notice

notice every muscle in your body all at once
empty your mind, make it a
crucible that melts the pain into
something you can spit out,
react only to the gravity pulling at your feet
destination irrelevant
purpose in each stride
size up the world and
n o t i c e

Hell doesn't exist

I don't believe in Hell.
Is that crazy?
Is it crazy to believe my kind God believes in
forgiveness and not violent revenge?

I don't think there's a point system in life
(no final tally at the end)
I don't think the meaning of life is to have
more points in the good column than the bad
(to avoid Hell)

Some people have trouble wrapping their heads around
the radical notion.
"If Hell doesn't exist
how do I justify my hate?" they asked,
"I've told countless strangers they are
going to burn in Hell for eternity for being
gay,
divorced,
or not a part of my religion...
without Hell, how do I justify-
how do I know I am better than them?"

No one has all the answers.
Maybe there's a Heaven,
maybe there's not.

What I know is
I don't believe in Hell.
Is that crazy?
Is it crazy to believe my kind God believes in
forgiveness and not violent revenge?
I see nothing holy in darkness, only in Light.

art is

built with anything but walls
protective while
daring you to do what
scares you most

the excitement
can feel like fire
and like being
dunked in the Arctic Ocean
all at once

it is freedom
and pain
and healing
and neverending

the meaning of life

time and time again, we
destroy what little beauty
we create

why build things
only to send them
crashing back down?
we know the pattern
and yet

we keep building
we keep creating
as new songs pour from our throats
as flowers grow tall in paintings that have every color but blue
hope blooms within our hearts
reminding us why

why we build things
even when we know they will
eventually come crashing back down

Settle in.

only when the whispers stop
only when the trees grow still
only when the silence settles in

can you feel it

tune into the space around you
like it's a station on
a sensitive radio

take a deep breath
and only inhale
Light