I sold a poem for 9 dollars
Then bought sea monkeys
With the funds
Art, commerce, and life’s miracles
Existing together as one
Gene G. McLaughlin 2015
Tag: Art
Don’t Wear Your Damage As Blame
Don’t wear your damage
As blame
But as a life lived
Too close to the sun
Exhibit your pain like art
Let no two joys be the same
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
She Who Is The Speaker Of Her Dreams
Dreams can die together
They are viral
Every intertwined
Dreams can grow forever
They are vital
Slow to unwind
She who is the speaker of her dreams
Should not be scorned
Embolden this world do not lessen
You have been warned
The dreams which you dismiss
The dreams which the crowd denies
Is that which in perpetuity is lost
And all that loss implies
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
The Hill
I haven’t a clue what went down at Calvary
Centuries ago
You can put the things in a giant endless box
That I don’t know
I do know much of narratives
The stories we tell ourselves
There are true things in stories
That we create for ourselves
If you tell me Romans might have feared
What they didn’t understand
If you tell me Judas might have betrayed
Someone he loved and respected as man
If you tell me that 3 men were crucified
On crosses plunged deep into the land
If you tell me those that had love for them cried
As the the blood dripped from their nail struck hands
I’d believe you for the most part
I know these stories to be mostly true
I’d believe you at least in part
Because from experience these thing are true to you
People have ever been sacrificed
People have ever been betrayed
Maybe one was named Jesus Christ
Maybe he died today
No narrative sustains
That isn’t one that compels
No stories remain over centuries
That aren’t written in our cells
I’m somber not from a leap of faith
That is not my road
I’m somber for the parts I know are true
Those lying deep within our code
Sacrifice, love, and loss
Things which are often represented
By a lonely hill once bearing a cross
Which many hold when their sins are repented
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Ecosystem v2
There are dragonflies
In my earliest memories
There are no clever thoughts
No grand ambitions
Only their loud hum
In the heat of summer
The taste of sweat
Upon my tongue
The feel of damp
On my neck
The river is near
Giving and taking
Sleeping then waking
Frothy then serene
The mountain is near
Giving not taking
Bending and breaking
Its peak still unseen
There is my mother
Provider of food and love
There is my father
Before me and not above
We are of here
This valley
This land
We are from here
Our family
Our band
All I know
Is nearby
Or at least as
The bird flies
The river knew my name
When I was baptized in it
The mountain knew my name
When I walked upon it
I became of here
In my crib
As the wind blew
Through it
I cannot forget
The hum
Of horseflies
Nor the pain
Of their bite
Nor the pull
Of the river’s current
It’s inhuman might
It all escalates outward
It all internalizes inward
The river takes me elsewhere
The mountain fades from view
When I am motionless
I can hear the dragonflies
Humming there still
When I am motionless
The river carries me there
Once again
The mountain’s peak
Still out of view
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
So Much Of Spring is Faith
So much of spring is faith
A red flower
We were not certain
Would bloom again
Alive once more
It is the unknowns
That winter creates
Which give birth to wonder
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
The Heart Will Beat Till It Don’t v2
The sun will burn till it doesn’t
The heart will beat till it don’t
Worry is a thing I wouldn’t
Do because I won’t
Manage the details and aspects
Of that I cannot control
So I’ll let the world sort through it’s cycles
And ease the burden and toll
Of the weight that builds up sometimes
At the base of my neck and my spine
I’ll listen to the wind, rain, and earth’s hum
And my thoughts will become once again mine
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
The Equanimity of Waterfalls
The waterfall knows no equanimity
In early spring it rages
From the remnants of melting snow
In fall it is bone dry
Depleted
From the heat of the scorching summer
In winter it is still
The water cold and iced upon its rocks
The effort is
Throughout the seasons
To keep the waterfall in your mind
From early summer
When it is steady
Calm
Flowing
The water will escape its state
It always does
As will you
The effort is holding
Equanimity in your mind
When late spring is gone
And the water is a storm
Or drought
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
There Is A Heart With Wings
There is a heart with wings
That flies beneath a golden sun that illuminates its shape
Brightening the dark of its red
Sometimes the heart moves gently
Jostling in the air that surrounds it
It does not lower or fade, at least as the mortal eye can see
The heart is and shall be eternal, from some points of view
Made of paint, nails and wood
Containing a message, if not possessing a name
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Late March Sky 6 p.m.
March is ever undecided
Nothing in the cold wind
Or the warming air
Betrays its mind
Or intentions
I’ll decide
When I decide
March decries
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
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