Beyond the world of discovery that music has been for me, there was always the bigger world, the universe of questions about what we’re a part of, how it works, and how to best fit into the larger whole.
My love of words, a fascination with scientific, philosophical, and spiritual inquiry, and a quiet determination to learn how to be a better human (and a happier man) have led me on a path of shaping my experience, breath by breath, into poems.
Here are some of them.
September 26, 2022
The boat you float in
isn’t real.
It is held together
with your resistance.
Give in,
and let the water take you.
It is where you came from.
It is your home.
You don’t need to float
above the water.
You ARE the water.
August 2, 2022
There is a lonely child
hiding inside you,
waiting to be seen.
Let them know
they are safe.
Let them know
this is a beautiful world,
and that it’s time
to play!
July 25, 2022
To “satisfy”
is “to make enough”.
The only way
to be truly satisfied
is to look inside,
until you discover
that what you already have
is enough to make you happy.
July 5, 2022
Control is a mirage
in the desert of our fevered thoughts.
We thirst for relief
from the barren landscape we have imagined,
blind to the truth that there IS no desert,
and that everything we need
is all around us.
May 27, 2022
The part of our minds
that thinks it knows
what thinking is
doesn’t know anything
except itself.
It lives in a world
of its own creation,
forever struggling to fit
whatever it experiences
into a mold too tiny
to hold anything
except a lonely dream.
March 9, 2022
sometimes we need to bleed a little
before we can begin to heal
sometimes a scab is a shield
that is no longer needed,
and ripping it off
is the only way forward
being with the pain we hid from
is the path to reclaiming our power,
the strength to walk that lonesome valley,
and the patience to keep walking,
step by step, towards the light
February 26, 2022
The pain inside
is no different
than the pain
outside.
Relief can only come
from letting the inside out,
and the outside in,
until inside and outside
become one,
as they were
in the beginning.
February 14, 2022
Alfred’s song
was a strong song,
a song of passion,
a song of life.
A song that says
that every life is sacred,
that every soul
deserves kindness,
compassion, and respect.
And, as his voice is silenced,
it is our gift and tribute
to carry that song forward,
singing it in our hearts,
and raising our voices together,
in celebration, and remembering.
January 25, 2022
I was dreaming, and in my dream,
I had this thought: I am walking by
an old fashioned phone booth,
and as I pass, the phone rings.
I answer it and say hello,
and a voice on the phone says “yes”.
I ask it meaningless questions,
and each time, the voice says “yes”.
And then I asked:
“Is it important what questions I ask?”,
and the voice said “yes”.
And I asked:
“Is this me I’m talking to?”,
and again the voice said “yes”.
And so I asked:
“What should I say to life?”,
and the voice said “yes”.
And
“What should I say to each day?”,
and once more the voice said “yes”.
“What should I say to each moment?”;
again the voice said “yes”.
“What word should I carry always
in my heart and mind?”,
and, as I walked on,
the voice in my head said softly:
“yes”.
January 6, 2022
This unsettled feeling
has been with me all my life,
and will probably be with me
as long as I think and breathe.
I have tried my best to quell it,
soothe it, run away from it,
and it does fade away,
in time, until it returns,
in its own cycle
of coming and going.
I am not in control of it,
and never will be.
It has a life of its own,
which I have been ignoring.
I have made it my enemy,
and spent countless hours
and endless energy
trying to banish it.
But it is a part of me,
and it is only my mind,
trying to control itself,
that would have it be otherwise.
There is no enemy,
there is only a myth
of what should not be.
How much simpler
to embrace the truth,
and be unsettled
when I’m unsettled,
at peace when I’m at peace,
not always struggling
to be different
from how I am.