Life drags over the weight of a spine

Breaths quicken as the legs numb

You see how ordinary your life has become

Ordinary shelves on ordinary tables

Ordinary roof on an ordinary house

Ordinary person in an ordinary mirror

Ordinary soul in an ordinary body

You look at yourself

You think I am ordinary

But what is this bridge to the extraordinary?

Find a voice behind that sings its song:

Find the ordinary behind and the extraordinary beyond

Find what stands between you and extraordinary

Find the obstacle that keeps you ordinary

You follow the light

Beyond the thin walls

You follow the voice as your senses fall

See the blue sky above

See speckled green grass

See towers touch clouds

See the air between lives

You trail on with the voice

Hear as it sings

Guides you through the world in spring

Taste the chemical air

Taste pinewood and sea

Taste maple and evergreen

Taste desert and sun

Surely, you think

This is past the ordinary

But was is it that makes it extraordinary?

Hear the blast of each horn

Hear cars on paved roads

Hear countries and cultures

Hear wind carry the earth

This, you think

Is beyond the ordinary

But how shall I cross my path to extraordinary?

Smell the roses in bloom

Smell the sting of each hive

Smell the oil and clouds

Smell the canvas of meadow

There’s a key, speaks the voice

A key to the best

Beyond reach of the beating heart in each chest

Feel the grass at your feet

Feel the hand in each hand

Feel the sun stain your face

Feel yourself follow

Show me, you think

Let me open the door

The lock to unravel, let me be more

Follow me, says the voice

Follow past pavement and dirt

Follow past gravel and seas

Follow past faces below, above, and beyond

You obey without thought

But the light pauses, replies

You are almost there, but you must close your eyes

Close your eyes, it repeats

Close your senses and sight

Close your eyes as an ordinary

Close to open and be extraordinary

Your lids shut tight

It grabs your fingers like a hand

Doubt creeps for you cannot understand

Nothing will you find?

Nothing in this life

Nothing to your control

Nothing you can chamber

You hear a door creak

Your limbs come to a stop

You hear your breaths drop

Open your eyes

Open, says the light

Open them ordinary

Open and see the extraordinary

Your lips quake at the sight

Seeing your lamp, your house, your shelf

For you find you are looking at yourself

Talent's relationship with writing is a limited endeavor. Talent's doses are few and far between, with some of the best talents locked away in the cages of their own mind, unable to see past their own perspective.

Social media has drained perspective with opinions swayed into objectivity. Noise overtakes quiet moments of serenity, voices swallow individuality like a poison permeating creativity's airways.

Ideas are limitless, but powerless without pursuit. When written down, they are humbled to their origins, a pen scribbled over a pad of paper, where they will crumble and rot without the writer's mind and heart furthering its journey.

What does it mean then, to be a good writer in a society such as this? Above all, determination. A "good writer" is an oxymoron, for a natural way with words is nothing without passion, bravery, and the wit of a soldier outnumbered a thousand to one. A good writer embraces our anti-writing environment, finds serenity in the noise, inspiration in a single thought, and significance without pronounced talent.

A good writer writes.

Hello Me in 1950,

There is so much in store for you, you have no idea of.

A president is assasinated, another resigns, we go into a long war, telephones

become ten-digit numbers, and zip codes expand. There is this thing

called the Internet now that can send messages in the blink of an eye.

And it can take you places only dreamed of, or ... it can help with

practically anything. Your current phone will become a history lesson

and trust me ... obsolete. You will be able to carry your phone in your pocket

and even take pictures with it.

That TV you have, the one with three channels and rabbit ears?

Today you can get hundreds, half of which no one watches.

And movies, where they cost fifty-cents to watch at the theater?

They have streaming channels now. You never have to leave home.

We go into Space, land on the moon, and a Wall comes tumbling down letting the world know freedom can ring true. We suffer the magic of Mother Nature with countless floods, tornados and hurricanes, but we bounce back, survive and rebuild.

Clothing fashion changes like you wouldn't believe, car prices

skyrocket from a $2000 car then, to $18,000 plus now. Fast food almost

becomes the new normal. Penny candy is about $1.99 for a small bag.

Yes, a lot of changes coming your way. Far too many to put in this letter.

Will there be heartache? Of course. The world cannot survive without it,

the same as it cannot survive without love and compassion.

You will go to war but come home and with many mixed

emotions why you went in the first place.

You will lose that treasured gift, virginity.

But not to worry, it isn't painful.

You will fall in love at least twice in your life,

both leaving you with beautiful memories.

You will struggle somewhat, but you aren't alone,

for we all struggle, just some more than others.

You will have two careers: teacher, and cook.

Those you have loved will pass away.

After all, we all do eventually. You will mourn, but you will move on.

You have to or you are only a walking dead person inside your skin.

One day, you will retire.

Each day is yours alone to do with as you please.

Make sure you make the most out of them.

You will live through one of the direst of times around the world ... Covid-19,

a deadly disease ravaging hundreds of thousands of lives. It will be a time

of both fear and resolve. It will seem all you have done before, can no longer

be done the same way. You just have to be smart in how you cope.

And I cannot say for certain, but me being you,

you might fall in love again.

If I do, as an older you, I will write you again.

There is more, much more, but this gives you an idea.

Many new friends will walk through your life. Treasure them.

I would ask you to write me back,

but right now, you are only three.

P.S. Save your forty-five's and 331/3 albums, trading cards and comic books.

One day they will be valuable.

See you when you get here.

**********

(Artistic rendition depicting Chester, PA where I was born and raised.

Times have dramatically changed since then.)

I write what would never be.

I'd say I'm too logical for my own good.

So sometimes I find comfort in lying to myself and dillusionalizing myself.

Anything illogical. Including love and friends.

This is reality and logic I guess, Everything is too good too be true.

dont mean to sound like an emo teenager.

Dear Diary,

I was watching the news earlier-well, actually checking people’s snapchat stories, but close enough. Everyone was freaking out that they had lost power, and that it wouldn’t come back on. In 24 hours, none of those people will ever get to post anything else. Ever. My iphone is down to 8% battery, so I figured I should write in this old notebook I found since I won’t be able to make Instagram posts about today, and someone should document it. What happened this morning was beyond odd. It started out with people saying they’d started to see things, like dead people walking around. Then at about 11 all the electricity shut off. All the people on my street were wondering what happened, since there’s no storm happening right now. As it turns out, a few towns over near the hydro building, the towers had been knocked down, causing a major blackout. People are talking, saying crazy things like zombies attacked it, taking away our main source of energy. That’s nonsense if you ask me, but things have been rather strange lately… Around last week I started noticing some of the people at school looking paler than usual, some of them even walking around like they were sick. But that doesn’t mean zombies… does it? If there is something outlandish going on I’ll be sure to make more entries, but for now I’m just going to try to find a way to charge my phone.