Author Archives: lemenop

FORGOT TO BE AFRAID

2021-10-29 By in LIVE Tags: , Leave a comment

written live on august 17, 2021

In every direction… Death.
What does this mean?  Does this have to mean?
Between questions, I take a breath.

Falling, wondering- is despair just a part of it all…
This is going to hurt.  I know it will, but still,
Sprawling, arms and hands attempt to grasp the wall.

Nothing until something.
A tree where it shouldn’t be, with a little strawberry- how could this be?
Grabbing and holding, gripping the whole thing.

So glad… I could sing.

Here it is and here it was.
Beauty… so vividly… in awe and in love.
Forgetting I was falling, I find myself smiling, just because.

Chills… the good kind.
Joy… heart is lined.
Fear… no longer on my mind.

Before too long, but long enough
I cherish and say goodbye, brimming with love, oh my.
Realizing just then that I had been searching for the wrong stuff.

Letting go I fall slow.
As grateful as can be, my eyes- tearful, but not melancholy.
My whole life lived and I didn’t even know.

Look at this beautiful baby girl.
In love, I’m very. With my little strawberry.
So much so, that as my life begins to fade… I forgot to be afraid.

STUMBLE AND FALL

2021-10-29 By in LIVE Tags: , Leave a comment
STUMBLE AND FALL

written live on august 2, 2021

Everyone is dead.

These pictures hanging by a clothes pin along a string in this room- can’t miss them.  I put them there.  I made them visible on purpose. But all it has done is fill me with conflicting joy and despair.  And it’s overwhelming.

Well, not everyone is dead.  Not yet.

Some are closer than others but that’s only an illusion.  Those that seem far from may be closer to than the seemingly predictable ones.  So it seems through the lens of illusion, it is more natural to expect elderly and sick people to be the one’s closer to death than the more youthful, healthy-looking people- even though some in their 20’s, or not yet so, have already died.

I still fall for the illusion- that young people live longer than old people.

I scroll through the contacts on my phone… and I see dead people.  I can’t get myself to delete them. Why?  Is it that hard?  Something inside of me finds meaning in remembering a dead someone, even for a moment, whether they mattered much to me or not.

I do this even though it weighs down my mood, affecting my behavior and decisions.  It beckons depression, which has always been somewhat alluring to me.  These subtle reminders- these subtle kicks to the groin of my emotions- are more likely kicking out my knees making me stumble and fall.

STUMBLE AND FALL

Often I try to remain humble,

              To be fair and true to it all.

Often it makes my stomach churn, and my mind fumble,

              A dead stare, and a momentary stall.

Often my awareness returns, mid-stumble,

              When it is too late… and I fall.

JUST FOR TODAY

2021-10-29 By in LIVE Leave a comment
JUST FOR TODAY

written live on october 28, 2021

I’m too tired for today to mean anything.

Sure, this same day in previous years had met significant events.  Events and experiences that had some sort of imprint on my identity, that mattered enough for me to honor and think about it on the same day each year.

For most days, I’ll feel about it on the same day each year.  Because some have imprinted on my emotions, and it is the day that my emotions remember.

But today… I don’t want today to mean anything.  I’m not missing out if I don’t think, feel, or behave a certain way.  I’m not disrespectful, or disloyal, for looking the other way on how important today was to me once upon a time.

I honestly… what I really mean to say is… I just don’t want to go through the motions, forcing the meaning beyond its natural lifespan- that’s the disrespect. That’s the disloyal.

To wake up without precedent, new and free from the strings of the past.

Each breath, anything can happen- even unblemished joy.  Without a past to judge the present, joy is just joy.  No longer able to be tainted by how I don’t deserve it, or how it will all wither away and die.  Just joy- and wonder- in exploring the new “meanings” that are to be placed, for future Remembrance.

Today, I want it to just be today.  For the first time in years.

LULLABY AND GOODNIGHT

2021-10-29 By in LIVE Leave a comment
LULLABY AND GOODNIGHT

Lullabies have me in a trance.  I don’t want to leave.  Sorrowful. Meaningful. Accepting.  I don’t want to leave.

I don’t want to move, as if I’m no longer fighting paralysis.  I don’t want to think beyond mere passivity.  I don’t want to speak… out loud… to no one but myself.

I wonder if surrender has anything to do with serenity.  If it doesn’t, perhaps it should.  Because when I surrender, the feeling has to be called serenity.  It has to.

Ah yes a trance.  Typing with my eyes closed… sometimes feels like driving on a highway, a little vulnerable, a little freeing, a little fluttering as life begins to feel like something surreal.  Lost in a wonderous way, where I might believe I’ll wake up somewhere else any moment.  Where I might believe things are okay.  Where I might believe this has all been something that is not.  To wake up, forgetting the details of the dream… it could be so?

I don’t want to leave this trance.  I don’t want to return to “life”, not just yet, I’m not ready… and that’s okay.  Life doesn’t have to mean anything right now.  Life doesn’t have to have a name anymore, right now.  I don’t have to remember anything, remember myself… and that’s okay.  It’s okay that I’m not okay.  It’s okay that I’m not okay…. At least for right now.

Why does life suddenly seem so noisy…  so bright, too bright.  I need sunglasses, and ear muffs.  I don’t want to leave this trance.  Not right now, that is.

No, not right now.  Soon.  Not now.  Soon.

I could feel this way forever, or it might as well be in this moment.  An infinite serenity where everything is okay.  This could last forever…  or at least until the end of this lullaby.

Then I’ll say goodnight………. And maybe a tear shall fall while my face expresses utter peace.

And then, before it turns into a drop, it’ll be so- the good part of the night.  Yes, it will be so.

It’s okay to say it.  it’s okay if you’re not ready.  It has to be said one of these moments.  It’ll be okay.  It’ll be okay.

Good… night… and it is so.