Personal Meditation No. 150 (Filing Cabinet)

“It’s not all in your mind but if you don’t control your mind, then the rest doesn’t matter.”

Embrace the Within.

Four mornings ago, I opened a filing cabinet that had remained mostly closed for the past two decades. Within were piles of files filled with poems, essays, and research compiled over a decade of my life. I am slowly and discerningly going through those files and papers and uncovering a lot of the thoughts from two decades ago that are quite relevant today.

That is from where the idea of “A Pantoum A Day” emerged. I used to write a bunch of poetry. The volume is evident from walking into my study over the past four days. There are many files and loose leafs of paper filled with different poems BUT my favorite of all are the pantoums. I started writing pantoums in a creative writing course at Frostburg and that form is one of the most important finds of my writing life. I enjoy the cyclical nature of the intertwining lines to form a poetic form that closely resembles the meandering and swirling of thoughts.

I don’t know how long I will be writing pantoums daily. This might continue every day. There might be more poems thrown within the mix at times. The pantoums might slow to a few a month BUT the addition of poetry to Embrace the Within is an important next step for my journey.

Poetry is an important part of my life and my writing. I started with poetry in my eighth grade year in Ms. Everett’s class with the poem “Bacon” that gained some notoriety around Smithsburg Middle School. And from there on out, poetry has always held a special place in my writing life.

I do enjoy the daily blog writing that is quite conversational. I do enjoy Gonzo literature, the Hero’s Journey archetype, and influence techniques BUT those ideas came later into my writing career. Poetry is the foundation and that is why I am bringing it back and integrating it into this site.

So, I hope you enjoy the new poetry and the old poetry as I get back into crafting pantoums. There are many more ideas and directions in those stacks of files. Research on cyber culture from the turn of the century, early musings about the structure and nature of the machine, essays applying the Hero’s Journey archetype as a critical approach, poetry for days, and researched papers on literature.

I am having a wonderful time rediscovering the me from the past. I am grateful for opening up that filing cabinet and finding a written record of what was going on back then, where I was focused, and what I was creating. I hope you enjoy the reminiscing as well that will lead to building some interesting new directions as I embrace the old and create the new.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain