F.E. Feeley Jr.'s Blog, page 9

Shame on you, America

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I hate that children have to beg not to die.

I hate that everytime I turn on television that someone in our country has been blown away.

I hate that mental illness is being made the ‘enemy’ when in fact it’s anger and rage that brought our president into the oval office that is responsible for these deaths of children and concert-goers.

I hate seeing Donald Trump’s notes to say ‘ I hear you’ to the grieving families that stood in his presence.

I can’t stand seeing his face anymore or hearing the talking points from conservative pundits saying, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”

Like Eddie Izzard said, “They sure do help.”

That’s the truth. A pistol would have lowered the body count, a knife, a car, a bomb.

I was in the service – I’ve fired weapons like the M-16, the M-203, the M249, a 50 caliber Machine gun.

As cool as those weapons were to fire at targets, like the blogger said, made to look like men – those weapons are designed for one purpose.

To kill people.

Center Mass.

If people want to fire weapons like this – stop dreaming about the civil war of you vs the federal government that will never happen. Go to your local recruiting office and go and defend us from ISIS and The Taliban and Russia. Put your patriotism and love of country where your mouth is.

The possession of an AR-15 will get you killed faster than not owning one.

Are you gonna take on a Seal? A Ranger? A Marine? A SWAT team?

Because if shit’s really that bad, that’s whose showing up to take you on. That means you’re dead already, you just haven’t laid down yet. That’s who those people are once you get past the pomp and circumstance and patriotism. They’re trained killers.

What about the tanks and bombers and F-16s?

I hate that the biggest threat to the United States (outside of Russia’s involvement in our politics) is the American people who passively allow their future to get walked down the lane hand in hand with ghosts of times long passed. Who are greeted by God having to apologize to them for the way they died when their lives were cut short.

Speaking of which, for those of religious inclinations, how long do you think God is going to sit idly by while children, breathing, walking, talking, children get slaughtered in the classroom.

And don’t make it about ‘well, if God was allowed in school…”

God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, God is in public schools and as long as teachers hand out tests – there has been and always will be prayer.

What isn’t in school are the parents whose sole responsibility in this world is to make sure their children are educated and reach adulthood as responsible members of society.

So play the blame game. Keep it going. Keep abdicating your responsibility as adults and watch as these children snatch the future right out of your hands. Someone has to stand up and say something. Someone has to bring hope to the helpless. Someone has to make sure that school-aged children won’t be gunned down because some crank decided that he or she wants to do the most damage in the least amount of time.

And God help us, it’s children.

Shame on you, America.

Trigger Warnings: Munchausen by Proxy

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I kinda overreacted earlier about a post concerning trigger warnings. The overreaction wasn’t because I was triggered by the subject matter – but I was made angry at the conversation happening surrounding this new age concept and the added weight placed on authors/ publishers to incorporate these things in our work.

While I think trigger warnings come from a genuinely good place in people – the effects do the exact opposite of what they are intended to do.

They are meant to help.

They do not.

They hurt.

The evidence against trigger warnings is mounting and not from mom’s blog or writers corner blurbs – but from medical and psychological professionals.

The first thing we need to address is the easiest. Regardless of our professional lives as writers – we are not licensed medical or psychological professionals.

Nor are our publishing houses.

It is way out of our lane to diagnose or attempt to treat individuals with long-standing mental illnesses. Nor are we capable of identifying them.

Those that say the require a trigger warning still do not require one.

What they need is a C.B.T Therapist. Someone that can help them get over their fear or phobia and break their maladaptive coping mechanisms.

Again – that’s not our lane.

The second bit concerns censorship.

Trauma does happen often, however, Post Traumatic Stress is a rather rare diagnosis according to one article I read today.

And while triggers can send someone into a tailspin – can even cause a panic attack – no one has ever died of one. Ever. Panic attacks or panic disorder is not fatal.

It sucks – trust me. You think you’re dying. However, you are not.

For a trigger warning to be effective, the warning party would have to list all of the things that could possibly set someone off. In short – you’re rehashing the story all over again so that sort of negates the reason for the trigger warnings to begin with.

Furthermore, it stifles the author’s ability to sell. The book becomes a dirty secret and something that is whispered about instead of openly discussed and debated on the merits – according to another article.

In this political climate – that’s chilling as it’s not only affecting the literary world but college campuses as well.

A good professor doesn’t teach a student what to think, they teach them how to think, and the university is designed specifically to challenge deeply rooted beliefs.

There’s virtue in being made uncomfortable otherwise you’ll never experience another way of seeing things. GEtting mad or upset by reading something or a lecture is good for you.

Then there is the abuse of this new thing. People who don’t like certain subject matter, such as a cheating spouse or an interracial couple – have thrown up trigger warnings in book reviews.

I’ve also seen examples where authors issue one of these warnings because of the subject matter such as PTSD and not actually write about PTSD – their character is just a dickwad who treats people like crap.

Then there are the great false equivalences. Saying things like, “Well if you were just compassionate you would do this.”

That’s terribly unfair and backs a person into a corner of ‘Well, I don’t want to be seen that way so I’ll relent or I’ll defend myself.”

That’s psychological manipulation and it’s really interesting coming from people advocating for people’s mental health.

And today, it worked on me.

I blew up. I vented. I declared that I am an artist and HOW DARE YOU…yada yada yada and I come off sounding like a grouchy asshole.

There’s no defending yourself from things like that. It’s already a broken idea.

Art is an act of compassion not only for the artist but for those who view the art. The idea is to connect people on an emotional and often times visceral way.

There’s a reaction.

A laugh.

A tear.

An outburst.

That’s art’s job.

Art is meant to trigger.

Stifling that, or causing the artist to censor himself or herself is cruel and unimaginable in a free society.

The advocates for trigger warnings either don’t fully understand the power of mental illness or they’ve allowed their worldview to be so romanticized in the idea of professional brokenness – the idea of someone healing and getting better through non-holistic methods is a threat to their bottom line as authors.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy? I can’t help but wonder after that because trigger warnings keep people sick.

I don’t think their work really requires a trigger warning. To be honest, a “No diving/ Shallow water” warning might be more appropriate.

Trigger Warnings: Munchhausen by Proxy

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I kinda overreacted earlier about a post concerning trigger warnings. The overreaction wasn’t because I was triggered by the subject matter – but I was made angry at the conversation happening surrounding this new age concept and the added weight placed on authors/ publishers to incorporate these things in our work.

While I think trigger warnings come from a genuinely good place in people – the effects do the exact opposite of what they are intended to do.

They are meant to help.

They do not.

They hurt.

The evidence against trigger warnings is mounting and not from mom’s blog or writers corner blurbs – but from medical and psychological professionals.

The first thing we need to address is the easiest. Regardless of our professional lives as writers – we are not licensed medical or psychological professionals.

Nor are our publishing houses.

It is way out of our lane to diagnose or attempt to treat individuals with long-standing mental illnesses. Nor are we capable of identifying them.

Those that say the require a trigger warning still do not require one.

What they need is a C.B.T Therapist. Someone that can help them get over their fear or phobia and break their maladaptive coping mechanisms.

Again – that’s not our lane.

The second bit concerns censorship.

Trauma does happen often, however, Post Traumatic Stress is a rather rare diagnosis according to one article I read today.

And while triggers can send someone into a tailspin – can even cause a panic attack – no one has ever died of one. Ever. Panic attacks or panic disorder is not fatal.

It sucks – trust me. You think you’re dying. However, you are not.

For a trigger warning to be effective, the warning party would have to list all of the things that could possibly set someone off. In short – you’re rehashing the story all over again so that sort of negates the reason for the trigger warnings to begin with.

Furthermore, it stifles the author’s ability to sell. The book becomes a dirty secret and something that is whispered about instead of openly discussed and debated on the merits – according to another article.

In this political climate – that’s chilling as it’s not only affecting the literary world but college campuses as well.

A good professor doesn’t teach a student what to think, they teach them how to think, and the university is designed specifically to challenge deeply rooted beliefs.

There’s virtue in being made uncomfortable otherwise you’ll never experience another way of seeing things. GEtting mad or upset by reading something or a lecture is good for you.

Then there is the abuse of this new thing. People who don’t like certain subject matter, such as a cheating spouse or an interracial couple – have thrown up trigger warnings in book reviews.

I’ve also seen examples where authors issue one of these warnings because of the subject matter such as PTSD and not actually write about PTSD – their character is just a dickwad who treats people like crap.

Then there are the great false equivalences. Saying things like, “Well if you were just compassionate you would do this.”

That’s terribly unfair and backs a person into a corner of ‘Well, I don’t want to be seen that way so I’ll relent or I’ll defend myself.”

That’s psychological manipulation and it’s really interesting coming from people advocating for people’s mental health.

And today, it worked on me.

I blew up. I vented. I declared that I am an artist and HOW DARE YOU…yada yada yada and I come off sounding like a grouchy asshole.

There’s no defending yourself from things like that. It’s already a broken idea.

Art is an act of compassion not only for the artist but for those who view the art. The idea is to connect people on an emotional and often times visceral way.

There’s a reaction.

A laugh.

A tear.

An outburst.

That’s art’s job.

Art is meant to trigger.

Stifling that, or causing the artist to censor himself or herself is cruel and unimaginable in a free society.

The advocates for trigger warnings either don’t fully understand the power of mental illness or they’ve allowed their worldview to be so romanticized in the idea of professional brokenness – the idea of someone healing and getting better through non-holistic methods is a threat to their bottom line as authors.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy? I can’t help but wonder after that because trigger warnings keep people sick.

I don’t think their work really requires a trigger warning. To be honest, a “No diving/ Shallow water” warning might be more appropriate.

I dare you…(poem)

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Dare to be different.

Dare to speak your truth.

Dare to stand in it.

Dare to be a guide on.

Dare to raise the banner.

Dare to raise your voices.

Dare to resist the night.

Dare to be yourself.

Dare to do the right thing.

Dare to speak truth to stupid.

Dare to set an example.

Dare to be safe in your skin, safe in yourself, safe in your world.

Dare to stare down a bully.

Dare to correct a wrong.

Dare to shout down lies.

Dare to sing the truth.

Dare to be observant.

Dare to be aware.

Dare to be righteous.

Dare to be loved.

Dare to be free.

Dare to be a dreamer.

Dare to be a lover.

Dare to be a friend.

Dare to be a sister.

Dare to be a brother.

Dare to be a mentor.

Dare to be a light.

Dare to be a phone call.

Dare to be a voter.

Dare to march in protest.

Dare to kneel and pray.

Dare to stand against tyranny.

Dare to make a mark.

Dare to live.

Dare so that others may live.

Dare to be counted.

Dare to be a leader.

Dare to be hope.

Dare to be a teacher.

Dare to be a preacher.

Dare to do all you can.

Before Hitler was Anything – He was a Racist

 

I read an article in the Baptist New Global online magazine.  It was a dressing down by Miguel De La Torre dated Nov, 13 2017. In his scathing remarks, he addresses what has transpired in America concerning the support of the Evangelical Movement and their support for Donald Trump. You can read his article here. 

The article itself was bombastic – but I think De La Torre brought up a few good points. However, being a preacher’s kid a long time ago in the fundamentalist tradition – I am not as surprised to hear about the move of Evangelicals to Trump. I think they were waiting for someone like him to come along.

America’s churches are in a crisis. Some say, including the late, great, Phyliss Tickle, that we are actually at the beginning of what theologians and historians are starting to refer to as The Great Emergence. You can read about it in the books she published later on in life. You can also seek her out on youtube where she talked, at length, about the phenomenon.

Yet, as someone who is now on the outside of fundamentalism, I can’t help but think with their minds. I remember well the indoctrination, the wrath, and the judgment, but most of all I remember the hypocrisy, and the anger, and the bigotry.  Or, the stories about how a preacher took off the with the church’s money, ran off to Vegas with a woman he was having an affair with. Or, the daughter of the preacher getting caught having sex in the nursery with her boyfriend. Or, the woman who was pulled up on stage one night and called a whore because someone drove past her house and saw a man’s car in the driveway.

For those outside these movements, what goes on inside these churches seems almost patently absurd. I mean, it’s like Payton Place, if you know, Payton place had jean floor-length skirts and a cloud of Aquanet hovering above them. It was a political atmosphere to be sure and despite all the railing from the pulpit about morality and judgment, these organizations seemed to suffer terribly from their own lack of both.

It took me years to get away from that worldview. Because that’s what fundamental evangelicalism is.  Christianity is the faith, sure. But fundamental evangelicalism is the lens through which you view everything around you.  If naivete can shade someone’s worldview rose-colored, surely these people wear yellow-colored jaundiced ones.

The world didn’t change my worldview. Not really. I began to backtrack away from fundamentalism when looking into the legacy of the church. It’s not all pretty. Heck, the reformation was a terrible bloody event on both sides. Yet, I do believe there were great moments of triumph and terrible moments of failure.

De La Torre is right in his view of these people who’ve allowed the church to become so ill on its own ager and hatred – it can no longer see clearly. And while history doesn’t repeat itself, as Mark Twain pointed out, it often does rhyme. With people like Trump  and company having won such a big swath of this kind of believer – it’s worth noting that we’ve seen something like this before.

 

In the 1930’s, famed Lutheran Theologian and minister Detriech Bonhoeffer came to study in America. Upon traveling to the deep south during the height of Jim Crow law, Bonhoeffer was stunned at what he saw.

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Now, mind you Hitler is just beginning his ascension to power in Germany and although Jew’s had been treated badly the world over for centuries -the worst was yet to come for them.

Also, mind you, that the last Lynching on record in the United States was 1955 with Emmet Till, a 14-year-old boy, who was accused of winking at a white woman.

In grief and despair, Detrich Bonhoeffer declared that, “…Christianity in America is dead.”

That was until he was invited by a minister to attend another gathering at Abyssinian Baptist Church, a black church, in Harlem, New York.

It was the first time he’d ever hear gospel music. There, he recanted his statement and said, “…these people suffer and they are joyful. God is in Harlem.”

He would take that gospel music back with him to Germany and share it with his friends and fellow believers in what he called, “The Confessing Church.”

Now, Bonhoeffer was a pacifist, and he loved his country desperately, however – before the Allies could rescue him toward the end of the war he would be taken out and assassinated for his plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

My father was an evangelist for a time and I would, of course, ride the small circuit up in Michigan with him to various churches where he would go to preach.

Someone would give an altar call, someone would begin to sing Just as I am, or All to Jesus, or Amazing Grace. And here, these lily white folks would come streaming down the aisles hands raised to heaven to be saved or to ‘get right with God.’ Not knowing for a second – that the song they were singing, “Amazing Grace” was entrenched in Slavery.

The author, John Newton, was a slave ship captain, who would lose his eyesight, become a monk in the Church of England, and in turn would become one of the world’s first abolitionists. As a matter of fact, he along with Wilberforce would end the practice of Slavery in Great Britain years before the United States would.

There are so many people surprised that 85 percent of white evangelicals would side with Donald Trump despite the many flagrant and cavalier ways he stands for almost everything Christianity stands against. Yet, I don’t understand why you’re so shocked. This has gone on for years. This has been their M.O. for as long as I knew them. It’s been their M.O dating back decades since before Brown Vs. Board of Education.

I left the faith tradition over 15 years ago and while I was still there, I left it mentally long before that due in large part to it’s inherent racism. See, I grew up in a predominately African American City, went to a predominately black middle school and high school, and while the preachers preached AGAINST interracial marriage – due to inequality of the races – I wondered at who was actually unequal.

The Principle was Dr. Betty Hines. Exceptionally well dressed, professional, she ruled over that school with an iron fist. There was Dr. Granderson, a Chemistry teacher who could always be spotted walking up and down the hall with his lab coat and pushing a cart. He was also always smartly dressed and professional. They all drove nice cars and were this constant stable presence in my life while at home – my personal life was in shreds.

In the 1930’s, according to Charles Marsh’s ‘Strange Glory’ the biography of Bonhoeffer I highly suggest people read – the author makes it very clear that when Hitler began his ascent to power, the Lutheran Church in that era immediately abdicated to him. They wanted the power that Hilter promised them and he did grant it to them for a time. They even flew the swastika in their churches. Until he found no more use for them and unceremoniously cast them aside.

But by then it was too late.

Understand this: Before Hitler was anything, he was a racist and so is this 85 percent of evangelicals. All you have to do is look at case law after the 1954 Supreme Court Decision of Brown V. Board of Education. Bob Jones Sr. v The United States.

Before Donald Trump is anything – he’s a racist all you need to do is look back at his trying to get men put in prison for a crime they didn’t commit, his having to be sued by the Nixon Administration for not allowing blacks to rent apartment space in his buildings, his statement against Hispanics, Muslims, and the list goes on.

They can call themselves Christians all day long and twice on Sunday. They’re not. They never were. They’re anti-Christians since they do the exact opposite of what was told to them by Christ. That being, take care of the poor, the sick, the weakest among you, and pray in private.

I am a Christain. I don’t believe Christianity is dead in America. I think preachers like John Palvolitz, Bishop Barber, and Nadia Bolz Weber (this Emergent or Emerging Church leaders) are Christianity in America – and they’re struggling. And they’re not the only ones. They’re out there.

Is Christianity dead in Evangelicalism? In 85 percent of them, I’d say yes. Yet, again, I think they’ve been dead for a very long time.

 

 

 

C. I. Scofield – A Forerunner of American Evangelicalism: His Character & Connection to Plymouth Brethren

Interesting to know…

Deconstructing Fundamentalism

C. I. Scofield and The Scofield Reference Bible – One man’s interpretation of the Word presented as final authority and absolute truth.

Regarding the character of the author of Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, C. I. Scofield’s was not as spotless as I had been led on to believe.

Scofield went M.I.A. in the confederate army and joined the Union forces. He married a catholic woman, was a heavy drinker, and he was forced to resign as U.S. District Attorney of Kansas “under a cloud of scandal.” This was due to questionable financial transactions including bribes form railroads, stealing political contributions intended for the Senator he worked for, and securing bank promissory notes by forging signatures. He was possibly jailed on forgery charges, but this can’t be proven by public record. He abandoned his wife and two daughters. Consequently his wife divorced him and that same year he…

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Anxiety Author

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unsplash-logoNik Shuliahin

Living with anxiety is like living with a ghost who, on occasion, like’s to pop out of the closet, from behind the door, or behind a shower curtain.

Yes, that’s exactly what it’s been like for the past three months.

The first attack was bad. The second was worse. The third was a little more expected but having one makes you feel like you’re dying.

Your body is screaming at you that something is wrong.

You feel terribly light headed, you shake, your body feels off and you feel like you’re in another world.

Sometimes it gradually comes on, sometimes it hits you like a freight train after you get off an elliptical machine.

After several trips to the E.R., an EKG machine, and a CT scan to make sure that I was having neither a heart attack or a stroke, I was given medicine for it.

I let the medicine run out because I thought I was too much of a man to need it.

I regret that decision as of late as they’ve returned. My therapists have talked me through how to bring myself down off of one, and those techniques are somewhat effective. The key is to try like hell not to give into the fear.

But it’s lonely as hell.

I haven’t been able to work very much since all this started. I’ve been silent on social media (for the most part and probably to the pleasure of some folk) as an attack can eat up an entire day.

I will be going back to the doctor and will be getting back on medicine for this. White knuckling your way through something like this isn’t healthy long term. While there’s nothing wrong with your organs, yet, a constantly elevated blood pressure can cause injuries and lasting medical issues later on.

I don’t want that.

I’ll be going through the blahs again once I am medicated. Contemplating cracks in the wall and dealing with nausea as my body adjusts to the chemicals I am putting in me.

Meanwhile, I’ve been drinking warm milk and working out on my machine. I’ve gained some weight, enough to stretch my buttons on my pants to the breaking point, but I think it’s because I’m building muscle underneath my insulation. But slowly, and surely, I’ll work on getting both my body and mind back under control.

There have been a lot of friends who’ve helped me out – who’ve talked me off the ledge. They’ve assured me in the throes of the panic that I am not dying and the doctors I’ve been to aren’t crazy. To them, I say thank you.

I do, however, have a greater appreciation for mental illness. I really appreciate and am humbled by this mess going on right now and could only imagine what someone with a more powerful illness must go through. When your mind speaks, it demands that you listen, and that gray matter is a powerful and very loud instrument.

I know often times I am not the most diplomatic person, sometimes to the detriment of popularity, but as a mental health advocate, especially my brothers and sisters in arms who suffer from PTSD and other service-related injuries – I am pretty much ready to become even less so.

Mental health should not be put into the shadows, I agree. But it shouldn’t be brought out into the light and treated as a trope or a money maker. It should be respected as the diseases of the mind are extremely powerful. They hurt in ways that are impossible to explain. Depression, S.A.D., Cyclical Dysthymia, Eating Disorders, Panic Disorders, G.A.D, Borderline Personalities, Bi-polar Disorders, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Schizophrenia are just a few of the many issues that American’s have.

There’s an entire doorstopper of a book called a D.S.M (it’s up to volume 5 now) that psychologists and Psychiatrists use to treat and diagnose these maladies. Psychopharmacology that is used to treat these and many other illnesses often times makes the treated physically ill. Personally, they made me weepy, tired, they gave me diarrhea, dry mouth, and made me very tired. There were zaps in my head that would make me feel scared and it takes up to a month to get into your system and become therapeutic. In the interim, the patient takes benzo’s (a highly addictive fast-acting medicine) to calm down should a panic attack happen.

Googling your symptoms is a double edge sword. BEcause according to WebMD you could have a panic disorder, or you could be dying of cancer. But that’s always their second choice, even if you stub your toe. You could ice it, or try chemotherapy. However, also thanks to Google, there are a lot of forums and support groups that pretty much list every symptom you possibly could have and there’s something to the knowledge that what I am going through isn’t unusual for my condition.

I mouthed off about a book recently that had some controversial topics about it. I don’t apologize for that, especially now that I am going through this. But I will apologize to anyone who reads this about not listening to other’s when they said that some of the things being written were hurtful. I brushed them aside. I now know what it’s like to feel invisible, to not be heard, to be sitting next to my husband who’s laughing at a television program while I sit on the opposite side of the couch trying to catch my breath. It’s not fun. It’s not something that should be brushed aside.

Hurting someone whether intentionally or unintentionally isn’t funny. Making a buck off of someone else’s misery is …well, I promised myself I wouldn’t cuss about this…fucked up! (sorry, I didn’t make it) If you’re going to get into an issue, I would encourage you to get into it. Learn something, teach something, elevate the conversation into something that can educate the world. If you don’t feel like you can, then don’t. Let someone else do it.

Meanwhile, I will continue drinking my warm milk. Exercising. And keeping my breath Trying to get my head back on right. In the interim, consider me batshit crazy – but that’s always been the case.

Conversion Therapy, Revenge Porn, and Criticism

Al of this.

M/M romance is the cross between Lifetime and the Hallmark Channel and Sean Cody.

Most of the time it is benign.

However, m/m has some serious fucking issues which have nothing to do with gender.

It has everything to do with people who push into realms they don’t understand in a subject matter they’re not 100 percent sure of.

“Well, people write about wizards…”

Stop. Stop right there.

Wizards aren’t real.

Gay people are. Conversion camps are. PTSD and child abuse and neurological disorders due to overexposure to toxic levels of the stress hormones Cortisol and Adrenaline are. Suicide, lung cancer, and ischemic heart disease due to this exposure are real.

Rape,

Panic Disorders,

Eating disorders

are all real

If you can’t treat your subject matter’s race, religion, sexual orientation, etc with reverence and do your due diligence when it comes to that AND the environment you put them in – you shouldn’t be writing. At least not this.

If you can’t fully grasp what is happening then perhaps you’re simply not qualified to write it.

LGBT people and survivors of child abuse and / or religious abuse have been put through a certain kind of hell you will NEVER EVER understand unless you’ve been there. Don’t touch it unless you’re willing to go all the way.

Don’t do these people a disservice because you’re trying to turn a buck.

It’s ignored by the world at large because, according to Fox News, only Muslims do that kind of crazy shit to people. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there are scores of conversion camps and attitude adjustment camps all over the United States as well as fundamentalist churches. And they’re in your own backyard. And the old saying is true, “never is a man so joyfully committed to heinous acts against his fellow man than he is when it’s done in the name of God.”

It’s all over your country.

'Nathan Burgoine

I always feel like I need to start blogs like this with a caveat: I’m not telling someone they can’t write something. I will never tell someone they can’t write something. Much like my latest “Why You?” post over at SpAN, or previous discussions over Pseudonym vs Identity or Gay-For-You, I want to be super clear on this point, again, just in case: I’m not suggesting a limitation who can write what. At all.

What I am suggesting is there are topics that need a tonne of forethought, and that some topics are definitely going to get critical feedback. This? This is critical feedback.

So. A book crossed over to my radar yesterday which had multiple plot threads that gave me pause. I only ended up talking about one of them because I had spoons enough for one go, but I’ll touch on more today likely.

Now, this book…

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Poetry Book (Review)

The first book review for my new Poetry book happened today.

Five stars!

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“This is a book of free-form poetry, containing the poet’s musings about nature, youth, seasons; reminiscing about family, lost loves, faith and religion, and life in general. Some are profound, others less so, but I think poetry, like music, speaks to each of us in a different way.

Personally, I prefer poetry that rhymes, but my standards are pretty high. In my opinion, the best poem in the English language is “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, and nothing will ever top that. The rhyming and alliteration is that poem is beyond brilliant, but Poe was a genius beyond compare. Free-form poetry, on the other hand, is more like short artistic essays about feelings and moods. Having said that, some of the poems in this book of poetry will provoke a very emotional response. For me, there were several that I enjoyed; the ones about trees and nature, and those about lost loves, but the ones that moved me the most are ‘The Rain Remains the Same’ and ‘The Man by the River’. If you enjoy poetry in general, you will enjoy this book.”

To read it on Amazon follow the link here

To purchase your own copy click the link here

 

The Collective Unconcious (Poem)

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unsplash-logoRedd Angelo

The wind is howling

at seven thirty in the morning

a bitter wind

shoves it’s way down from the north

I’ve walked the dog, 

dressed in Corpus Christi Coture

which consisted of work out shorts

a hoodie, and a robe

before dashing back inside

and now with a cup of Earl Grey

my dog asleep in the corner

the cat asleep on a chair

I come to the altar of humanity once more

to bear my soul

and write my song

as if I didn’t know the dangers

of being naked

to the bitter winds of the world

Lately, my mind

has not been my own

my body

has been in pain

and I’ve spent countless hours

my arms splayed out at my sides

grasping realities

trying desperately to hold myself together

but the reality of my situation is

that I am in the most danger

when I cannot give myself away

when I cannot imbue a part of my soul

in a book, in a story, in a poem

and set it to sail among the many souls

adrift in the collective unconscious

No children, have I, at my age

that fate wasn’t written on my heart

due in part to a hijacked mind

but I do have family among those

who kneel at the water’s edge with me

and murmur their truth to the stars above

that family, no one could take away

not even death

their truth lives on in stories they told

when they in a living way

took time to kneel beside the ever-flowing river

speaking their truth to the firmament

when they bowed their heads to pray.