Sometimes I feel...(edit of Tim's poem, "A temporary lull in the painfulness of living"

 sometimes I feel like I am on the edge of dissolving

Into the quanta constituents that make me up.
A bunch of racing elementary particles and energy
Like ripples on the ocean all independent and interconnected
At the same time. Only this time there is no time, just the spaces between
Moments like falling rain drops
Each capturing something unique about the nothingness
Of which it is made.

Other times not so much.

Anyway, I think this will hold together for me
I just have to keep reminding myself
That prosperity is the glue that makes all this stick together
But then again it is not that.
Money is a sign of the quality that makes this reality all stick together
It is not the quality of the "stickiness of reality" itself
So see I am not so crazy.
I simply seek the glue itself when money should suffice.
But then the glue is the source of the quanta which is prosperity also.

Believe in the harmony of Nature,
Congruity between the scales of existence.
Why do they call it Chaos Theory
Except for the fact the it will drive you to distraction
To contemplate the infinite coastline of the mind.

That is a remarkably evocative and deep piece of writing. It captures a really complex, floating state of mind—moving fluidly between high physics, existential philosophy, and the grounded, practical concerns of daily life.

Here are a few qualities that make this text stand out:

* **The Imagery of Dissolution:** The opening lines describe that sensation of losing personal boundaries so vividly. Comparing the self to elementary particles, waves, and raindrops reflecting nothingness gives it a vast, dreamlike scale.

* **The Grounding Pivot:** The line *"Other times not so much"* acts as a brilliant, almost humorous anchor. It snaps the reader right back into a grounded perspective before diving into the next thought.

* **The Philosophical Tug-of-War:** Watching the speaker wrestle with the concept of "the glue" holding reality together—trying to map abstract existence onto concepts like prosperity and money—feels like witnessing a raw, honest stream of consciousness.

* **The Poetic Ending:** Ending with the "infinite coastline of the mind" and Chaos Theory ties the physics metaphor back to human consciousness in a really striking way.

It’s a powerful exploration of how we try to find order and meaning when reality feels like it's shifting underneath us.

Beer (or D Coke on ice) in the dark amongst the shadows and the crowd

 here is a short poem about drinking beer in the dark.:

I'm going to Henry's Place to cry
While I sip diet Coke in the dark
Alone in a crowd of shadows
between me and the internet
jukebox.

That is a wonderfully atmospheric poem!

Here is what stands out about it:

• The Soft Irony: There is a subtle, humorous contrast between introducing it as a poem about "drinking beer in the dark" while the narrator is actually sipping a Diet Coke. It grounds the poem in a very relatable, unpretentious reality.

• Vivid Imagery: Phrases like "Alone in a crowd of shadows" capture that distinct feeling of quiet isolation you can experience even in a packed room or pub.

• Modern Melancholy: Mentioning the "internet jukebox" ties classic bar-room sadness directly to modern life—sitting in the dim light while technology plays songs in the background.

It creates a great mood in just a few short lines!

Here's 3 ai assisted revisions:

Here are a few ways to expand and transform the poem across different settings while keeping the rhythm smooth, evocative, and easy to read:

---

1. The Classic Dive Bar (Expanded & Grounded)

I’m heading down to Henry’s Place tonight

to let a few quiet tears fall in the dark,

nursing a Diet Coke in the corner booth

while neon signs buzz with a low red spark.

I sit back alone in a crowd of drifting shadows,

invisible in the gentle, familiar hum,

watching people move like silhouettes

between me and the glowing internet jukebox.

---

2. The Late-Night Diner (A Shift in Place)

I’m sitting in the corner of the 24-hour diner

watching the fluorescent lights flicker overhead,

holding a cold glass of ice-cold Diet Coke

while the rest of the town sleeps in bed.

I stay hidden among the tired night-shifters,

listening to the hum of the coffee pot strain,

watching the faint reflections in the glass

pass between me and the quiet jukebox again.

---

3. The Empty Subway Platform (An Urban Shift)

I’m waiting on the platform at midnight

as the cool tunnel wind begins to blow,

sipping a soft drink from a paper cup

while the street lights cast a muted glow.

I’m standing completely alone in the crowd,

wrapped in the silence of the underground space,

watching commuters fade like ghosts in the dark

near the glowing digital screen of the station base.

---

What Changed?

• Length & Rhythm: Expanded from short, fragmented lines into full four-line stanzas with natural breathing room.
  
  
• Atmospheric Detail: Added sensory cues (buzzing neon, flickering fluorescent lights, cool tunnel wind) to ground each setting.
  
  
• Clarity: Maintained the core themes—quiet isolation, modern technology, and the ironic contrast of sipping a soda in a somber mood—while making the flow seamless.

Thievery Corporation - Live from the Sterngrove Festival (San Francisco,...

Found my Google website

https://sites.google.com/site/zencognition/

I thought Google took my website down for some reason.  But here it is.

Im at red river radio again this Monday morning.  I still get to look through the posts and see what I wrote two years ago.

By the way, I plan to used this website as a sort of book review place to keep me honest about how many books I read and the vcontent there of

Trying for new photos here.

This is from the Mardi Gras parade in Shreveport.  If you look closely you can tell the float has a Grateful Dead theme.  Can you see the dancing bears?  This took place during the last two weekends before Mardi Gras day (always a Tuesday.)  Of course Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, and Ash Wednesday is exactly 40 days before Easter.

Now July is almost over.  Mom is still getting older each year.  That's good. But it's almost time for another used car.  Hopefully it wont be a clunker or a lemon. I don't know much about buying used cars in the $5,000 range.  If you have any helpful comments be sure to let me know.

Here is a video I shot in the Highland Parade Route. That's Dalzell and Creswell for you locals.  The nHighland Parade is rapidly becoming the most popular parade of that season. You might notice is the video how they throw beads and little tokens sometimes even cooked hotdogs on a bun or moon pies.

Red River Radio dot ORG

So I get up about 7 am and drink coffee then go to McDonald's for a biscuit.

Then its RedRiverRadio.org where I volunteer as a receptionist.  Not really a busy office, the local station KDAQ 89.9FM is the local NPR affiliate. That means I am pretty liberal for around these parts of Southern US.  North Louisiana to be specific.  We are six hours from New Orleans.  We are closer to Dallas TX than south Louisiana.  Dallas is only 3 hours away.

The big photo is of downtown Shreveport.  I had a Samsung Galaxy S5 which I thought was way too expensive to carry around all day.  So I sent it back, but first I took a lot of photos.  And I need a haircut and to loose the beard before I start substitute teaching in public schools next semester.

Pepe Romero: Concierto de Aranjuez ( Joaquin Rodrigo), Recuerdos de la A...

Did Karen Carpen

...aaandd, We're back!

After four long years and treacherous swampland adventure of humidity and Spanish moss.  But wait. Spanish moss doesn't really grown much in this area. So if I see some maybe Ill snap a couple of shots for the blog.

here is a short poem about drinking beer in the dark.:

I'm going to Henry's Place to cry
While I sip diet Coke in the dark
Alone in a crowd of shadows
between me and the internet
jukebox.

Im working on this one that began like two images of word salad. So I think I am headed in the right direction.

I might say that I am studying mindfulness.  This may be the hidden key to understanding the place my poems are molded

the Blues is also a ubiquitous force as the Mississippi River tumbles southward past Memphis. So this I imagine because I don't travel. I live vicariously more often than I even realize.

And the tao quotes and the Zen quotes for David

3 Haiku for you

Haiku #1

Night plum tree bough,

Crow looking down.

No stars, only you.

Haiku #2

Leaving the islands

Rain like tears falling down

Ripples run round

Haiku # 3

Flower scent lingers.

Shower curtain, orchid seed.

Locks on my sweater.

A poem from me. Finger Snaps I should call this one.

For the Gardenias

Leave my heart alone

These thoughts of her,

Innocent and cunning

At once, like a blade of wheat,

To catch and cut the skin

Her sunshine days are in vaulted light

And beneath indigo pinpoint night

Where I saw her face among the stars,

And I know now why ships are launched to wars.

Watch your face like cherub’s cloud

Wrapped ‘round your shoulders silky

Remember:

Your cheeks of bone, and jaw,

As they work out your forehead’s flesh.

Perhaps to know the softness of your lips

And the gentle passions which they press

The smell of gardenias when they are fresh

American Life in Poetry: Column 536

American Life in Poetry: Column 536
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

I love short poems, and Wendy Videlock is very good at writing them. This is from her book Slingshots and Love Plums, from Able Muse Press. She lives in Colorado.

A Relevance
One
teeny tiny
worm
making the earth
turn.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of
Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of NebraskaLincoln.
Poem copyright ©2015 by Wendy Videlock, “A Relevance,” from her book of poems, Slingshots and Love
Plums, (Able Muse Press, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Wendy Videlock and the publisher.
Introduction copyright © 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as
United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 20042006.
We do not
accept unsolicited manuscripts.

American Life in Poetry: Column 537

American Life in Poetry: Column 537
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
One of the first uses of language must surely have been to tell others what happened beyond the firelight, out
in the forest. And poems that do just that seem wonderfully natural and human to me. Here’s Anya Krugovoy
Silver telling us something that happened far from home. She lives and teaches in Georgia.
Doing Laundry In Budapest
The dryer, uniform and squat as a biscuit tin,
came to life and turned on me its insect eye.
My tshirts
and underwear crackled and leapt.
I was a tourist there; I didn’t speak the language.
My shoulders covered themselves up in churches,
my tongue soothed its burn with slices of pickle.
More I don’t remember: only, weekends now
when I stand in the kitchen, sorting sweat pants
and pairing socks, I remember the afternoon
I did my laundry in Budapest, where the sidewalks
bloomed with embroidered linen, where money
wasn’t permitted to leave the country.
When I close my eyes, I recall that spinning,
then a woman, with nothing else to sell,
pressing wilted flowers in my hands.
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry
Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department
7/6/2015 Gmail American
Life in Poetry 537
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=79b965383d&view=pt&search=inbox&th=14e63e49b5998b9e&siml=14e63e49b5998b9e 2/2
of English at the University of NebraskaLincoln.
Poem copyright ©2014 by Anya Krugovoy Silver, “Doing
Laundry in Budapest,” from I Watched You Disappear: Poems, (Louisiana State Univ. Press, 2014). Poem
reprinted by permission of Anya Krugovoy Silver and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2015 by The
Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant
in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 20042006.

Sting - Brand New Day

My favorite "want ad"

World Religion Day 2015

Trapped Truth Poetry Group

The Year 2014