When I let them measure my worth
That is when I failed
And fell asleep
Now I am awake
And I will fill my life
With that which I value
Not the value
Which they judge me
To be worth
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Tag: Poem
Choose To Recluse
I’m tired
Of entertainments
I’m fatigued
By breaking news
I’m fragile
From pronouncements
Of what
I stand to loose
I choose
To recluse
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Winter Knows
Winter knows
What summer doesn’t
Winter shows us
That which wasn’t
In spring life grows again
In summer we see that couldn’t
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
He Wrote A Letter
From a B-ham jail
In 1963
He wrote a letter
That has made it to me
The fight is still being fought
Maybe always will be
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
If The System Is Unaware
If the system is unaware
Then suddenly refers to itself
Is the system viewing from here
Or observing from somewhere else
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Love Is What We Say It Is
Money is what we say it is
Paper or power or both
Life’s meaning is what we say it is
Winter’s stagnation or spring’s green growth
God is what we say it is
The center or nature or the all
The season is what we say it is
The heat of summer or cool colors of fall
Love is what we say it is
Passion or desire or hope that binds
Struggle is what we way it is
Something to overcome or accept in our minds
Rebirth is what we say it is
A continuation or the world born anew
The new year is what we say it is
May it ruminate quietly or speak in volumes through you
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
As The Flames Dance Proud And Free
Once there was a dark blue sky
That a fire burned beneath
The flames were born of
Magma bubbling underneath
The crust and stone of the rock
The cosmos did bequeath
The forming was slow and steady
Selections were rapidly made
Until once a man and woman
Sat one day alone in a glade
They made the choice to name themselves
To call their chosen pairing love
Upon a tree near to them
Perched a pure white dove
They called the dove a thing of peace
Then decorated the tree
With things strewn throughout the glade
As clouds approached from the sea
The cloud became snow in the sky
The tree covered in the coldest white
They light fires to warm them from the cold
Sitting up through the night
They were joined by others soon
To sit before the tree and flames
Soon the others before the fire
Choose to also take names
Still in the winter we sit before the fire
With our decorated tree
We ask for help to make it through the dark
As the flames dance proud and free
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
Inspirational Internet Videos
Sometimes I hope for validation
A small token to keep me afloat
Sometimes validation doesn’t come
It then matters less than it did a moment before
Because it has to
There is an urgency to life
So little time in all
There are always the inspirational videos
That tell me to live fully all time
That fill me with guilt
For not being a star in the sky
Shining brightly
I’ll be grateful for the moments
I have strength to live life fully
Avoiding people and things
That tell me that the quiet slow moments
Have no worth
I need no one on a wall poster or internet video
To tell me life is short
I am cognizant and know this fact already
In kindergarten
They do not teach you
How to live in quiet desperate moments
That are plentiful
Where you are alone
Dealing with yourself
Your failures and inactions
You learn how to negotiate
All of it for a while
When you are not distracted
The reality of it all sinks in
Some good and bad
In one package
The fact that we are resilient
Is not clear to us
Until we are
So much of life is waiting rooms
Sitting in the car alone on the highway
The glare of cubicle lights for eight hours
Folding laundry and ironing
Filling the dishwasher
Raking leaves
That is alright
I give you my token of appreciation
For the mundane things
Validation
For the things they don’t make internet videos about
The quiet filler
Of which your life is built
Where you can find truth, balance, and health
As easy as anywhere else
I absolve you of the guilt
That your existence is not elevated all the time
By the spectacular
Carry on
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
He Had Never Seen the Storm
When emaciation had taken its toll
His eyes were sunken in, closed, and hollow
The life slipping from them slowly
Understanding was no closer
All that was left for him was the end
The final stages of the suffering that haunted him
The hunger that held tight to him in these final moments
The desire and want and need
All would be gone soon
Nothing was left to take
Nothing was left to give
The last step was the loss of what he saw before him
The blood slowly coursed through him
He opened his eyes
The tree and air and grass and sun all were in front of him
This was the moment
Maybe this had always been the moment
Maybe this would always be the moment
There was color in the world
There was a color in all things
There was the dark red of his blood
There was the brown bark of the tree
There was the green of the grass
There was the golden yellow of the sun
There was the white swirling wind of the storm of existence
Lingering and circling in the air around all of it
There were his eyes
Through which his slowly diminishing life force met the storm
He faced the end
He saw the storm was not actually white
The storm was all colors
The storm was everything at once
The storm was always there
He had never seen the storm
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
Fall Leaves 2013
All is forgiven
In the end
The leaves fall to ground
The sins of summer
Are forgotten
By the colorful silent observers
As their roots
Absorb their memories
In spring
Their brethren
Will view the season of rebirth
As something new
With no judgement
Only hope
In brilliant green
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
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