All  the  words and thoughts
behind my words come from
a  place of love as I  travel the
roads in the memory of this poet.

Walking the streets of this poets
memory I come to a meeting place.

Where the river mirrors the sky
in glassy completion, where the
earth gives way to water, where
two souls surrender to their smallness.

A fleeting moment in a temporary
existence, this moment is met, again
and again in a place that transcends time.

We were together for such a short
time but in my mind she will be for
a lifetime.

I have to wonder why? It seems only
the blink of an eye and she was gone.
                                                                                              Jon York  2024

Stop waiting for the right time.
Time isn't waiting for you.

NOTE TO SELF: You got this.
Know your limits and crush
them. Rid your mind  of can't.

When you see something beautiful
in someone, tell them. It may only
take a second to say, but for them it
could last a lifetime.

They will love you or hate you, Either
way, you're gonna shine!

You decide who you want to become.
Don't listen to other peoples opinions.
It's just noise. Learn not to give a ****,
You'll be happier.

One day you'll wake up and there
won't be anymore time to do the
things you always wanted.

Do it now.
                                                                                             Jon York   2024

She was a special person I always cared to
know,  for our lives would intermingle  no
matter  where  we  would go or where  we
would  be.

She was always a shadow or an image in
my mind or a faint and hazy memory that
life had erased with time.

The days  went by, the  weeks  rushed on,
and before I knew it a year was gone. Then
I looked up and 50 years were gone.

If from life you take the best, and in life you
keep the jest, if love you hold, no matter how
the years go by, no matter how the birthdays
fly -- you are not old. But if your ambitions'
fires are dead -- then you are old.

It is the human touch in this world that counts,
the touch of your hands and mine which mean
far more to the fainting heart than shelter and
bread and wine.

For shelter is gone when the night is over, and
bread lasts only a day, but the touch of a hand
and the sound of the voice sing on in the soul. 
                                                                                              Jon York  2024

Everything changes in an instant.

Not sure if I need ***, sleep, or to
punch someone in the face.

I  have  to be stronger  than  my excuses
and I have to hold myself accountable,
stay committed and never give  up.

I  have  to start with who I am,  use
what I  have, and do what I  can.

The man who is a master of patience
is master of everything else.

I must find the fighter in myself and
realize the fact that if I'm not where
I want to be, that should be enough
motivation.

A wise man once said nothing.

I must make a conscious effort to hear
no  ****, to speak no  ****, and to  take
no ****. Life is what you make of it,
not what you think of it.
                                                                                             Jon York   2024

What  new  influences
and opportunities will
be headed your way in
2024 ?

In  2024  set  aside  all
expectations about what
the past implies and what
the future may bring .

Instead cultivate a desire
to recognize and respond
to the raw truth of each
moment in 2024.
                                                                                                Jon York    2024

Though  these words  may never
find you, I  hope you knew I was
thinking of you today...

How is it that you are always in
my  thoughts, even  when  I  am
not thinking.

Love  is the most beautiful of
dreams  and  the  worst  of
nightmares.

Your  smile  and  your laughter
and  those  baby  blues  lit  my
whole world.

I choose to love you from a distance...
for distance will shield me from pain.

There is an ocean of silence between
us...and I am drowning in it.

You were both everything I could
ever want... and nothing I could ever have.

A true love story never ends.                                         Jon York   2023

The  infinite  potential
of a blank canvas. The
life you hope to create.
All you have to do is imagine.

What kind of masterpiece
you arrive at depends on you.

The gifts of the creative mind
must lead the way.

Finding bold solutions to the
problems of our time is the
essence of modern thinking.

Hit the future as hard as your
money and brains will permit.

Otherwise you will be out of
date tomorrow.
                                                                                                   Jon York 2023

Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles.
NOTICE THEM. You  are  the greatest  project  
you  will  ever  work  on.

You  do  NOT  decide  your  FUTURE.  You
decide  your  HABITS  and  your  HABITS
decide your FUTURE.  

LIVE, DON'T JUST SURVIVE.

Strength comes NOT  from  what you  can  do,
but overcoming what you couldn't.  The grind
doesn't stop. You only fail when you stop trying.

Your  future  depends  on  your  FOCUS.  You get
what you work for. not what you wish for. The
storms will make you a  skilled sailor.  You will
either evolve or dissolve.

You were born to be real, not perfect.                                
                                                                                            Jon York  2023

Seventy-five years into this life this September and I'm still trying to figure out its riddle. I'm not against aging, I'm against getting old. I've learned that the trick is to live a long time without getting old.

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WE MAKE IN  OUR  LIVES
IS  THINKING WE  HAVE  TIME Success is never owned. It is only rented; and rent is due everyday.

I write poetry in an effort to heal my severe PTSD resulting from a stupid war I served in while in the USMC some 50 years ago.

I write about successes and failures in my life, joys and sorrows in my life, events that made me marvel, mostly relating to relationships and love. I write poems on how to have meaning in life, how to hurt people less and how to get hurt less.

Someday we'll meet again, In another life of course, for in this lifetime you couldn't be mine. I'll follow your trails life after life, for my soul is bound to yours..in a connection that goes beyond space and time. We will meet again.. yes my love, again and again until we become one.

I'm 75 this month and I'm still not sure why I'm still here but I do intend to live a long time without getting old.             Jon York   2023

Break all the trances and dissolve
all curses that keep you ignorant
of your own magic.

The  only  time you  should  ever
look back is to see how far you've
come.

Never  give  up. Fall  seven times,
stand  up  eight. Don't let anyone
who  hasn't  been  in  your  shoes
tell  you   how  to  tie  your  laces.

It's hard to beat a person who never
gives up. It's not over when you lose,
it's  over  when  you  quit.

If you want to be successful, prepare
to be doubted and tested. Nobody
is  going  to  hit  as  hard  as  life.

It is what it is. In the blink of an eye
everything can change. So love with
all your heart. You may not have that
chance again.                                                           ­          Jon York   2023

Life  itself  is  your  teacher  and  we are  in
a state  of  constant  learning.  Don't smile
and pretend you can't see the messy darkness.

Admit to  its presence.  Accept  its  reality. But
don't get tangled up in it either. Be kind to yourself.
Gaze into the abyss as to educate yourself about its
nature, but don't become entranced by its hypnotic
power.

Don't give up, scheme to reclaim your power from
soul-******* influences but don't turn the process
into a blood-and-thunder showdown that wreaks
epic chaos.

Don't compare, everyone is on a different journey.
You will be amazed at how much protection and
relaxation you can generate for yourself simply by
being a poised lover of life who is free of melodramatic
reactions.

I live these remaining days seemingly lost, just a soul
in this crazy beautiful world with poetry my art and
I dwell within the shadows but it is in the shadows
that I can see, being careful, calm and free.

Believe in yourself.                                                        ­   Jon York   2023

Had  I  loved  me  better,   I  wouldn't
have  been  in  most of  the  situations
I've  been  in.

I'm  not  interested  in  fighting, hating,
blaming or being petty, with  whatever
time I have  left  in  my  life.

I've been in this life for seventy-five years
as of this Sept. 20  2023,  trying to work
out its riddle and I've mastered the art of
surviving, now I want to live.

I just want to be  
happy. I want to be loved and I want
to have peace.                                                           ­                                   
                             ­                                                                 ­  Jon York   2023

You are what you believe yourself to be. The future
can be better and you have the power to make it so.
How you  do anything  is how you  do  everything.

Good is not enough if better is possible. Always trust
your instincts, they are messages from  the  soul. The
trials  you  encounter  will  introduce  you  to  your
strengths.

Very  little  is needed to  make a  happy life;  it  is all
within yourself, in your way of thinking. Every failure
is  a  stepping  stone  to  success,  every  obstacle  an
opportunity to grow.

Attract  what  you  expect,  reflect  what  you  desire,
become what you respect, mirror what you admire.
Look in the mirror...that's your competition.

Be so rooted in your being that nobody's actions can
disturb your peace.

It will seem like a long journey, the point being not
to  win, but  to  understand.  It's the  journey  rather
than  the  destination  that  will  fulfill  us.                                    
                                                                                            Jon York    2023

Getting  your  **** together  requires
a  level of honesty you can't imagine.

There's nothing easy about realizing
you're  the  one that's  been  holding
you  back  this  whole  time.

     YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE :
No  one is  going  to save  you. This
life of yours is 100% your responsibility.
No  matter  how  you  feel,  get  up,
dress up, show up, and never give up.

If  you're  searching  for  that  one
person that can change your life,
take a look in the mirror.

You don't always have to tell your
side of the story.

Time will.
                                                                                               Jon York  2023

"Today is the tomorrow you worried  about
yesterday."                               Dale  Carnegie

The  universe  is  built  in such  a  way  as  to
discourage  boredom.  Just open  your  eyes
and look around you and you will never  be
bored,  I promise,  because  in  these  strange
times things are  just moving and developing
so very fast.

It seems like just the other day that I returned
home (1970) from a 13 month tour of combat
duty with the  United States Marine Corps  in
Vietnam and I  just  blinked  my  eyes and  it is
2023 and I am the father of a son and a daughter,
a grandfather of 5 beautiful grandchildren and
a great grandfather of  4 little ones.

You may underestimate the intensity of your
longing for continual transformation, but the
universe doesn't, which is why it provides you
with entertainment for your ever-shifting story
called life.

And that is why it is always revising the challenges
it sends your way, to provide your curious soul
with  a  rich variety of  unpredictable  teachings.
                                   ­                                                          Jon York   2023

Every day is a poem.  Poetry  is  therapy, whether  you're
reading  it, writing  it, or  simply  evoking  it  in  thought
patterns and perspectives.

Pain,  both  physical  or  mental, is  part  of life.  It  is what
makes us  human;  it shapes us the same as  love. Through
poetry we touch the places that are too painful to linger in.

Be your own hero. Let your pain be a source of inspiration,
turn your heavy load into poetry, own  it, use  it, and take
as  much from it now as  it has taken  from you in the past.
Embrace pain and burn it as fuel for your journey.  You're
a dangerous person  if  you go  through  things  alone and
come back better.

In  our writing, we  can uncover the  how and  why of our
pain, looking deeper into the process of its becoming, and
then we begin to dismantle it.

Turn pain  into power,  sadness into strength,  words  into
wisdom.  Pain makes  you  stronger, heartache makes you
wiser. Let your pain become your power.
                                                                                              Jon York  2023

Be  prepared for the journey  of life and  where
it will take you.  I've seen better days,  but  I've
also seen worse.

I've  had to learn to  be strong when I felt  weak,
to be brave when I was sacred, because I needed
it to survive. I don't have everything I want, but
I do have all that I need.

I  woke up with some serious  aches and  pains,
but I woke up.

My  life  may not  be  perfect, but  I have  been
blessed with a son, a daughter, three beautiful
grand daughters, a grandson, and four great
grandchildren and a lot of love.

Be humble when you are victorious, and be
happy,  because  life is just  too  short  to  be
anything else.

You  miss  100% of the shots  you don't take.

Be  thankful  to be alive, knowing  that  every
minute  you are here  will never come  again.                                                               
  ­                                                                 ­                           Jon York  2023

The best way to  predict  the future
is  to  create it,  as you  are  listening
to the universe.

You are  a universe inside a universe.
Galaxies  are born  within you.  Don't
be limited by the perception of people
who barely understand the moon.

You become what you read.
You become what you listen to.
You become what you watch.
You become what you think.
Choose wisely.

The grass is greener where you
water it.

"Imaginary evil is always romantic
and varied; real evil is gloomy,
monotonous, barren, boring.  

Imaginary good is boring; real good
is always new, marvelous, and
intoxicating."
                                         Simone Weil
                                                            ­                                  Jon York  2023

So far I've survived 100%
of my worst days. There
is  no  failure, you either
win  or  you  learn.

They said I changed a lot.
I said a lot changed me.

No  rescue  will  come.  We
cannot  be saved  from  who
we are. Our past is engraved.

Life's biggest tragedy is that
we get old too soon and wise
too late.

Feelings are just visitors, let
them come and go.

"Strive not to be a success,
but rather to be of value."
                                          Albert Einstein

Only compare yourself to
your previous self, not
anyone else.                                                                        Jon York  2023

Dream and scheme about your long-range future.
Let your passions run wild, because there is nothing
you can't do if you want to do  it bad enough.

You will always have tomorrows, but when today
is gone, it will never happen again.

What will be story of your life in 2023?  Will you
find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of
destiny and will you create the adventures that
will bring out the best in you?

Every  minute of every hour of  every day you are
making the world, just as you are making yourself,
so do it with kindness and style.

Say this:  "I will always adore, forgive, and believe
in myself."

"I  will never  forsake, betray,  or deceive myself."
                                                        ­                                      
You don't have to be anything you don't want to be.
You  don't have to feel emotions  that  others try
to manipulate you into feeling.
                                                        ­                                      Jon York  2023

The  past few  years  may or
may not, have been easy, if
they have not been easy,
they have taught you how
strong you are.

Make 2023 the best year of
your life so far, whether you
are old or young.

Let your wounds be healed,
your apologies be accepted,
your generosity expanded,
your love educated.

May your desires be clarified,
your untold stories be heard,
your insight heightened,
your load lightened.

See your wildness rejuvenated,
your courage stoked,
your fears dissolved,
in the year of 2023.    
Happy new year.                                                            ­                
                                                                ­                              Jon York  2022

Somewhere in the world is a treasure
that has no value to anyone but you,
and a secret that is meaningless to
everyone except you, and a frontier
that possesses a revelation that only
you know how to exploit.

Search for those things.

Somewhere in the world is a  person
who could ask you that precise question
that you need to hear in order to catalyze
the next phase of your evolution.

Do what's necessary to come face to face
with that person and listen to what they
have to say.

Feel empowered if you use your power
to empower others.

There's a reason why the rear view mirror
is so small and the windshield is so big.

It is because where you're headed is much
more important than what you've left
behind and it allows you to search for those
things.                                                         ­                          Jon York 2022

Have  the  power  to
exorcise  ghosts  and
demons that  are still
lingering from the old
days and your old ways.

Be able to transform the
way your history affects
you.

Knot by knot untie yourself
from your past and let it
rise away from you like
a ballon.  

Become adept at the process
of  self-inquiry and symbolic
insight, leading to the growth
of faith in yourself.
                                                                                                Jon York  2022

Enjoy your problems.

Solving problems is one
of the highest and most
sensual of all  the  brain
functions.

We  define  ourselves
through  the puzzling
dilemmas  we  attract
and  solve.

We should not search
for happiness because
it always lets us down.

As soon as we achieve
what we wanted, we
always want something
new that we don't have.

Instead we should focus
on finding joy. The biggest
flaw of the heart is that it
needs love to feel better.                                                   Jon York  2022

Every  time  I open  my  eyes  I  unlock
a world of wonder. Sometimes  I'm
an angel, sometimes I'm a devil, sometimes
I'm in-between.

Sometimes I'm as bad as it can get and
sometimes as good as it can be. Sometimes
I'm a million colors, sometimes I'm black
and white and sometimes I'm all extremes.

Try to figure me out you never can.
There are so many things I am.

I have lived a thousand lives, I have
loved a thousand loves.

I have walked on many different worlds
and seen the end of time, seen life and
death so horrific that it defies description.

In small matters I trust the mind. In
large matters I trust the heart.

For important decisions I empower my
mind to do what it does best and my
heart to do what it does best.                                           Jon York  2022

You and I were  just an almost  time and time
and time again. I begged the world to stop so
for  once, even  for a moment we could be  so
much more than a possibility.

A million possibilities we could have been but
in the end we were just stardust and magic inside
this vast space because the universe craved us.

If I close my eyes I can feel you upon my flesh, inside
the depths of my soul. I could feel you in every breath
that filled my lungs and in every beat of my heart.

I used to write you into my poetry and I'd let every
curve of your body fill my fingertips and lust became
my ink. I would lay you down gently across my blank
pages so you would be mine for eternity.

The most beautiful words aren't just written but traced
upon delicate flesh and hummed gently into the soul.
You were the poetry that spilled from my pen and satisfied
those blank pages but now I listen as silence fills my lungs,
waiting for time to softly whisper and fill my flesh with memories.
                                                      
                                                                                             Jon York  2022

"When  you  do  not  seek or
need  approval  you  are  at  
your  most  powerful."
          ­         Caroline Myss

To   love  oneself   is  hard
work, but it becomes harder
when you realize that you're
actually  required  to  love
multiple versions of yourself
that show up without warning
throughout  the day, throughout
the week, throughout the month,
throughout your life.

Refine, deepen, and invigorate
your love for all of yourselves.

It  may  be  hard  work, but  it
will also  be  fun  and exhilarating.

                                                  ­                                        Jon York   2022

Seventy-Four years old this  past  September 20th.
The years went bye so very fast but I think I'll last
several  more and this  is what I have to say about
the elegance  of  time.

Time is one of  life's  valuable  commodities. Don't
take time for granted. Let what drives you  be  the
knowing that the clock is ticking.

Time dies,  life goes on and the minute you  think
the past  was  better, your present is  second-hand
and you become vintage.

We are all just stories in the end, just try to make
yours a good one, eh?

"Life  will  send  you  whatever  experience  you
need  to  stimulate the  evolution of  your consciousness."  
                                                             Eckhart Tolle
                                                                                                Jon York  2022

Every day we have to wade through
a  relentless surge of  soul-less  facts.
The experience  tends to shoot down
our sense of wonder.

Every  day  we  are  over-exposed  to
cynical narratives ****** free of delight
and mystery, which is why we make
strenuous efforts to keep our world enchanted
and why we are constantly feeding our
sense  of  wonder  and  enchantment.

What  we call the beginning is often the
end and to make an end is to make a
beginning.  The  end is where we start
from. When  do we become aware of
those things that we didn't even know
we didn't know?

We are endlessly creating ourselves, so
it would seem that we need magic every day.
                                                                                   Jon York   2022

Refuse to  think that anyone  else knows
better  than  you what  dreams will keep
your life energy humming with maximum efficiency.

****  out   wishy-washy  wishes   and  
lukewarm    longings   that  keep  you
distracted   from  your  burning desires.

Tell yourself and tell the world  that you
know  exactly what  you  want  and you
know  exactly what you  don't want and
you know exactly what you kind of want
but you won't waste your time on it because
it  sidetracks  you  from working on what
you really want.

Be  willing  to make mistakes  if someone
else is willing to learn from them. To hell
with boring enlightenment; I want brilliant perplexities.

                   Fall out of love with fear.
                                                           ­                                     Jon York   2022

Time has flown by, the years a seeming torrent in my view, and what remains of youth is hardened by the truth and etched by lies without end and marred by the faithful wounds of faithless friends.

Time has gone by as  sorry's  echo amid the unsaid, long since drowned echoing without a sound, tip of the tongue not quite remembering.

Chance has swept away and I often wonder if I really ever had anything to say or  if I  had the chance  would I stay and what
would I say?

Time has lost us on its cusp as all things have their end, you, me, us...everything turns to dust in the passing days that once knew our trust.

Time' has flown by with so many years gone and forgotten yet I am anchored in the past what is sunrise and sunset until I learn to forget faded memories that somehow still breathe among fallen stars and wishes I believed, and I still bleed.

                                                         ­                                     Jon York  2022

Whatever  else  we  might  think
of this world -- it  is  astonishing.

You  may be surprised to find out
how much more there is to learn
about  what  really  moves  you.

Turning to  face my  fears, I  meet
the warrior  who lives  within me.  

Each condition I flee from pursues
me, each condition that I welcome
transforms  me  and becomes itself  
transformed  into  the  blessing  it
always was.

Sip  the  tears of someone you love.

"The man who has no imagination
has  no  wings."   Muhammad Ali

                                                            ­                                  Jon York  2022

I am a subversive mystic stoking the cool
blue  fires of poetry and lobbying for  the
liberated imagination.

"Success  is  not  final, failure  is  not  fatal:
it  is  the courage  to continue  that counts."
Winston Churchill

If  it's  not  intimate,  what's  the  point?

I  write  as an  outlet  to make  sense of  my
world and experiences.

If  not  to fight against the monsters  inside
us, why  do  we  write?

For a poet, there really is no such thing as
the  ordinary  world,  "ordinary  life",  and
the ordinary course of events.
                                                                                     Jon York 2022

Let your process of being you
help others in their process of
being themselves.

Learn to  like living and know
that just to be alive  is a  grand
thing.

Love  to love, love  to  be loved
but  never  forget  your  own
insignificance.

Seek joy  in the saddest  places,
and  pursue  beauty to  its  lair.

Never simplify what is complicated
or  complicate  what  is  simple.
                                                                                                 Jon York   2022

Writers   just  write   the  words.

Readers  decide what  the words
mean and how they are  affected
by those words  and if the poem
is about them or directed to them
personally.

Events  and  or  interactions  with
various people are the basis for my
writing.

I am just trying to leave something
behind.
                                                                                              Jon York   2022

It's  a  hard time  to  be  human.
We know too much and too little.

Exaggerate  your flaws until  they
turn  into  virtues.

I wouldn't be surprised if poetry
-- poetry  in  the  broadest  sense,
in the sense  of a world filled with
metaphor, rhyme,  and recurring
patterns,  shapes, and designs -- is
how the world works,. The world
isn't  logical,  it's  a  song.

I  go  where  my  words  take  me.
I  write  for  my  own  amusement
but my ink comes from  the  heart
and sometimes a dark mind.

I wouldn't say I'm an inexperienced
poet, but  staying  in  the  lines  has
never been one of my strong points.
                                                                                              Jon York  2022

Sometimes at night I can taste her
on my lips. Passion; strong coffee
and warm, soft kisses.

It fades quickly, like the lingering
of a delicate perfume in an  empty
room and I  miss it  when  it  goes,
but  I'm  just too tired  to  chase  it.

So elusive she is, so lovely, but the
quiet  madness of it  all leaves  me
breathless.

Enter  each  day expecting  that the
happenings of the day may contain
a clandestine message addressed to
you personally.
                                                                                          Jon York   2022

Pretend to be crazy so you can get away  
with  doing  what's  right.

Remove yourself from situations where
you have trouble being and feeling your
true self.

Decrease your connection with anything
that tends to demean  your spirit, shrink
your lust  for life , limit  your  freedom,
ignore  your  soul,  compromise  your
integrity,  inhibit your self-expressiveness.

Love  your enemies in case  your  friends
turn out to be jerks.

Whoever  you're  longing  for has  been
changed by your pursuit of them. They are
different from what they were when  you
felt the first pangs of desire.

To make them yours, then, you'll have to
modify  your  ideas  about  them.

Be careful what you wish for because if your
wish does materialize, it will require you to
change in ways you didn't foresee.

Give yourself another chance, pretend your
wounds are exotic tatoos.                                              Jon York   2022

Life is short but full of flavors,
so explore everything and taste
all of the flavors with love and
kindness in your heart.

Stay  humble, work  hard,  be
kind.

The magic's inside. Unlock a
world of wonder every time
you open your eyes.

It's  not about  having  views
everywhere  you  look,   it's
about  selecting  and  framing
the views.

Stay relevant, resilient and
positive admidst life's curve
*****.

Be a dreamer, believe and achieve
and you will become an achiever.
It's all up to you for the magic is
hidden inside.

Don't tell people your dreams,
show them. You can,end of story,                                   Jon York  2022

I  write songs without a  tune,
I'm a story teller, stories based
on my life's strange and weird
happenings and events that I
can't forget. I write of odd and
out of place interactions with
seemingly unreal people.

I write about the news, sometimes
about my feelings, my various
loves and lovers,and sometimes I
just write, not knowing where
my  words are coming from,
almost as if someone was using
me as a tool, writing through me.

Be  a  fighter, get  up and  dust
yourself off for life isn't a fairy tale,
there is no knight in shining armor
who will ride in and save the day.

Be  your own  hero, learn  to walk
alone because all the so-called knights
are busy polishing their own armor.                             Jon York  2022

The Sun will rise every day
and the moon will follow its course.

Let your shadow move where it will,
its magnitude decided by the Sun.

May you never be the reason why
someone who loved to sing, doesn't anymore.
Or someone who dressed so uniquely, now
wears plain clothing. Or why someone
who always spoke so excitedly about their dreams,
is now silent about them.

May you never be the reason someone gave up
on a part of themselves because you were
demotivating, non-appreciative, hypercritical,
or even worse - sarcastic about it.

Do not relentlessly try to understand.
Time itself will decide.
I will not be sad. It has been written for me.
My joy will come when it is time.
                                                                                             Jon York  2021

Whether  love  blooms  gradually,
or hits like a tidal wave, it changes
everything.

Being  one  of  the  most  powerful
energies in the world; love drives us
forward; gives us purpose; and adds
meaning where it sometimes seemed
none existed.

In its extremes it is either a fountain
of the most soaring euphoria and ecstasy:
or, where it is lost, blocked, or turned
away, a bottomless well of despair, pain
and profound despondency.

In between the extremes are the smaller
moments,  laughter  shared,  tears  shed
and wiped away, fears soothed.

It is no wonder that painters and writers
such  as  myself and those  through time
have looked to this all-pervading emotion
for the motivation and object of our art.

The refusal by faithful lovers to allow distance,
disapproval, or even death to affect their feelings
can sometimes seem like fanaticism or obsession,
but in the very stubbornness of the declarations
of undying love there is consolation, satisfaction,
and immense beauty.
                                                         ­                                     Jon York  2021

I  hope  everyone  reading  my
words  is  having  a really good  
day, and if you aren't, just know
that  in  every new minute  that  
passes  you  have the opportunity
to change that, and if  you have  
enemies,  it  means you have stood
up for  something,  sometime in
your life.

Vivid colors fill the sky, a chill
runs up my spine, my eyes are
entranced, for it seems like
someone spilled paint across
the sky. Then the colors of the
sky fade and a darkness fills
the empty space. Bright lights
flicker above as the moon tranquilly
floats through the night.
Another beautiful day gone away
and I just felt like writing a poem
about it.

No lovers , no broken hearts in
this write, just a feel good about
the day poem.                                                            ­     Jon York  2021

Her blue eyes
like the changing sea.
    Her blond hair
soft as a rose petal.

    Her childish grin
hides her crazy and
    evil ways.

    Her laughter,
unique with no rhythm,
as if she was calm, sweet,
    and innocent.

    Standing there
staring with fire in my
eyes I grabbed her close
with a passionate kiss
holding on to her like I
was never going to
    let her go.

    And then I wake up
remembering this so
    real dream.                                                                    Jon York    2021

In six days I will turn 73.
When I was young, a little boy,
I always thought 40 was old.

When I was 40 years old,
I thought 80 was old.

Now I'm 72, I still like to rock
and roll every night and
listening to classic rock is one
of my favorite pastimes.

Nursing homes I will never go,
because I'm smart as a whip,
not thoughtless and old.

People treat me very strange,
as if I'm dying or deranged.

But I'm just fine,
now that I'm approaching 80 and
thought of as old.

I just laugh and think,
wait until they're 80 years old.                                       Jon York    2021

When I was a young boy, growing up in the
middle  of  Oklahoma, I  believed that  there
was right or wrong;  good or bad;  yes or no;
black or white.

It  was easy to  think that way.  How clever I
thought I was, to be so enlightened and decisive,
to have an opinion on everything and to think
I  was right. I wish  I didn't know now what  I
didn't know then.  

As I grew older I realized that sometimes there
is no right or wrong. That some situations have
no good outcome or happy ending. That the answer
can be both yes and no and that manifold factors
must be considered, and that some questions
have no answers.

I don't feel quite so clever anymore, but perhaps
grown wiser since I realized that life operates in
shades of grey and no one really knows the right
way. We all just have to keep going day to day,
doing what we feel is right.
                                                                                          Jon York   2031

A  relationship  means
that you come together
to make each other better.

Believe in each other.
Support each other.

Be their peace, not their
problem.

Reset,
refocus,
readjust,
restart ---
as many times as
you need to.
Just never give up.

Don't fear failure,
fear being in the
exact same place
next year as you are
today.

Push your limits
daily so that your
future self will
thank you.                                                                     Jon York   2021

In my life you once came,
then like the wind you were gone
and my heart ached, my body hurt.
Where did you go?

Not a word, not a clue,
but you were always on my mind.

Love came but it never felt the same.
I tried to let you go,
but in my mind you stayed,
in my heart you laid.

Where you were I never knew,
and now many years later into my life
you came, which reignited such a flame,
a lot of lust and passion we both feel.

Should I put my whole heart in it
or should I let it go?
For in my mind I have to wonder,
will you stay or will you go?


May the flowers  remind  us
why  the  rain was necessary.                                         Jon York   2021

I saw magic
in those baby blues.
*****, dark, beautiful
   magic.

We have tried to run
from our love, but
our souls crave this
   magic.

Our lives may not
have fit together,
but Ohhh.. do our souls
know how to dance....

To have someone
understand your mind
is a different kind
   of intimacy.

Your body is away from me
at the present time but
there is a window open
from my heart to yours.

Do what you have to do
to keep your love alive,
just don't confuse it with
what you do to survive.                                                   Jon York   2021

If you don't
let the past
die, then it
won't  let
you live.

Do not give
your past the
power to define
  your future.

Two things prevent
us from happiness:
living in the past,
and observing
      others.

Care about what
other people think
and you will always
be their prisoner.
                                                                                          Jon York    2021