This is an area I have set aside for things other people have created. Sometimes you run across something so profound, so meaningful, that you wish you could share it with the world. This area is where I can do that. This page will remain unadorned and uncoloured, so as not to distract from the creations below. Any and all copyrights are the sole ownership of the authors.

Some of the things on this page will be submissions from people who have visited. Some of these things will be graphic, or audio files. None of it, however, will be my work. I have another page for that.

The first is by a friend I have met through this site, Jennifer Erickson. Her presence on the Internet has fallen away, as more pressing concerns of life have kept her from maintaining her site, but I will always cherish the friendship she has offered me, and wish her well.

=[if...]= 
if i were prettier, 
with eyes of blue,
a perfect body,
and golden hair,
would you love me?


if i didn't say
the stupid things
i always seem to say
when i'm around you,
would you love me?


if i were popular,
and my clothes
were expensive,
brandname and trendy,
would you love me?


if i were perfect
in every way
shape
and form,
would you love me?


if i were her,
would you love me?


if being loved by
you
means being
someone i'm not,
then maybe your
love just isn't
worth
the struggle
anyway.


now, do you love me? 

The next selection is from Kaitlin, who's page can be found here. Her writing has an edge that I haven't been able to acheive, perhaps because I am not at odds with the world around me. She seems to be. This particular peice resounded with frustration that I was feeling at the time. I hope you will stop by and take a look at some of her other works.

tape over her mouth 


she wishes that these words would flow like blood 
she wishes that desperate wasn't written over her face 
like tape over her mouth 
its stuck there to be reminding those who dared come close 
they scare them away like the scars of freedom and chance 
and i don't know how to beat down those who push on my shoulders 
they could be singing in my ear right now 
and her head could be resting on my belly 
hearing the sounds from deep in my gut 
but it's all metaphorical and 
suddenly it's a bad idea

september 29th, 2001. 

copywrited by Kaitlin. 

Here's something I should have posted a long time ago. I had permission, but I debated long on this. J-Dub and I don't agree on most things in this world, but he has a gift, and it should be heard.

I Wish.....

I wish I had a friend, I wish there was a group in which I could blend, I wish I wasn`t so alone, I wish I could speak in a tone that isn`t so drone. I wish I had a girl and I really loved her. I wish I could smile, I wish my life didn`t always feel like its on trial, why can`t i get the fuck out of denial? I wish I could look people in the eye, I wish I didn`t always act so sly, I wish I could take my feelings, ball them up, throw them away and say bye. I wish I could be like a man, I wish I didn`t cry, I wish I didn`t need to be so paranoid, everyone against me, they want me destroyed. I wish I didn`t need to write, I wish I had more insight, I wish there was something in this life that would provide me with delight, I wish everything didn`t always end up in a fight, I just wish for one happy night. I wish I wouldn`t always think in spite. I wish that just one thing I did was right, I wish my thoughts of suicide didn`t carry so much might. Thoughts of self destruction keep digging into my mind like a mite. I wish I didn`t always walk around with a constant hurt, I wish there was someone who didn`t make me feel like dirt, I wish I wasn`t always teased by a short skirt, I wish it wasn`t always with death that I flurt. These are my wishes, my wants, my dreams, I wish someone other than this paper would hear my silent screams. I wish it wasn`t with this pen that I act out my dreams, I wish someone other than me could understand what this means, goddamnit, I wish my life was like a movie with nothing but happy scenes.

You can find more of what J-Dub has to say about his world here.

There aren't many songs out there that capture something that I feel better than I can say it myself, but I heard this song many years ago, sung byMary Black, with lyrics by Noel Brazil, and it has haunted me ever since.

Columbus

Better keep your distance from this whale
Better keep your boat from going astray
Find yourself a partner and treat them well
Try to give them shelter night and day
'Cause here in this blue light
Far away from the fireside
Things can get twisted and crazy and crowded
You can't even feel right

So you dream of Columbus
Ever time the panic starts
You dream of Columbus
With your maps and your beautiful charts
You dream of Columbus
With an ache in your travelling heart

See how the cormorant swoops and dives
Must be some thrill to go that deep
Down to the basement of this life
Down to where the mermaid gently sleeps
Not like here in this blue light
Far away from the fireside
Where things can get twisted and haunted and crowded
You can't even feel alright

Chorus

And as tide must ebb and flow
I am dragged down under
And I wait the livelong day
For an end to my hunger

So I dream of Columbus
Every time that the panic starts
I dream of Columbus
With my maps and my beautiful charts
I dream of Columbus
And there's peace in a traveling heart
I dream of Columbus

I met Lilly through an online writing group to which I was invited. She is an eclectic and well-traveled person, with a fascinating perspective on life and love. She can be found here. Much of her writing is in her native language. Though my Chinese is not much better than a small child (a fact she disputes), I undertook, with her permission, a translation of one of her works, which I include here. I hope you will visit her.

Orange Time

I awakens to the passages of many years, the dust-laden past
Witnesses the present, as if time had been forgotten
Within my mind, I see your face again
Still pure, smiling and young.
The fringes of time and space fade. Leaving the world behind
I started to wander in my memories, where you smile at me again
 
The maddening, monotonous noise of the city
Carves the lines of age into my weary countenance
And takes from me even my childlike dreams
So that my love for you, so pure, fades into emptiness. 

Here, no longer does the wind carry the cicada's cry
Nor the Autumn lake shine out luminous colors
No longer does the magical rainbow cross the sky
Nor do the shooting stars streak in the distance
No longer can we feel the depth of Winter's cold
As we embraced, sharing our warmth, beneath the stars.
You and I, enmeshed in our love.

Do you ever think of me like this, even once in your life?
Or has the miasma of life wearied your heart, drawing deep sighs
As time and distance erase your memory of me, after all these years?
Have you ever, perhaps once, recalled me again?
And the time when you and I were together,
Throughout the orange time?