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chords

can you still feel my cords? she

said often after the heat had subsided

and we were nearing sleep

at first i said yes, even though

i had no idea where they were

or if they still were

but like so many other lessons

from you i learned

after learning every square lovely

inch of your warm body

where your chords were

cords


there were other chords, also: lines

from your soul to mine

gullible at your will

veins

mixing sunbursts with rain

notes from my guitar, chords

calling your name

after long walks with puppy dog

after altercations over where

each or both of us would live (tell me)

can you still feel my chords

a thousand miles away?





-- douglas brent smith



 

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Platform Flyer

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No Brain No Anxiety

  We didn't have a garage, our neighbors, the Amy's did. Reverend Amy and his family lived next door. That is me sitting on the Chevy, wearing a Davy Crocket hat. I was a big Davy Crocket fan and had the theme song on a yellow 45 rpm record, which of course I sang to vigorously. What's your earliest memory from childhood? No Brain No Anxiety -- collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress
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Bad Presentation Habits

  People are distracted if you assemble an engine while you are making your presentation. Also, if you take photos of light posts and give them fancy names (like Howard Smith), or share tea with the ladies while the rest of the group stares in disbelief, feeling left out, feeling out of place. Is that the presentation that you intended? It wasn't easy to assemble a room filled with geniuses. Now what do you do? Bad Presentation Habits - collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress
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Family Time

  "What kind of family is that?" "A family of crows perhaps. Or a family of artists in their own crow colony." "I do not think so." "Perhaps a family platform, off to a rocky start, dancing in the sun." "In the winter?" "And in the snow." "Oh." "How did family time go?" "Not so well." Family Time - sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress
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Terra Cotta

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Kiss Me Goodnight

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Amazed

  Even when we're lost there is a pattern, discoverable, discernible, mysterious. Are we being led thru that pattern, or are we creating that pattern? How can we know where we're supposed to go if we are supposed to go anywhere. Maybe it's all just happening and we are not responsible for twists, turns, and new lessons to learn. Amazed - mixed media collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress.
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Wrestle with this if you will. Honesty isn't always truthful, and truth isn't always honest -- combining the two is a delicate art seldom mastered. -- doug smith
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