A while back (sorry, I have been busy as of late…), I was nominated for a Mystery Blogger award by Lawrence Illoc, of the blog Being Bipolar. Trying to break the stigma! (https://bipolaronlineblog.com/). Though it has taken me longer than I would like to respond, I am very honored by this nomination and accept it as such.

About Lawrence Illoc and Being Bipolar

Lawrence is an incredibly passionate and open author who deals directly and unabashedly with his struggles with bipolar and the stigma that surrounds the disease. His writing is typically in the style of journal entries, with great detail surrounding how bipolar affects him and the relationships he cherishes. He has recently started writing poetry that begins dark but in its reflection shares a glimpse of hope. I would highly recommend that you visit his blog to gain a unique and valuable insight into the life of someone working their hardest to address their struggles and share what they learn with the world.

Rules

• Thank whoever nominated you and include link to their blog
• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself
• Nominate 10-20 bloggers you feel deserve the award
• Answer the questions from the person who nominated you
• Ask your nominees 5 questions of your choice with one weird or funny one
• Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog

Three Facts About Me

1. One:
   

   Sweet Cerulean
   I am in love with the color

   Blue and all variations thereof

   My world is not seen through rose glasses

   But it always carries

   An azure tint

   Not to alter what is

   But to embellish

   To bring life where motion is

   Not found or

   Altogether too discrete

   Bashful and shy

   Playful foxes in den guarded by

   Mother watching with loving eyes

2. Two:
   

   Think in Prose
   I think in prose

   Words often re-arranged

   To better suit

   The expectations of

   The “real world”

   Dancing shoes and tired suit-coats

   Longing only for

   Weekend respite

   My mouth does not easily form

   Empty words

   “Good day, how are you”

   “I am spun beneath this sun from a yarn lighter than the one before,

   Yet, in this I find solace;

   The prior light shined only on the loom

   And I am blessed today for form and function”

   To which they may reply

   With only blank stares

3. Three:
   

   Attempts
   I have made

   Five attempts at taking

   The light from my post

   Only to burn my hands

   On the overwhelming heat that radiates

   Outward from

   A beacon I do not own

   I merely care for

   This form

   The contents still

   Undefined

   But precious in that

   They do not need to be

My Responses to Questions Posed

The questions posed by Lawrence Illoc, and my responses thereto, are as follows:

1. How do you see a glass, half full or half empty?
   

   Poured
   Is any object ever in

   A state:

   Permanent?

   Or do we merely observe

   Change

   Perceived as

   Form

   We will one day cast these shells aside

   And the air will breathe us in;

   There is always balance

   In all things.

2. What do you prefer, to read a book or to listen to music?
   

   Eyes and Ears
   I might ask in response

   What differentiates

   Sound from sight;

   Black and white

   Day and night

   Dark and light

   Is grey a valid response?

   I am enthralled to be

   Here at all

   Where the void and the banks

   Coalesce

   These bodies

   Mere instruments

   Tuned to sift

   Screams from sighs

   Beams from shadows

   Empty space from

   The objects that define it as such.

   I hear music when I see words presented

   Songs scroll on screens deep inside

   The hollow chambers

   In the space between

   Eyes and ears.

3. What do you like most about mother nature?
   

   Your Mother Loves You
   Are we like children

   Running, sliding, slipping down

   Rocks wet with

   Rich afterbirth

   Not to fall

   To crack skulls

   But to rise once more

   When the sun has set

   And the moon hides behind

   The orb on which we ride

   Through a dangerous and altogether chaotic

   Journey to…

   Your mother loves you

   More than you

   Or she

   Will ever know

   Will ever admit

   Will ever be able to communicate

   In these primitive howls;

   Never forget

   Home is all around you.

4. What is your favorite movie?
   

   Context and Company
   Of all the colors

   I have no hesitation on saying

   I prefer the spectrum that lies between

   New growth and

   Crushed snail shells

   My favorite bird

   Is that which sings in the dead of night

   Despite the smoke that curls

   From her precious lips

   Drawn from

   Fires now behind her

   All else

   Is irrelevant;

   What seeks to entertain me

   Cannot be elevated

   Beyond

   Context and company.

5. What do you like most about traveling?
   

   Under the Same Sun
   We have stood now

   Upon opposite ends of this spinning sphere

   Breathing in new air

   Leaving behind old skin

   In every corner

   On the sheets of every motel room

   In the sinks of every washroom

   No two faces alike

   No two days occurring in like sequence

   So many eyes

   So few of them

   Our own

   But all drawing in

   So many shared rays

   Of brilliant light

   Falling, raining down

   Over so many heads and hats and

   Scarves tied tightly round

   Necks and shoulders

   Keeping out

   Cold and warm alike

   Shielding from

   Elemental ambience

   All so different

   But all so alike

   Beneath ever-changing skies

   Twisting and transforming always

   Untethered and uncontained

   But all held in relative stillness

   Suspended under the same sun

My Nominees and Questions Thereto

Nominees

I nominate the following blogs for the Mystery Blogger Award:

• Poetry from the Inkwell
• writingdreamwords
• Puzzles of the Soul
• real-life
• chrisnelson61
• liefladee
• awriterssoulblog
• short-prose-fiction
• paeansunplugged
• refract reality

Questions

The following are the questions I request that the nominees answer in their acceptance post, should they choose to do so.

1. In shining stars and endless sea, visions of infinity, captured rarely, grasped for with reaching fingers, always inches away…When you chance a view into the void, what do you see, and do you believe it sees you back?
2. Dark and light, black and white, wrong and right, day and night… running free then taking flight…What momentum propels you now, and what will it take for you to leave the ground and soar (if you have done so already, what keeps you aloft)?
3. The future grows, digital prose, zeroes and ones, the instance knows… a million suns, a millions tons, a million miles, a million kessel runs… A single smile, a little while, a single empty gesture, a little harmless dial…Where does the energy from which digital life draws sustenance spring and what does this mean to you, if anything, as a citizen of an increasingly digital existence?
4. Blackbird wings and amethyst stone, discarded rings and hearts alone, changing styles and sharper tongues, fiery trials and blackened lungs, hearts alight under midnight moon, alive, a passion grows so soon, from ember earth springs forth a seed, from seed to stalk, from soil freed, reaching forth up towards the sun, a life, a love, only just begun…What symbols, relationships, concepts, and goals define your current creative identity, and how has your identity and motivation changed since your first started writing (either as a blogger or otherwise)?
5. A song to sing to silent friends, a chance to love and make amends, a growth in waves, a shift in days, a chill to freeze, a flame to set ablaze…What draws you out of yourself; what extends your presence beyond the immediate space you occupy and out into the aether between yourself and others?