Head in the Clouds and Feet on the Ground

Learn to live with your head in the clouds and feet on the ground

Full Moon

On a warmer dark night watching the moon shine so bright,

Not even one knew it too was a child of the night

Like the moon she changes, hides half of her faces

With a light side and a dark side going through the phases 

The shadow scoffed at the light and the dusk picked her fight

"Push away this creature of day she don't understand don't deserve to stay"

What what did I have to say

When through those months I didn't speak It was all underneath

You say that I don't feel such pain but you don't know how it drives me insane

No I'm not like you, but I am also not like them too

Darker than them but too bright for you,

Want me to pick a side but I don't care to choose

The twilight zone I will take, 

Strong enough for the sky deep enough for he ocean lake.

Right now I fear the change so near 

But tomorrow I'll see the sun again

And together we will rise again,

I'll accept you for all of you if you'll accept all of me 

Excepting that secret side that only the sun will see.

Gravity

The weight of the world has kept me down

The gravity of quaking will still resound

How can I give back and dare to let go

When 'try to be strong' is all I know?

It left me upside down and inside out

Shake me around until the nothing falls out

Why do I stick with things that tear me apart?

It's a lonely end so I run back to the start.

Afraid to smile, that sea glass eyes will crack,

Mind made up for the things the heart lacks.

Learn to find joy in sadness for each case

Or forget to be happy just to save face.

Could never prepare for the day that we'd meet

For the warmfront that would come in with your heat

Melted my world and its icy walls

Lagooned frozen caverns exposing its halls

It has been a long winter, though it will freeze again

I melt time again when you call me your friend.

Falling from the high the ground may shake

From old loads carried how far does it take to break?

The weight of the world has kept me down

The gravity of quaking may still resound

How can I give back and dare to let go

When 'try to be strong' is all I know?

I can remember the day that we met

The mem'ry of happiness resounds in my head.

All that becomes is all that we let,

And I hope I never get the chance to forget.

Phoenix

The forest is on fire but my tree is still alive.

It grew in the water and now the old tears once despised

Are the only things keeping me alive.

Everyone is burning yet the cold that caused me to quake

Is all that keeps me from going to ash.

Rising and learning from past painful mistakes.

Tomorrow I will try again to touch the sky

To make amends.

If you touch the sky perchance you'll make it cry

Pray for rain to come til the fire ends.

Please let it rain let it rain let it rain,

Feel the love light fight the flame feel the pain.

The things that burned me gave my fire,

But now there is too much and the situation is dire.

How dare I be at peace, my own past forgive

When my whole world is on fire why do I still live?

Stand

We each play our rant in a soulful debate

But my soul feels empty when it's full of hate

Say we'll slam issues down

All I've done is poetry slap around

Say the world aint fair with less love and more war

Sit for felled forests, what do we stand for?

All the echoes said words from deep my head

Letters wrote from a dreary soft sleepless bed

Up-made words and downplayed strife

Trying to fulfil some purpose in life

With sharp words and actions like a butter knife

Making biggest waves with naught but tears still cried

Nautical dreams where I wish I died

Racking up guilt like thunderstorms

Dear up in the sky you know all to well

How hard we've tried.

Tomorrow may come but I can't stand a difference made

Defined by which of the rants is replayed

Trade knowledge for wisdom try to understand

Yet no matter how strong I promise to stand

Without faith I sink in the sea

Will I see more the wind or You in front of me?

Paris and the Whole World Today

     The word is grieving today. It is horrific. Today seven different attacks on civilians occurred in Paris, murdering over 120 people. Ending the lives of over 120 random people off the streets. Their lives are over.

     Bystanders describe dead people everywhere. Hostages were taken and retrieved, but ow many of them lost friends and family or watched the slaughter of fellow concert-goers.
     Thoughts and prayers are being sent from all over the world for victim's loved ones.
     There is a horrible wave of sadness every time you think of how '120' is so much more than a number.

     To see the world through someone else's eyes.

     There are reasons why people are praying for Paris, and there are reasons why everyone is praying for the world.

     Over 120 pairs of eyes closed today in the massacre in Paris, and many in Mexico which experienced a hurricane, and Lebanon and Bhagdad which experienced violence. Every day in every land eyes close one last time there are people around the world crying right now, wishing they could see them just one last time.

     The next time you look into someone's, anyone's eyes, think about what they see in your eyes. Even if you cannot smile. Carry a better world inside you and let it come out in your eyes; make it a reality through your words and actions. 

     Be not afraid to believe in a better world, a more peaceful world, for the world's reaction have proved that there are so many who deserve it.

     The world is grieving together today.

Update:

For anyone who would like to read it, The Telegraph is posting updates on this page:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995541/Paris-terror-attacks-isil-suspects-arrests-victims-live.html 

January Baby

I was born into a cold world in January in Canada.

It was a cold day and not matter how wind turned and what motions it went through the wind was stuck feeling cold.

The wind howled in the cold and I screamed because it was so cold compared to the womb where I had once belonged. 

No matter how cold the world in which you were born, 

And forgetting what we have learned to tell ourselves we are

We all began in warmth,

We all began with love.

If you are born into a world without kindness, make some. Create kindness,

They say it is because it's where we were born

We learn to say that it is what we learned

And maybe it is.

But no matter how cold a world

Love makes your heart melt

And empathy lets it burn.

Let it give you your spark.

To this day I have cold hands and I'd swear a cold heart.

But I would swear wrong.

Sometimes my hands are cold

And they do cold things,

But the heart is never cold, we need only to let it beat.

Accept the beat no matter how it hurts.

My head can stay cool but I want warm hands and heart more than anything.

The rhythm of the heart. The pattern of kindness.

Sometimes what you feel is not who you are,

Because emotions are not always personality.

The world is a little off and turns an a special tilt

That is good enough reason for me to follow the because although January missed September and both loved and hated April,

through every season the wind knows only one way: forward.

We are born into a cold world and we are not the sun,

But we have the ability to bring warmth and create kindness.

Although we may feel cold it's never too late to build our fire

And take eachother hand in hand by the hand we will keep eachother warm.

'Like the moon loves the sun' (Abb.)

Like the moon loves the sun

Everyone wants someone to love

Every wave needs shadow to shine

Juxtapose the dark to the light side.

You brighten my day, I want to guide you through your night

Been here before but that's alright

Know the forest footpaths that haunt the mind

Tame any monsters that you may find.

These friends ain't bad once you meet 'em twice

Twilight's made when worlds break the ice.

Each time inside there's an eclipse

I'll listen to what hides behind your lips.

Forever through any phase above,

You will always have my love

Speaking things we didn't say,

Let it catch the words that slipped away.
_

Pigeon Songs (Dying World)

Hope for a better world is what I believe,

While you are the dying world I cannot leave.

This is a burden I cannot carry any longer,

You made my heart heavy but hope made it stronger.

From a frozen heart to learning how to cry

Reignited by a last goodbye

The things that burn also give you fire,

Nightmares are dreams that pain inspire.

I love this river though its fish are dead,

And passenger pigeon songs though they're in my head.

A world we loved but couldn't save,

If we stay will be our grave.

So through the smog and toxic waste,

Unbalanced chems and old names debased,

I'll bid goodbye to this dying world,

Marching away with a new flag unfurled.

When even the ground was dead and rejected seed

It proved I'm alive by making me bleed.

Growing after fear is how we learn to cope,

And now I'm not afraid to believe in hope.

(Extended Version)
Carry a better world inside,
For others to see when they look in your eyes.
Grow a better world with past tears we cried,
Until we meet again on the outside.

Quora Question on Head and Heart

Props to whoever asked this question.

For those who do not already know about Quora it is a website where people can go and pose questions to the public and anyone can answer. It is kind of like Yahoo answers, but the site has a more scholarly and cerebral atmosphere in my opinion.

It is an awesome website that I try not to visit too often simply because I will most likely spend way too much time reading and writing drafts of answers. However, when this question popped up in my subscriptions my plans for the rest of the morning were happily laid to waste. Here is my answer to the question "Human Behavior: People say they are torn between their heart and brain. How do you distinguish your heart from your brain's voice?"
(Click here to read more answers, or here for the Quora page to this answer.)

"This is one way I've personally come to terms with that feeling of being torn between head and heart:
Your body is the orchestra (what you do), your brain is the conductor, and in your heart is the song.

The composer creates the musical piece based on an original internal 'vision', and the conductor must use her or his experiences to instruct the orchestral body towards action.

The members of the orchestra read the sheet music but also have to watch the conductor who keeps all the different facets of the band together. If the conductor strays too far from what is on the page, then the orchestra may fall out of order, but with balance sometimes the conductor may make a change which turns the piece into something even more beautiful or interesting than was written on the page.

Music involves both the technical aspect, playing the right notes, and making it musical with emotion. Some people find it easier play their  heart out when alone than for an audience, but a musician can expect to improve in both reading and playing with experience. 

Everyone is torn between different options sometimes, but personally I feel more when when I focus less on classifying options into "logical head choice" and "emotional heart choice", and more on simply playing a life song worth listening to."

Postcard

I'll sketch out our old memories you'd rather quietly erase

And I'll fold origami

Of the smiles that once creased your face

Write each one a name knowing none will be the same

Then when hearts bleed out in paper cuts we'll say the paper's all to blame

Smiling through your teeth

Betrayed by windows to the soul

When you're in a room with people but still you feel alone

When you're watching me watching everyone as a fly on the wall

Both stubborn as mules and yet still

Pretending I don't miss you at all

We didn't know which line we crossed

(The lines I won't retrace)

You said that you felt the beat but

Didn't seem to be keeping pace

Please Dear Friend would you send me a little postcard note

Just to know you're happy with the last name that you wrote

Does he treat you well and does he show you that he cares?

Love it when you look a mess just to run his fingers through your hair

See that you're beautiful when you don't have makeup on

Despite being out of his range will he still sing your favourite song?

I can't say why you came to mind

Maybe it was just the rain

Deciding if I miss you occasionally drives me insane

Until I remember all the tomorrows that we'll know someday

And that you're just a postcard away

Now we draw new memories

(Though old ones won't be replaced)

And I will bend to make all the lovely creases on his face

Write him songs and sing them even when I can't keep a tune

And he'll know that smile of when I think of you.

Traveling Show

Between looking and being, there is a fine line

I know I look fine

Picture perfect smile practiced for the shot

You still think I'm everything that I think I'm not

Say "yeah I'm okay"

Smiles lie straight to your face

But if you haven't seen it crooked You've never seen it at all

Try to catch a breath when the smile falls

Pretend to fly when the curtain calls

Because you really don't want to know

What's behind the scenes in our traveling circus show

Darkness that comes when the lights die

Safe nets fail and the animals cry

The glitter fades with the masquerade

Your ignorance is what we're paid

Understand eachother when we understand our fear,

It's in the past but objects in the mirror are closer than they appear

In the traveling show

Catch a cold just to taste the snow

I'd open my mouth but then you would know

Smiles lie straight to your face
In our crooked traveling show

Make it look easy

Yes we've learned to be strong

But there's gotta be someone in the audience who has known all along

Of the

Darkness that comes when the lights die

Safe nets fail and the animals cry

The glitter fades with the masquerade

Your ignorance is what we're paid

But If you still like me without makeup on

Face paint saved for what we feel

I'll flash you a smile straight for real

And we'll understand what it means to move on.

The Things That Burn

Fe

Fi

The things that burn also give you fire.

Year in Reverse

Candles light up memory lane

As wax drips down your window pain

Oh pain.

Here and there like dancing in the rain.

Snowball fights in wars of peace

Take off wet socks put on fleece

Wave above to vees of geese

Flakes through dragon breath release

Look for two that are the same.

Next the garden's full of snow

But always leaves me room to grow

In spring.

Always sing.

The rain will fall but lights won't fade

The wind will sing a serenade

Fall leaves trail a tree parade

Just making fun and lemonade.

Climb a tree.

Summer runs and coastal aid

Winter left but snowflakes stayed

On windows remnants of paper hats

Magic carpet or yoga mat?

Overboard on paper boats

Before they sank in their own moats

Imagination, sense of wonder

When the flash is gone hear the thunder.

Why not live this year in reverse

Back to the days when we'd converse

With characters so adverse

That other's eyes refused to see them.

You'll see their shadows today.

They'll remember your promise

From before they were born

When you see frays they'll call them tassels

That you were never torn.

For things I miss I will rewind

Things once lost small hands will find

Recall the oath you never signed

Just put on hold.

Pretend that pretend never resigned.

Go back to learn to look forward.

Make believe you still believe.

Fake it till you make it.

You'll never want to leave.

Fall Down

Filled the need for someone to cry for

Slide cut deep to my heart

To the core of who I am

To the place that was still warm

Cold and bitten now

Almost frozen now But wait

Encased and far too braced for this

Windy day

I'll chase and race leaves in the wind

Gladly pay for each breath I've sinned

Caprice I know not where you've been

Dear breeze would you carry me away air?

I said I'd never cry

But rather die

Even ropeburn couldn't melt this frozen eye

But could I?

Yes every day it burns

But taking more when air she learns

The things that burn are what give me fire

Daydreams work 'til the lids retire

All the nightmares we conspire

Also dreams day and soul inspire

What comes now?

Entourage after the wind now

What comes when we dropped like the fall

Of the leaves that tip break down this wall

Let your walls fall down.

Wandering Through the Night

Wandering through the night
I am a mistress of the moon,
Meeting all the stars
Even when they left too soon.

As I wandered with the wind
The shadows left their mark.
They cannot hurt me anymore so
I'm not afraid of the dark.

Yes I fell many times
And felt the chill to my bones,
But now I'm stronger with new immunity
And I can make it alone.

I have been long lost long enough,
Can walk through this forest blind,
A compass rose etched in my mind
Pitfalls and hidden trails to find.

When people ask why I stay in the dark
This is what I'll say:
Because there has to be someone in the dark
Who can light the way.


Found a few old poems and published February 2, 2018; written August 5, 2014, archived under August 5, 2015

Better to feel sad or feel nothing at all?

Former post title: beautiful storm

Is it better to feel sad or feel nothing at all?

Your Favourite Colour (The Colour Red)

Dear Archie,
Though I never asked if I could call you that,
And didn't know how old you were when we met.

Someday I'm going to tell you
That I hated looking in the mirror
So I put a picture of you there instead.
Echoes of your whispers calmed me
When ghosts glided over my bed.
That your memory soothed my soul
When my heart was battered by my head.
I'll ask again what your favourite colour is,
Though I already know that it was red.

When monopoly gloves grabbed with greed
And I saw silhouettes slinking by the door,
Tell you that the day never came
When I didn't cry for you anymore.
I'll ask you where you were born
How could I not know that?

Childish and immature
So many questions I should have posed,
What his name was, when he went to war,
And when he gave you that rose.
You look forward to hugging him with two arms again,
Is as far as my story-knowledge goes.
We sat under a fake coconut tree,
Yet I didn't know you hated coconuts.
Then again you met my mother,
But didn't know that we're all nuts.

Though you couldn't speak anymore
It felt like the words were there.
Wise wisps ready to be planted
As they hovered through the air.
From that very last day,
When you sat in the sun by the birds,
When I said 'I love you',
Did you know those would be the last words?

Were they really your favourite flowers and colour?
These things I really want to know.
I want to put flowers on your grave,
But don't even know where to go.
So daring darling and beautiful girl,
We'll have some catching up to do.
Questions posed in beautiful shapes,
Of things we never knew.

You've missed some things through the years,
But you know that it is okay.
I'll pocket these memories and names and love,
And save them for our next rainy day.
There were days we were silent and lost our voice,
But still we could guess words unsaid,
Somehow it still was so perfect until next time,
When I'll ask if your favorite colour is red.

Dear Diver

Dear Diver,

How do you know

The secret of the tide's ebb and flow?

A sky diver

Do you ever feel ready to fall?

Abandon ship as the whistle calls.

Deep diver
Why do you dare

To risk this darkness and compression air?
High diver
How could you be
One step away yet lingering so distantly?

Like the wind loves the sea

We're making waves 

Turbulence or serenity.

Each wave breaks after the bend

But promises to rise again.

Maybe we're at the mercy of the moon,

But if you float then I will fall,

And for the first time not scared at all.

Better to take your time than to waste your time

Better to take your time with the right decision than waste your time with the wrong one.

It is better to take your time than to waste your time.

No Joke

Hey, here's a joke and it's not funny:

The Special Thing About Words

I suppose the special thing about handwritten notes is that they are unique and there can only be one. My journal is typed for safekeeping and to decrease anxiety over potentially losing it, but there is something very special about handwritten notes. The special thing about spoken words is that you can't take them back or hide them, the universe has heard them. Words are undeniably there.

Toilet paper

If you marry somebody you had better be super comfortable around them because one day you're probably going to run out of toilet paper when you're already on the toilet and you're going to need to ask them to please bring you a roll.

     Don't kiss anyone you wouldn't ask for a roll of toilet paper from if you were stuck on the toilet.

Locked Out

Now I'm locked out

Can't find my way in,

Fire from both sides

From out and within.

We shout and we cry

We live and we learn,

It hurts to cross a bridge

That you set to burn.

Dare to take that step

And you'll feel the heat

From your burning trail of lies

Betrayal beneath your feet.

I've fallen too far

Can't go back the way I've come

Thought I left to slay the beast

With the monster I've become.

When you threw away the key

Did you lock it out or in?

Find the key, tame the beast, pull

Out of the fire if you'd let me in.

I'll wake to dream

Ride sleepless mares of night.

Say you're looking for peace

Yet you follow the fight.

They said I couldn't hide

But now where do I run?

Locked in with broken bridges,

And the monster I've become.

Lost and Found

This might sound weird but I like feeling sad sometimes. Of course not liking when bad things happen, not when people suffer, but personally feeling sadness as an emotion seems to be important in some ways. I mean, if you can feel the pain at least that means you're not dead, right? Also, when it's sadness over personal things, excluding serious things, such as when people are suffering, it's a contrast to happiness, so that we can appreciate and see the happiness when it's there. (Not quite the same way how in the autumn everything is dying and it's so beautiful, that's not what I mean).

So yes, sometimes there is sadness, but in some ways that's okay.

Then again, there are days when I'm tired of feeling sad and just want to feel genuinely happy

Also, that doesn't mean that you should always want to be sad because if being sad is the only thing that makes you happy then you're missing something.

But that's okay too, because when something is missing or there is something to be longing for then that means there is something wonderful to be found. Whether you had it before or never did, whether it takes years or the blink of an eye to find for the first, second, or last time, we are all essentially seekers of the same things. I won't try to say what it is here, because I want you to hear what its name is in your own mind. Some people have given up looking and if you find yourself in that situation then know that does not mean you can't start again.

I think sometimes people are afraid to start again because they're afraid to see how far they have gone from a place that they were once happy with, but then that's where the saying comes in: Happiness is not a destination, it is a journey. 

Real Power

Never believe that you are useless. You have the authority to deem someone unarguably important, and the power to let them know.

Rest

We think and we learn,

We bend and we break,

We fix minds over and over this mistake.

Things we've done before

And things you can't ignore,

Even buried six feet under alive under growth oh forest floor.

Dying replaces sleeping,

Sowing lessons without reaping,

Write it out for safekeeping?

Feelings that should be speaking.

Beg the wind to return lost words,

And take us with the birds,

They know not this jealousy to obsession so absurd.

A year's night for each slip,

Searching for each powdery chip,

Read the letters in your eyes, taste the difference on your lips.

Bitter taste of a lie,

Cacophony of goodbye,

Wash sins away with the tears that we cry.

How after to live?

What more should I give?

Scarlet loops stringing up each ragged breath to relive.

Learn to forgive worst to best,

See each trial as opportune test,

To forgive and do right then you too may rest.

You learned and sowed.

And yes you did grow.

You deserve to reap also the good from the things you now know.

You don't still have to pay,

The better parts can stay.

Grow from the past and never forsake today.