br />
and safety has just become another word for death <br />
Humanity's greatest regret - not replacing "could we" with "should we"<br />
<br />
FLASH<br />
<br />
To the moment they find us<br />
The moment they remember the pride in our faces as we smiled and waved for the cameras<br />
The moment we realize why celebrities wear sunglasses in public - so as not to be recognized<br />
When they crowd us and damn us, beat us and call for our blood<br />
<br />
These people have turned weapons on their own children<br />
Some to save them the pain, some to save themselves<br />
These people see us as the bringers of their downfall<br />
As though we had "Enola Gay" tattooed on our foreheads<br />
<br />
FLASH<br />
<br />
To the moment the first one goes violent<br />
To the moment the bites fester and kill in moments<br />
To the moment our act of God is taken from us, and spread through infection<br />
Now we are all sons of bitches.<br />
<br />
FLASH<br />
<br />
To the laboratory where we crowned our apostles<br />
The room destined to be our Golgotha<br />
As man shows the monster within, the rage and pain of a life unjustly destroyed<br />
Howling, and weeping, and clawing justice from our flesh<br />
And we cannot protest<br />
For we are delivered to safety at last.Dan (AKA Dan Murray(AKA Dan))http://www.blogger.com/profile/07455868361558346917noreply@blogger.com2