To write
Is to sit down
Or stay standing
And pull out your
Notebook, loose leave, laptop
and begin to let worlds flow from your fingers

To write
Is to jump a dimension over
And explore the endless possibilities
Of the humor, romance, horror and beauty
Bound up in the skull

To write
Is to slip away
To lose yourself
To become a different person
And listen to his, her, its
Plights and thoughts and stories

To write
Is to become
As close to a god
As your will ever come

To write
Is to let life
Flow from your fingers
And on to the page
Where it will live
A bit longer than we will

Miracles happen
Only when you mix naiveté
With a roulette table

You walk out
A smile brimming on your face
Because you are victorious

You leave behind the four other gamblers
The four other competitors
The four other comrades
Still going all in on red

You forget, in your surprised bliss
That you have succeeded
Where others are still asking for another martini

Bickering
Back and forth
Over the endless limits of human interpretation
Over the moral implications of our infinite doubt
Over the riddles of the great world
Over philosophy and the abstract

But while they bicker
They ignore the warm summer breeze
And drown out the songbirds

I still need to introduce myself
To the man in the mirror

When I take my glasses off
When I stay up too late
When I don't drink enough water
My vision becomes blurry

When I take out my contacts
When I pull an all-nighter
When I dehydrate myself
My writing makes more sense

When I squint
When I wipe the tears from my eyes
When I put the drops in
The world I see hasn't changed
All that's changed
Is what I see of the world


And yet
No matter how much I
Blur, sharpen, obscure, or improve my vision
My feelings remain unclear to me

Gears turn
Pneumatics actuate
Machines run
The same way
Every time

No flow
No chance
No identity

Just interpreting electrical signals
And responding mechanically

Blink of an eye
Snap of a finger
Everything can change
Before you can say
"Sub-second"

Peace has been restored
Love has been formed
Life has been created
In less time

Wars have been started
Hearts have been broken
Lives have slipped away
Even faster

Every wink, blush, smile and tear
Are all caused
By reactions with speed
Approaching mach one

My world has been blown to pieces
Put back together
And shattered again
In a blink of an eye

It takes less time
Than the snap of a finger
To change the world

So, don't wait for your soul mate
Don't wait for the glory days
If you take time to affirm it
You might miss it

Life happens
Sub-second