I Believe in Possibilities

I am the passion of purple with a bow of pink
wrapped up in my own insecurities
waiting to be opened by you
I don't just think smart is sexy
I know this to be a universal truth
the same way art is beauty
I dance to the proverbial drummer
In my kitchen alone at night
naked but for my joy
I am searching for my truth
in words, colors, texture and sound
I believe in possibilities
of love and luck and me
and maybe you.

Why Hate?

Why hate?

Why push someone else down

to lift yourself up?

Is there no other way for you?

Would it be so fucking funny

If you were the one being pointed at?

Shoved to the ground?

Stepped on?

Can you learn?

Or is it too late for you

to see the error of your ways?

What can we do to teach you?

Or are you simply incapable

of feeling empathy

putting yourself in others' shoes?

I feel so sorry for you.

I can only wonder at you

at how empty your life must be.

We will help and hold

and do everything in our power

to help your victim

to support the innocent

to make sure they understand

they are perfect exactly as they are.

You, however, are not.

And that's the saddest thing of all.

NO!

A single word can't hurt anyone

Can it?

What about when it's spoken

to a child?

Words like faggot

freak

retard

spaz

homo

dyke

queer

lesbo

moron

What new words will bullies

of all ages

come up with next

to say to some poor soul

who had done nothing to anyone

(nothing except try to live their life

figure out who and what they are

their purpose in this life)

all to make themselves feel better

about their own pathetic life?

Since you and I

are smart enough to know

to understand

that there is power in every single, little word

let's us

you and I

use one in return; 

NO!

What You Can Do

I am a content creator. One of the first things I learned when I was studying photography was the copyright laws and how they applied to the latent image on the film from the moment the exposure is made. That's right, for those of you that grew up post actual film, the image (and its ownership) is sacred and copywritten the instant it exists in the camera.  Protecting that copywrite was a very different matter back then and possession was nine tenths of the law, as the expression goes.  The negative was a physical thing that couldn't be duplicated by a simple click of the mouse. Publication wasn't instantaneous and world wide.

Today, theft and piracy are constant threats for anyone who creates art and content and publishes it electronically. We are all on guard constantly to make sure that not only is our material not being used without our express authorization, but also that we are not leaving ourselves vulnerable to theft by corporations with questionable terms of service contracts.

As terrible as online piracy is, and the threat is real, the answer is not government censorship, or the potential ability to censor.  Censorship of legitimate activities because of the potential bad behavior of others is not how I want my country to be run.  I don't want a bunch of rich white men who don't know an IP address from an IHoP telling me what I can or can't put up on MY sites.

Being anti-SOPA or anti-PIPA does not mean I am for piracy, it means I am against my government trying to regulate something it's ruling membership doesn't even understand by means of censorship at the expense of the innocent.

Today, this site went dark in solidarity with hundreds of thousands of other websites large and small to boycott the pending SOPA and PIPA legislation. But, we need your help to make our point to the elected officials that want to curtail our rights to put our content up without the risk of censorship.

Please contact your representatives to Congress and tell them that if they support these bills, instead of the internet going dark, it will be the lights in their district offices going dark when we vote them out of office.

You can find your representative and their contact information HERE.

New Year's Day

I'm having a really hard time finding words for this...

I've written about my feelings for Gettysburg. 

I need to write more about choices. About being deliberate. About understanding myself. About making choices that support my artistic endeavors. About getting off my ass, fighting inertia, and doing things that are good for me.

What does all of this have to do with anything? 

Max drove me to work on Friday. Because he was driving, I was free to notice the little bit of fog. The fog reminded me of Gettysburg and I realized it had been a while since I had been there. I mentioned that maybe this weekend would be a good time to drive down since the younger boys would be with their dad. This thought/comment was then filed in the back of my brain.

I met a friend, Adam, for lunch on Saturday. We were talking about photography and art and creativity. As I started to mention Gettysburg that comment I had made to Max popped to the surface...

I started to dismiss it and Adam asked if I wanted to go to Gettysburg. I started to dismiss the idea again when I realized tomorrow would be New Year's Day.  Then it hit me. The new year. Sunrise. The beginning of a beginning. And somehow in that moment it became important for me in a symbolic way. I needed to chose to start this year off creatively. I needed to start this year in the kind of zen that comes from that place. From looking at things I've seen a dozen times yet always look new. From trying to share the dichotomy of deep sadness and joy I experience there.

So I went to sleep early on New Year's Eve. I missed the saying goodbye to the old. Not really. I had already said my goodbyes to one of the worst years I've ever lived through. I hardly slept. I was energized with anticipation. Looking forward to something is a wonderful way to feel. 

Adam showed me a beautiful covered bridge he had photographed with friends before, I showed him Little Round Top, and we both saw the National Cemetery for the first time. It was a wonderful way to start 2012.

I'll put the sunrise here; the images of the bridge and battlefield will follow in separate posts.

Burn Brightly

A couple of words
silly little words from you
make me smile all day.

With words and a smile
you infuse my soul with light
and I burn brightly.


Originally published November 15, 2010

Of God and Souls

I look in your eyes
and can see into your soul
and know your heart too.

If God were scattered
little pieces each a soul
you and I connect.

There are no soul mates
only pieces connecting
to form a new whole.

Your soul shines brightly
pushing away the darkness
lighting up my world.

God is in us all
pieces of the universe
bound in flesh and blood.




Originally published November 11, 2010

The Poet

When I write poetry I usually have a thought or feeling in mind when I start.  I usually narrow it down to a word or two and then I hold this idea gently at the front of my mind.  In my mind's eye I see this 'thing'.  I turn it around; caressing it, and let the words come to me.  Often it takes a number of these little poems for me to feel that I am satisfied with my expression of whatever the thought or feeling was.

My poetic forms of preference are the haiku (often the subform of the senryu) and the gogyohka.  These little poems are meant to stand alone.  Yet, I usually have a string of them that as a larger whole becomes a different sort of piece completely.

While I like the results I have achieved in these super-sized versions, I am learning to trust these little poems by themselves or in smaller groups.  So, the next few posts will be truer to the nature of these forms than I have been in the past.  In doing this, I am also forcing myself to work harder to get complete thoughts down in a much smaller space.

Please leave comments if anything strikes you in any way, good or bad.  The only way I improve at anything I do in life is through feedback.

As always, thank you for spending some of your precious time and thought visiting here.

My darling poet

empty your heart on the page

tell me your desire.

You are so quiet

your poems, so eloquent

sing your unsaid words.

Originally published November 11, 2010

Floating

Taking your face in my hands.

Kissing you so

slowly

achingly

slowly

tasting your drink on your tongue

sighing

feeling my heartbeat catch

then flutter

then race

nuzzling you

head to head

sighing in your ear

sucking on your earlobe

as if it could ever be a suitable substitute

for anything else

but want

to be sucking you

in any way

need to

need a lot of things about you

keep getting that pit of the stomach feeling

the same one from a rollercoaster

as you crest a hill

and outwit gravity

for a split second

and all your guts float

so I guess I'm saying

you make me feel like I'm floating

Colors of My Friends

Color, tint, and shade

thought, emotion, subtlety

colors of a friend.

Broad sweeping brush stroke

painting pictures of my friends

I need more colors.

One is rich and deep

many layers, mostly blues

subtlety of wit.

Flashes of brilliance

and vulnerability

within the layers.

Blues don't excite me

not usually that is

this one is special.

Something about those

layers where life and love lay

in between those blues.

Desert, mountains, air

the color of a deep breath

fire in a soul.

Bold strokes friend of blue

hide the subtlety of you

and so I love you.

This friend I must paint

quickly for he's seldom still

a kaleidoscope.

Colors tumble round

bright, vibrant, colors moving

showing me so much.

Colors of love, lust

mixed with loss, and pain, and hurt

hope and joy there too.

Colors of friendship

strong, deep, safe, gentle brother

jewel tones for you.

For this friend-purple

one of my favorite hues

fit for gods and kings.

A nobility

graceful gentleness, kind heart

described in this hue.

Mischief is here too

the colors of a deep laugh

shading of a smile.

An honest brush stroke

faithfulness above all else

is painted here too. 

The colors of you

make you so special to me

you make me stronger. 

Some friends I hold tight

afraid of my own shadow

relying on them.

They are gracious, kind

patient when I cling too tight

they teach me to fly.

As I spread my wings

I see the colors of them

have rubbed off on me. 

Many friends are new

many colors still hidden

takes time to see you.

But in each, "Hello"

each glance, word, kiss, and embrace

I see more colors.

As you reveal you

add more color to canvas

my love for you grows.

I immerse myself in you

swirl your colors around me

loving learning you.

And in learning you

I find wisdom about me

painting both of us.

Success Guest Posts Wanted

Back on June 7th I got one of my hair-brained ideas; I decided to ask for guest posts on the subjects of Art, Creativity, and/or Inspiration. In addition to putting out the post and a few tweets, I sent out direct messages inviting creative folks I knew to participate.

The resulting posts went up on a new site called ChocolateScotch.com. As of today, there are 63 guest posts on those topics. They range from an audio response to a sonnet, to a fictionalized account of me searching for thoughts on creativity inside the mind of a friend. And while I think the possibilities for posts about art, creativity, and/or inspiration are endless, I've decided to move on and give you a new topic: success.

So tell me what "success" means to you. What is it? How do you define it? Is it lasting? Fleeting? Elusive? Possible? How do you know when you are successful? What constitutes success for you? Work? Fame? Family? Money? And, once you define it, how long till that definition changes?

You can send your thoughts (along with a short bio if you are new to Chocolate Scotch as a contributor) to DyedBrightHere (at) gmail (dot) com.

On Freedom and copyrights

If you are a creative and a customer of Dropbox hopefully you are aware of the current brewhaha going on now. Dropbox changed their TOS (terms of service) and a stampede for the exit door ensued.

A safe, inexpensive, reliable way to back up our data in all its various forms is something just about every computer user needs. Dropbox came along and offered a wonderful solution. They are a cloud based (somewhere in the etherwebs...off site...on their virtual servers) service where you can easily upload your files to their secure servers and then access them from any location that has internet access and even more importantly, share folders with other users. Every time you save a file dropbox keeps the older versions too. So, if something happens to your file, you can always retrieve the last save or any prior versions.

As an editor, and voice actor I have found dropbox to be invaluable. Before I started using dropbox, my battery died on my laptop while open office was open. I was 3 weeks into editing a novel and the entire file was corrupted. After drying my tears, I moved the original manuscript to dropbox and started over with a new open office version that I made my notes and changes to. Every time I hit save (or the program auto saved) I knew it was safe. When collaborating across 1500 miles on an audio project, a reliable way to transfer files in raw format is critical. If I have to use email then I have to compress the file and in doing so the audio engineer or editor on the other end has a lot less information to work with. With dropbox I could share files with all the people I work with easily.

The problem with the new TOS is that the language implies that dropbox is laying claim to the copyright of everything stored in their service and can not be held responsible if they use anything in any way without the true copyright holder's permission or compensation. They are saying that by agreeing to their TOS a customer is giving them permission to use their copyrighted material and also that the person putting it on their service owns the rights to whatever they are storing there.

In my personal case, I do not own the copyrights to a lot of the materials I was storing there. I am simply working on someone else's work. For that reason, when I was made aware of this change, I had to remove all works that are not mine. I can't risk someone else's copyrights. If something should happen to someone else's intellectual property while in my care I can't imagine what that would do to me not just as an editor but as a friend.

Now, I'm sure this all started when an attorney for Dropbox thought they were making their TOS better for Dropbox. It sounds like legalise designed for the CYA approach to business. Unfortunately for Dropbox I don't want you covering your corporate ass at the expense of my, and my clients and friends, rights as a creator. Since this started, they have been updating and improving the language of their TOS multiple times. I understand they need to take care of business and safeguard their company. But as a consumer, I have rights too. Corporate America seems to think their rights supersede mine. So, while the attorneys and CEO's have the right to create whatever TOS they want, I have the right to chose to not use your product.

So, all the files my creative friends and clients have entrusted to my care are now safely down out of the clouds and I'm back to the old fashioned backup of using an additional hard drive while I wait for Dropbox to decide what their TOS is or will be. And now, I'm also tasked with looking for secure alternatives for file sharing.

Seems that celebrating freedom this year has taken on a slightly different meaning in terms of freedom to own copywritten material...

Happy 4th of July.

For additional thoughts (and more in-depth analysis of the legalese) on this issue, please visit my friend Dan Sawyer's site http://jdsawyer.net.

Guest Posts Wanted

Creativity
Art

 Inspiration

When you see those words what comes to mind? Are you a "creative"? Do you write, draw, compose, paint, dye, design, or create things that are unique to you?


I want to know your thoughts on any or all of those three words. In whatever context you chose to write about. What do you create? How do you do it? What inspires you? What are your thoughts on art in general? Anything. It can be insightful, poignant, funny--whatever--I want to know what YOU think.


I will be contacting people directly but don't wait for me...if you are interested you can send me a DM on Twitter (@BrightEyedDyer) or send an email to DyedBrightHere (at) gmail (dot) com. If I'm not already following you on Twitter, just give a yell and I'll correct that.


Thank you all in advance...I can't wait to find out what you think, what inspires your creativity.

**You can email your posts to me at the above address. I'm not looking to intrude too much on anyone's busy schedule so the deadline is when you can get it done (preferably in the next few weeks). I am hoping to start running them in a couple of weeks. One every day or other day depending on how many of you are brave enough...

Thank you again!


~~Added on 2/18/12:  This post and the response it generated were the catalyst to a little site called Chocolate Scotch. I am still seeking guest posts and would love to include you and your thoughts in this project.   Sue~~

For @Mattsontomlin

You are creating
What your heart dreams of doing
It is a big deal

Thank you for inspiring these words, Matt. Please remember them when the mundane threatens to take over the divine.

The following piece is just a work of fiction...

My outrage complete
I would never hurt my kids
You're an idiot

I am creative
I string words together here
Sometimes it's FICTION

Poems and essays
I've tried writing longer works
But prefer poems

I read horror now
And find that I enjoy it
I wrote a poem

Maybe fantasy
Is a genre I should try
Would you think that's real?

Dragons, vampires, elves
Would a poem about these
Cause you such concern?

I've never made threats
To cause you bodily harm
You can't say the same

If you now read this
I will add some disclaimers
For fools just like you

"The following piece
Is just a work of fiction
I hope you enjoy"

"Comments are welcome
But please address them to me
Not your attorney"

Insights on Art

I just finished listening to my friend, Paul E. Cooley's (of ShadowPublications.com) first con panel from ConJour, "Why Aren't Horror Movies Scary Anymore?"  and I had some thoughts, not just on horror or movies but on writing and creating in general. In fact, the lessons I take away from this would probably apply to just about any form of creative endeavor.

1. Get an education in your chosen medium. Learn the history and immerse yourself in what has already been done. Figure out what you like and don't like and most importantly, why.

2. Get an education in art in general. No particular medium exists in a vacuum. Inspiration and points of reference are everywhere.

3. Have something to say. If you don't know what you are trying to express, how will you know if or when you have said it? Once you have figured out what you want to say, don't pussyfoot around; express your point of view and defend it if you have to. Then, be willing to listen to people's opinions and maybe learn from them. Art is a conversation.

4. Keep it simple. And, often, less is more. You may have a lot of things you want to express, a lot of things you want to try. That's fine, but if you try to do too much in one piece you will most likely confuse your audience or lose them entirely. Do one or two things, and do them well. Save the next couple of things for your next piece.

I have never been a huge fan of horror in the past so my personal knowledge of this genre is very limited. I am thankful that my friends have different passions and preferences from mine as interacting with them broadens my horizons. So, thank you, Paul, for the insight you and your fellow pannelists provided. Job well done.

Step outside your comfort zone. Read, listen to, watch, or experience something you usually wouldn't; make yourself think. Who knows, you just might enjoy it...

Jealousy

Jealousy is fear

that someone will take away

what you thought you had

A Tree Full of Butterflies

The brisk Autumn winds
rustle the leaves taking death
leaving the dying.


Sunlight filtered gold
a tree full of butterflies
fluttering nowhere.

Gettysburg Battlefield in Autumn: Part 7-Misc

Part 1 "Fog" is here.

Part 2 "Nature" is here.

Part 3 "Roads & Paths and Self Portraits" is here.

Part 4 "Monuments and Graphic Design" is here.

Part 5 "The Power of the Monuments" is here.

Part 6 "Fences" is here.

Well, I think I've dragged this out as much as humanly possible. These are some miscellaneous images that really didn't fit into any of the previous themes as well as the best images from my trusty little Blackberry. I realize from doing these posts that I need to further work on my editing skills...

I Don't Write Poems

I don't write poems
I gently hold a thought
and wait for the words to come
and the poem
to write me.