He doesn’t really remember the last time he had sex. He had fucked more recently then he had sex. She was a nice girl who happened to be older than he was. He had met her a few days before and she suddenly texted him in the early hours of the morning. She wondered if he had a few hours to spare before he went to work since she was wide-awake and had the day off from work. They met by the local train station and briefly chatted as they made their way back to his place. He envisioned her in the nude and the things he was going to her once they got in bed. The conversation ended when he opened the door to his apartment. They didn’t waste any time. They both were naked and ready for action in a matter of moments. Not much was said for the next three hours except the echoes of lust could be clearly heard. They enjoyed a mutual orgasm before she took a quick shower and went about her day. He put his pajama pants back on and smiled as she walked out the door. A few hours later, he was at work doing what he did. He never had sex with her but rather just fucked her instead.
I wish I could care more about poetry but in honesty, I don’t. I enjoy writing but I don’t necessarily love it like most things in my life. I am a vagabond of the road, always traveling from city to city and country to country with each passing year. I am here today and gone tomorrow but with no hard feelings. The near decade that I have spent on the road has shaped me into an individual who is tempted to like many things but love few things. When the words and ideas flow then I will write and type as necessary. When I need to rant about a particular topic or idea then that is written as well. I have no formal training in writing nor do I have the best vocabulary or grammar but I just write whatever I feel in my heart at that particular moment in time. My poems, prose, short stories and semi autobiographical writings are like miniature time capsules that capture my feelings, emotions and state of mine from a very precise moment in my own existence. At times, it is hard to be locked indoors and write my life story when I have the Eiffel Tower in my backyard, the beautiful city streets of varies European capitals, unique cultures that need to be understood, a college exam that is coming up or the demands of my career which are breathing down my back. At times, it is hard to write about happiness when I haven’t seen my mother, father, or sisters in well over a year and it is hard to write about sadness when the only thing disturbing my train of thought is my job. Like so many things in my life, writing is a part of my life and not my life. I have numerous personal interests that also need some attention as well. I just happen to write and I enjoy doing it but I don’t live and die by every letter or sentence that I write.
Loyalty is on death row and its days are numbered before meeting the gurney and the deadly toxins that will end its existence. Once the economy crashed in 2008, loyalty went out the window as well. We no longer have kings and queens who will protect us as long as we did something for them in return. The era of working at a fortune 500 company for thirty or forty years and then riding off into the sunset with your pension and 401k are a modern day fallacy in my opinion. Retirement is also becoming more sarcastic as we see our lives unfold. As companies trim the fat to stay afloat and just survive, they also trim lean muscle that has helped keep the organization running. As seasoned employees become too expensive due to accumulated experience, their salaries are just too expensive for the restricted budgets of managers who are under the gun to produce profits at the expense of laying off numerous employees and overworking those who remind. Why should I be loyal to a company when I know any person who isn’t a potential customer or client is surely gunning for my position if given the opportunity? As people are hired today and fired tomorrow, the ethics in business is becoming a laughing joke in my opinion. In my opinion more of us are becoming educated mercenary regardless if we have a college degree or not. At the end of the day, we all have to provide for are families one way or another. Bills and responsibilities don’t stop coming just because you are unemployed or underemployed. Why not take the one or two percent pay raise with some extra health benefits at a new company if your current company doesn’t feel you deserve a little extra compensation for your efforts. Unfortunately, in the real world, a pat on the back means little to nothing when you have a mortgage payment or college tuition payment for your son or daughter due. Employees can only be loyal if the organization is loyal. If you see three or four of your fellow coworkers fired or released then it would foolish of you to not modify your resume and send it off to potential new employers just in case you are the next one to go. As my body continues to be a victim of time and time pulls me farther away from my youth it also seems that loyalty like my youth is becoming a thing of the past.
It was a beautiful and tranquil day yet there was a thunderstorm of pain inside of him and a downpour of tears without an end in sight. Those who knew him best were proud of him yet he felt like a failure in his mind. The alcohol wouldn’t erase the memories that he wanted to forget and his weed laden bong couldn’t mellow him out despite the numerous hits. He lived a very good life and did all the rights things but he couldn’t fulfill the promise he made to his parents. He was a man of his word and always delivered when he promised something. Despite accomplishing numerous goals and dreams, he held the promise that he made to his parents with the utmost regard. On his journey to success, he discovered alcohol. It started with a few drinks at parties, then a cocktail every once in a while when he entered the real world to a six pack of beer when he felt a second of negativity in his life. His parents walked into his apartment and found him barely breathing as his keys were scattered on the floor with vomit all over his shirt. His mother was disappointed and his father in disbelief that his son had also fallen victim to the grips of alcoholism. Upon awakening and realizing what had happen the tears began to flow like a raging river. He tried to conceal his dark secret for a significant period of time but ironically it was his mother who discovered him passed out on the floor and she was the woman he promised with his whole heart that we would never fall victim to alcoholism. Now every beautiful and tranquil day, his tears just fall as a reminder of the pain that he caused his parents for breaking the promise he couldn’t keep.
His bloody blade slid along the sandy beach as he had struck down his latest victim. His blade had no feelings nor remorse just like him. He was the greatest swordsmen for hundreds of miles yet he lacked honor. The once honored and respected samurai betrayed the code of the samurai and sold his services to the highest bidder as his family struggled to survive. He once defended his nation and protected his city for honor and glory but now it was all about the money. His skills were unmatched by his peers and those who learned that they were his next target, accepted death and peacefully began digging their own graves until he eventually cut them down. The mercenaries and assassins were considered to be the lowest of the low but they kept their honor by accepting money to fight for the side of the conflict that they wanted to win but this samurai had no moral values and of course no honor. He would switch sides at the drop of a sack full of gold coins. At times the opposing factions would call a moment of truce to try to bring him down but he made their elite and honorable ninjas and samurais look like amateurs compared to him. Even those capable of killing in faraway lands refused to pick up their swords and strike down this mercenary of death. They all said “ What’s the point of killing a man if he has honor”. Eventually old age and disease brought his life to an end but not before hundreds more met their end at his hand. When he closed his eyes for the last time: there was no funeral or ceremony to honor him. The wild animals eventually devoured his corpse. He killed hundreds to protect his nation but murdered thousands for the lure of money. He died without honor and was quickly forgotten by the ones who knew his name.
She was on a mission to fill the void of emptiness in her heart. She dreamed at night of meeting prince charming who would wait for her at the end of the aisle as their hearts locked into eternal marriage. She tried meeting the man of her dreams at local bookstores, libraries and local flea markets where the town would meet to socialize and discuss the week’s current events. She’d intentionally bump into a man who she was attracted to and used her clumsiness to spark a conversation. The conversation would always lead to an afternoon date later in the day. She would wear her best gourmets and act as the ideal woman that every man would covet. Her thirst for true love was unsatisfied and wanted to alleviate that thirsty feeling. She would look her date directly into his eyes hoping to understand and comprehend the essence of his soul. The man would open his soul just a bit and she was lured right in. The date always lead to sex. She’d hope by give the man what he always wanted: sex. That she would get his love in return. She made love to him but unfortunately for her the man just thought it was casual sex. As her body would reach the epitome of her orgasm, she always felt that her heart had found its perfect match. As they finished, she would lay her head on his muscular chest and hear his heart beat. It was music to her ears. She gave the man a passionate kiss good bye and her phone number as well. The man never saw her again and never dialed that number. He assumed it was fake. She was an innocent girl who was searching for love but found loneliness instead.
She is my general and I am her loyal servant who will do whatever she desires. When she speaks, I listen. When she cries, I cry as well. When she is happy, I am even happier. She is the woman of my dreams who occupies a special place in my heart. There is no task too great that I can’t accomplish when she asks that something be done. She is my motivation when I feel I have nothing left. She gives me strength when my muscles betray my body. She gives me guidance when I feel the light at the end of the tunnel is quickly fading away. She is my general and as her son, I will always obey what she says.
The best photographic equipment will always be our own two eyes. There is no need to change varies camera settings, our eyes always get the picture in fractions of a second. There is no need for new lenses unless you change your prescription on your glasses or contacts. We don’t have to worry about the limits of our eyes, we just look at the world and the colors and the light are always perfect. The greatest advances in camera technology don’t yield the same quality that our eyes can. Despite our brain being the biggest SD card in existence we quite easily forget the images that we see on a daily basis . Our human eyes: created by mother nature yet nothing created by man can compare.
I am the man behind the words that you see on your screen. I live on a peninsula halfway around the world yet I try to connect with the rest of the world with only written words and a few pictures from my camera. I am no better or worse than you are. I made my choices and lived with their results. I have parents, siblings and an extended family just like you but I rarely see them. I make my morning Skype call to my parents, maybe exchange Facebook messages with one of my sisters and see the life of my friends and family develop through the pictures on Facebook and Instagram. I unfortunately spend more time with my coworkers then I do with my family and friends most years but this is another sacrifice I must make. I am equipped with a Nikon camera, a few camera lenses, a laptop, a pen and some paper so that I can make some sense of how I feel emotionally and photograph this foreign country around me. I am not too sure what the future holds for me but I will just enjoy my life one single moment at a time.
After graduating from college in the Spring of 2010, I wasn’t able to find a job in the USA. However I applied to be an English teacher here in South Korea and got the job and have been here almost 2 years.
My words make sense of the passing moments in my life. I would like for every set of eyes that gazes to like my writing but I would prefer if they understood me better. At times simplicity is more. Why write complex and sophisticated poems just to be liked by the masses on the surface but never fully understood? When we reveal our darkest and most painful memories we hope that people can relate and understand the trials and tribulations that we endured instead of liking that we went through hell. I know that we all live rather unique lives yet we all share experiences that are rather similar. At times our words strike a nerve much to our surprise since so many of us have tunnel vision and ignore that other people exist within our realm of exist. At times, our words fall on blind eyes and read by no one but it doesn’t mean that we are the only ones who feel that way. I hope you like my words but try to understand them as well.
Taken with my Nikon D3100 using a 55-200mm VR Lense(Black&White)
I am glad everyone is enjoying this picture. Please take a second to LIKE my facebook page so more people can become aware of my Street Photography here in Seoul Korea
