Cost Of Living

The thick air stops motion.
Stillness arrives beginning its
patient choke on living;
painstakingly slow, it may last for
days or decades.

There is no easy calculus
for measuring not living;
Just an internal drum beat that slows slightly,
slightly slowing, immeasurably retarding.

That beat barely rattles the air.
And in this faintly trembling pocket of oxygen
lies life.
Deciding to desire life, occasionally
is an intentional act for survival;

a negotiation between
good and better, bad and terrible.
Repeal previous agendas.
Move anew now.

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- artwork by Otto Nebel - 
- mailed to North Dakota - 

Bad Citizen

Bad Citizen

A bad citizen lives there
everywhere a citizen is
is a chance to be good
A bad citizen hides there
running-with their will, as they will

Blow on the bad citizen
and receive blow back
The bad citizen barks aloud
insisting on their way, for them
But not for a decent citizen

listening to all that convincing crap
repeating repeating making that same point
All kinds of bad citizens
workers, watchers, creators, manipulators,
presidents, President

I shouldn't have named my dog Bad Citizen

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- artwork by Agostino Bonalumi - 
- mailed to South Dakota - 

No Noes

There is a place with a thing.
You see it.  You seek it.
You may touch but you may not have it.

Sometimes we stop seeing straight, we want it so bad.
Naturally Intoxicating.
We get it with mastery.

Mastery enables you to get things,
even that thing you saw in that place.
"Find a way to get in the way" of a no.

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- artwork by Ellsworth Kelly "Avocado" - 
- mailed to Nebraska - 

Chunk

Break your self into large chunks.
Not small pieces for people to nibble.
Large chunks that insist attention.

Entertain people with them.
Slowly break, 
and instantly mold their experience.

Stay in large chunks.
People may gag,
but will remember.

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- Artwork by Jeff Koons -
- mailed to Kansas -

Opposing Opposites

Birds chirping, hearing hospital screams.
Tough talking, yet practicing mindfulness.
Fish swimming, and splattered guts on the road.

Smelling decay, offset by strolling pine forests.
Accepting love, squashed with demanding power.
Rape, tormented by trusted passion.

Lost in a story, or tragically losing your way.
A powerful pinch, cuts to a soothing caress.
Eyes open, and eyes yearning to shut.

Depression, momentarily defeated by vitality.
A simultaneous world of opposites,
easily seen and hard to accept.

.

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- artwork by Rene Magritte - 
- mailed to Oklahoma - 

What Is Wrong

What is wrong with people
Why do some trample upon others
Why do some throw a blanket of hate upon an entire people
     with different skin color
          with different religion
               with different culture
What is wrong with people

What is wrong with people
Why do some vomit their beliefs upon others
     instead of extending an invitation to talk
Why do some people act like their story is the only way
What is wrong with people

What is wrong with me
Why do I think listening can encourage empathy
Why do I think all people are equal irrespective of skin color
What is wrong with me
     bruised and aching and raging from injustice

What Is Wrong

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- mailed to Texas - 
- artwork by Paul Nicklen - 

Process

Blunt life.
Shiny dreams.
Severed morals.
Syncopated love.

a life is love
going right and wrong
scene by scene
without hesitation

Bold moves.
Acidic talks.
Arresting thoughts.
A birth.

staying alive
bound by hostile surroundings
feeding and eating
with immense amounts of sleep

Beholding beauty.
Something seemingly coming from nothing.
Sorrowful hurdles cleared.
Scintillating life.

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- mailed to New Mexico - 
- Artwork by Andy Goldsworthy - 

Glasses

Glasses hold lenses that help eyes focus
like
Humans hold pain that helps grief focus
like
Grief uses time that helps the soul update
like
Souls hold days that remind of past moments
and
Moments hold memories that help to never forget

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- to Colorado this week - 
- artwork by Jasper Johns - 

The White Door

the white door calls
opening, closing

hearing, blurs eyes
while listening directs

engaging these skills,
the white door moves

shattering shut or
decidedly ajar

a white door needs painting
a caring for

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- mailed to Wyoming - 
- artwork by Richard Pettibone - 

Grave

Walking
          (without urgent strides)
With someone
          (who's arriving to their final end stop)
To their grave
          (a position with no consequences, only memories)
Requires restraint
          (forcefully present as a newborn's eyes on mother)
For both
          (the one who continues living and the one who stops)

Walking with someone to their grave
          requires restraint for both

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- Artwork by Andy Warhol - 

First Again

First view
falls short of the first thought

First thought
encourages first talk

First talk
excites first visit

First visit
starts first journey

First journey
produces first realization

First realization
makes first insight

First insight
arches toward first healing

First healing
allows first work

First work
enables first money

First money
gives first home

First home
marks a Second beginning

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artwork by Gerhard Richter
more about Gerhard Richter here

Nourish The Workers

Sleep awakens
those internal workers
to begin the act
of re-balancing the days journey

whether complex as a flake of... 
anything
or mundane as tying shoes   
Sleep offers a deliberate reset
slowing the heart, breath and brain
to a primordial position

Or not

The workers sometimes do not arrive
Hence sleep becomes a terror
a movie presenting abstraction as a storyline
a subconscious tour de tete
offering not an ounce of tranquility
but an abundance of blustering thoughts

Nourish the workers by placing
the days journey at the tip
of the tongue
So they can push it out effortlessly

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- artwork by Anni Albers -

Pain

Hurt shutters across
the body as pain shoots
through nerves
arriving at the brain
uninvited, exactly ill-timed.

If there was an ideal time for pain --
during sleep or
while petting a dog --
it would be grand.
There is not. 

Pain comes with severity,
occasionally gradual
severity,                         
almost certainly
with annoyance.

Wade through
the pain.
Laugh at it.
Slightly disrespect it.
Leave it unsatisfied.

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artwork: Francis Bacon (detail) Study After Velasquez's Portrait Of Pope Innocent X