A lifeline in thousands of words — Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose. — Janis Joplin in Me and Bobby McGee It was my birthday, 2019, and I hadn’t had a drink in 38 days. …

An unexpected life lesson from nature — Does nature ever teach you anything? Lost in my writing, pecking away at my self-perceived masterpiece, I’m trapesing through another world. Frustrated with my main character’s lack of relatability, I’m wearing out my backspace key. “My god, you’re so boring,” I say. He’s not, but the incessant stream of babbling…

Poetry from photographs #4 — The poem below is the 4th in an ongoing creative exercise I share with my sister. She sends me selected photographs that resonate with her — I express what I see in poetry. It’s been an interesting process. We are, through individual creativity, learning more about each other. What each…

Surviving the ugly bad while waiting for the beautiful good — Author’s note: Sometimes sharing my uncomfortable experiences with mental health and addiction is difficult. Often however, exploring them through creative writing delivers a cathartic release that moves me out of whatever thick mental mud in which I’m stuck. My morning coffee rests atop an old, weathered trunk beside me as…

Poetry from photographs #3 — Here’s another example from my writing exercise of using my sister’s photographs to attach poems to. This picture, one of many sent to me this week, fascinated me. Our beaches here on Vancouver Island, provide endless creative outlets. You may want to read this first: My Poetic Mental Health Awareness Tool How writing poems from photographs checks my mental healthfoundinmyjournal.com

My dad told me there would be days like this — My dad was a great guy, kept his sense of humor to the very end, and the longer I live, the more often I come face-to-face with things he said would happen. I’m getting older, but remain stubbornly oblivious to inevitable realities of aging. Avoidance, an admitted defense mechanism which…

Poetry found in photographs #2 — In a recent post about writing, I explained a creative process I engage in with my sister. She gathers pictures and I write short poems from them or cropped sections. No rules. No communication. I never know what she’ll provide me with and she never knows what I will find…

How writing poems from photographs checks my mental health — Can writing what we see in photographs help identify our current mental state? It does for me. I’m always looking to improve as a writer and heal as a human being. Lately, I’ve embarked on a writing exercise which is helping with both. Over time, my sister and I developed…

From an invisible me — Words drop soft and slow hope’s comforting dreams fall onto waiting paper shaking hand moves a pen etching letters one by one black and distorted a pleading prayer hidden away in my secret book none will read none will hear none will feel these desperate cries for peace seeping relentless unwarmed by blazing sun unchilled by bitter frost nothing words mean nothing but to me ghostly thoughts…