How poetry adds perspective

poetry, self-awareness
“Poetry is a commitment to the soul.” – Gaston Bachelard I was 14 when I started writing poems. For some reason, secretly, I wanted to find that quality about myself. It was a way to cope with low self-esteem, so it became an outlet for daydreams. I struggled with speech impediment and depression so the written word was a place to spread my mind. Writing and drawing were therapeutic because it helped unveil my own voice. I'm still unlayering the folds, but every once in a while I know that I've found something through my audience. Eventually, I realized poetry is a way of being in the world, noticing a self-sufficient beauty that lives beyond "me." Poetry is an exploration of where "I" begins and ends. Poetry can be narrow as a…
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True love

poetry
True love: What is it, who knows. Whatever it is, you won't know until you know your own heart. And it won't appear until you give up a whole lot, letting go parts of you that don't belong to you, that's probably the hardest part. Whatever it is, it's not something we possess. it possesses the believer, what we do is dance, bewildered by its fragrance. Whatever it is, it appears when letting go because only when it comes back to you then it's truly yours’. Still all the while, it's just a good guess until you grow grow grow! True love: whatever it is, it doesn't fall for a weak heart, you fall for the falling itself, and yes it can be rough, but you know what? It's love and…
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Making uncertainty your bitch

poetry, uncertainty
Change is constant and with it comes uncertainty. It either overpowers you or you make it your bitch. It’s that simple man. You either own your core or lose your hand. Step by step, through the unknown, yielding to the flow of things and keeping hopes at bay. Hope doesn’t work when the ship is sinking. Maybe with a fluid hope, a fleeting hope, everyone flees the boat while others are singing. Who’s that octopus on the ship, going home? The unknown takes you down or you go down with it. The unknown, that fire-breathing dragon, got to die before you die, seeing the body will expire. With all the wonder and magic that occupy the flesh, we are fragile to the core. It’s the warmth and the cold ugly…
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Friends are fuel

gratitude, mindfulness, patience, self-awareness
Recently, I’ve found myself in a bind with my work-life situation in China. Without going into details, I’ll say that it’s been tough, like dragging my soul around. Difficult to wake up in the winter mornings. Then as I'm keeping afloat during the day, my heart would reignite into joy and drown the despair. It’s been a series of ups and downs and I've set hope aside for now. Hope and expectation have fueled the roller coaster. Some say there are greater forces at play and some say it's just a part of growing up. Whatever it is, I've kept a steady habit of stepping back and just being grateful. My friends have been enormously helpful with their pleasant words and gestures. Without friends, my NowHere project would just be…
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Dialogue is human

dialogue
Dialogue has a full spectrum. It doesn't mean you have to get cozy with the other person or totally write them off. Dialogue means entering the conversation on equal footing, flawed human to flawed human, with a desire to learn not condemn. Granted dialogue can be hard when we're emotionally charged which is why taking a break can be so helpful. Dialogue means 2 things. 1. communicating your truth and 2. listening without needing to react. Say why you believe what you believe. Giving an opinion without stating why is like an orgy with introverts. It doesn't make sense. And your "why" is best conveyed with a story. For example, I might say elephants shouldn't be forced into rooms ... becaauuse every time I meet an elephant, it tells me that it…
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