emptiness

  • Absence

    Life fills with absences,mostly unexcused.Why-ever you left,I don't recall signing the slip:    anger? fear? boredom?    distraction? inertia? death? Life is Swiss cheesewithout you. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Empty

    "This morning,"she said,hands wrapped for warmtharound her coffee cup,"I woke up empty." "Empty?" he asked,spoonful of All-Branhalfway to his mouth."Empty as in…how?"For him,empty could be good, like Zen:    open,    clear,    ready.Or empty could be sad, like death: … Continue reading

  • Where Emptiness Leads

    early morning darknesshouse chill from winter's nighthe sits on the couchalone, sadtentatively tasting an emptinesshe can't yet labelhe waits for the padded arms of the couchto wrap and hold himassure him the emptinesswhatever it iswill passor fillor perhaps take himsomewhereanywhereinto… Continue reading

  • Christmas, Day 2

    "Christ did not come into the world for gold."            –Bartalome de Las Casas (1484-1566)  Christ has not come for power.Christ has not come for gold.Christ has not come for fame.Christ has not come to shame or scold. Christ has… Continue reading

  • 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

  • The Empty Glass

    "This is me," he said,picking up the glass and holding it,bottom side up,in the air between them;"Completely empty." Post-divorce,released from his job,out of his foreclosed home,zero-balanced in all accounts:"Emp-tee."He righted the glass and set it back on the table. "My… Continue reading

  • March 14, 2012

    I stand at the sink.In the sink are a coffee cup,a cereal bowl,and a spoon.At this moment,the energy it will taketo move these three itemsfrom the sink to the dishwasherseems overwhelming.I can not do it. This is depression. For me,… Continue reading

  • Who You Are

    Though loss follows loss,you are not diminished.If anything,you becomemore clearly, purely, simplywho you are. Imagine yourself a crystal goblet,sparklingly empty,reflector and refractor of Light–an object of beauty breathtaking,ready to be filledwith the attainableand the inconceivable. Text and image © 2012 by… Continue reading

  • My Face

    My face,empty at the table like a white china plate,waits for supper.From the kitchen,silence. Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.   Continue reading

  • This Burden of Knowing

    In the course of the conversation,over a cigarette and a Negroni,he'd expressed his passionate opinionabout a local news anchor,a state politician,a popular TV show,an award-winning movie,a national restaurant chain,sauvignon blanc from New Zealand vs. California,global warming,a friend,a family member,and what… Continue reading