Anyway (Frank)

I feel the happiness of the man who sees the spider at the bottom of the goblet, and drinks anyway, knowing that it will all end badly, and that everything is fatal, but who chooses to embrace life anyway, to balance the terror of being human against the joy of being human.

Joe Frank

Hemmed in (Byrd)

For there is no escape anywhere. You are hemmed in on every side by your own inadequacies and the crowding measures of your associates. The ones who survive with a measure of happiness are those who can live profoundly off of their intellectual resources, as hibernating animals live off their fat.

Richard Byrd, Alone

The future

If the future is a pseudo-fractal expansion of the present, how can so much be lost?

Conventional wisdom

Conventional wisdom doesn't consider personal determination.

On disbelief

Disbelief is belief for people who think.

This far (Stewart)

I had come this far
up the mountain to become something
less than I thought I was.

Arthur J. Stewart, from "This Far"

New poems

+14

Darkness

Don't infer at night
what is unseen in the light.

Third Wednesday

Third Wednesday has published my poem "The Word 2" in their print journal. They have also chosen to post it on their website as their Poem of the Week! Very cool. Alas, they somehow attributed it to "M. Rush" instead of "M. C. Rush," which doesn't do my brand any good, but still, I'll take it!

Luxury

Taking things for granted is my favorite luxury.

Identity

Ego minus vanity is identity.

Existence

All existence is coexistence.

Skepticism

The problem with most skeptics is that they are skeptical toward everything but themselves.

Quick 2017 Summation

Books Read:  61
Poems Written:  880

Satisfactory numbers, considering what a year of stress and disruption it was. Still a crazy number of poems.

Good riddance to bad rubbish

2017—the worst year of my life (thus far).