Too Many Echoes

By BR Chitwood

*

Too many echoes fill the air,

Like a dream with too many players…

A cow moos in the meadow,

Happily chewing its cud and grass…

As tears roll down my cheek,

With memories of Appalachia

Emotions pitch low and high as

I guide old Bessie home for milking…

The school’s resident bully stops

Me, taunts, teases, and fills me

With unaccountable fear and pain…

The bully runs toward his home

As his father yells his displeasure

In his call for chores and dinner…

Small, simple these easy words convey

A condition which shall prevail

For the rest of my life…

Old Bessie and I make it to the home

Of my grandparents who caretake me,

Knowing well the ugly memories of the past…

Divorced parents and the awful depression

That ruled so many of our days, and nights,

Nights when sleep was blocked by thoughts…

My beautiful country born and bred

Grandma and Grandpa saw me through

Those long-ago days of struggles…

They will always be in my thoughts and

Prayers, reminding me that a simple country

Life brought me love and humility…

***

BR Chitwood – Author

July 11, 2022

My Web site with twenty books of fiction (some based on true crimes), hundreds of blog posts, poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and songs:

https://www.brchitwood.com

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Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are?

*

BR Chitwood

*

“Who do you think you are?”

“What? Who is speaking?”

“You are, Weirdo! You’re talking to yourself.”

“Hmm! Strange! That’s never happened before…”

“Sure, it has, almost daily, in fact.”

“Whoa! Who the hell are you…and, where are you?”

“In your brain, Idiot!”

“Which side?”

“Which side? Which side? What a dumb-ass question… your frontal lobe.”

“Oh, My God! I’m going nuts!”

“Going? You been working on this for some time, dip-shit!”

“Hey, keep it clean!”

“You’re doing the talking, dip-shit!”

“So, I’m going crazy! The ‘Frontal Lobe’ of my brain is talking to me…so, you eavesdrop on everything I think or say. Is that your function? There’s a ‘left’ and a ‘right’ lobe, right? So, what’s your job ‘Lobe-Meister’?”

“Why did I get stuck in your brain? You are a dummy…but, okay, I’m a functionary part of your brain: the ‘left side’ of the lobe controls the right commands; the ‘right side’ controls the left… You’ve never done this before! Why, now? This chat business”?

“’Never done this before’? Hey, Lobe-Meister, this is as new for me as it is for you. It’s not like I requested this meeting…”

“Okay, okay, something is up, and I have to check it out. Are you hurting anywhere?”

“There is a light quaking sound… No pain. Otherwise, I’m sitting here thinking I’m crazy!”

“Don’t take that off the table as a possibility, because I’ve never had this happen before… I will do my ‘due diligence’ and get back to you. For now, go to bed and sleep for hours.”

“Before you go, what’s the difference between the ‘mind’ and the ‘brain’?”

“Huge subject, pardner… The mind can influence the brain, have a ‘mental force’ – check out ‘Neuro Plasticity and The Power of Mental Force’.”

“That’s it? You are leaving me with that? One last thing: Am I going to be hearing from you on a frequent timeline? Do I have a ‘say’ in the matter? If not, please, don’t come at me when I’m making love or out on a date…”

“Sorry, I cannot make any promises…maybe your thought processes will be enough! Bye.”

“Meant to tell you this earlier: your voice sounds really prissy-like…does God include you with every birth?”

“No comment! I said, ‘Good-bye’!”

“Hmmm!”

*

BR Chitwood – May 25, 2022

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All 20 of my books with synopses, 500 blog posts, short stories, Flash Fiction, Poetry, and Songs can be found at:

https://www.brchitwood.com

Really, Why Wars?

BR Chitwood

Really, Why Wars?

BR Chitwood

*

Why would someone far away from the bomb bursts, flying bullets, and so much human suffering dwell on a Putin-pressed war in Ukraine…for that matter, why so many in the world dwell on this manic and corrupt event?

While pedestrian and immediately naïve, I need to put my words down because it is Sunday… Why, Sunday? A holy day for most of us, a day to dwell on our sins/transgressions, a day to pray for hope, for personal salvation, and for entire World Peace.

Of course, we have enough fret and worry of the ‘Infidel Killers’ and other groups who love to hate and kill.

With’ Putin’s War’, the ‘fret’ becomes more fierce, more difficult to calculate actions and reactions. Much of the world views Putin as a ‘Mad Man’, capable of actions leaders of nobility would never consider. The worst descriptive words for this beast of humanity have been used up by people of the world who follow his atrocities…it is difficult to imagine him long for this world. His sly eyes and demeanor, all that he is, there for the world to see. A reasonable person would assume this cold and distant Satanic collaborator could not be long for this global pool of humanity.

I pretend no great expertise on this Russian dictator and only rely on the years of ‘News Reports’ for this deeds and death tolls, like those being registered in Ukraine today and throughout his tenure in this world. I am just a man, imperfect in many ways with sins I must ultimately account for, sins far below the standards of this leader of a great nation.

So, I’m but an American Patriot who has served his country in our armed services, compelled in this modest monologue mostly by anger and by empathy and sympathy for the savagery being done to a Ukrainian nation of people of simple lives and loving families…

Shall I say, I just needed to vent my emotions and at least convey my humble and best wishes to those good and humble people subjected to this ‘Power and Ego-fed’ dictator.

I pray for the Ukrainian people a quick end to these hostilities and a return to normalcy – if it can ever be so…my heart grieves with yours.

BR Chitwood – March 7, 2022

https://brchitwood.com

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Love is All

Love Is All

by

BR Chitwood

*

Joan Walsh Anglund wrote the lines:

“Love comes quietly…

But you know when it’s there

Because

Suddenly…

You are not alone anymore…and there

Is no sadness in you.”

*

From me to Joan Walsh Anglund

comes a humble, ‘Thank you’…

I’ve known that ecstasy a few times,

Foolishly, at times, I stole away from Love –

A mis-guided fool I was…

The Ache remains forever in my heart.

There seems always one

That remains in the Heart –

The one you abandoned because of space and time!

*

BR Chitwood – February 1, 2022

https://brchitwood.com

Christmas Thoughts

Christmas Thoughts

BR Chitwood

*

A happy time! (For Some – NOT all!)

A time to weigh our time against the time of Jesus!

Where we have been!

Where we are going with our lives!

With so much confusion and hostility!

World governments flexing their muscles!

Brutal mayhem in our streets!

Weak words that cannot encourage the masses!

Countries flexing their might and muscle!

Something noxious tearing at our souls!

Jesus and his churches seek kindness and unity!

Freedom, Liberty no longer has clear meaning!

Cunning, selfish forces cause mad disarray!

We seem to be near some ‘tipping point’!

Will Jesus save the world?

Will Satan steal our days and nights?

Will Jesus yet guide his people home?

Should this time not be for good will and Joy?

For family happiness and joyful days and nights?

For little children happily playing with their Santa gifts?

Is the money and power of the deceitful elite in control?

Christmas Thoughts should be grateful and humane!

Instead, we wear masks and get vaccines!

 Good and merciful God, PLEASE TURN THIS TIDE!

How can we happily wish a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR to those we love and cherish?

Surely, we can do so, and, must do so, for the sake of

All that should be righteous and all that should be good!

During these days that celebrate the Birth of Jesus we can hope and pray that the miracle of giving and loving can deliver to the world a golden age of peace, of good will, of prosperity for all…

Wishful Thinking?

Of course! But it’s all we’ve got.

*

BR Chitwood – December 24, 2021

https://brchitwood.com





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Cogito Ergo Sum

What is Real?

by

BR Chitwood

*

‘Cogito Ergo Sum’!

You think, therefore, you are!

Or:

‘I think, therefore, I am’!

In the day when Philosophy might have had a more urgent importance and significance, I wonder if Descartes’ singular ‘Cogito’ utterance and treatise would be one of the most recognized phrases in school rooms around the world, particularly those rooms where hungry minds were more inquisitive about their world and their existence in it.

In my Appalachian world of youth, it would never have occurred to me to question my existence…there were enough ‘negatives’ in my early life to keep my mind swirling with confusion and doubts – no intention to gain sympathy, just depicting my early life when our country was going through some ‘trying times’…well, kind of like, NOW!

I can say with certainty that my mind has no problem accepting the fact that I ‘think’ and I ‘exist’! Those days still linger, still bring occasional thought-demons and over-think. Decisions, mistakes have been made in my life, but, overall, there has been happiness and love to offset the bad stuff.

Descartes had some important influence in my college education, made me more aware of my lack of knowledge.

The tiny thesis I am putting forth in this post is that my

problem these days is that I ‘think’ too much in lieu of looking at the beautiful Arizona sky, writing, enjoying life with wife, home, and our wonderful children. So, Descartes brought back to me some simplicity to my life.

Hopefully, I can pass on some of this trivial verbiage to those who can embrace this sequitur nonsense.

*

BR Chitwood – December 2, 2021

*

Please read synopses of my 20 books, read my over 375 blog posts, short stories, flash fiction, and poetry…

https://www.brchitwood.com

*

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A Love Poem

A Love Poem

by

BR Chitwood

*

 A poet lingers long into the night

To capture thoughts of Love,

Dwells on a scene of pure delight,

Smiles and sighs with joy thereof.

Each line must possess yearning,

A Soul with soft echoing violin,

Two hearts apart and burning,

Awaiting the reunion to begin.

As perfect as his pen can trace

His words must whisper truth,

 Bring tears to fall down her face,

Fruition to the dreams of youth.

*

BR Chitwood – October 28, 2021

*

Website/Blog:

https://www.brchitwood.com

*

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Friday Thoughts

Friday Thoughts

By BR Chitwood

*

Quietness absorbs me,

Creating a solemnity of hope,

The mountain South outside my window

Shows off its bronze splendor,

Canopied with a powder-blue sky –

A bronze giant monolith

Of jutting rock and desert growth…

Upon all this I numbly listen

To the silence of God’s beauty,

Pondering the nature of

Good and Evil,

The uneven, diverse voices

Of Earth’s old and young,

Forming their calculations and causes

For prevailing issues

That change, grow, and cumulate.

What and where is the elixir

That can remedy the network

Of thoughts’ cross currents?

Must we grow a civilization of

Smiling Robots who always respond

To a magical quiescent push

Of an electronic button?

Peace? War? What happens next?

So much to ponder as I

Stare at the beauty of the

Mountain and clear blue sky,

All glowing in the desert Sun.

*

BR Chitwood – June 11, 2021

*

Website/Blog: https://brchitwood.com

Follow me on Twitter.com – @BR Chitwood

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#blog #bloggers #WritingCommunity #poetry

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Friday Thoughts

By BR Chitwood

*

Quietness absorbs me,

Creating a solemnity of hope,

The mountain South outside my window

Shows off its bronze splendor,

Canopied with a powder-blue sky –

A bronze giant monolith

Of jutting rock and desert growth…

Upon all this I numbly listen

To the silence of God’s beauty,

Pondering the nature of

Good and Evil,

The uneven, diverse voices

Of Earth’s old and young,

Forming their calculations and causes

For prevailing issues

That change, grow, and cumulate.

What and where is the elixir

That can remedy the network

Of thoughts’ cross currents?

Must we grow a civilization of

Smiling Robots who always respond

To a magical quiescent push

Of an electronic button?

Peace? War? What happens next?

So much to ponder as I

Stare at the beauty of the

Mountain and clear blue sky,

All glowing in the desert Sun.

*

BR Chitwood – June 11, 2021

*

Website/Blog: https://brchitwood.com

Follow me on Twitter.com – @BR Chitwood

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

#blog #bloggers #WritingCommunity #poetry

#Writing #IAN1 #asmsg #RRBC

Enigma Of The Soul

https://brchitwood.com/2021/04/17/enigma-of-the-soul/(opens in a new tab)

***

by BR Chitwood

How often do you use the word, ‘Soul?’ How often do you think about your ‘Soul?’

Mirriam-Webster defines ‘Soul’ as:

1. the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life

2. a: the spiritual principle embodied in human beings, all rational and spiritual beings, or the universe

So, that’s enough, right? The two definitions pretty much say it all, and there are more definitions there in the dictionary if you want more.

‘Soul’ seems to me, though, such a huge word to be so small. Writers likely get the most use out of the word than the people who really work for a living — no anger, please, just adding a little levity here. Really, it seems to me that ‘Soul’ is not in too many mundane conversations. ‘Soul’ is usually saved for the philosophers, poets, preachers, Romantics, sentimentalists, and writers.

You can almost envision the literary expatriates who gathered in Paris between the period of World War One and the onset of World War Two…wtiters like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Sherwood Anderson, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, John Dos Passos, Samuel Beckett, Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Lawrence Durrell, Gertrude Stein to name a few — okay, okay, I’m name-dropping — but these were the people I read and studied in college and their lives got somehow interwoven with my own, with my ‘Soul.’ I can see them sitting at the sidewalk cafes talking in the afternoon about their writings, about how the devastation of war had impacted their lives. I can see them drinking the Bacchus liquids and debauching in the evenings, pausing in their fun and frivolity for serious and sober moments to discuss the condition of the ‘Soul.’ These were the people Gertrude Stein referred to as ‘the lost generation.’ Certainly, why not Paris? Why not gather in the great city of lights with so much art and beauty? It was the place to be if you were disillusioned by a world intent on war and destruction. It was the perfect place and time to discuss matters of the ‘Soul,’ and these great writers held those discussions in the finest style and with some of the most celebrated erudition prevalent in those days.

So, why do I post about ‘Soul?’

Guess it’s easy for me, an oldtimer looking back on his life, how he’s lived, somewhat of an anachronism in today’s fast moving digital world. ‘Soul’ is such an all-encompassing word. It holds such a fascination for me in these sunset years, but it has always held that fascination for me — guess ‘Soul’ for me is what writing is all about. We live, we pay taxes, and we die, but the ‘Soul’ offers us so many delectable scenarios of which to consider and ponder.

‘Soul’ is that defining part of us that we can’t pinpoint, can’t know exactly where it is, but we have to know that it is there. ‘Soul’ is everything Mirriam-Webster says it is, but so very much more. There are times when the directions we take as a world concerns me greatly. It is my hope that we can still take time, Paris or not, to discuss the implications of such an enigmatic and beautiful word.

‘Soul.’

BR Chitwood – Archives – April 17, 2021

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