It goes one-two
First the right, then the left
As you walk into flow
This feeling you used to know
When it didn’t matter how hard the problem was
Or how you’ve taken it slow
No
Now let me show the story of how you chose to grow
Into the hero who maintains his smile
His glowing warmth through toughest trials
All the while maintaining a sense of urgency until his final scene
Playing the act with normalcy
As if to dream is just to breathe
—
Photographer: Lacey Raper
So you think you have it all figured out
As if you’ve conquered all your doubts
Well, here’s the reminder that with your head in the clouds
It gets difficult to stay grounded
To focus on conquering mountains
As time’s clock keeps ticking down
While you regret useless wishing
When instead you could have grown
Could have chosen to act
Thrown a universal effort
At all which holds you back
In fact, you’re doing it right now
As you sit and rhyme out of the downswing
Up into this new swing
—
Photographer: Ben Ostrowsky
Self imagination introduces the hero to the story
Makes a life that was so boring and crafts it into this new moment
When blurry reflections come into view
A mirage broken as I strew denial into the distance
As I bear witness to shifts in consciousness
No longer bearing regret alongside mindfulness
Aware of gratitude alongside this single bliss
That we’ll miss if we’re not careful to hold on
And let go all at the same time
That’s why I’m stuck with all the same rhymes
All the same thoughts escaping from my mind
Desperate attempts to make sense of future and past tense
Fate and happenstance
Death’s lonely dance
With only a moment to share
What makes you think there’s time left
For extra breaths
As if the answer simply comes next
Without focused action
Now that urgency is in-demand
‘Cause life’s no longer on-demand
What else is left to understand
But moving forward hand in hand
You already know that if you don’t pivot
You’ll die much sooner than later
This bowl you’re hitting won’t bring change
The way acting will
Not something you can pray for, but work for
Toward more soaring with less deploring
Your own mirror’s gaze
Recognize these limited days
And become the hero whom changed your ways
—
Photographer: Jeremy Thomas
Reset
To the moment
Time to own it
Could be slowing or barely growing
Perhaps a mix of both
Why not left in the sorrow
Somehow with a heart still ticking for a greater tomorrow
Built today, it’ll be okay
Let’s say and agree I fucked up
Yet it’s not all written in stone
This is not the way my story has to go
I don’t have to repeat this path
The question never who do you want to be
But how do you see and breathe
Melting through dynamic destinies
Understanding the journey is a fleeting thing
Here today, and tomorrow a song to sing
So revisit that question as begging you to bring a new melody to the table
Steady a rocky mind stable
With your own words, your own voice
Your own choice to fall back into the moment
Take hold of your mistakes and begin to own it
—
Photographer: Green Chameleon
Denial
To the point it becomes impossible to ignore this downward spiral
as if I was given a trial and chose to throw it
poor decisions clearly show it
of course I know it
I see this light marking the path of right
yet in the mirror I cower at the sight
of looking into the resultant shape from these regretful nights
as if I could forget those who already lost their life
Ben had a smile for the ages
he’d be my age today
but instead he’s passed away
three years, now in a grave
I owe it to him to live brave
I owe it to him to live
with my heart on my sleeve
Self hate and disdain too easy to grow
yet instead let me update my flow
shift my perspective away from the hate that I’ve come to know
and return to love
—
Photographer: María Victoria Heredia Reyes
Passion gets dulled in attempts to maintain conformity
fear of unknown constrict the range of possibility
Inability to embrace a dynamic perspective
fails the ultimate lesson that growth does not end
until death’s frigid fingers grasp the final breath
how often do we bet on having tomorrow’s time
too often blind of the blurry line
between an external environment and an internal mind
deluding ourselves with the idea of separation
when instead, it’s vibration
Once forgotten, yet now in flow
now aware of the inseparability of yes and of no
sense made from difference,
we live as both actor and the show
—
Photographer: Joshua Earle
I was inspired to write this after watching the amazing movie, Dead Poet’s Society.
Not now
not dead yet
none left to fret with work left to finish
cause I’m not yet diminished to the ashes
of burnt out passions
of past lives lost in forgetting
what is this-ness
Know this to be more than what consciousness can comprehend
no more pretending in how we view Society
in how we view the You and Me
the gap between our eyes that see
galaxies
hidden fallacies
carefully balancing
attempts to understand reality
With continous days unknowingly numbered
we play at living infinite
–
Photographer: Jordan McQueen
A moment to remember
it’s ok to let go
ok to let show that you don’t know
how your life is directed or in which way it flows
It’s ok to say that you’re feeling overwhelmed
But take a breath and look from a different perspective
Don’t forget today’s lesson
is simply to breathe
become aware of the oxygen
then let it all leave
—
Photographer: Israel Sundseth
All you need is a single thought
to enter a new world, one that you’ve brought into being
The difference between your dreams and what you are seeing
is simply a matter of time, not illusion
it’s time to shake this simple confusion
that ideas happen instantly
without the series of moments in between
the start and the end
we can no longer pretend
that desire alone is strong enough to bend
a world to your wishes
—
Photographer: Mayur Gala
tonotmissthebliss 