Emotional Ponds

I try to avoid them in the crisp morning light,
but I hastily sink into their mud-caked bottoms.
I sink to my knees in their inevitable stratum.
One after another, beyond memory or thought,
swirling pools of consciousness unspoken.
Parallel immersive mythos together and unbroken.
Heavy here, my trudge from pond to pond,
egoless consciousness watches with detachment.
My fledgling demanding acts are persistent.
My emotions are unwitting and hand-crafted.
These ponds of my making create schemas 
from hormones and perceptual appraisals.
I plod through stages of deepening awareness.
From weeping to laughter, I feel each valence nuance.
Though I try to resist them again and again,
these are my schemas, my reckoned inventions.
Like a roaming wolf or a squirrel poised in a tree,
These emotional appraisals are my intentions.  
These spontaneously self-organizing feelings
are my defenses, my epiphanies of universal marvel
                              as egoless consciousness awaits, unspoken.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2026

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Carmack Avatar
August 29, 2026 at 8:52 PM
The ponds increase in number and depth as we age, or at least, they have with me. I have been blessed that most are good, and those dreams that take me back to ones I had forgotten. Enjoyed your poem tonight.
Wells Avatar
September 15, 2026 at 9:36 PM
My emotional ponds become more refined with age. As I stop trying to resist them, I am better able to manage them, and I come to respect their contextual subtlety. They point in the direction of a larger egoless consciousness for which I can reach if I am willing. I thank you for your comments, Rob!
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