Tim Ryerson

Missing: Pieces of Me SPLINTERED HEART like a leg severed, ripped loose: the phantom limb throbs and aches knowing yet unwilling, unable to accept that it's only a ghost playing evil pranks sitting frozen and paralytic from the weight, the frightful weight dragging, forcing down the head welding chin to collarbone... heavy, crushing feeling on the chest punishing pressure on the heart a heart at the point of imploding... alarm clock crying, screaming: time warp between sleep and awake when not yet aware of where one is not yet aware of what or who one is a split-second reprieve until---- (oh, it really did happen oh, I don’t have a leg now oh, you have been torn loose taking pieces of me with you) it has been proven medically: people with life threatening seizures can eventually function normally with half of their brains removed not so with a splintered heart not so with half a heart... ~ How can I forget a gently bold spirit that is Tim whose poetry brims with verve, contemporary images, wit, and emotional depth? While exchanging comments on our posts, I found out that he stayed in my country during the war. His anecdotes sparked the beginnings of a dear friendship that allowed us to connect through email and facebook. Tim was an erudite poet as seen through this winning piece in a contest. ~Knowing his health was becoming frail, he would slip in and out of the site, yet quickly responded to most of us on social media. When Tim passed on, I was shocked; his demise ...sudden. I am grateful to have known him up close and personal, a man of integrity who wanted to revisit our country with his daughter a year before he finally rested in peace. Salute, Tim! Anthony Biaasoc's The Uncontest Contest 6/22/2020