“Phobia as a Fault” speaks directly to a discussion storm I’m aware of on social media, but I’ll stick with the broad outlines of a painful situation.   The poem is about the phobic thoughts inherited from the “hive mind”.   A phobic thought is one that is framed with “I’d never do X with Y” or “X is bad because they always do Y”.   Rejection is predeclared because of another person’s perceived state.    Any size group can promote phobic thoughts.  Groups at the receiving end of phobic thoughts can generate their own phobic thoughts.  Sadly, at their heart, the phobic directions may mean well with an intention of ‘protecting’ a group.  In practice they feed and imbue hurts that are beyond evil.

The poem “Twice Right Each Day” was inspired by a meme that compared broken clocks to people.  A broken clock could be detected.  Broken people defy the same.

“Separate Shores” is about outward resignation versus inner pain.

“The Fount” was inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft’s quotation, “Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”

I approve the push back to the “I’m not like the other girls” movement.   I agree with the observation: “the movement should really be called the ‘I don’t want me to treat me the way they treat other women’ movement”.  Why?  I reside in some social groups that could state “I’m not like the other X” in order to dodge the schizophrenic criticisms of a larger society.  I could be ****** by the larger rules of my world.   What to about this?  Should I run from who I am?  Perhaps not.  I am a unique person, in my self-created diversity, and I would love to see the phrase understood from a place of empowerment.  I’m not like the other X, but that’s OK, because I am pretty incredible for all of that.

“Instead the Naked” is about a dream I had that featured a friend and I hanging out in a bathroom.  Both of us were ****, with them in the tub and my standing a distance away.  We were talking with no ****** vibe present.  The poem explains how this falls into the established symbology of my dreams.

The poem “The Changes” was inspired by a drawing of a lady, seen in silhouette, walking away while cutting off her hair. The implication is that her actions are part of a journey of the self. I fully support my friends who want to take actions in this vein.

The poem “Sleep Mimics” was inspired by considerations about finding peace away from the waking world.

The poem “Cupid Jailed” was inspired by the drawing “Cupid Indicted" found the 1900 book “The Book of old English songs and ballads”.

The poem “The Fall Exists” was inspired by a photograph by Deniz Hotamisligil.  The end result seems very dark, but it is in the spirit of Deniz' comments regarding the sourced work, "I believe that what you call a fall may just be the first step that leads us to a whole new positive outcome."

What is the difference between Barr’s slur and Bee’s slur?  Barr compared her target to a non-human.  Bee chose to pick a slur that was crude, but still touched on a shared humanity.  The poem “Derision Spun” is about designating enemies as non-humans.

The poem “Patch of Ground” was inspired by a poem by Catarine Hancock with the lines “stop comparing yourself to girls like her…  you are supposed to look like you.”

“Same Lust” is about the unplanned nature of passion.

The poem “Beauty Found” is about how much more beautiful my friends are than perhaps they themselves believe.

The poem “Anxiety ******” began as a poem about the danger of dwelling too much on the future.  A further prompt of “Honesty is the Best Policy” was added to the mix.  The honesty of the moment is worth more than any number of imagined futures.

The poem “Applied to Scratch” is about the low-grade hum of addiction asking for appeasement.

The poem “Snapper’s Prompt” is about my discomfort with the “**** photo” side of photographic world.  There are positive reasons for a model to participate in the production of adult leaning photography.   Earning a living and embracing body positivity come to mind.  In fact, I support those who are employed by the *** industry.  I instead have concern with the photographers: peddlers and purveyors of the **** photos.   This may not make sense.   I have a line of thought that helps explain this, though it is not a catch-all defense.   I also embrace the submissive side of **** while being suspicious of those who play the dominate partner role.   Truthfully, I don’t trust dominates as a whole.  This applies to business and religion also.  While the sub/dom relationship can be balanced and supportive for both parties, the door is WAY too opened to the dominate exploiting a situation.  They ask for things that they can not deliver.  Going back to photographer, they may ask for perfectly perverted beauty, but they may be plain and unattractive themselves.  Their motivations are instead the photographer’s matched *******.  In my mind, for good or bad, I see the photographer as the dominate in the relationship between model and photographer.   There can be good there (not all photographers, not all doms), but I am so very uncomfortable about where the abuses can go.

The poem “Narration Phrased” was prompted by a request to speak of dissension and fear in the streets.

The poem “Mad Cole” is about the madness of kings and their followers.

I used to fall in love way too often.  This caused emotional aggravation and turmoil.  No more!  “Avoid the Fall” is about my desire to turn away from these occasions.

The poem “A Greater Truth” is about discovering the self.

The poem “Span of Space” was inspired by thoughts about the depths of passion.

A FB friend asked what possible intentions the Russians had for meddling in United States electoral affairs.   One of their friends responded with statements about politicians no longer in power.   This occurred multiple times as I kept asking about the Russian motivations.  My friend said, ‘they have (past politician) madness disorder.  They are incapable of talking about anything else”.  My poem “Shaking Past” was inspired by this interchange.

I watched a YouTube video that featured Jordan Peterson and two other commentators.   The discussion was ostensibly about free speech.  Jordan couldn’t resist talking about morality and its outcomes.  His comments about morality inspired me to write “Tilt Up or Down”.

An internet friend wrote a poem about recognition.  An explanation of their work included the statement “Just those fleeting, intense hints in public when someone looks at you and through their inadvertent responsive cues, you know they admire you. It's electrifying regardless of how hard you try to repress your reaction”.  This really struck a chord.  “Fleeting Hints” is my attempt to carry their thought forward.

Why should a person social dance?  “I’m Now Blessed” attempts to provide an answer to the question.

The poem “One Decision” was inspired by the quote, “You’re always one decision away from a totally different life.”

The poem “The Pinprick” was inspired by the online reactions to a person who played Devil’s Advocate on a sensitive subject.  The response was swift against the problematic statements.  Sensitivities were triggered.   Some ground should be traveled carefully.

The poem “All I Can Expect” was inspired by a meme that stated the following: “Men cry / men break down / men suffer from eating disorders and body dysmorphia / men have suicidal thoughts / men die from suicide / men suffer from mental illness / it’s not unmanly to struggle / we need to encourage men to speak out, not letting them suffer in silence”. I responded to the meme with words contained in the poem: “I scream into the void and it whispers back. Am I deaf or is this all I can expect?”

The poem “Free to Fly” is about the other-worldly experience of dancing.   Physical limitations and tiredness seem to be put aside.  The end result is a magic that only dancers experience.

The poem “A Book Waiting” is about the less glamorous world of poetry writing.  It holds this place in comparison to vaunted novel.

The poem “Cage of Flesh” asks the question: what if admiration, and subsequent shyness, is a manifestation of wanting to be like an individual?

The poem “Happy Days” is about the pain of the manic-depressive cycle.

The poem “Grist for Yesterday” is about the dynamics between the relativism of today and the nature of  memories.

The poem “A New Deck” was inspired by a series of dreams that confirm that my life could be different.

The poem “All Too Human” was written in response to International Transgender Day of Visibility.  This annual event occurring on March 31 is dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide.  My personal goal of visibility is to put a human face on the transgendered experience.  I hope to educating people by bringing my transfemme side to social events. Whatever comes of it, I hope it will signal that trans people exist 'in the wild', they are people considered as friends, and maybe, others will feel more comfortable coming out of their closets.

The poem “Glamour of the Bling” was inspired by a cartoon about being the star of an empty stage.

The poem “Unkind Life” was inspired by encountering friends that I thought were lost to the randomness of life.

“Crowd For Everyone” was inspired by a close friend who found a dance community that fed their soul and increased their sanity.

The poem “Cloak of Silence” was partially inspired by a partial hearing loss I’m experiencing because of a sinus infection.

The poem “A Greater Truth” is about discovering the self.

The poem “Near At Hand” is about the passing pleasures of life.

The poem “Rainbow Aura” was prompted by the questions:  What bridges have you crossed?  Which bridge would you like to cross?  What would you say about bridges in a world of walls?

I’ve been posted to various internet social media platforms since about 2007. Prior to that I ran a BBS in the pre-internet world. I’ve been writing and posting a poem a day since September of 2014 across multiple poetry oriented sites (six at this point!). Uncounted other content sharings have been put forward for public review. All of this has amounted to material tossed out to the judgment and consumption of the world. These outcomes vary tremendously. This begs the question: why? The poem “To Live Beyond” hints at the answer.

Extreme moderation, verging on abstinence, leads to a happy void of pleasantness.  “Scarcity” explores this line of thought.

“Exacting Truth” was inspired by a painting created by a friend.  It features representations of the same person in light and dark spaces.  To me this spoke of the struggles of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and self-harm.

The poem “The Towers” was inspired by thoughts about people leaving organizations.  To outsiders, the discrepancies and dogmatic contradictions are enough to push anybody out.   The reasons to stay seem to out weigh these nudges.   Still, some seek the exits when the fabric of belief fails.

An article in The New York Time Style Magazine got me thinking about kitten heels.  The publication boldly proclaimed 'the retro style stakes a modern step forward'.

Sometimes my friends inspire my poetry.  They may struggle in the moment, but I see potential far beyond the current moment, with the outcome decades in the future.

“Three Words” is about a roadblock to communication that occurs when a person wants to talk about a topic.   The topic is avoided because in the past the other party has stated not understanding about the condition that the communication would be about.  Why?  The communication is about a topic that isn’t open to debate or the originator “changing their mind”.  It is more about sharing, and perhaps, a request for support.   This is stopped when already a person has heard the words, “I don’t understand”.   The most cruel aspect of this is that the inability to communicate can lead to other events, these guaranteeing the very sad statement, “I don’t understand”.