Tense: a poem on the subject of time

Tense

I wear it as if it were mine

Flying by, violent ticks deride me

Used myself unwisely

I find here what I lose there

Gearing up to re-wind and re-watch on repeat

Yet somehow I counter myself and move backwards

Tense, fractiously laughing in my big picture's background

While fractions of moments scatter-brain by like migraines

I lose track,

As I run out of space to save all that slipped away

I travel past all that might've lasted

Inured to the vivid blur of my future

Holding another stupor, wasted

Bending to the once mentor, turned user,

Turned "never learned" loser

As bright as a sundial at midnight,

The line is tight, so I run,

While standing still to watch it strike

But it stops, right when I would have been present

Here's What 43 People Want to Change about Life

"WaterCloudWater"

"Share One Thing You Plan to Change"

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I have this recurring dream about us all working together toward something big. It's always the same.

I picture two people sitting across from one another at a kitchen table. They're having an open, honest conversation. The ratio between speaking and listening remains mutually equal throughout the exchange. They eventually form a common understanding. They smirk, clink their coffee mugs together, and become friends.

The dream always ends there. It's fucking sweet.

Anyway, I like poetry, so I wrote one about what that conversation could be, if we all could somehow have it together:

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WaterCloudWater 1105172100

Observation engages thought

Thought formulates reason

Reason illuminates meaning

Meaning establishes purpose

Purpose inspires action

Action creates change

Change invites observation

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I thought the poem came out ok, so I decided to show it at a local art show. It was an interactive piece so, along with the poem itself, I made a request to the audience:

Share one thing you plan to change.

Here are the responses I got from that request:

• Save all the damn dogs
• The way people with mental illnesses are perceived & treated
• My gender
• Level of openness to new energy
• My life
• Societal expectations
• My passion
• This
• My mental health. I have manic depression.
• FTW DON'T ASK ME 4 SHYT!
• Lives
• Bold action only
• Deep gratitude practice for all beings every day xoxo
• Sum bitch
• Job
• 💘
• My attitude about work
• Perspective
• Tha system
• Fake democracy
• I  ❤️  Dick
• Tell me how you feel. I won't be mad.
• Sarah's sassiness
• Perception is everything
• Work ethic
• 💘  (different one)
• To thine own self be true
• Don't wanna change a thing, really... right now.
• Our comfort zone! Push the limits
• My self care
• The way that people interact with art!
• My inability to be vulnerable
• I want to make handmade, quality goods cool again
• Eat better
• Love myself more
• My underwear
• Habit
• Lose more control
• I am changing the way I view myself
• My mind
• Focus on myself and not compare myself to others
• Job
• Go Astros! 11-1-17

So regarding this conversation - the one at the kitchen table that I dream about - it seems to still remain internal for most.