Valuable Merchandise -- collage by douglas brent smith, 1978
well?
he was cute and
younger than me but
not illegally younger
and wearing a tight
orange and purple
shirt that had written
across the chest
"are you gay?" and
he smiled and i thought
"isn't everyone?"
-- douglas brent smith
Unlimited Strength
Strength is not a zero-sum game. Your strength does not subtract strength from anyone else (or shouldn't). Someone else's strength does not subtract from yours. Sometimes we act like it does, but it need not be that way. As high performance leaders our job is to help others to develop their strength. In the process, we develop our own.
Our strength does not depend on anyone's weakness. We never need for anyone else to ever be less in order for us to be more. We can all grow. We can all improve. We can, and should, all develop our leadership strength.
-- doug smith
the night after
i saw it coming and started running
but it never seemed to stop
it flashed like a light in the middle of the night
and exploded with a loud piercing pop
the morning hit me and my shirt didn't fit me
and beer cans were bent at my feet
i walked to the kitchen someone started bitchin'
and led me back to the street
cars were passing and hustlers were hassling
every new face that strolled by
i jumped to the street dodging the heat
while my feet did their best to fly
like a circus clown in a strange dark town
i reached for your number and phoned
come save me from this with a smile and a kiss
it's too much to face all alone
you balked and you stalled and said why did you call?
you need to find someplace to stay
the high that sustained us was destined to fall
and the feelings have all flown away.
-- douglas brent smith
grand canyon
she shared some details
of the road trip with
the teen in a van
not too many intense
infraction type details
it was fill in the blanks
with too much thinking
heart wrenching imagination
like why would two people
in a van driving together
sharing inside secrets and
cheap road food not be
more than she said
playing a players game
of silence and selective
facts believable whether deceivable
or not who could know
she met a native american guide
entering the great grand canyon
already ahead of her hiking
below the entertainer chevy chase
working up his best sweat
"losing weight for a part," he told her
he seemed nice she told me
she, so sun tanned
deeply in pain
followed the guide's instructions
scaling the canyon, seeking and
finding her peace on her own
in shorts and a shirt
a weight loss plan of her own
for that burn in her heart
immune from her lotions
medicines and potions
yet falling away as she scaled
deeper to release the one-hundred-and-ninety
pounds of disappointment
the guide set her free
with a nod for the tip
and when she returned
freedom felt better than the pain
sending her away again
without the boy
without me
free.
we share this
when the motion
slips into another space
explanations defy attempts to reconcile
part of the magic lives in everything
that's ever been
and ever is
like a wave
all of our days are part of something
more complex than we can see
so the part of you in me
and me in you goes on
some of the energy conserved in all
that's ever drawn
from breath lives on
-- douglas brent smith
Friendly Advice
Friendly Advice -- collage by douglas brent smith, 14 November 1983, from the journal "Theme and Variation"
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