Change of Heart... Disease

Racism in America may not be as easy to spot as some may think. It has a tendency to be more of a silent epidemic among white people.

Much like heart disease.

And racism kills.

Much like heart disease.

How do I stop it, you ask? What am I to do about it, you ask? I'm just one person, you say.

Start small. Identify the behaviors or habits you TOLERATE in your day to day life.

Much like heart disease.

Racism, too, can be reversed. But it's going to take an INDIVIDUAL change.

No one else can cure your heart disease. 

Sure, you can take pills to address the symptoms, 

but it's never going to disappear... 

unless you make a change.

You could just ignore it.
Down play it.
Act as though it doesn't affect you.
It won't ever interrupt your life.

Much like heart disease. 

Keep on eating that same junk. 

Keep on living your sedentary lives.

Keep on telling the same racist jokes.

Keep on laughing at your racist friends.

Keep on 'calling it like you see it'.

Keep on stereotyping based on the color of someones skin.

Keep on blaming your parents 'it's how I was raised'.

Keep on repeating what 'someone else said...'

Keep on blaming it on facts.

1 in every 4 deaths is due to heart disease. 

Yours doesn't have to be one of them. 

Make the change.

You might not be 'racist', but until you stand up to these silent, seemingly innocent behaviors in yourself, or in others, things aren't going to change.

Until racism is no longer TOLERATED by other white people, these unacceptable tragedies will continue to occur.

Reevaluate.

Racism - however BIG or small - should make your heart uneasy. 

Dis-ease of the Heart.

Much like heart disease. 

The Gift of Perspective

I can hardly keep my eyes peeled away from the window long enough to write this sentence.
Each second that goes by, I am missing more and more of this barren, yet captivating landscape.


Hiccups of green, pocketed away amongst vast, sprawling blankets of reds, rusts and tans.


Chiseled brown uninhabited castles, protrude from the dry earth.


Step stools and staircases beckon the tangles of cotton to release their life giving crystals.


Winding waterways appear at first glance to be directionally challenged, and yet are so much more set in their ways than I...


Tiny green goose bumps tingle across the otherwise lifeless terrain.


Silt deposits - evidence of life come and gone - tell their own story of what used to be.

From up here, it's not a desert.

It's an epic tale of time.

What is...

Poetry: the thesaurus of life
Offering opinions
Expressing a notion
Tinkering with words
Redefining thoughts
Your life - rephrased

Great Expectations

I ask you to sing,
harmonize

I ask you to play,
create

I ask you to move,
dance

I ask you to express,
share

I ask you to wait,
stay

I ask you to think,
do

I ask you to feel,
love

Dandelion Rant

Take a look at all this wonderful creation we are surrounded by on a daily basis. Too often we forget to stop and look. To take a moment to smell the roses, or daffadiles, or dandelions, or weeds for that matter. We are constantly looking for the next best thing – so phoe to that simple dandelion growing out from under all of that pavement, tumultuous life, with the constant traffic of it all. How ungrateful of any of us to walk by that simple dandelion without stopping to say “I admire you. I could not do it myself.”

For whom among us could even dare to grow and prosper (or in some eyes, plague) in such an environment? We are all at a loss, and at some point in our lives, something begins to trod all over the top of us. Snagging our air. Rinsing away our nutrients. Evaporating our water. And still, the dandelion comes out on top. Yes, it somehow manages to rise above the concrete, shine it’s yellow pastey light on those of us who bother to stop and take a look, and finally, catch the eye of one who dares to stop, bend down, and PICK the flower – rescuing it from a life of despare, only to be placed in the hands of an ungrateful teacher who kindly smiles at the child who saved this dandelion and throws it over the park bench as soon as a back is turned.

Ahh, the plight of the dandelion. Withstanding so much, only to be turned into a wilted stub of a plant, or a fluffy weed – signifying a dandelion epidemic in the so carefully manicured yard (most importantly amongst a child who knows these special weeds to be 100% capable of granting a wish with the hush of a breathe).

And then we grow up, and realize that it was all a hoax. No dandelion, dead or alive, has the power to grant a wish. Although I am convinced that we all walk past the delicate dandelion seeds only hoping that we could yet again, bend down and pluck the dandelion, in all it’s fervor, only to let our hopes and dreams and wishes escape away in the form of one mighty breath – and it is in that one breath, one simple exchange of carbon monoxide for some measly and polluted oxygen, that we find our hearts desires. Brought to life by one breath. For one split second, it is okay to hope like a child again. To wish like a child again. To see like a child again. To BE a child again.

What was your last wish? Or better yet, what was the wish that you only wished you could have instilled in those pesky dandelion seeds that last time you walked past a fuzzy little dandelion?

Is it ironic that we, a society that cherishes life, invest so much in a dead weed – that will only cause us more trouble in the end? Maybe this is what life comes down to. How many of us invest our time, our efforts, our breath, into a wish that will inevitably be the root of demise for our neighbors? How selfish have we become, as a culture, that our wishes, our desire for happiness, must intrude upon our neighbors well-manicured lawn. And for all but a glimmer, a glimpse, a breath of hope. That one day, soon, our dreams will come true.

Wake up and smell the roses.

Quit putting yourself first.

Quit pissing off your neighbor.

Don't Blink

I've got a bubble

holding my breath



Beautiful shimmer

Entrancing light



Caught my eye

as it passed by



~Don't Blink~



With fleeting movement

and unpredictable course



Drunken babble

Fluttering past



A touch would end

So watch and wonder



Say goodbye



~Don't Blink~