I’ll speak of Injustice:

She had the strength to harm him.
To strike the blow, to score the wound
But not to bind it up.

She cannot heal him.
She has no salve strong enough.

I was joined by my friend, Melissa Fairbourn Peterson. We talked about the wounds we all suffer from one another whether intentionally or not and that those who inflict those wounds cannot heal us - only we can heal our wounds.
We discussed the importance of apologies in the healing process. The dangers in demanding an apology. How recognizing our complicity in our wounds helps us heal, and so much more.

We read from Les Miserables and from The Gulag Archipelago.

I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com.

My first book of poetry, My Mother Sleeps, is availabe for purchase at

The King's English Bookshop

and

Amazon.com

Special Guest: Melissa Peterson.

For this part,
Darling,
You must be brave.

by Kalen Dion

I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com.

My first book of poetry, My Mother Sleeps, is availabe for purchase at

The King's English Bookshop

and

Amazon.com

I see it now
For years I only sensed it
Or saw the dissipating dust tails of its approach
But it filled me with terror
And there was no cover or protection
So I ran
As fast as my child stride could take me
Not even knowing what it was –
Only that it was coming
But that made the fear so much more
In my little mind
So I ran harder
Until I forgot why I was running –
Only knowing that I couldn’t stop

But I see it now
Its shape is fluid and undefined
And its terrible potential fills my mind
I want to keep running – retreating
But it won’t stop and
It’s closing the gap and
It’s more terrible than I ever thought
But its real – I see it now
And I know
There’s no escape, there never was.
But I want to keep running anyway
Until it overtakes me
I won’t see it coming; it will just happen and be done
But my insufficient legs refuse to carry me anymore
So I prostrate myself as an offering

I know you’re coming, I whisper,
And I offer myself willingly

This is not defeat, I reassure myself
Then lower my eyes
And brace for its fury

But my mind keeps moving – defiantly
It knows truths that my body forgot
And reminds me:

You were born with claws
And they’re with you still –

And I remember and feel them
They are deep, but I feel them and they are there
So, I raise my body from the dirt and
My eyes to the distance
It is closer now – the gap disappearing
But not my fear. My fear is growing
(broadcast loudly by my beating heart)
But I no longer want to run
Nor offer myself willingly
Instead, I watch it come and I wait – in fear, true
But I wait to receive it
And I steady myself.

I have claws and I feel them
And I will meet it face to face
I have terrible potential too
I feel it now.

I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com.

My first book of poetry, My Mother Sleeps, is availabe for purchase at

The King's English Bookshop

and

Amazon.com

Meaningful Life

Having fame and wealth
Brings no true, lasting meaning
Such is found within

Concussion Baseline

I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com.

My first book of poetry, My Mother Sleeps, is availabe for purchase at

The King's English Bookshop

and

Amazon.com

Special Guest: Ben Christiansen.

Links:

• Concussion Baseline

Song sung blue
Everybody knows one

Song sung blue
Every garden grows one.

Me and you are subject to
The blues now and then

"Song Sung Blue," Neil Diamond

And, while more often than not, most of us have been able to take Neil’s advice to “take the blues and make a song [and] sing them out again,” whether metaphorically or literally, some of us have suffered or are suffering through depression so deep and encompassing that song is unable to penetrate and the desire to even sing a song is, at best, like a drop of water on a hot skillet, and, at worst, a stomach turning, repulsive thought, and that is a scary and dangerous place to be. In those times, it’s especially vital that we are able to notice the signs in ourselves and others and then reach out for help or reach out to help, respectively. Because, in those times, we can lose the ability to lift ourselves up. We lose the ability to put a smile on our face. We lose the ability to have an attitude of gratitude. And so, we need to be lifted up, and we need to lift up. In the words of Townes Van Zandt:

If I needed you
Would you come to me?
Would you come to me?
And ease my pain?

If you needed me
I would come to you
I would swim the seas
For to ease you pain

If I Needed You, Townes Van Zandt

In this episode, Jackie Pack and I discuss depression, situational and clinical (major depressive disorder) including what differentiates them. We discuss ways that we can help ourselves and each other as we pass through those days, weeks, months or years when we feel hopelessness covering us.

"He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother" by Neil Diamond

"If I Needed You" by Townes Van Zandt

Dark Canopy

Hopelessness covers me:
Like a forest canopy
On a moonless night
It covers me.
I see no way or path
To deliver myself.
And the darkness:
It fills my eyes.
And they are unable to see
The torchlight
Of rescuers who may approach.
All is black and dead.
Every gleam is only a phantom.
And the only variations in light
Are darker shadows
Waiting to finish me off
For good.

I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com.

My first book of poetry, My Mother Sleeps, is availabe for purchase at

The King's English Bookshop

and

Amazon.com

Special Guest: Jackie Pack, LCSW, CSAT-S, CMAT.

Among the things I’ve learned is that in November 2021, Allison was diagnosed with Stage 2 Unfavorable Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. (By the way, “unfavorable”? Who comes up with these terms, soccer match announcers? - “That was unlucky!”) But as terrifying as that was, she rose up to battle and, with the help of family, friends and competent medical providers, she waged battle as a head shorn warrior and the cancer is now in remission.

And now, nearly 39 years after we became (apparently) forgettable classmates, Allison joined me on The Poet (delayed) to discuss the topic of “truth” and ways in which her experience with cancer has shaped the lens through which she sees the world.

I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com.

If you're interested, my first book of poetry, My Mother Sleeps, is available at:

Amazon.com

The Kings English Bookshop

Special Guest: Allison Spencer.

I crave silence - clear and still,
And darkness too.
So complete
My body melds with it
Erasing the line where
Darkness ends and I begin.
I crave nothingness.

I was joined by Monte Wingle as I read my poem, Nirvana, and we discussed thoughts and ideas that came. Also, in the spirit of craving nothingness, we visited True Rest Float Spa to experience their float tank and see how close we could get to nothingness.

True REST Draper

Cover photo by: Lenka Sluneckova

Music: Prelude 2, by Max Richter

USA National Suicide Hotline (voice and text): 988
UK Suicide Hotline: 08006895652

I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com.

If you're interested, I recently published my first book of poetry which is available at the following place:

Amazon.com

The Kings English Book Shop

Special Guest: Monte Wingle.