living life in jeopardy
this is who we strive to be
taking risks to meet our goal
listen to our inner soul
Humanity has always had its haves and have-nots.
Before it was more about status and power
Wealth and position.
Today it is who has the desire to self-determine
Build their own home, raise their own family,
And who wants someone else to do it for them.
So we have two piles of society;
Those who are productive and who make,
And those who are parasitic and just take.
Both piles are growing, because both
Have their rewards,
But it’s still the makers who provide for the takers.
And what keeps that balance in place
Is the fear of what destruction the takers
Will make if they get cut off
From the hand that feeds them.
It’s a precarious balance of hope and fear,
But ultimately unsustainable.
There is no solution until the takers become
Self-sufficient and determined makers themselves.
But that will take a reckoning
Which society is not yet willing to make.
(9/24/26)
Differentiating between Christmas and Easter is important because they celebrate two completely different foundational events in Christian theology—Jesus's birth and his resurrection.
Early Christians used paganus as a term for non-believers or outsiders who did not follow the monotheistic God. Pagans and Christians "jive" because they share deep historical roots, celebrate similar seasonal holidays, and value the same core ideas about community, love, and respect.
Christianity and paganism share a complex history of theological opposition, cultural borrowing, and eventual transformation as Christianity expanded throughout the ancient and medieval world
Christians and pagans often avoid marrying due to conflicting core beliefs and values, but some choose to marry based on mutual respect, practical compatibility, or existing commitment. Opposing beliefs often overlap, when one is serious there thoughts might be laughed at. Opposing opinions and differences often clash.
Sometimes I don’t decide; sometimes I do.
Really, I always take a decision –
Choosing nothing’s a decision too,
But not a choice of no revision
As if refusal makes an incision.
Now my dad has offered me chips,
I’m feeling my willpower slip,
My answer holding all my weight.
I let go to taste… but regain my grip.
There are healthier snacks that still are great!
It starts as a thought,
a troubling notion far out
on the extremes of distance
making room for a lifetime
to occupy the intervening space.
Seasons come and go -
wildflowers ripple colour
across wide open plains
and inland rivers exhaust
into a shimmering heat haze
beneath an outback sun.
Fruits ripen and vines rush
to swell their sweet bounty
before the savagery of frost.
Love blossoms, grows, matures
into a silence, gathering all
that has been spoken
into an offering to transcendence.
Candles are lit in the crevices
of the soul.
It comes finally,
swallowing distance -
a whole lifetime -
and you stand paralysed
within your own sense of being,
powerless in the cross-hairs
of its sure aim.
I'm taking over this world what is trying to trap me.im taking over this world so that my mentality can be free I'm trying to take over my anxiety so I can explore this galaxy and I'm taking over of all the people with so much negativity I'm taking over this world so some day we can all live with unity and the levels through my life is starting to look a lot like an elevator constantly going up and down and every floor and brought a different moment in that time always feeling like there's never enough mind space for more motivation striding to anything better than what it's always bin
Taking It Slow
Two horses traveling along a fence
stopped partway on their journey
one nibbling at dead grass and the other
standing behind it, wondering why they stopped,
so soon
Is this what couples are like when taking it slow,
or are they simply uncertain what way to take
on the journey to their future?
A squirrel booked a spa day, fed up with all the treetop riff-raff;
he stretched out in our garden mud, declaring it a “mineral luxury bath.”
She's a puppy called Poppy.
I let her think she's the boss.
She decides to head right or left.
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
None of us are worthy of who we think we need to be, in that daunting moment
But all of us are capable of what we need to be, if we but rise to the occasion
When we first confront that rise which cowers inside us is when we rise to overcome
And, only when we overcome the temptation to hide behind that rising mountain of concern
Can we see beyond the crest of our uncertainty, and see ourselves on the other side
Safely or not, but having taken the side of what we can do, what we should do, and what will will do
Within the painting,
an elderly woman sits~
the years have finally loosened their grip,
leaving only the calm that comes
after life’s long journey.
Her face holds the hush
of lavender dawn~
lines like soft arroyos
each one a testament
to the life she carried with grace.
Around her, butterflies drift~
not bright, frantic things,
but slow-winged keepers of wisdom,
their bodies lit with a pale,
almost holy shimmer.
They hover near her temples
as if listening
to the quiet stories she no longer needs to speak.
They settle on her shoulders
like blessings,
like memories that have finally learned
how to rest.
One lands on her shoulder,
folding and unfolding its wings
in a rhythm flowing with this truth~
nothing learned is ever lost.
She smiles,
acknowlodging
the peace she has become~
a peace earned slowly,
tenderly,
the way morning light
learns to warm a room.
Within the canvas' stillness
you can almost hear
the hush of wisdom
taking flight.
my mother keeps asking why Dad is taking so long
The speaker is my friend Belinda, who is about sixty-two
I see Mom every Sunday, she tells me.
She seems about the same each week.
Not better, not worse.
Her mother has dementia.
“What is he buying there?” Mom asks me.
“Why is he taking so long?”
I used to tell her that Dad died months ago.
But then she had to grieve each time.
Now I wonder along with her.
Sometimes I guess what he might be buying.
It seems more kind somehow.
in front of the haunted house were two brazen skeletons rare
One was holding a cell phone high up in the October air
They were grinning like two idiots who take selfies all the time
Where did they get that phone? I asked my cousin Mime.
Mime was not sure, but she thought it was hilarious and fun.
She asked to be in their selfie, and they let her join them in one.
Send it to me, she told them, but refused to give her number out.
You are really something, I told her. As they proceeded to pout.
ah-choo
I take a Benadryl
could use a pick me up
take a caffeine pill
uh-oh
acid reflux
because I ate those jalapeno peppers
I cannot sleep now
take a Tums because I could not find the Pepto Bismal
and down a Tylenol PM
I am no longer living any semblance of a natural schedule
living my life dictated by over-the-counter medications
It’s 6.43am,
I’m awaiting my train.
I tune into the station,
Listening to the invisible spring birds
Belting a Beltane call and response;
A syncopation in freewheeling jazz tracks.
Dipperty-dee, dipperty-dar,
Dipperty-dee, dipperty-dar,
I alight the shining lines,
Slide into my seat.
Watch the sun seep up and over rooves,
The rumble and tumble of the dustbin lorry,
Barking dogs,
People in a hurry,
Mobile but fixated by scrolling truths -
Reels of what's new, what's circumstantial,
And rolling news of worlds financial.
Woo-ah woo!
I'm borrowed fleeting glances
Of dolls house windows of toy town houses,
The click and flick of kettles
As the busyness of the new day blinks in.
Full steam ahead!
Clickerty-click, clickety-clack,
Clickety-click, clickety-clack.
Then a pause.
A beeperty-beep, and a whoosh of the doors
As they slide open.
An improvisation of passengers board,
Spilling into the carriages with costa-lot coffees,
Half full.
Commuting, suited and booted into the city.
Electricity!
With a murmuration, they're away from the station.
Dipperty-dee, dipperty-dar,
Dipperty-dee, dipperty-dar,
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