art

#Friendship


I couldn’t even come close to this moment
Without people beholden
To helping out
No end game in mind
No con, no gimmick
Just a friend who gave his or her
Advice, help and most importantly friendship
Keeping me in their minds as well as their hearts
So when they saw an opportunity and thought of me
Inevitably they let me know
Gave me a chance to grow
That I never would have had otherwise
This is true bliss actualized

Knowing I got a friend who’s got my back
So I can get back to living life
Not like an attack on the impossible
But rather embracing Love of what’s already on the table
Using this energy to fuel a sense of growth
Not worried about numbers or measurements
As there’s no standardized way to test this
Habitual sense of greatness comes one step at time
One line of a rhyme
Connecting two distant minds
Through choosing to shine
Letting music unwind tense shoulders and stressed spines
As we’re all just trying to find
A little relief from a Universe that mystifies the mind

Yet at the same time
Here we are in this together
Sharing experiences just like the weather
With each passing moment
A chance to make it better

—
Photographer: Brett Davies

 

Nitrogen Wishes

What if I told you I don’t always feel like an optimist
That beyond the fog and growing mist
A doubt still holds on to any sense of stable understanding
Briefest sanity shakes on loosest standing

This must be the consequence of identifying
Our plot-line of stories intertwined
As part of Humanity of a total whole
A conflicted history of which the victors wrote
An ever-changing tale of Yes and of No
Cognizant of choices resonating with my soul
My flow
Amazingly aware in what it means to grow
That if you put effort into your life
You could reap what you’ve always sown

But this lack of guarantee doesn’t give me the thrill
That a roll of dice for a dollar surely will
Instead, an uncertainty grows, impossible to kill
Doubt overwhelming when contemplating my free will
For the answers remain elusive
No one knows the truth underneath
And yet I attempt to preach with such capacity
Such audacity to take this electronic megaphone to the world
And write as if I’ve got it all figured out
That when all is said and done, I’ve conquered all my doubts

I’m here to say that’s farthest from the truth
This battle between confidence and uncertainty
Lingers long beyond my youth
Let me announce that I have no answers
I merely seek to craft thoughts into rhymes
As recently it’s been the best way to calm my mind
So many questions and answers to find
Yet none available, we remain oh! so blind
To what is truly underneath
The atoms of bed sheets
The air of which we breathe

Science and philosophy still falling short
In the realm of understanding totality of existence
With polarity in persistence
Of patterns and opposites
Lightness and darknesses
Suffering alongside this one bliss
Every breath of air the chance for a new wish
A fresh sense of courage for the story still unfinished
Comprised of the hero with a heart not diminished
But rather, still focused on making growth his one mission

—
Photographer: Lee Scott

You Are Free*

Stop
Is the red light
To stop your motion — you’re no longer free
Rules to protect all of the you’s and me’s
See there’s a balance between
True freedom and being free
Because dangerous choices come at a cost
They lead to much suffering
And lives being lost
So what does it mean
To truly live free
Free by my own sense
Or in my country
See there’s a difference
When laws are immoral
And when they are just
Yet we rely on our government
With bipolar trust
And we’re told, “Oh it’s because you must!”
See there’s a certain hypocrisy
In our ingrained philosophy
Of living in a world where man is truly free
Amongst an ocean of asterisks, rules and laws
For the result of each effect begins with a cause

—

Photographer: Karoly Lorente

Let Love Flow Through You

Now is the time
To rise above
Look in deep
Feel the love
Growing — pulsing
Telling you that now is the time to sing
Time to bring Humanity together
Storms around the corner
That we must be prepared to weather
Not to let up and break the chain of inspiration
Holding on tight to this sweetest elation
Luckiest sensation
For this moment is fleeting
But right here, right now
We can love and live outloud
You and I meeting for this single second of infinite time
Yet somehow, someway, we are alive
Able to shine like the stars that guide us
Love both near and far and always so wondrous
This is the meaning of my deepest bliss
Becoming aware of the Love before it is truly missed

Responsibility of Life

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Use more than imagination
You have a body
To put life in action
Demonstrate your words
Through creating ever lasting
Moments of inspiration
Bring the change we’ve all been asking for
Wishing for
Prove that you can rise up off this sullen floor
Life’s too short to live it like a bore
Become the hero of your heart and more
People will follow once they see that you’ve sworn
To grow and encourage others
Moving forward, but without the scorn

As if you were born to be a conduit of Love
Remember there is no defined purpose
Only choices that resurface
In the ever continuing moments of time and space
Enter your mind and look to replace
A moment of regret with a moment of choice
A life of fret is an injustice to those without a voice
Taken by death, unable to read these words
Forever gone to the existing world
But not in our hearts

For we sing for those who lived

Those who died
We remember because WE ARE ALIVE
So don’t just cry
Match those tears with laughter beside
Let gratitude overwhelm you
For the ground below a stunning sky
Appreciate our lows along with the ecstatic highs
Take this moment to recognize
The responsibility of being alive
Is to appreciate the world
While it’s your turn to wake and rise

—
For EDM lovers, I wrote part of this song while listening to Galantis – Runaway (U & I)
Photographer: Jake Hills

Calmness in the Air

Calm is key
Relax good friend
You are here with me
Momentarily aware of air to breathe
Dependent on the external
While always in need
Desire inescapable
When urges repeat
You have the strength
To not give heed
To past impulses
Addictions of greed
Escape in consumption
Is not truly free
All it takes is for you to believe
That your soul is calm
So long as you breathe

—

Photographer: Joshua Earle

 

Move Forward – End the Delay

Writing as if I found salvation
When in reality I’m merely just venting frustration
Of the fact that I see what needs to be done
But yet I’m still waiting
For that other day
As if life will just come my way
All the while feeling my health
Deteriorate against the truth
That you can’t procrastinate your youth
The most powerful thing in the world
Is your ability to grow
When once curled in a ball
Like a baby — oh so small
Now an “adult”
At fault for the events leading up to this
All the while this writing bears witness
To the tragic juxtaposition
Of time only spent wishing
Thinking tomorrow was meant to handle today’s mistakes
As If I could borrow my future
To be selfish for some days
Purposely blind with delays
On paying off the debt
That my past still needs to pay
With a growing regret
That I can’t seem to shake
Unable to take off the mask that continues to fake
A sense of understanding with sanity
Wondering the line between art and insanity
Frustrated by all this useless vanity
Lucky to have friends who still stand with me
Growing in their own direction
Acquiring strength surely and slowly
Inspiring me not to just give up on myself
Keeping me from stowing my dreams on the shelf

—

Photographer: Dustpuppy72

Symphonies Against the Silence

I want to be Eminem but high on inspiration
To lead this generation to create a better nation
Become a hit sensation
Just by telling people to believe
Look in deeply to see you can achieve your wildest dreams
All that’s stopping you is effort and a whole lot of time
Don’t let up and a world you will find
Of impossible creativity
One to share
Between the next you and me
No longer rocking to those old CDs
But feeling it all online
Your voice is growing
It’s more than ready to shine

And the world will spin on by
Regardless of whether or not
You make the choice to try
So why not let go
Of the pain you used to know
Instead see it differently
Almost as if impossibly
New perspectives start entering
Changing the outlook on what’s always been the same scene
Now strong enough to face the pain
Embracing weakness without disdain
Blessed with the Love to still feel sane

Making the choice not to escape
Upon understanding the importance
Of a future left to shape
It’s too soon to give up on your heart
Not when music like this is in the air
Symphonies against the silence invoking feelings to share
When we’re all rocking to the same beat
We can feel that we care
No longer alone
Among those here and those there
Together we can mutually bare
What our future has in store
No matter what — no matter where

—

Photographer: Björn Simon

 

Artistic Alchemy


We’re changing
With a choice
Using a voice
To bring people together
With art to rejoice
Able to block out
The useless noise
So we can get in
Hearts with a desire to sing
Coming together
So that we can bring
Some peace
To uneasy souls
This is our role
To inspire the world
Before we grow too old
So use the current moment
To create a thought and hold it
Craft it into something that your heart perceives as golden
—

Watering my E-Tree with Feelings of Gratitude

This blog is now alive.

I know it now because I have a new feeling. It’s powerful — almost to the point of overwhelming. When I find myself reading through my poems, I can feel the love. Each new piece delivers a fragment of it. A single moment devoted to making sense out of chaos. A fleeting thought now given the highest priority in the world.

With the ultimate goal to be worthy of sharing
Exposing my heart to still feel the world caring
Inspires me to continue through times overbearing

See? This is how it happens. I’ll be writing one thought

And it will turn into a rhyme
Not intentionally
But just on time
As if my inner mind
Broke free
Just to find
A pen to write with
A canvas to fill
A desire to figure out
The meaning of free will

Similar to how plants require sunlight and water, this blog needs sustenance too. Each new post is like a rainfall. Your warm reactions are the accompanying sunshine. Both working together to make up the very fabric and life of my blog, or as I like to call it, my E-Tree.

As I post new content, you become aware that my E-Tree has not died. When you warmly respond to my work, I become aware that my E-Tree is appreciated. With these words, I ping the universe, and with your response, the universe pings back.

I am so grateful.

Don’t bother asking questions
About cups half empty or ones half full
Mine’s overflowing with a moment never dull
Feel the music flowing throughout my soul
Guiding me towards love along with the pursuit to grow
Aware of this blessing to just enjoy the show
Now that I understand and have come to know
That it won’t last forever
Wherever you go
It’s ok to stop for breath, you’re free to take it slow
When facing your own death, you either sit still or you grow
And I write these words so that you can feel it too
That through the chaos you too can be renewed
Misery overwhelming has now been subdued
By gratitude of plenty, appreciating the blues
No longer feeling that there’s nothing left to lose
A moment of love and hate, with an extra one to choose

Thank you for your sunlight. Without it, this blog — our E-Tree — could not exist as it does right now.