Month: March 2021

POEMS OF THE MIND: These poems deal with anxiety, depression, and addictions – they are poems of the mind. In our society, mental health ailments are very prevalent. In order to better deal with this pandemic, two things are needed: one is awareness and involvement, and the other is funding to support mental health initiatives, research, and programs.

The Anxiety Nightmare

In the deep dwelling complexities of darkness, without light

I fall

then enter the journey of despair.

Disconsolate and forlorn

I encounter those places where fear dwells.

I ask….I beg….I plead….

to be free of the nightmare that is

and to find peace

by encountering the tangible

where intellect recognizes reason.

Further attempting to end this horrendous and crippling journey

I beseech mindfulness to enter my course

and take me into the bountiful realm of tranquility.

But the nightmare….continues….

a stranglehold on my being

as it reaches its destination

leaving me in a state

where my soul has no solace

and is empty of the serenity of spirit.

Anxiety/….Once Again….You Appear

What insidious appearance have you once again made, when I thought I had sent you to the bottom of Hades’ world?

But I see you’ve resurfaced, this time as a ghost occupying the mind’s house, as you attempt to haunt me and make me feel the horror through those thoughts of illusionary reality.

You have reacquainted me with your world, making my world one of desperation, leaving me searching for my sanity to find.

I scream at your presence, and attempt to shake the foundation of your non-existent soul, but you overcome my wishes, and leave me in a state of utter despair, as I look to sever the thought bonds that you’ve created.

You are the devil in my world, the insanity of my existence, as you force me to my knees.

And while I plead and hope to conquer and overcome, it is clear that your goal is my misery, as you insert a dagger deep within my soul.

So be it….present to me what you will….attempt to trick me and hold me in your grasp….manipulate my mind and thoughts….make me feel the fear….

But again, this time, it will only be short lived….for I will once again….calmly….but surely….send you away from my mind’s eye, and have you disappear into the depths of your created hell.

Addictions in This Realm of What Is

Feeling alone….overwhelmed….and conquered….I try to remain in a dispositional state of mind by contemplating ways of making what appears to be impossible, possible….in this realm of what is.

Struggling with the mind, and attempting to substitute the patterns of enticing and gripping destruction with approaches to overcome, I endeavor to convince the brain to alter habits that defy logic, by making the intangibles, tangible….in this realm of what is.

A crack, and then a light escaping from consciousness, and a glimpse of presence of mind altering joy and blissful reality, but once again elusive, dissonant, and inconsistent….in this realm of what is.

And now I sit feeling ill-fated and defeated, but forever seeking and pleading to overcome this addictive entrapment, in order to find peace….in this realm of what is.

One moment a feeling that you have conquered….the next….falling into a state of despair with a belief that overcoming will never be possible….in this realm of what is.

Welcome to My Poetry (Creative Unknown Meets Poet)

Like I mentioned in my post’s introduction: awareness, involvement, and funding is desperately needed in order for advancements to take place in the area of mental health. Please consider either getting involved and/or donating to one of the following mental health organizations:

http://www.camh.ca

http://ymhc.ngo

http://braincanada.ca

http://www.poetrysoup.com

Thank you!

Poems of the Mind

“I Am” is a two part personal perspective poem questioning, “Who am I?”. Of course the phrase “I Am” has links and ties to the spiritual and religious world, but this poem deals with two contrasts: one being rather dark and perhaps sinister, while the other is brighter and optimistic, with perhaps elements of realization and enlightenment. I hope that something in this poem triggers an awareness or realization within you.

I Am (Dark)

I am a soul who sometimes does not know

the sorrow and hatred that I allow to grow.

I am a being who cannot see

the face of prejudice that I have within me.

I am a man who will not know

until I realize the faults within my being which I sow.

I Am (Light)

I am but an eagle in flight

spreading my wings so as to absorb the complexities of life.

I am a soul that questions its plight

Dispositional, at times overwhelmed, but determined to overcome my fright.

I am a flower in a garden, in the morning light

the dew upon my petals still, enveloped in illuminating visions of transcendence and insight.

Yiorgos’ Poetry of the Soul and Mind

http://www.iamthedoc.com

http://www.poetrysoup.com

“I Am” – A Two Part Personal Perspective Poem asking the Question ‘Who Am I?”

Media and News Poems: The media is a powerful entity in our world. To a great degree, it has the power to influence our minds, at times creating confusion and/or distorted and bias “news” that runs contrary to what news should be.

In addition to mainstream media, we have social media, which is filled with self serving, often emotional and mindless statements, testimonies, and conclusions, often using recipes of false news, lies, distortions, and inaccuracies.

The following poems have embed within them my interpretations and conclusions of the consequences of mainstream media, social media, and the news, both for society and the individual.

About the following poem: Early morning on my deck, a coffee in hand, soothing music playing, moments of tranquility and bliss, enjoying all which this beautiful day has to offer. And then I pick up my smart phone, for I desire to read the “morning news”…

In My Mind

As I sit here

Absorbing the calming rays of the morning sun

I read, and then realize how chaotic disarray attempts to make love with harmony

In s world of insanity

While it tries to influence my mind

During this moment in time.

I interpret the “informative news”

As a need to amalgamate absurdities

With solutions for serenity

While initially resisting wishes and temptations of conformity

In my mind

During this moment of time.

And then slowly I am swallowed up by these intellectual stupidities

And I lose clarity and sanity

And become a victim of hypocrisy

Falling head first into the world’s quicksand of misery

Which wants to swallow up my mind

During this moment in time.

About the following poem: And quite often… the lies and distortions… create confusion and delusion.

It’s Nothing But Delusion

Today they believed the lies

the distorted truths… the accusations… and wrong-doing cries

the created fabrications which are easy to consume

conceptualizations and distortions… abundant and abloom.

Responsibility once assumed… but now rarely seen

reality now falsified… made convoluted… and obscene.

And the beat goes on….

as the mind is twisted

like that character… on Prodigal Son.

And while these false narratives appear

which the perpetrator wishes that all will embrace

the ego desperately asserts and manipulates

loyalty and trust is what it requires, and necessitates

but the soul is slaughtered… beaten… and no where to be found

and truth is tossed… lost… by perplexing theories which abound

while delusion….

leaves nothing but despair and mind confusion.

And life goes on….

the mind twisted

like that character… on Prodigal Son.

http://www.poetrysoup.com

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An anger poem. How does one control an emotion like anger ? What does anger do to ones mind and soul? Is there an answer and solution?

Anger

I saw it again

That anger of mine.

On a window pane

In that room of time.

And it came into view

For me to behold.

Its image the same

Nothing new….same as old.

I took cloth in hand

Tried to wipe it away.

But it stubbornly remained

No words uttered….nothing to say.

So I dropped that cloth

And it fell to the floor.

And as I was leaving that room

Anger now….on a pane by the door.

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Welcome to My Poetry (Creative Unknown Meets Poet)

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An Anger Poem

Covid 19 Poems of Confusion, Surrender, Darkness and Light

One might say that these four poems deal with the pandemic: three poems were created during the pandemic, and a forth was written about a year before the start of Covid 19. However, these poems might also be relevant regarding internal and external strife that often tends to be part of life and living.

Close to the beginning of the pandemic, I made a few phone calls one day to see how some family members were doing. During my conversations with them, I heard them express many of the feelings and thoughts that I was having at the time. I took some of what they said, and some of what I thought and felt, and wrote the following poem:

From Confusion to Surrender

I am but feeling quite alone

wishing deep in my heart to come back home.

What does one do when one feels this despair

in these circumstances that surround him, but can’t compare?

I know there is a light embedded in this shell

I know there is hope that surfaces, but at times it’s hard to tell.

But I now feel those things that can diminish the light

for I can’t even see the unknown, as I look up at the stars on this disturbing night.

And in the gloom, in the turmoil that exists

I fight that which they tell me I should not resist.

It is with an intent that does not seem to die

as I keep asking that question, “Why?”

I choose to be, I chose this course

but it is confusion that I feel the most.

For I have this need to see, to hear, to understand

these perplexing circumstances here at hand.

But who am I, and who are you?

just souls intent on seeing this through.

And hoping for a chance to see that day

when all is calm, and that which is, is gone away.

Covid 19 often brought out that which is good in humanity, but sadly also that which isn’t. I saw compassion, empathy and love, but at the same time saw selfish characteristics that surfaced which might have pointed to an inability to understand more than an inability to care.

The Dark Side of Humanity

Lost in a desperate mind world

Seeking a sense of community

and a need to belong

through an innate desire to be whole again.

But confused…

The path nebulous.

And through indoctrination

either directly or unintentionally

or perhaps inadvertently

harboring a vision that individuality is the answer

through a desire to see and “find oneself”

but left with only a false mirrored reflection

of who one really is.

And one says, “It is my right!”

hoping that it becomes “their destiny”

but really is only “deluded identity”.

And this desire

gives life to the belief

that one will find and understand oneself

by way of separating from that “other”.

The result…

illness within

then spreading to community

for the connectivity link now broken.

And without humility…

there is little compassion.

And without compassion…

there is a lack of understanding.

And without understanding…

one becomes lost

in ones own separate ways…

severed from the natural world of community…

exhibiting the dark side of humanity.

Life is beautiful, but living often has it challenges. The following poem deals with life’s dark experiences.

Existing In a World of Sorrow

There was confusion

and devastation

followed by a feeling of extreme desperation

as I longed for rejuvenation

so as to go back into the world that I once knew

a world where equanimity

was so true.

But this I was helpless to achieve

just as I was not able to foresee

all that was in store for me

and as I tried to understand

through a persistent desire

to make mind sense of the circumstance

I was devoured

by an emotional fire.

And more confusion

because of all that consumed me

and the feelings that entombed me.

And I eventually started to see my limitations

while hoping for reconciliation

from those feelings I could not control

By way of logic that I knew the mind could hold.

Though benumbed

I desperately attempted to explain the mind’s realizations

to the heart

but logic had been torn away

from my being’s state

for I was now lost in a life of hardship

in a nightmarish dream

and I was left with my heart’s

subliminal scream.

And I asked…

Where can I find tranquility

from this calamity

that is in the here and now?

And then I finally realized

what I had been offered

and what was now proposed.

I had to let it be.

How could I hold on

when it was so painful for me?

So I surrendered

to the morning seed

which had inseminated my world

and I succumbed to an existence

that seemed surreal

but the course needed

so as to heal.

The above poem was written before Covid. Hauntingly, I see within it a prediction of what was to come.

And the final poem in this series is one of hope…

The Light

I saw the clouds creep in and obscure the light

As the evening appeared, and introduced a stormy night

And I longed for the morning, and a sky without fright.

I looked to the heavens, scared, and ready to morn

searching for that which would calm my internal storm

and eliminate the pestilence that had made its appearance

and was suddenly born.

So I laid down my body to find sleep and rest

from the turmoil and confusion, deep within my chest.

And in the morning I awoke, and the clouds had disappeared.

The storm was gone

and the sun’s shinning light had eliminated my fear.

Covid 19 Poems of Confusion, Surrender, Darkness and Light

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