Had a lot on my mind
Tried jotting it down
Now I'm facing a DWI
Told the officer
Sir I'm not drunk
I was just writing while I drive
So he gave me a WWD

Darling,

A breakthrough in WWD:

I realize
Battles lost
Can be restive—

And if used right,
Restorative

Depression isn't always
Destructive.

Here I hunker
In my bunker
Reflective.

WHAT?

Shell shocked

Trying to be nice, bombed

I saw you feel hurt
I know I was part of that
Not sure of the how of it

You tell me to make the sky orange
I can't make the sky orange
Nothing rhymes with orange

I try to be a good man
I reject the role of bad man
I am the man I am

What you feel is yours
But I colored it
Cause it? No.

WWD at 3:41 am
In the trenches
Here to stay.

I’m feeling the old dread
Of being half dead
A waking dream
It all seems

I don’t feel colors
I can’t smell sounds
Because gauze
Surrounds

Darling,

The sun is out
My door is closed

Clouds come from within
Not without you

I assert my right to live
Here, not aggrieved

This land is your land
This land is my land.

in a malaise
a general haze
not quite right
these days

the buzz is wrong
a sour note song
but, onward!
shuffle along

show a wan smile
while all the while
walking the maze
feigning strong

Off course
By thirteen degrees west
Level the mainsail

Apology correction
Eight degrees right
Agree to digress

**** shouting
In a **** storm where
Nothing is heard

Wave spray intense
It’s nonsense
Useless direction

Rejection reaction
Who is yelling at whom?

Button pusher
Make your game claim.

Have it escalate
To blame game.

My good impulse
Repulsed; intent bent.

This cat and mouse ****
Will bring the house down.

Every micro-gression
Drips into the
Bucket / depression

***** girded
Lines drawn; it’s
****-show WWD again

As you sink into it
Mine your mettle
Find your spine

Remember:
WWD is cyclical
Even when biblical

Darling, I sit poised
In interregnum

Good for me?
We’ll see

Spaces between
Serves reflection

I lost a day today
Pickled in anger and
Stewed in ennui

I lost a day today
All my to-dos not done
Opportunities gone

I lost a day today
Left with stress and strife
It’s WWD all over again

Every. Single. Day.
I try to do good.
Build a bridge—
Mindful of the future:

Create something.
Clean my messes.
Fulfill responsibilities.
Say something nice to someone I love.

WWD gets in my way
Every step of the way.

Darling,
I'm still fighting.

There’s a low below WWD
A kind of neutrality
How low can you go?
Lower than flow

Quiet

Breathless

Present

Still

But…
We go as we go

I was falling apart
Distracted distanced disconnected
WWD was settling in
(That’s world war depression
for the uninitiated)

Then I did something unexpected
Answered an ad in the Northcoast J
And drove two hours to a beautiful nature nook
With a weekend of brave brave man

I think it saved my life

Realities revealed
Truths needing challenge
Connections not expected
Community with men rewarded

Flame on, men, flame on

https://www.northcoastmensgathering.org/

Everything here is for the best
Full of glitter and gaiety
We forget the nasty past

WWD was good for me; a
Worse fate should have followed
Pan gloss the past and be here now

The rat, the crocodile, the fly
Fulfill their natural function
Indeed, as Candide

We built our home
We stacked our wood
She made our garden grow

We’ve travelled the world
Had picaresque adventures
Au contraire, Voltaire

Happiness is possible
Enjoy it as it happens
Make it the best of all workable worlds