Altered States

Blue-bitty-Blue

“When she passed and her spirit left her material form, it was terrible to see how ravaged her body had become.

We’d been such a team, she and I with Youngling and the critter gang as we all kept troubleshooting how to keep her alive and thriving.

She was always eager, always positive, always craving life – no matter her crooked spine which I kept helping ease back into place, or her jaw which was shifting and swelling.

Signs came this last week that the mass must have erupted internally, and then last night and this morning, her will was having to yield to her heart and lungs flooding.

It was difficult to make the decision to help her let go, but as soon as the doctor began with sedative, she relaxed into conked-out deep sleeping purring.

She had been so tired, it turns out, and so brave and determined to keep enduring – never complaining, though she had had every reason to.

She just kept searching for the sunshine.”

Altered States, Featured Artists, Poetic Musings

“Do not go gentle into that good night…”

Dylan Thomas, 1914 –1953

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night

Altered States, Featured Artists, Poetic Musings

“And death shall have no dominion…”

Dylan Thomas, 1914 –1953

“And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.”

https://poets.org/poem/and-death-shall-have-no-dominion

(Quoted in the movie, Solaris.)

Altered States

Dynamics

“Perhaps there is a type of depression that occurs when one is continually thwarted in accessing their synergy as a result of injuries.

But I was already there for every else’s struggles, helping them to overcome them.

Now, who is helping and nurturing me?

Feeling compromised doesn’t seem just reward for all of my past supporting.

Yet, independence helps give illusion that I am ‘still standing.’

Does all of this reinforce self determination?

Is that why isolation digs in more deeply?”

Altered States

Wherefore Go I?

“It used to be that I had to wait for others in my family to give them a chance to catch up, but I could often see where they were going and what they needed, so even in going slower, I had a sense of purpose.

But for myself now, it just feels like I’m being held down from performance, and I’m not sure what to pinpoint to clear cobwebs from my perception – which is unusual.

I used to always find a path and reason .”

Altered States, Comedy

Ahhh-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!

“Today, I was given the senior discount without being asked if I was a senior.

WTF-?!

I do not look like a senior.

I do not act like a senior.

I was then told upon my questioning that 55 is senior.

Again, WTF -?!

Um.

No.

The younger cashier had to call the manager to change the total, and the also very young manager then asked after arriving, “Ma’am, why don’t you want the discount?”

I explained cheerfully and matter-of-factly, “Because I’m not a senior, and I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

Why else would I not want the discount?!”