But they’re making billions convincing us we’re lousy — I’m not here to tell anyone what or what not to do. But I’ve recently been thinking about the human experience (specifically in America, since that is the only nation in which I have lived) and how much of our lives we spend just hating ourselves. We hate our hair…

Questions without answers deserve consideration — Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true. — Adyashanti When I was younger, I hated the…

Welcome to America — Why and by whose authority were you born? Did you ask for this life, the sucking of warm air? Why the bleeding? Can’t you stuff something between yourself so no one has to know? Do you think we want to hear the sobbing? Where will you go in the night…

Who is listening? Who is dancing cheek-to-cheek with eternity? — Arguably, the summer of 2021–22 was my “most successful” by many people’s standards. During this year, I had my first book of poetry traditionally published. I also completed my Doctor of Education degree in transformative leadership and published my dissertation. I clawed, screamed, fought, and lost so many nights of…

Toeing the liminal, eyeing the solace of the gravest sleep — 1. in certain cultures, i’ve read, living do not bury or burn the dead; they instead canonize the remains in celebration. a commemoration of mortality undone might feature any number of ill-conceived party favors though nonetheless remains a better idea than the traditional american funeral. 2. the first dead person…

In Etheree — Fear is not always a moving train or the static of night. No, sometimes fear is the upsweep of wind on the far eastern Colorado plains right after a track meet in your boyfriend’s old truck when being lost means giving up. ~ The etheree is a strict syllabic form…