Not Poetry, But Needs To Be Said.

Not poetry, but needs to be said.

Here is what my mother told me when I was young: the world is harsh. It is unforgiving and it has teeth. Take no shit.

Here is what I have learned from the world: it is wounded and the humans scattered throughout it are rarely the rats of Rat Park, they are the tired, trembling experiments in need of more kindness, not less. Do no harm.

Here's what I have learned from the world: humans are good. They are soft, and gentle, and they are wounded, all of them. When humans were young and wild, they looked at the snarling beasts that came to their fires, the ones with sharp teeth in their long muzzles, and they saw soft fur and the welcome-home wag of a tail.

Here is what I have seen: Given an opportunity, humans will choose creation and love. They will create art, and music, and community. They will tell each other stories, sing each other songs, help each other heal. Even without safety, even when it wounds them, they will love. They will love each other - their family, their friends, their mates - and they will love the world.

Here is what I have seen: there is hope. Sometimes it is ugly and twisted and burns, but humans will hold onto it with both hands and their entire heart. They will share it with one another. They will use it to tame beasts with fur and teeth as well as the ones that live inside of themselves. They will create because of it; they will say I hope this makes someone smile, I hope this makes someone cry. I hope this saves someone. And it will.

Here is what I know to be true: evidence of a healed broken bone from thousands of years ago reminds us that what makes us human isn't our wounds, but how we care for one another through them.

Here is what my mother told me: the world will gnash its sharp teeth at me. It will try to wound me.

Here is what I know to be true: I am human, and humans heal one another and can turn sharp teeth into wagging tails.

More Posts from Sunafterwinter and Others

4 weeks ago

I love people.

3 months ago

I sit here in my barrel

The world spins on and on

Put the wood atop me

As I try to hold on

As it shakes and spins, and batters me so

Put the lid atop me, so none of it can show

Hide me in the hole at night

So I can no longer see

The world that spins around me

As I try to fall asleep

I wish the storm would get me

And ceise it's fierce goodbye

For as it tatters onwards

My flag can no longer fly


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11 months ago

The Candle and the Flame

By sun.after.winter

If I am the candle and you are the flame

Then you shall burn brighter while I cease to rein

Scorching, and burning

Yet you shine so bright

Yet here I am melting

While you light the night


Tags
4 months ago

when i was a kid, my father would always say that optimism is just a lack of information. i was optimistic to spite him. lately i've been feeling like he was actually right. but you know what? he wasn't.

he made it look like being oprimistic was easier, because it meant you didn't bother to see the whole picture. in reality, being optimistic requires strength. it requires courage to have hope even in the darkest times

i am not optimistic because i have no reason to be pessimistic. i am optimistic because i am actively choosing to be. to see that future can be bright. to find hope.

6 months ago

Oh, my knight in shining armour,

Why won't you leave me alone?

I find a great sense of humour

In the seat of your throne.

I would like to be left

In my great tower;

Don't justify your theft

To give yourself power.

_ E.C.N

4 weeks ago

As I grow older I feel my capacity to understand that Miss Piggy is not a real person reached a peak in my adolescence and is now on a steady decline. I watched a Wendy Williams interview and there's this part that's like "can we get a ring cam!" and Miss Piggy shows her bling and I'm just like fuck she's so iconic. Miss Piggy who are you wearing? Miss Piggy have you ever considered running for office??

4 months ago
The Other Day I Came Up With This Extremely Derpy Idea And Chuckled To Myself, So Now It's An Extremely
The Other Day I Came Up With This Extremely Derpy Idea And Chuckled To Myself, So Now It's An Extremely
The Other Day I Came Up With This Extremely Derpy Idea And Chuckled To Myself, So Now It's An Extremely
The Other Day I Came Up With This Extremely Derpy Idea And Chuckled To Myself, So Now It's An Extremely
The Other Day I Came Up With This Extremely Derpy Idea And Chuckled To Myself, So Now It's An Extremely
The Other Day I Came Up With This Extremely Derpy Idea And Chuckled To Myself, So Now It's An Extremely

The other day I came up with this extremely derpy idea and chuckled to myself, so now it's an extremely derpy comic

1 month ago
The cover page for a digital comic. A trailhead information board stands in a lush green forest, with a trail map, and two signs pinned to the wood. The text on the signs read: "BY BECKETT JONES" and "THE TRAVELER'S WARNING."
Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a work boot, a leather-bound journal, a compass, and a colorful rock bracelet. 

The first panel is a Forest Service gate on a dirt road, slightly ajar. The road goes out of sight into leafy green shadows. There is one wooden sign nailed to a tree, and two white and green signs secured to the gate. The text on these signs reads:
"TRAVELER, STOP! 
IF YOU TAKE THIS ROAD YOU WILL BE 
FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED
FOR BETTER OR WORSE."

The second panel is a crumbling concrete barrier in gray, driving rain. There are evergreen trees in the background. There is a hand symbol pointing to the right engraved into the barrier, and text that reads:
"YOU WILL RETURN FROM 
THIS JOURNEY 
IRRECOVERABLY ALTERED 
IN WAYS" 

 The third panel is a waterfall with conifer trees, behind a glossy red sign with "no swimming" symbols. White text on the sign reads:
"YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND 
BEFORE YOU UNDERGO 
THIS TRANSFORMATION."
Two comic panels on an off-white background. An espresso machine portafilter is pictured in the negative space in the page. 

The first panel is of a red rock slot canyon, with a rushing green river at the base. A rusted yellow sign stands in the water, with a flash flood symbol and text that reads:
"NO ONE ON EARTH 
WILL UNDERSTAND THE 
METAMORPHOSIS"

The second panel is a wooden sign hanging from the eaves of a roof, in front of a snow mountain scene. Stars twinkle in the night sky. Warm red text on the sign reads:
"EXCEPT THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED IT 
WITH YOU. THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU." There is an arrow symbol and two foamy mugs also depicted on the sign.
Two comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a key ring, a pocketknife, a stuffed toy mountain bluebird, and a bandana. 

The first panel is a road with a center stripe in a sagebrush plain, with big orange clouds in the sky. A coyote slinks across the road. A big green highway sign with white arrows reads:
"MAY CEASE TO TRULY KNOW YOU. 
WALKING BACKWARDS 
WILL NOT HELP YOU"

The second panel is of a high alpine wildflower meadow, with a glaciated Mount Tahoma in the background. A wooden stake reads:
"WALKING FORWARDS" 
Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a headlamp, a trowel, and a plant sprig in a ziplock bag. 

The first panel is a wildfire sunset above a barbed wire fence, surrounded by blooming fireweed and evergreens. An orange wildfire hazard sign reads: 
"IS INEVITABLE 
YOU CANNOT STAND STILL" 
A gray jay sits on the top of the sign, eyeing the viewer. 

The second panel shows a dilapidated wooden shack, covered in moss and white and orange mushrooms. Evergreens and leafy undergrowth surround the structure, and a Pacific gray tree frog sits on a leaf in the foreground. Text carved into the wood reads: 
"YOU MAY NO LONGER RECOGNIZE 
YOUR HOME" 

The third panel is a chinook salmon run in a green forest. Underwater reeds flow on the river. A white sign nailed to a tree trunk, with water symbols and text that reads:
"IT CANNOT STAND STILL
EITHER."
Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page including an ammonite fossil on a leather cord, a green nalgene, a peach, and a pulaski. 

The first panel shows a gray ocean storm, with waves crashing against big, dark rocks. A tsunami hazard zone sign reads:
"IF YOU SURVIVE THIS" 

The second panel shows a round orange bouy floating in a sea illuminated by bioluminescent plankton. Stars glitter overhead. Text on the bouy reads: 
"YOU WILL BECOME PART  OF A WORLD"

The third panel shows a pair of dolphins in the water, adjacent to a white boat. A red sticker on the gunwhale reads:
"THAT DOES NOT YET EXIST"
Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects depicted in the negative space of the page include a pair of sunglasses and a machete. 

The first panel shows a dessicated Greater Frigatebird cradled in the branches of naupaka shrubs on a sandy shoreline. Pink flagging has been tied to a branch, and black handwriting reads:
"IF YOU DIE HERE"

The second panel shows a blacktip reef shark swimming on a coral reef. And underwater sign affixed to steel chain shows a skull and crossbones, and text that reads:
"YOU WILL COME BACK"

The third panel is a GPS unit held up to the sky, showing a GPS track and text that reads "WRONG." Seabirds fly overhead. 
Three comic panels on an off-white background. Objects shown the negative space of the page are a snickerdoodle cookie and bright flowers threaded on a string. 

The first panel shows a pair of hands holding a sooty tern with a radio tag. Another pair of hands write in a notebook, and handwritten text on the page reads:
"TRAVELER
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" 

The second panel shows the leg of the sooty tern, which has been fitted with a birdband. 

The third panel is a pair of fingers holding the birdband so that engraved text faces the viewer. The text reads "AND NOW YOU MUST GO." 

A short comic I made about my experiences as a seasonal worker, and the way places change you.

Prints & PDF

1 month ago
text id: I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
 
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
 
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
 
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
 
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
 
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

I Sit beside the Fire and Think, Bilbo Baggins (The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien)

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