the name you choose for yourself

Jeremy Mann

You’re asking who knows the truth.

One may move so well that a foot-print never shows. -Lao Tzu

Step into the corner of night, the edge of the blue-steel future,
step into those things that you have hoped for, but haven't said.

You are a field left fallow, an unanswered question, a small slice
of winter that was hidden and saved for the long, slow heat of summer.

Where are your foot-prints now? What is it that you have hidden,
buried deep somewhere? How will you move at all, so badly wounded?

You are the sum and total of your every experience, your every thought.
And this is the boat of your life, slicing through a choppy, shallow bay,

the dog that just walked away, the river that laughed at the bayou
and went where it wanted to go, the sun that burned and ravaged the land.

Step into the corner of night, the edge of the blue-steel future,
step into those things that you have hoped for, but never said.

You wanted to know the truth? Friend, the truth is inside of you.
You are the only one who ever knew the truth.

James Lee Jobe

The scars we carry are permanent reminders of our survival.

Barron Sudderth

Damn all naysayers and speak the truth.

You need not hide any longer.
Roll the stone away and exit the tomb --
Just like Jesus. Remove that mask
and toss it over your shoulder as you go.
Now you may use the name
that you have chosen for yourself.
Now you may live
how your heart tells you to live.
Damn all naysayers and speak the truth.
be bold in thought and deed,
and trust your instincts, always,
even when your instincts might be wrong.
-- especially when your instincts might be wrong.
Failure is beautiful, failure is freedom.
Hide no longer. Walk into the light.
Damn them all, you're free.

James Lee Jobe

Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism. 

Noam Chomsky

Frida, by Emily Garces

Embrace those troubles.

Spring comes on in waves, cool, then warm,
Then cool again. Back and forth
Until warm finally wins, just before summer.

So it goes with the ups and downs of living.
Some good things, some bad things,
Some easy, and some hard, joy and sorrow.

One of them wins out just before death,
But which one? It doesn’t matter.
Live in the moment,

Embrace your troubles like they are blessings.
The end matters no more than the beginning,
And the beginning doesn’t matter at all.

James Lee Jobe

Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe.

Gautama Buddha

I'm reading poems by Wang Wei, recorded during the pandemic.

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James