Writing
Acceptance and Rejection
The truth: rejection is not necessary to the growth of the writer. Why do we think it is? Because every good writer has been rejected? Because it happens more frequently than acceptance? Because those who submit regularly or obsessively, maybe trying to collect a bunch of rejections in a year, share with the world the…
Prom Night
Teachable Moment
On the surface this poem seems to be asking us to empathize with the men in the video who are stoning the women. The video was sent to me as proof and justification for a student’s desire to use violence. My hope is the student understands that violence usually comes from the same place: fear,…
How to Love Yourself in the Morning
Meditation #2
When someone leaves you, work to recall and retell those memories that helped shaped you without fear or embarrassment, even if you or other people become uncomfortable. When you confront the pain to share and reclaim pieces of your identity you become more whole, more human. You no longer have to spend any energy denying…
Anger
Meditation # 1
Religion is the result of imagination. A response to fear of death and necessity for society to control its darker elements. If then we are being asked to align an imaginative landscape, a heaven or hell, reincarnation to whatever motivates us to not despair or to do no harm to those around, reincarnation, being born…
Two Good Books
Date Me by Kristin Beale and Chiaroscuro Vitae by upfromsumdirt. http://radicalpaper.tumblr.com https://kristinbeale.com
Some Mistakes
The only excuse I had for not reading The Grapes of Wrath was the name sounded boring. I believe at one point I remember saying, “I can’t imagine anything more boring sounding than The Grapes of Wrath. I was young, and, yes, dumb. I love Steinbeck. East of Eden is my favorite book. Has been for years. Maybe I was afraid that I would…