Knowing what to say
and when to something,
or if you should even
say anything at all,
can be "tricky" -
because sometimes what people believe
can directly contradict
the beliefs of those closest to them...
keeping your your thoughts to yourself -
especially those that you know
will not be popular or be shared
with those around you
and those who you like and interact with -
can be frustrating,
because everybody should be able
to say what they think and feel about something,
especially when you want to talk
and discuss what matters to you
with those whose opinion
you have value and trust.
Trying to keep the peace
by staying quiet,
because you worry that
if the way that you see
some aspects of the world and people
were to become known
you might become isolated
from a particular group,
can cause people to choose
to express their views
in ways that to some
might seem unconventional
and perhaps incomprehensible;
however, when you know that you
have a valid reason to disagree
with what someone says or thinks
then each of us should have the right
to be speak and be heard.
People are always going
to have differences of opinion
about certain things,
because each of us is always
arriving from a different time
and from a different starting position...
the gift and the opportunity
to be able to truly debate a subject -
so that opposing sides can put across
their own individual version
of what they believe, why, and how -
are few and far between these days,
because the fear of opening your mouth
and accidentally insulting someone
seems to constantly linger in the air.
When you give someone a live microphone
to a large proportion of people,
some people will use the means
and the moments at their disposal
to say things that they know will
be hurtful to a large group of people,
and may only say anything
for the sake of saying something,
and do not really care who
their words effect -
which is why fake and faceless
monsters need to be exposed
and brought out of the shadows
with the brightest of lights
and stopped in their tracks
before they can cause any further harm.
It would be nice if we could
all talk to one another
without judgement and without prejudice,
as well as without there being
this constant feeling of tension
underlying every layer
of almost every conversation -
and while some people will never
be able to help themselves
from saying what is on their mind,
whenever they want,
without a care in the world -
most people have to try and bite their tongue,
for as long as they can,
until they know the time is right,
because sometimes words are like weapons
and that can do more harm than good.
poetry
The Pathfinder: Pilgrimage
The Pathfinder: What Comes Naturally
The Pathfinder: Let There Be Poetry
My Poem “I Am Not A Number”
Life is not always easy,
life is not always peaceful,
life is not always what
you want it to be -
because the truth, for so many,
is that life is incredibly,
sometimes unbarely,
hard, in every respect:
so many people live in places,
and around people,
that have seemingly given up
on trying to restore how a place once was
and return it to a state of contentment
that was once felt.
Every day, people wake up
and they ask themselves
how they ended up where they awoke:
on the streets, or in a home
without some of the things
that some people take for granted,
perhaps without their family,
without hope, without love,
and for so long that they have forgotten
the last time they saw anything
resembling "normality" -
because the state of hell
that they believe they live in
day in and day out
has become all that they know.
We all know how to laugh,
we all know how to cry -
but sometimes when we
lose so much, so soon,
we do not immediately know
how to feel, nor what to think,
and we need to take some time
to rediscover who we are.
We all know what it is like
to feel as if we are happier
than we have ever been in our life -
and then "BOOM!" the world we knew
is destroyed by an explosion of reality,
and after which nothing and no one
can return, nor remember clearly,
to a time before whatever happened happened.
We all spend a lot of our time
trying to convince ourselves
that something will endure forever -
and then we all have to some day
face the truth that we never want to acknowledge:
that life can sometimes feel
as if it is a series of battles
being fought in some kind
of never-ending war.
Life is complicated...
life is not always
what we make of it...
life is always surprising us...
life is a gift, as are people;
however, sometimes
some people use others
for their own gain
and over time they start to see people
as if they are figures on a chart,
and not human beings
with emotions and feelings...
life is what it is,
individuals are who they are -
and no matter what anyone, or anything,
wants to make you believe,
nobody should be put others
through things because they can,
nor because someone is more "resilient",
because people are not machines
and do not deserve to be treated like they are,
because we are all flesh and blood,
and not variables in someone else's formula;
I am not a prisoner,
I am not a number -
and neither does anyone have to be
if they don't want to be.
The Pathfinder: Kindred Spirits
The Pathfinder: The World of My Stories
My Poem “Fourth Dimensionally”
When you are a writer and an author,
you get used to thinking
"Fourth Dimensionally":
having the ability to be able to see
the beginning, the middle,
and the end of a story,
and having the gift to be able
to know all the intricacies
and interconnected threads
that bind the characters
of a story to one another...
when you are a storyteller,
you get used to seeing patterns
and figuring out narratives -
and you get to the reason
why people in your story
do what they do and why they are
the way that they are;
however, any writer will tell you
that sometimes you know
you are the one making things
happen in a story,
and sometimes you feel like you are not -
because sometimes a story
and it's characters take on a life of their own
and drive the narrative of a story
all by themselves...
as a writer, it helps to be
one step ahead of your characters
and purposefully put
certain things in place
to make sure a story stays
on the straight and narrow
and does not deviate from its path -
but sometimes when you are writing a story
something will happen within it
that will surprise you
and beg you to ask yourself:
"where did that come from?"
Being a writer is sometimes
like being a time traveler...
being a writer is sometimes
like being a literary god -
because to the world you are
writing, building, populating,
you are its creator...
being a writer is sometimes
like being given a license
to travel anywhere, anytime,
in any way that you want...
being a writer is sometimes
like being given the opportunity
to be a messenger of truth
and the reason for someone
to feel found and not lost.
Within the pages of a book,
within the images on a screen,
within the words of a song,
or within the notes of a musical theme,
time can be redefined for it audience -
because within literature, within light,
within colour, within art,
people perceive things differently...
within the world of fantasy
there is always an undertone of reality...
within every verse of poetry,
every word is necessary...
within the arc of a story,
reader, viewer, listener,
writer, artist, and musician
all collaborate to make
a world of possibilities what it is -
but sometimes what something
means isn't always front and centre
and as easily discernable
as some might hope it would be -
which is why, sometimes,
when you are enjoying something profound
it helps to not think too literally,
because some things exist
and are meant to be experienced
"fourth dimensionally".
The Pathfinder: The Golden Rule
My Poem “Adrift”
I don't know what happened...
I don't know how whatever happened happened...
I don't know when whatever happened happened, exactly;
however what I do know is that where I am now
feels more than a little familiar -
which is probably why I do not feel
as discombobulated as I might have done
if I were somebody else, or anybody else.
I have somehow, over time,
become accustomed to change,
to having to adapt to things on the fly,
and to thinking on my feet...
I have somehow trained myself
to just go with the flow
and not be shocked by anything that I hear,
nor by anything that I see...
I have somehow got used to
being someone who has no fear
of where I might find myself,
because I believe -
as I have always believed -
that wherever the path of life takes you
you find yourself where you need to be
and where you are meant to be for a reason...
I have somehow, multiple times, found myself
at a place, at a time, with certain people
who I thought I would always be with,
and then -
as if I have suddenly been whipped away
by the winds of a cyclone -
I find myself, once again,
far away from where I originally began
and walking the road before me alone.
What can any of us do
when the world around us feels as if
it has become inverted and as if
up is down and down is up?
What can any of us do
when we find ourselves
unable to return to a previous stage of life
because we have long-since moved on from it?
What can any of us do
when we know we have lost someone who we loved,
but who we were not meant to stay alongside -
because something was always going to make us realise
that what we shared would not always be enough?
What can any of us do
when what we thought we knew
about the way life is supposed to be
is questioned and tested,
and ultimately, one day, repeatedly,
we all find ourselves somewhere new,
with someone new, after making ourselves believe
that we would never again return
to where we were and we would never again
do what we did before -
but no one and no thing in this life
can ever truly stay adrift.
