In Part 1, I explored a difficult truth: we don’t die because something goes wrong—we die because we are alive. Life includes uncertainty, loss, and things we cannot control.

But that leaves a deeper question:

How do we actually live inside that reality?

In this episode, I explore what happens when fear takes over—when we panic, freeze, or react too quickly—and how, in those moments, we can lose something essential within ourselves.

Through a personal story, reflections on thinkers like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, and ideas drawn from poetry and lived experience, this episode moves toward a simple but demanding principle:

Stay in the doorway long enough… then move with integrity.

This isn’t about eliminating fear.
It’s about learning how to face it without abandoning yourself.

I also share practical ways this shows up in daily life—how awareness, boundaries, and what I call “containers” can help reduce overwhelm and allow us to respond more clearly instead of reacting out of pressure.

If Part 1 was about accepting reality,
this episode is about how to move within it.

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 books of poetry are availabe for purchase at

Amazon.com

["The Ghost of a Beating Heart", "My Mother Sleeps" and "Haiku Village"]()

I was joined this episode by Chris and Elise Jones and Ali Talbot. We gathered in the warm, book-lined library at Chris and Elise Jones’ home and just talked.

We read Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem Go to the Limits of Your Longing, and from there we let the conversation unfold naturally. We talked about suffering — not in a heavy, hopeless way, but in the way you talk when you know that pain and beauty are woven into the same thread. We explored what it means to surrender to life’s difficulties instead of resisting them. We laughed about childhood memories, tofu meatloaf, and the glory of Saturday morning cartoons. We got real about trauma, caretaking, creating from heartbreak, and what it means to show up for each other when life breaks us open.

This episode is about sitting with what’s hard, about finding connection through vulnerability, and about how creativity — whether it’s poetry, baking, music, or just making something out of pain — can save us in quiet, powerful ways.

It’s also about joy. Tangents. Belly laughs. Tears. Root beer ice cream sandwiches.

Give it a listen. It’s not polished, but it’s real. And sometimes that’s exactly what we need most.

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 books of poetry, My Mother Sleeps, The Ghost of a Beating Heart and Haiku Village are availabe for purchase at

Amazon.com

Special Guests: Ali Talbot, Christian Jones, and Elise Jones.

[Ignorant before the heavens of my life]

Ignorant before the heavens of my life,
I stand and gaze in wonder. Oh the vastness
of the stars. Their rising and descent. How still.
As if I didn't exist. Do I have any
share in this? Have I somehow dispensed with
their pure effect? Does my blood's ebb and flow
change with their changes? Let me put aside
every desire, every relationship
except this one, so that my heart grows used to
its farthest spaces. Better that it live
fully aware, in the terror of its stars, than
as if protected, soothed by what is near.

RM Rilke

I'd love to hear any comments or thoughts about this episode. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com. Thanks for listening.