Isolation

Shadows     Even the wind was somehow hot and thick that June evening. Standing in front of the old bowling alley, my favorite old dirty Misfits t-shirt glued to my back with sweat, the oppressive night air seemed to somehow diminish all thought and reasoning, almost as if these record high temperatures were melting my brain. Finally, after enduring this for hours, I decided that I’d had enough and was going to do something...

Love Remains I’ve heard it said… That even if a man came back from the dead We still wouldn’t listen to a word that he spoke We’d tell stories about him around fire and smoke We’d call him a ghost So we’d haunt ourselves with old memories instead And leave his ghost to grow lonely inside his own head   I once knew a man They cut off his hand Buried it in the African...

There should be a word For the open road   You’ve been tailgating others around This town where you were born An impatient game of pac-man Where you are the hungry ghost   And everything you know of others You learned from their bumper stickers While wondering how the activists And theologians Would ever even see you behind them Through the decades of peeling vinyl Sometimes catchy Sometimes funny Sometimes true But who are they?...

Crunchy Pudding             “I’m so damned hungry.” I mutter to myself which makes me smile just a little bit. Momma used to always ask me why I had conversations with myself. To which I would always smirk and reply “If I want an intelligent answer to my question, why not ask a genius?” I have always been sort of full of myself, even at a young age. Somehow, I could take a problem and create...

The Devil Wins My Tears Once Again   You speak but your eyes tell the truth Deceit and lies spew forth from your mouth Hidden behind the walls of complements Forever speaking but never honestly My pain wells up behind a mask of caring My tears held back for none to see I silently carry the burden of Love Craving only Truth and Honesty from my partner in life I starve for Love’s sweet embrace...

Sitting inside a dark room, Lighting home-made candles for light. Igniting up a roaring fireplace, Using old papers and wood we found last night. Not for smores or happiness, But for solely warmth alone. Blankets piled on top of blankets, Simply to quiet stifling cold stone. Reading by the fire, Or by using the moonlight. Darkness and the frigid cold, Were my only friends at night. We got the big food stamp box, It’s like...

Anger is the wall I hide behind when I am wounded Silence is the healing balm as I pull out the arrows one by one Solitude is my comfort.   The wall begins to crumble as I heal My heart is finding words when I regain my sense of worth Forgiveness is my peace

There is a silence that is deeper than the absence of sound. It is the silence of closed hearts and of hope deferred. It is the silence of tears falling, unseen. It is a black hole that sucks the life out of every experience. The name of that silence is despair.   -Els W, June 2024.

One tree. Lost in isolation. Remote location. Deserted in sand, forsaken. One tree To cover me With the shadow of an untouchable.   What was my rage against that wind? What was my rage against that sun? What was my rage against Isolation? My rage was nothing. I was left to be A solitary man.   From some journeys We do not return.   j.w. McKinleyville, 8/18/25

Looking back, was I even there? The plants escaping toward the glass The room deflects, the light attracts Lady with a notebook in the chair   Sign along the bottom line Give me your time, you'll be fine God doesn't lie, so neither will I Give me your mind, you'll be fine You hate what you lost, you hate what you find Sign along the bottom line   -N. Trepiak