not haiku…

not haiku…

abstract blur bubble clean
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

spring rain
in a cemetery
brings life


notes… written tonight while I was watching the punisher on my exercise bike, yeah, inspiration works like that, I say ‘not haiku’ because this is clearly not in the strictest form, but if you are really into the form it has a feel about it, to me, this has the feel, of course you are the judge, jury and likes-a-cuitioner of that.

music?  have to recall some odd ball…

Fugazi – Long Division

yeah, that bass line just rules you, admit it.  they had integrity before it was cool. years and years ago….

Time for a quickie (or three)…

Time for a quickie (or three)…

asphalt buildings city city lights
Photo by Steven Arenas on Pexels.com

Short works that is (what were you thinking?), today was my typical horrendous commute but the sky was this orange/pink linear gradient into blue (and I had my tunes so I was certainly more chipper than my fellow travelers,  I often concoct stories in my mind based on their cars and posture to pass the grind), I took some photos out of my dash with my phone but at the moment my motivation to post said photos has waned and passed, so take my word for it, an absolutely lovely hue rising above the tangled concrete mess (almost taunting), some windows open, blowing smoke, the lovely gas containers of Elizabeth (which you may have seen in the Soprano’s intro), I have worked 9 days straight and somehow I feel like I lost an hour somewhere, not sure, but anyway, here are a couple of simpler more singular numbers, enjoy…


single seagull soaring over head
destination unknown
perhaps the shore
she does not tell
how will I ever know?


I have never found anyone else
because I have always been looking for you.


perhaps this is all we are meant to see
all encompassed in a living dream
for on our death
we truly wake
on to the eternal scene.


notes… wrote these back in November, not that you care but I always like to post when I wrote something, not sure if it matters in the scheme of things (OK, it doesn’t) but damn me and my promises (I might have tweaked a note or two here and there)…

musical recommendation ? (and I thought you might not ask….)

Solar Fields – Altered Second Movement

Groovy ambient, more active than passive and lots of bass… I find it great to get work done, pushing out the noise of the world to bang on the inner sanctum of intellect, but hey, that’s just me, let’s grab a beer

a couple simple spitballs…

a couple simple spitballs…

purple petaled flower on white surface
Photo by Plush Design Studio on Pexels.com

Sometimes I like to be plain and simple, this would be one of those times, could I write some confusing lines and be all mysterious? sure… but I’m just not that guy much anymore…

the rose that blooms
still blooms
when you’re not there

the rose that blooms
still blooms
when you are gone


driving scene

minor hills
covered in snow
like a postcard
from above


notes… (ah I just can’t resist dissection, that’s just me, get used to it) poem 1 is sort of a different take on the old “if a tree falls in the forest thing“, maybe it didn’t start out that way but after it wrote itself that is the way I felt about it, poem 2 was literally just some lines that popped into my head as I was driving to work, both these were written 2/15 and are exactly as I wrote them (no edits), I am usually an in the moment guy (well, in terms of my writing)… man alive I should really make myself be that way in everyday life and interactions… I am trying, I am on the path, I want to be outside my birdbox (i.e. without blinders on)… am I so strange in this aspect?  I often wonder.

Sometimes things work out the way they should…

Sometimes things work out the way they should…

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Latin Irony… at my local Wegman’s (the most awesome-ist supermarket) I peered across the parking lot, and instead of just noting the irony to myself, I stopped, to share it with you, I can only imagine the thoughts of those in their cars as to why this nutbar was standing in the middle of the parking lot (literally) taking photos of such a banal suburban scene in less than 30 degrees, but only if they read my blog (like every good person should) they might understand…


photo of starry night
Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

music (to perhaps meditate to, whatever meditation means to you) ?  I have been into this the past few days, I admittedly have an ambient bone to pick and love the soothing electronica it provides (I must admit I missed this band in the past, my bad but damn they, the duo are great)…

Carbon Based Lifeforms – The Path (full album)

and as always, thanks for the look, the eyes, the time, all comments are appreciated, as well as local restaurant suggestions (I can’t complain though, really, how many towns have genuine thai, vietnamese, north and south indian, sri lankan and all the usual jersey fare – hello, awesome pizza?!?! and bagels), but I am always open to suggestions !

Catch Phrases (motivational aphorisms?)

Catch Phrases (motivational aphorisms?)

landscape nature night relaxation
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I decided to hop on the GSP this morning instead of the Turnpike because my route to said roadways takes me directly over them so I can actually see the levels of hell I might be descending into (Edison is quite advantageous a place to live, in that regard), by rule I almost always avoid the GSP weekdays, well, rules have exceptions but sometimes they are also rooted in pretty darn good experience, but (oh the but…), I threw that logic out the window seeing as the Turnpike looked more like the Meadowlands (er… Met Life stadium) the day of a Giants game (yes, I am a fan…), anyhoo, so I wound up in some mind numbing traffic (I know, I know, I complain about traffic all the time), so instead of getting my road rage on (for no apparent reason or recourse honestly) I popped on some Eric Johnson (Tones specifically) to soothe my soul (and make me forget my current annoying predicament), I find Eric’s playing full of the joy of life, so, for whatever reason, the muse came down from whatever cloud and handed me these, some phrases and thoughts, feel free to share as long as you remember where you got them…

“live life in amazement
  love life in amazement”

(edit 3/7 – love life through engagement), pick whichever version you prefer…

“for some, winter never ends
for them, I can only pray”

“there is no currency lost in dreaming”

“I find myself looking for metaphors in rusty guard rails
maybe I am trying to hard”


notes.. don’t they look so much more impressive in quotes… anyway here is some more Eric Johnson, he is coming to town at the end of the month as part of the Experience Hendrix tour which also features perhaps the most underrated rock vocalist ever, Doug Pinnick, anyway…

Eric Johnson – Song for George (acoustic)

and as always, thanks for the eyeballs…

Even in the teeth of winter…

Even in the teeth of winter…

seashore during nighttime
Photo by Studio 7042 on Pexels.com

I could post about the new Game of Thrones trailer (OK, I am totally amped for that) but this is not that post, winter is not coming… in fact it is fading but surely going out with a roar here in the garden state, however among the storms we are trying to dodge, and snow that surely makes my morning commute an absolute slog – there are signs, this morning I heard it, the song of spring, the birds that had gone are back again, not in full force, perhaps just an expeditionary crew to lay the ground work for the re-population of the summerlands, I have come quite familiar with the sparse chirps of winter (cardinals mostly and finches well), this morning there was more singing in the choir (I stopped to pause) even with the temperature dropping, the sun seemed stronger, or perhaps my eyes have learned to harvest yield more of the weaker rays, either way, this morning was different, and so was last night, the day is starting to stave off the night, the endless battle swings  in our favor…

somehow the night sky
somehow retains the blue
as if midday or the afternoon
the clouds viewing by in celluloid panes
mirrored on the fresh snow upon the ground below
melted, slightly
until this night drops more
and breath rises
still stark limbs, still out-reached
still searching for a conclusion
weighed down in corners with tufts of white
instead of leaf
and yet the sky seems bright
a trick of my mind perhaps
and no moon yet in sight
somehow – the night sky, tonight

bread crumbs and circus…

bread crumbs and circus…

black metal bench on grassy garden
Photo by Matthias Zomer on Pexels.com

The scene: we have all seen it, the (generally) older person sitting alone on a park bench, next to some nondescript lake or pond (usually man made with a tree behind them), gathering about a flock of pigeon disciples all willing to take in the raining down of leftover bread bites all to the chagrin of the performance runners who might have to step one step out of their way (with a slight sneer) due to the feathery congregation…

animal animal photography avian beak
Photo by Frans Van Heerden on Pexels.com

I think we are not as far up the food chain as we might imagine, our daily flocking and pecking is surely more dressed up than the purity of nature between morsel and mouth, all wrapped up in a procession of our perception of what we aren’t doing (but actually are, in truth), who is the person on the park bench throwing out the ‘crumbs’ we flock to? whether it be prada or godiva or lady gaga or the NFL, is our importance (pause for a selfie) more important than the pecking prods of seemingly pleasant peasant pigeons positioning on top of a patch of asphalt? top to bottom fed, this is the way of things we perceive or more likely guess, but from our location (perch), on the proverbial bench in some metaphorical park, hand rustling about in that ubiquitous brown paper bag, we dispense what passes as vittles to those below, looking down, perhaps we should pause for a second (pause) and look… up (and wonder). perspective, pass it on.

traffic can (really) breed inspiration…

traffic can (really) breed inspiration…

buildings cars city cross harbour tunnel
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This Wednesday was one of those ultra blue sky days that almost makes you forget about the cold (almost), hard to erase the visual impact of the season with all the trees with no leaves (well, besides those damn taunting pines and evergreens), stuck in the mud of the mind numbing vortex of traffic known as the NJ Turnpike, watching those more impatient than I dart in and out of the lanes like mad little minnows in the shallows looking for a perfect spot in a lake of no destination, only to advance a few mere feet… (and I admit to a ‘little’ pleasure as I pass them staying in my lane and my ‘subtle’ dismay (grrrrr) when they pass me driving like kamikazes), but anyway I have learned to (ok, mostly) calm my mind among this grind to think of higher things, observe nature even when corralled by this asphalt and steel shackle laid out before me, and so I wrote this in observation (in of course my horrendous handwriting which I had to decipher tonight for this post…)

a formation of crows
an arrow, greater than, forward
framed, in a cobalt sky, winter
underneath
human congestion coagulates
jealousy, flies away, east

Thoughts from the porch…

Thoughts from the porch…

(an ongoing series, kind of like a picture a week but of my thoughts when I step outside and take the world in, stream of my consciousness I suppose, so I invite you to check it out)


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Taking out the garbage, a sunday ritual with no holiday pending extending the weekend, a ritual, a comfort just as much as ordering out from the local, quite average, chinese restaurant, well, it is local, this day (well early night to be exact) does not seem to know what to make of itself, a cool breeze but not a cold one, no ice in sight to pronounce the season, i’m in no rush to rush back indoors, I stop to pause, to observe the world in it’s natural orderly.
I can almost taste the faint of hope in the air, or maybe it is just the slight relent of the choke-hold of cold that has settled into common trend these past months, the tides of spring are surely rising, somewhere out there, past the horizon, but yet, I am quite sure winter has not shed all of her teeth.
there is a great deal more sound out on the town tonight, to my left the semi-distant whizzing din of a busy road, up and to the left the low rumble roar of a jumbo-liner on to a destination, more immediately left (two houses down across the street) children squabbling getting into the car after a night at their grandparent’s house, “stop it L-a-c-e-y!!” pierces the block, me, dumping my recyclables into the recycle bin with a clangy avalanche of metal and glass, my neighbor’s dog Cookie barking at every little thing (I wonder how old she is now?), such a contemplative difference a little slice of time makes, we might just get of this thing alive, I think…


and I would be remiss if I did not say thanks to anyone who reads this, I appreciate all comments and thoughts, I can only process my own after all, how it affects others is a different animal, that I would like to wrestle some understanding from. (oh, and that last line is a doors thing, I am not going to link to it, to easy)