Frame of Mind

You know, it's crazy: the frame of mind we're in at any given moment has such a strong influence on how we perceive and interpret things.

Let me clue you in as to what I'm talking about. The other day, my aunt bought me a present. She put it in a bag that was from Talbots, the women's clothing store. (Don't worry, it was a gift but it wasn't from Talbots.) Anyway, I looked at this bag several times, and several times I noticed the graphic located on both sides of the Talbots bag. I thought nothing of this graphic. The bag subsequently stayed on the floor of my apartment because I was too lazy to throw it out.

Yesterday, I learned that the mother of a best friend of mine died. I knew I had to call my friend after getting the news from a mutual friend of ours. I sat on my bed and stared hard at the phone for a second before calling him. Anyway, he and I talked for a while about what happened. During the course of our conversation, I slipped down from the bed to sit on the floor. As he and I spoke of his mother, of her last days, of the shock of it all, of mortality, my eyes happened to fall upon that Talbots bag — it was right in front of me — and the graphic on it. This time, though, my eyes didn't just glaze over the graphic.

Indeed, the frame of mind we're in at any given moment has a strong influence on how we perceive things.

Poems

So I've been writing poetry for a pretty long time. I've written poems on lots of themes and things. I remember one of the first good poems I wrote. I was 16. The poem was about a girl named Rachel Scott. This girl was a victim of the Columbine massacre. Something about her story hit me. So I wrote a poem. And over the years I've just continued to write about things that hit me. Anyway, I don't usually post my poems, but I figured why not. Below are some poems that I've written in the last year. And I promise I'll try to dig up that poem about Rachel Scott sometime soon.

*

I recognize it in you

I recognize it in you
Because I see it in me.

Whether you're sad or happy

I can read your tone with ease

And read deeply in your smirk

Expose the tablets of your heart

With little work.

I can shoot the breeze with you

If I see it's your desire

Or square off toe to toe

If I feel you've got the fire.

I can read your eyes, you know
I can read your brow
And your laugh is like an open book
That's open to me now

I hope you know it's not a joke
And that it's plain to see

I recognize it in you
Because I see it in me.

*

I'll write a bit of poetry

I'll write a bit of poetry
Some solace in the night
The nighttime breeze comes through my room
A black cat to my right

All these things I do not know
Staggering, profound.
Thunderclaps and rain
My heart a pound pound pound

What tethers me to you
Is it something in my soul?
Something in my nature?
No sense in letting go?

I'll live and then I'll die
Without really having known
Something in my nature
Something in my soul.

*


I really don't care what you say

I really don't care what you say
I'm still convinced love saves the day
I still believe that when evening falls
And shadows climb my room's four walls
Love will hold me in its arms
And ward off all the world's ill charms
And with the day, I'll find the strength
Cause love will pull me on. 

*

Existential angst

I've got this huge burning intensity inside me
What's this feeling that I feel?
A pocket full of anxiety,
A lightning rod wheel
Chugging, chugging, chugging
A fighter plane, a tank
A ramrod or an oil rig.
Existential angst.

*

A melancholy feeling comes at night like sad instrumental music you can place your own words over.

*

The postman asks, Priority?

The postman asks, Priority?
As if there's any other way
For me love's number one
A few more dollars I can pay
A few more hours I can spare
Believe me it will pay
The postman asks, Priority?
My god, of course, I say.

*

All of us need anchors

All of us need anchors
We don't want to be adrift
To feel life alone
To feel as if we've missed
Our calling in another
Hold this heart, hold mine
All of us need anchors
In sea, in space, in time.