One Year Ago Today: Sewn

Christine Ray – Stitching together lovers

Brave & Reckless

we line up the edges
of our frayed hearts
thread a sharp needle
with silken floss
spun from fragile hopes
newfound trust
dreams
private smiles
midnight whispers
passionate kisses
we sew slowly
carefully
small, neat stitches
smoothing wrinkles
from our fabric
ensuring fit
checking for gaps
puckering
going back once
or twice
to unsew missteps
correcting as necessary
before finishing a smooth seam
step back to
admire our handiwork
we have created
something fresh
something new
to wrap ourselves in
on cold nights
tough enough to shelter us
in a storm
a thing of beauty
made from torn edges
and bruised flesh
a new whole
more than the sum
of its parts

© 2017 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All Rights Reserved

 

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On the man who sold me my car.

LuckyOtter – A decent, hard working immigrant, and a national promise broken

Lucky Otters Haven

Honduran family traveling in a caravan to the US border

The man who sold me my car today (a 2012 gunmetal gray Toyota Corolla that runs like a brand new car in case you’re interested) was from Honduras. There was a Honduran flag displayed on the wall over his desk, and there were framed pictures of his children, who looked so much like many of the migrant children we have been seeing at the border.

All I could think was, “I hope they don’t deport you and I hope they don’t take your kids away.”   He was a pleasant and hardworking man with a family.  Why would our government be rounding up people like him?  And yet here we are.

2019 America.  How far we have fallen.    Lady Liberty should be shrouded until this crisis our president has created is over, or given back to the French.   We don’t…

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The Colonoscopy that is America Explains Trump’s Consistent Approval Rate

Calico Jack – Presidential approval ratings are like a colonoscopy.

The Psy of Life

3 Psych Tendencies the GOP Manipulates

Our good friends over at FiveThirty-Eight.com published an analysis the Ol’ Pussy Grabber’s approval-disapproval rating. They note that his approval rating has only fluctuated about nine points ranging between 36 and 45 points. They posit that this might be due to either a cult of personality or a loyalty to the person, not the party or partisan politics. I believe there is another more compelling explanation based on the behavioral economics heuristic, the peak-end experience.

Presidential Approval Ratings

Trump’s Approval Rating is Remarkably Steady

But, before I explain how our current time is like a colonoscopy for the country and how this affects the old bastard’s approval rating, allow me a short aside to talk about the article itself. They created a chart, pictured at the right (I hope they don’t mind that I use it, but if they sue me, at least it…

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Psychopathy and Enlightenment

Cluster B – Psychopaths and enlightenment?

CLUSTER B

For Christians, it is salvation. For Buddhists, it is enlightenment. Both represent the ultimate goal humans can aspire to. They each take us out of the realm of the physical world to something different. “Salvation” is all about “god” lifting a curse of original sin and an eternity in Hell. “Enlightenment” is about a change in consciousness, a realization releasing us from limiting concepts and beliefs.

Psychopaths have a consciousness that is markedly different from that of the average person. Some of these differences are used to damn us (in the eyes of the public). Lack of conscience is that number one difference. Lack of empathy is another, closely related one. But what about ability to focus on present time? What about detachment?

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I came across a question on Quora that directly addressed the titled issue:

“Psychopaths: in many ways the experience of being a psychopath sounds like…

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Mirror Images (revisited)

Christine Ray – Discomfort in the mirror

Brave & Reckless

my reflection
and I
do not behave
the way
mirror images
ought
we do not
face each other
glassed twins
one of us
safely contained
in a liquid silver pool
instead
we stand
shoulder to shoulder
in an empty room
we do not
touch
but stare
in opposite directions
studiously avoiding
eye contact
neither of us
comfortable with
our nakedness
reluctant
witnesses
to raw
vulnerability
unwilling to acknowledge
that our hearts
are secretly
needful things
marble statues
we gaze sightlessly
at bare white walls
of this stark prison
of our own design
blind to
each other
unable to offer
solace or
comfort
in these long
aching nights
 

© 2017 Revised 2019 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All Rights Reserved

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How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health (guest post)

LuckyOtter presents a guest blog on social media and mental health.

Lucky Otters Haven

How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health

Guest Post by Daniela McVicker

We live in a time where social media has taken over our everyday lives.  Both older and younger generations constantly use their  phones to communicate with friends and family, as well as entertain themselves — and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are playing a very important role in all of these actions.

While social media can help connect people, improve information sharing, and provide hours of entertainment, there are also many negative aspects connected with their usage.  Famous people can promote unhealthy standards which an average person would never be able to achieve and sustain.  Taking this into consideration, here are some of the ways in which social media can affect your mental health.

It Can Promote Interaction and Create Friendships.

For people who are lonely, the internet can provide them with a social circle they…

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Shadowlands

TheFeatheredSleep – Love and shadows

TheFeatheredSleep

Sorry for the fade in my voice

but I’m not really here

I’m standing with you, among the fir trees

watching mango sun pray her rays

there is a voice in the air

singing a song of us

I was, I am, entire when

you are with me

I am, I was, whole when

you exist

we are together even as we are not

I am on my own again and you are

rounding the corner coming into view

it is our destiny to be pushed and pulled

like dancers from a stage

where the lights have of them, made

a kind of madness

you stand being absorbed by my

attention

it never waivered

you called me a laughing girl and

I put a gold chain around my waist

and told you, this is your chain you can

pull whenever you need me

the chain broke

the tree dropped its…

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Aquamarine

Christine Ray – A woman’s heart

Brave & Reckless

melancholy
an aquamarine tide
that washes over me
flooding my banks
piercing my sea walls
reminding me
how deeply human
I am
how delicate
how fragile
this woman’s heart

© 2018 Revised 2019 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All Rights Reserved

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One Year Ago Today: Sugar on My Tongue

Christine Ray – Words Unspoken

Brave & Reckless

Sappho wrote that words
we leave unspoken
will be wept
if true
soliloquies must rest
like sugar
undissolved
on my tongue

© 2017 Revised 2019 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All rights Reserved

 

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Call for Submissions: There Is Strength In Our Stories

At Blood Into Ink – call for submissions for your lived experience of sexual harassment and assault

Blood Into Ink

In honor of Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month, Blood Into Ink and We Will Not Be Silenced are putting out a call for submissions for your lived experience of sexual harassment and assault. We believe that there is strength in our collective voices. We believe our work is not done.  Writing and art accepted for There Is Strength In Our Stories will be published on Blood Into Ink’s website and through the BII social media accounts, as well as on the We Will Not Be Silenced Facebook page during the month of April 2019.

Writers and artists can submit up to three pieces of creative work (poetry, prose, essay, and/or original artwork.)  Pieces of writing should be limited in length (under 1,500 words.)   Using a pen name or publishing anonymously is acceptable.  You will be asked to provide a brief biography (75 words or less.)

Please do not consider…

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