Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
everything’s complicated
everything’s a struggle
have you noticed?
it’s a psychological horror
is this feeling the ‘adult disillusionment’ I keep hearing about?

I mean, things work, if you sit on them like an egg—
if your mother things along and helicopter a result.
I mean, what do people do who don't have
my resources and sunny disposition?

I get America’s increasing paranoia but I think that it's *** backwards. Even if someone's were out to ‘get’ you, no one actually cares about doing their job anymore. There's just so little competence around, that the dysfunction feels intentional. And because you need something and you’re helpless, you can't help but feel targeted.

But I think I figured it out, so let me elucidate—they aren't giving YOU bad service, it isn't personal—everyone is getting bad service, two pieces of chicken in the box when you ordered three, five day delivery when you’re clearly paying for two, failure’s become routine—endemic.

My go-to phrase has become, “What’ll it cost?” (the answer, usually: twice as much) “Make it so,” I say, swiping something with my Apple Watch, and suddenly, everything works!
.
.
A song for this:
decide to be happy by MisterWives
BLT Merriam Webster word of the day challenge 03/29/25:
Elucidate = to make something clear and easy to understand

My ex-navy stepfather always says, “Make it so,” it’s an old navy phrase that means, ‘proceed’
Not much
on weepy lines
overripe rind
of feeling left too long—
words that swell
then sink

She's something else—
no wistful sighs
no hands wrung dry
just a sharp look
spine-straight
with flint-bright eyes

Watch—
how the light
bends around her
how silence
sits up straight
in her company

Not much
on drivel—
no
but she's something else—
makes me quiet and watch
To call her
a dream would
be to shrink her
to a pile of thoughts
adrift in sleep’s
meandering grip

She is no
slip of thought
no wisp caught
on a waking’s revival—
but my mind’s
firm fist
my body’s
eager ******
my heart’s
vital breath

She is the hand that
takes the sky and sea
and turns them into plush pillows
to rest our heads upon—
laying beams
across what could collapse

No, she is
not dreamstuff—
but the builder
of what dreams
fear to
attempt—
a world meant
to be entered
We see ourselves
as a house of mirrors—
each reflection warps
to fit its frame

What else can we do—
we trim the edges
smooth out the light—
If the curve is wrong
we bend our sights

Do I add too much—
a borrowed shadow
stolen tints and mismatched colors
remove too little—
leave out the seam

We are never as we are
only as we fit
within what we let others see—
patched by memory
tilted to survive—
from shame
from fears
from the raging battle
of wanting to hide and be seen
all at once—
never finding balance

I am tired
of self-adjusting—
I want to get caught up in the rain
with someone who can walk
through mirrors
He walked in the fields alone
The clouds above big and heavy
Dark grey, filled with gloom
Every other noon

There was no road
Unsettling music was played in the sky
Orchestrated by the clouds

He walked unafraid
Not knowing his fate
Desirous of the rains

He had tilled the land
Until it grew green
Prosperity rained

He stumbled upon the gold
In the ancestral remains
Deserted by the predecessors
He thanked every grain
Today, early on a
Saturday morning, I'm
trying a little trick I
learned from Bukowski.
I put on some classical
music and I am trying
to write.
Beethoven's 5th in C minor.

I sit in my favorite chair and
watch my black cat lie on the
back of the loveseat and
watch the snowfall.
She looks triumphant,
but it could just be the music.
The philodendrons that hang
around the house and the
bamboo plants seem happier, too.
There's no hope for the palm tree.

Well, the main thing is that I put the
pen to paper, and Beethoven,
my cat and you came along for the
ride.

Maybe the cellos, violins, and
trombones will fertilize my
creativity.
Now, my other two cats have joined
the fun.
They wrestle by the heater and laugh at
all the fat, rich *******.
I just did a podcast out of Vietnam.  It was cool.  Here's a link.
https://www.facebook.com/ondra.nemcik.75/videos/1031040335582922

Here is a link to my brand new poetry reading I did on You tube.
Press play.

Essence fills the cold, biting air.
Thoughts drift back to the day we met.
Her words soothed my splintered heart, her presence made me feel safe.

The first time we spoke, nerves filled my soul.
This was not just a woman—this was a new feeling,
a blessing,
a gentle kiss laced with understanding.

And then, oh, goodness—and then—she took us high.
Flying past clouds to the golden place,
our bodies became one. I was mesmerized.

All at once, a deeper meaning to everything
was revealed.
This love was a love I had never known.

Looking at her face, I melted—
beautiful chestnut hair, perfect lips,
breathtaking eyes, a smile from the heavens.

Love discovered me.

I lie still as Essence continues to play.
I swear undying, loyal love
to this incredible woman—
my Goddess.

Forever.
Eternally.
https://youtu.be/0eiDkUNGQa0?si=-yhtsBDL5cRdY3A6
Next page