Loss
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Greasing the Skids
"Grease the skids,"said his father. He had no ideawhat skids were,or where or how to grease them,or what relevance either grease or skids hadto his current problem. His father was proneto sudden, short and seemingly certain solutionsto any problem,all of… Continue reading
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Las Vegas Bids Me Good Riddance
My apologies to the good folks of Las Vegas,most of whom never make their wayto the Stripunless they work here(or so the few I've talked with have said),and no doubtthere are other seedy, sad, money-grubbing, facile pockets of American… Continue reading
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Slots
I walk through the casinoto get to the pool.Slot machinesin a taped-off area,have been opened uplike patients undergoing heart surgery,their dark, mechanical innards exposed–lights off,sounds silenced,hearts excised. Not playmates.Not friends.Simply gutless machinesprogrammed to fool youinto giving them your money. I… Continue reading
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Flotsam
Dis-identifyfrom your thoughts.You are not the things you think. Thoughts are your mind at work– often obsessed, often distracted, often distressed, often wrong. Your thoughts are not you;they are games your mind playsto amuse itself. Let… Continue reading
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Answering the Call
Do you hear that?It's loving calling you,calling you to let go. What's the worst that could happen?You could lose yourselfand find eternity. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading
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Credo
Sleep in the dark awarenessof God as God is–unknowable, waiting, ready. Here we find faith. Here we lose self. Here we become love. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading
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The Forest
Lost in the forest,alone, afraid, abandoned,I fall to my knees,bury my face in my hands,and weep. When my tears have ended,when I have exhausted my grief,I open my eyes and look around:trees have gathered,forming a protective circle,arms joining above, sheltering… Continue reading
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The Compass
She used to own a compass…perhaps now packed awaywith her old Girl Scout stuff–a sash, some badges, a plastic lanyard, an empty cookie box. Now she'd simply lost her way.On which side of the tree does the moss grow?On which… Continue reading
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The Beginning
He saw her for the final time just after sunrise,when autumn's cool morningbetrayed the heat that would manifest by midday. She'd seemed uncharacteristically distracted–diverted from her typical high focus–as she lifted her broad-rimmed straw hatfrom the peg beside the kitchen… Continue reading
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Into the Stream of Consciousness
Dipping my toein the stream of consciousnessI find it oddly cooling–soothing in a wayI didn't anticipate. Next the foot..and soon, stripping to nothing,I take the plunge–waters of cluttered, un-institutionalized freshnesswash over me,tumble me in their turbulent current,bracing,bruising,bathing,revealing… Is this dream or… Continue reading