Michael Batchelor's Blog, page 11

A Clean Slate

As an artist
There's no greater feeling
No greater cleanse
Then when you throw out
A painting
Or
A novel
Or
A sculpture
That you've been agonising over
For months
And have been lying to yourself
About how good it is
When actually
It's shit
And you've finally realised it
And you can now
Start again

Nostalgia Around The Corner

During my high school years
I would have sleepovers
At my best friend’s house
We’d play video games
Swim in the pool
Go for walks around the neighbourhood
Then eventually
As kids do
We grew up
And moved out of home
My best friend moved to a big city
Far away
And I moved into a place
Just two streets away
From his childhood home
And I couldn’t help but feel
Like I’d been left behind
And as I walked the streets
We walked
All those years ago
I couldn’t bring myself to
Walk down his street
Or look at his house
Because it was easier
To leave nostalgia
Around the corner

The Fix

People without passion
Wonder why
People with passion
Are so hell-bent on it
Well
Think of it this way
A passion
Is an illness
That can only be
Medicated
By indulging in it
And if they don’t
They die
On the inside
And maybe on
The outside
If they don’t follow
Their passion
For too long
So have sympathy
Not resentment
For the people with passion
Because they have no choice
They’re just addicts
Getting their fix

Double Standard

Why do atheists
Think it’s okay
To ridicule
Religious people
For believing in god
When they would get upset
If religious people
Ridiculed them
For not believing in god
Their unbelief
Has just as much weight
As a religious person’s
Belief

I dunno
Seems like a double standard
To me

The CEO

The CEO thinks
He made his empire
On his own
But he woke up
From a bed
He didn’t make
Made a coffee
From beans
He didn’t pluck
Drove on a road
He didn't pour
Took the lift to
The top floor
Of a building
He didn’t build
And sat at a desk
That was shifted there
But some poor bastard
Who works
On the first floor

The Clock

I dream of a life
Where I’m not beholden
To the alarm clock
Or the calendar
A life where
I forget the date
And the time of day
Because it’s not important
And the only thing
I use
As a metric
Of time
Is the sun
And I go to bed
When I’m tired
Not when I have to
Squeeze in
8 hours sleep
To get up
The next morning
For a job
That won’t budge
On a half an hour
Lunch break

Saltshaker

I was in a homewares shop
Browsing the saltshakers
I accidentally knocked one over
It hit the floor
And broke into two pieces
I was frustrated
And contemplated
Putting it back on the shelf
And walking away
But I ultimately took it
To the counter
And paid for it

As I drove home
I was still frustrated
But also proud
That I did the right thing
So when I got home
I put the broken saltshaker
On the dresser
Overlooking the kitchen
A trophy
Symbolising my right decision

I’m glad I broke it

Passion

I hate to say it
But passion is everything
It’s the difference between
Happiness
And depression
Whether it’s writing
Painting
Cooking
Or figurine making
It’s what gives us reason
To get out of bed
Seize the day
And keep death
At bay

Passion

I hate to say it
But passion is everything
It’s the difference between
Happiness
And depression
Whether it’s writing
Painting
Cooking
Or figurine making
It’s what gives us reason
To get out of bed
Seize the day
And keep death
At bay

Ideology

I can’t stand it
When people shove
Their ideology onto you

For example
I’m a non-materialistic man
And yet
I’m always given crap
I don’t want
Or need

And yet I’m expected to be thankful
For it
And if I’m not thankful
I’m ungrateful

Even though I have
No use for it
And they’ve wasted their money

But it’s the thought that counts
They say

Well
I say
If you thought about who I am
And what I want

You wouldn’t have gotten it for me
In the first place