Category Archives: Thoughts

Sole Connection [Free Verse]

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The mountain
    was so long ago.

Yet, I feel its pulse
    throbbing under foot --
  into my ever-loving sole.

[You thought I was going to say:
    "everlasting soul," didn't you?

Do you think my soles
    inconsequential in comparison
  to my soul?]

Nothing is firmer or finer
    than the point at which 
   I touch (& know) the earth,
     than the point which 
    presses the real,
   and, thus, by which I have 
      evidence that I live. 

[The ghost feels nothing in its soles --
    if such a being exists.]

These lowly old soles connect me
    to all that is, was, and ever shall be.

Five Wise Lines from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

All art is quite useless.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are fascinating.

You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.

Five Wise Lines from Epicurus

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Death is nothing to us, because a body that has been dispersed into elements experiences no sensations, and the absence of sensation is nothing to us.

principal doctrines – No. 2

Nothing is enough to someone for whom what is enough is too little.

Vatican Sayings – No. 68

Of all the means which are procured by wisdom to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.

Principal Doctrines – No. 27

Don’t spoil what you have by desiring what you don’t have; but remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for.

vatican sayings – No. 35

No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but some pleasures are only obtainable at the cost of excessive troubles.

Principal doctrines – No. 8

And Five Honorable Mentions:

[T]here are an infinite number of worlds, some like this world, others unlike it.

Letter to Herodotus

Dreams have neither a divine nature nor a prophetic power, but they are the result of images that impact upon us.

vatican sayings – No. 24

It is pointless for a person to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

vatican sayings – No. 65

But one must not be so much in love with the explanation by a single way as wrongly to reject all others…

Letter to pythocles

Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.

Letter to Menoeceus

SOURCE: Epicurus. 2021. The Fundamental Books of Epicurus: Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings, and Letters. Trans. by: Robert Drew Hicks & R. Medeiros. Independently published on Amazon. 45pp.

Waiting [Free Verse]

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Waiting.
   A space between.

Neither doing,
    nor resting. 

There's something in waiting
    that lies beyond being.

An expectation without promise:

As with Vladimir & Estragon,
    waiting on Beckett's Godot, or
    the Old Man waiting
    at Gao's Bus Stop,
  There may not be a payoff. 

Whatever it is in "waiting" that
    distinguishes it from "being"
    or "resting,"
   it sucks!

All the excitement of expectation,
    nullified by the possibility
    that nothing will happen --
   nothing good, nothing bad...
     just a soul-sucking nothing.

Five Wise Lines from Ben Franklin

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Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.

Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.

Never confuse Motion with Action.

And Five Honorable Mentions:

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few his precepts!

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.

Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.

PROMPT: Topics

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Which topics would you like to be more informed about?

I’d love to know why the fundamental equations and constants that govern the universe appear to be tailor-made to generating life?

I’d love to know whether there is other intelligent life in the universe, and – if not – why not? (And, if so, have they visited, are they visiting, do they intend to visit, and – if none of the above – why not?)

I’d love to know whether there is meaning to life other than moving energy to higher states of entropy in a Sisyphean fashion (and any other meaning that one independently chooses for one’s self?)

But I’m doubtful any of that will be clarified in my lifetime, so I guess I’ll have to stick to more down to earth topics, such as: “Is ‘a good life’ a meaningful statement, and – if yes – how does one go about pursuing one.”

PROMPT: Favorite Word

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What’s your favorite word?

I like the German word “Schadenfreude,” meaning to take joy in another’s misfortune.

I like the idea that a person can be so in touch with their dark side that they can express that bit of pettiness in a single word. So much of language is obfuscation and deceit. Southerners use four words (i.e. “God bless his soul”) to say a person is an idiot, and – even then – the meaning is masked.

Schadenfreude is authentic, and we need more authenticity in language.

PROMPT: Ideal Home

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Daily writing prompt
What does your ideal home look like?
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It should be small enough that I won’t acquire new things without asking whether they are necessary, and whether their value exceeds their spatial cost. [And, also, such that it encourages spending time outside.] Besides that, it should be an environment within which one can live healthily.

PROMPT: Writing

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Daily writing prompt
What do you enjoy most about writing?
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First, the infinite variety of ways it allows one to express oneself. Second, the puzzle of dancing letters into sentences. Finally, the thought that the right combination of letters might cause someone to pee himself.

PROMPT: Curiosity

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What are you curious about?

Everything. But I have learned to be less obsessed with the grand metaphysical questions for which no one has any defensible answers – just rank speculation. Socrates convinced me it’s not worth worrying about abstractions while one is still struggling with fundamental questions of how to be human.