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✦The Elsewhere Draft

It isn’t death.
Not in the way they told stories of it.
There are no tunnels, no lights,
no ledger of sins.

There is only this—
an unfinished page
floating between versions
of a world that never quite agreed on him.

He exists now
in the folds between edits,
in the italics no one remembers writing.

The clocks here don’t tick.
They hesitate.
The air tastes of typewriter ribbon,
dusty and old and waiting.

He’s tried to rewrite himself.
He’s left messages—
on paper, in dreams, in the weight of silence.
But stories are stubborn.
They follow the first draft
like it’s law.

And yet—
someone heard him.

A fingertip
brushed his absence
and read it like Braille.

She.

She is not like the others.
She feels the narrative bending,
even as the others stay inside the safe plotlines.

He watches.
Or rather—he is watched
by the idea of her.
Somewhere in her world,
his journal still waits to be opened.

He doesn’t know what happens
if she turns the next page.

But if she doesn’t,
he may remain here forever:
a sentence misplaced,
a man lost
between revisions.
#thought
In Chapter Seven, move gently back to her—but now, she’s sensing it. That blurred edge between grief and unreality. The journal pulls at her, not just with memory, but with something alive. The chapter lets deepen her inner world while letting his presence stir in quiet, eerie ways.
“You are not a reader, you are the revision.”
 Jun 2024 Strying
James Joyce
Gentle lady, do not sing
Sad songs about the end of love;
Lay aside sadness and sing
How love that passes is enough.

Sing about the long deep sleep
Of lovers that are dead, and how
In the grave all love shall sleep:
Love is aweary now.
 Oct 2023 Strying
Landon Keys
Few
 Oct 2023 Strying
Landon Keys
Few
Few things in this life
That I truly adore
My children
You
And petrichor
 Oct 2023 Strying
Landon Keys
Peace
 Oct 2023 Strying
Landon Keys
I woke up and made peace with the moon
All is everything
All is chemical
All is sublime
I can sleep
I can dream
I can dream about dreams
I woke up and made peace with my coffee cup
The world woke up and I made peace with my coffee cup
Repost from 14 years ago.
 Oct 2023 Strying
Glenn Currier
In the soft tinkling of the piano
I hear the gentle peace
of the meadow
and feel the breeze
tickling the hair on my arms.
In the coffee the rich warmth
and wisdom of my muse
trickles down my throat.
The noise of the day
switches off
reshaped into the fullness
and unbridled breadth
and splendor
of the universe.
Lately I have been somewhat bewildered by the onset of serenity, Somehow the aches in my joints and my frustrations with missing names in my brain have eased. It's nice. And welcome.
 Jan 2023 Strying
Shaun Yee
Sleep
 Jan 2023 Strying
Shaun Yee
Falling fast asleep
Mind takes off for foreign lands
Dreams and nightmares here
haiku
 Nov 2022 Strying
Caleb Kyme
i waited
for months i just wanted to love you
to know if you are okay
to know if you are gonna save my soul
shine my way
light up my path
but you made a fool of me
made me wait for you
in the restaurant
for hours at the dinner table
now i am empty
heartless
and you are just but a point in the night sky
all i can do is wish on you
mercury
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