#inaction
kinetic weather
Human hands
those that act gentle
joined with Butterflies wings
Apr 23
Apr 23, 2026 at 9:12 AM UTC
No need to be so hostile…
Unless, of course; you’re happy being the abused and the abuser… the miserable and the miser…
No need to be so hostile…
Unless, of course; you think that the pavement is only meant for you and nobody else matters…
No need to be so showing; unless, of course you believe that this way you can love like an image that never moves but stays stable…
No need to be so loving…
Unless, of course -
You feel something beneath your skin -
Something more than just nodding, gobbing, prodding - giving into nothing - playing the game because that’s what you were programmed to do -
Rather than feel the blue - climb back up the marble stairs that dropped you - to the masked and dangerous depths of our inaction and compassion, where we hide and reveal our rarities rudely to a badly written opera script devoid of any course…
Unless, of course… you want to look at yourself climbing back to you from that floor, the shining mirror of the chandelier kaleidoscoping your charging spirit horse - you could rejoin them again and become one beautiful being…
Unless of course, unless of course…
Nov 2, 2025
Nov 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM UTC
I can never do the one thing I want the most to do,
I can only - suddenly: fear,
Encroaching shadows.
Blindsided, I wish I could say. But no.
Not quite.
Doubt shrouds my intentions,
Like a cloud blocking out - no, an eclipse,
Predetermined intervals of near complete darkness,
A pattern of uncertainty, a seeming dichotomy-
But reliable nonetheless...
All the same.
Ordered chaos; predictable, unwelcome, regrettable.
Torturous, truly.
Light again, passing by, gone again-
Always.
Never.
I can never do the one thing I want the most to do.
I can only do the one thing I am wont the most to do.
And I am helpless to it all.
Lost to it all.
It is a cruel discrepancy.
Feb 16, 2024
Feb 16, 2024 at 8:00 PM UTC
A broken shell, a living hell, and all I'm left with now is my regret.
Better days ahead were a pipedream after our relationship crumbled. Countless arguments. Disagreements. Every day! For my life, I can't believe we stayed together as long as we did. God knows I didn't want her to leave me. How much longer must I wrestle with these painful memories?
I just feel regret, unspoken, I just feel the pain; since she left, my life has been a broken shell, a living hell — I can't believe I let her go; it was foolish pride before the fall the day she left when I lost all — I should have held her closer, I should have made her see the feelings I have for her, what she means to me; I didn't say I love her or beg her to stay, instead, I stood in silence and watched her walk away, and all I'm left with now is my regret.
Justification is an exercise in futility. Knowing what I could have and should have done leaves an inextricable switchblade in my soul. Love's lessons learned too late — love's loss too great.
Misting eyes beseech as memories replay in my head, but they're too painful, and I feel dead. No joy to be found. Oh well, my self-imposed hell. Painful memories open like an oubliette under my feet, plunging me lost and languishing in isolation's labyrinth. Questions left unanswered, decaying in the debris fields of "what if.”
Reflection can be a catharsis for the soul, but it can also rip a hole in it, and soon reality roars from guilt's bottomless pit to devour all hope. Sometimes despair is mitigated by occasional reminders of us. Thoughts lingering on happier times, blessed moments mine to treasure. Until the damnable loop of regret dominates to decimate any respite of joy. Vanishing expectations. Weeping willow's silent wail. Xerox memories fade with time.
Years have passed, and my thoughts continue to haunt me over what we could have had. Zero-sum game — all I'm left with now is my regret.
Mark Toney ©️ 2023
* * *
April 22, 2023
I hope you found the above fictional prose poem interesting. I wrote it in response to a writing challenge I heard about. Write a 26-sentence short story (or prose poem). Each sentence must begin with the alphabet's sequential letters starting with A through Z. One sentence must be 100 words long, and another sentence only one word. Would you like to try it?
Apr 22, 2023
Apr 22, 2023 at 2:07 AM UTC
You have never gone after
what you really wanted.
Sure, at the last moment, you
have desperately leaped out
and tried to grab on to something
as it went by. That doesn’t count;
you never stood a chance,
you never put all of your heart
and soul on the line, to humbly and
doggedly pursue anything at all.
Maybe you’ve never needed
anything, but I think that’s a lie
and you know it. You might say
that you needed it too much,
so much so that even the thought
of failing is too painful to endure.
You froze that feeling out, called it
impractical, unreasonable,
unnecessary. Those were lies
as well. You can hide behind the lies
but they will never feed your soul.
There is something you need.
Something you want down to
the very spark of your being,
something that will fill you up
with the life force of the universe
and set you ablaze to hang
in the heavens, among the stars.
You can continue failing through
inaction, hoping your passion
will atrophy, and it might, but that
inner you, the you that wants so
many things for you, it will atrophy
too, until you are a husk
of a person. There is nothing
sadder than a person who
used to have fire within their soul.
You can choose to smother yourself
or you can choose to go for it,
to coax that spark to flame and feed
the fire until it blazes forward carrying
you along. You can choose.
NCL September 2019
Sep 3, 2019
Sep 3, 2019 at 11:35 PM UTC
Abandoned at a sandy beach,
Bleeding sunlight through the countless cracks,
I , a lone catamaran,
Stared at the infinite ocean.
The sun is coming down.
The seagulls are flying to eternity.
The lighthouse far away has started blinking
And the winds are returning home.
Gone are the days of stormy adventures.
So, are the laughters on the day of good catch.
I miss the uncertainties of tempest,
And the ballads of ******
A sunset is the most poignant moment in the life.
All your memories out there to enchant you,
Life is all frolicking around you,
And you stare soulless, into a receding red ball.
I yearn to break free of this inaction
Push away the stack of stones holding me back.
And glide down the wet slippery sands
Out into the frothing foam of life.
Let me float anchorless where the ocean takes me.
Let the storm toss me up in the air
Let the waves batter my hull
Let me capsize in the blue salt water.
And then.... there would be peace.
Jun 11, 2019
Jun 11, 2019 at 4:28 AM UTC
You can get through this
You will if you choose
To focus not on what is
But on all you can do
You found your way in
You can make your way out
But if you don’t take action
You’ll be left there to pout
Not the greatest of statues
Repels the force of a train
It takes a man on the move
Telling the conductor “there, you will stay”
So don’t wait for a hero
Or occasion to fade
For the moment you lie down
Is when your bed becomes made
Jun 5, 2019
Jun 5, 2019 at 1:07 PM UTC
Actions over words
What are words without fire
Fire that moves and burns the world
Licking the flames of your tragedies
And taking you towards a new forest
Where the pasts have burned
Touch the fertile ground of your new mind
Promote yourself from writer to soldier
Don't you dare take your time
Your next words would be your last
Your next move could be the first of firsts
The builder
The fighter
The mightier
The worthier
Everyone knows that glory is in being alive
The only thing more alive that words
Is your body moving to fulfill the words
May 29, 2019
May 29, 2019 at 8:53 AM UTC
life flew over my head.
could I have caught it?
perhaps.
but I wasn’t looking.
rather I stuck to boredom.
I sat in this chair three years ago,
and it feels the same.
life seemed to have stopped.
I thought and thought and thought,
while others did and did and did,
and I sit here looking at them.
...I can’t smile at their joys,
it reminds me of my motionless existence.
and worse,
the jealousy and anger has stiffened my body,
fastening me to this chair
and prolonging my stay
I want to leave,
but it’s too hard to let go of regret.
I am a bitter man,
with eyes of hate;
help me if you can.
Apr 4, 2019
Apr 4, 2019 at 6:57 PM UTC
Factions dance blade
to grindstone
(action)
Scholars scratch pen
to paper
(action)
Thinkers mash pride
to danger
(inaction)
What have I done?
Oh, I've lived
Meaningless & Ill
Longer than expected
What all have I done?
Eagerly
Ejected myself
From womb, to wooden womb
Feb 19, 2019
Feb 19, 2019 at 11:05 PM UTC
This world is broken.
Hypocrisy everywhere.
But it always was.
Feb 6, 2019
Feb 6, 2019 at 7:55 PM UTC
A mutilated corpse in the middle of the city
Frothing at the mouth
A suffocating hostage
A sacrilege
A sacrifice of religious anonymity
You flow and stagnate
Making us all ruminate
What life has created
Is nothing but destruction in its wake
In the hustle of the city
You remind me of pity
Not for you
Not for your desperately dark waters
Not for your absence of tethers
But for me
You remind me how small and insignificant
Is the mind that dares to see
Dares to write
Dares to referee
Against your will to end
No destiny can revoke your decision
No human can make you bend
In your twists and turns
Your tortuitous burns
You are resolute
That the ones who killed you
Will not play the immortal flute
Or their resonating glory
Of conquering what you are
They tried to claim you
They tried to blame you
They tried to reduce and maim you
But from your eternal sleep you may never wake
The city may run
The city may burn
You will support no flora
No fauna
Rest in peace, Yamuna.
Jan 16, 2019
Jan 16, 2019 at 10:32 PM UTC
I'm somewhere in the middle.
Forget-me-nots in a pistol
tripping on thought tangents
playing a fist full.
Feeling my teeth caught,
biting deep in the gristle.
Seething a heat,
not green
not at bay to the whistle
my impatience is simple
I'm awaiting the gavel
And I'm somewhere in the middle
I fear the venom and rattle
and play the innocent *******
beginning to wait
to watch the ending begin
approaching the line
I'm Here.
Watching the moment again
feeling cold on the fringe
seeing it blow in the wind
watching it pass
stopping to gasp
at how fast it was stolen again
seeing the difference,
between a fold and a bend
Peeling the image apart
and rolling bones for the gold
on the spin
Hoping next time
I'm not a line up of bowling pins
sitting in wait
asking the past
for a day to do over again
I'm somewhere in the middle.
Dec 12, 2018
Dec 12, 2018 at 2:06 AM UTC
Nothing’s burning. What went wrong?
No one desires the simple song
you croak out for crumb suppers, ‘cos
it doesn’t make them think of feasts.
Release the guise of competition -
like you’d ever win these heats.
Behold who placed: staid mottoes
wearing proper faces wrapped
in proper chains.
Observe their seats in proper chairs:
the owners of their stake
never relinquishing the bloodline’s hold,
impenetrable walls between the well-born
and the cold.
Who likes us? Weakness does:
tremblers demanding ones like you
to save their damsel hide. The saved abide
all laws convenient to them;
for the rest, they cut a deal,
and you’re not in it.
Be afraid of that. They ratchet up
that fire finesse and do
damage control: what dare we salvage?
Wayward cities? Idle souls?
Compress them in a tank of rigid steel
mixed by the craven powers.
I’ve got mine - don’t call it ours
(although I speak for all of you.)
We’re through if you don’t show up
at my dinners, check in hand
in sleeve in shirt in suit
on fire -
when I’m done, sweep up your soot.
Sep 4, 2018
Sep 4, 2018 at 3:55 PM UTC
glass half empty or half full?
why do we even ask at all?
all this thinking takes its toll
on our society of analysis
anti-action and paralysis
it really is a dangerous thing
overphilosophizing i mean
we've fallen victim to the allure
of thinking that we can cure
anyone anything and or any problem
with enough thinking tinkering and or solving
but truly there's really got to be
more to cure the modern malady
of paradoxes and dichotomies
and meta-epistemologies
we've come too far for us to merely be
just because i think we think
if i can really only see
what's standing right in front of me
once it's gone to the periphery
then i'm positive that we'll all have been
over inacting and underachieving
for far far too long
we think too much and do too little
it's not like it's a test or a riddle
we write creeds and manifestos
but there's no credence manifested
if we don't give precedence
not to kings queens or presidents
but to becoming a society-
a people who won't go quietly
whose thoughts and bright ideas
suddenly begin to coalesce
into lives being lived
to the absolute fullest
we need something more
we need a paradigm shift
made from something much more sure
than a philosopher's two cents
but if we don't act now
if we procrastinate and wait
our dreams will just be dreams
and tomorrow will be too late
so then-
if you don't mind
instead of stopping just to analyze and think
i think i'll take that half of a glass
and maybe take a drink
Oct 6, 2017
Oct 6, 2017 at 7:07 PM UTC
You see the man first
Your head above your plate,
The fork and the spoon
In your hands.
You skipped the prayer of thanks,
Or to even pause a second
To see what you had been served,
Even before the server could leave
You had your first bite through
And you could not tell how it tastes.
"You were to escape"
You used to say,
"Escape what" now you question.
Silence flows through you like blood
Must have on that man's face,
If you were courageous enough
You could have counted the slaps
That man had placed.
Instead you paused and stared
Too many answers in you mind
On how there were no words
But you skipped the right question.
You heard the fire,
You heard the structure falling
And you saw the crowd gathering.
There was so much you should do
So little you could
But you skipped your rule
And sat there the way through.
Years of rebellion
And years of righteousness
Washed in that moment of cowardice.
You sat there all
Just staring and answering
The questions you couldn't ask.
Do you remember what you suggested?
You suggested to walk away
To make the man realize his wrong ways
But silly you,
Why are you so much of a coward ,
I doubt
It was simply you running away.
For the thought you skipped to act
Was walking to the man
And holding back his fist
But you so had it all skipped.
You sat there,
A silent prayer running through your mind
Couldn't you tell,
You are no help to the world,
What were you doing there?
And so here you are
The sad, pitiful part
You worried about not having answers,
Silly you,
Now you pace
With answers alone
You decided to skip the questions.
Answer-
You can either comment on the fire
Or ignore the smoke all together
But you do nothing
To douse the flames
You skipped the
Apr 7, 2017
Apr 7, 2017 at 10:30 PM UTC
Once upon a time,
I had a story I could tell.
But, now the facts have changed
and as I suppose its just as well.
For you see, I say my story
it is one of scattered dreams.
And, I was looking for an ending
that would sew up all the seems.
But, somewhere in the patchwork,
in the throw rug of my mind,
there was a loose thread
that I just could never find.
So, when it comes to taking action
you know why I won't take part.
For, all it takes is one good tug
and my patchwork comes apart.
May 29, 2016
May 29, 2016 at 6:30 PM UTC
and often nights? i -
i’ll have no trouble
it’s the screens that
do me in.
the fallen angel
the lithesome, spent glow
of do-overs
it just
does me in.
i am too possessed
by mercurial vapor
a dead self
at 2 and 3 and 4am
egging on, asking
“keep looking? it’s
somewhere in the archives.
it has to be.”
i promised, i promised
i wouldn’t, i promised
or I’d spend months
years, decades of life
living in the guesswork
the in-betweens
lying in the pathways
between the thought
and the reflex.
i could scroll a whole
lifetime away
in wanting.
it’s the screens that
do me in.
Oct 20, 2015
Oct 20, 2015 at 2:05 PM UTC
Inaction in action
A most frightening thing
Eyes flash from green to brown
Was that a smile or one of your cute frowns?
I can’t tell up from down
In this vacant hole
I feel like I am supposed to remember
Impact has dried up
Like a drought that makes farmers
Wonder if their crop ever did flourish
Or if the dust simply snuck into their heads
With paintbrushes and vivid imaginations
Of what fresh picked berries once tasted like
I want to run
Faster than ever to where I once was
To where my emotions began
To when a kiss was still intoxicating
And you smiled at clasped hands
Mirrors in my mind turn
Reflections of you blur
Engraved lessons I’ve learned
Were you ever my home?
I trace the walls of your character
Each knot and groove familiar
Reflexive fingertips
Gliding over walls as they turn inside out
I forgot what all this was about
Do I long for a light that once shown
Or just another culpable excuse
To regain the throne
My wishful thinking kingdom
Though my senses are honed
To both authenticity and mirage
I fear I am equally prone
Even so.
If…
If you were ever
Or still are
And we cross paths again
Or maybe for the first time
Kiss me with your brown eyes
Or were they green?
And I will try my best to recognize
A love I fear I’ve never seen
But I can’t muster pursuit when consciousness is stolen by a dream
Inaction in action
Is a most frightening thing
Aug 29, 2015
Aug 29, 2015 at 11:25 PM UTC
We killed
Hart Crane
Though he leapt
To his death
A poet’s plan
Or perhaps a whim
We hold the blame
We killed Freddie Mercury
And stopped the music
The callous political games
Blocked possible gains
In a needed cure
We killed Harvey Milk
We were the bullets
And the metal frame
Held the assassin’s hand
We hold the shame
We killed
The blond burnt boy
Encouraging
The hate
We killed the strung up
Beautiful boys
The hung up
Beaten up
Broken hearted
Brothers and sons
We are the progenitors
Of the violence
Through action
And more often than not
Through inaction
Maybe a little more guilt
Would serve us well
Apr 23, 2015
Apr 23, 2015 at 4:59 PM UTC
Do not join the fight
Do not fight their battles for them
You've nothing to gain.
Feb 14, 2015
Feb 14, 2015 at 12:45 PM UTC
Much inaction in meaningless actions
© Amitav (Radiance)
Jun 1, 2014
Jun 1, 2014 at 1:05 PM UTC