Always a Way

Bethany Hamilton

I read this poem via Dena today, and I find it very fitting of how I feel towards living. I sometimes struggle with this mindset, but at the core of my being, I know it to be true. And it is a good reminder about the burst of life - sometimes we stifle it, with so many things - inane, unimportant things (though I think a tiny dose of those doesn't hurt) - and unhealthy habits and foods. It gets so stifled that we actually believe we can't accomplish what we want! How ludicrous!

A friend on IRC (yeah, there's been a revival amongst my old online friends) said yesterday to someone who was lamenting their terrible situation:

If you want something badly enough, you will make it happen, simple as that.

And it's true. We make things so complicated, and there is always a way. People in dire, horrible circumstances have prevailed if they have really pressed to succeed - why is anyone else any different? You most likely have full use of your brain and your bodily functions and limbs - not everyone does and many of those ignore their hardships and go for their desires anyway. So...you can, as well.



I think it's time to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, and even for others, because in the majority of peoples' lives, they have it pretty good. Most problems are petty, so start feeling grateful for what you do have and push to get the excess you want!

Roll the Dice
by Charles Bukowski


if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.

fuck yes i lived

there is a slow burn to make fast breath
hot in the belly, caught in the throat
i am a star leaving a trail of ash
plummeting toward earth
with a dagger between my teeth
to cut the boredom from your life
to scrape the excuses from your tongue
to stab the ennui in your chest

i am a juggernaut
a steaming froth of white light
a gaseous nebula of rainbow fire
a dancing vixen of tempting swirls
a nymphet on the precipice of careening down the cliff
just to see what it's like
just to see what is there

kissing everyone in my path
the beauty of everyone apparent to me
the passion repressed in their every cell
this must be brought to the surface
to be sloughed off into songs and words scrawled on paper
to be colours and maniacal streaks of paint on the ground
chalk on your face
metal in your skin
blinding throbbing ecstasy pulsing like pins and wrought iron in your capillaries
you can see if you look carefully at your wrists
the painful yearning of life,
bursting to get out
to make you see what is there
everywhere
in front of you
behind your eyelids
behind you
thrown at you

take it grab it and devour it
like a demon with a thousand claws,
ripping with a thousand teeth
eat your life with me
suck it down your throat
run wildly through forests with your hair wet against your back
from the time you felt the urge to jump in that fountain
from the tears you wept over the exquisite ache of love
from the sweat of the sun making you bloom

so when you die
you can say
fuck yes i lived.

~ Lorra Fae, 2011