I have been told that I am extremely blunt when it comes to conversing with people to the point that I can hurt people's feelings. This trait of mine does put me in a position where I have to apologize for my words at times. However, it also makes people come up to me and open up to me for honest advice and opinions because they know I won't sugarcoat anything and will say it as it is, so I guess being blunt does have a redeeming quality to it. Its just that personally I have suffered a lot of criticism (not the constructive kind) so I have turned into a critic myself. I'm very hard on myself which makes me hard on others as well. I also feel as if I don't have as much empathy as I used to because my heart has hardened quite a bit over the years due to considerable amounts of trauma so whenever I'm kind to somebody or good to somebody I feel surprised by myself like oh, I didn't know I was capable of that. So yeah. This is my biggest flaw I guess. Once realization hits and I feel like I've really hurt somebody because they become silent all of a sudden, it really makes me think twice about behaving that way so I make a conscious effort not to be blunt when talking to them the next time around and to take their feelings into account.

What I can interpret from this is that all of us human beings are groundhogs in a way; if we dwell more on our shadows, that is, our insecurities, worries and fears, winter, that is the rainy days in our life persist for longer... Vice versa, if we choose not to focus on the gloomier aspects of our life, spring, i.e better days arrive early because we are choosing to move past our trauma and our pain and are willing to embrace life and the changes it brings.

Another interpretation could be that ignorance is bliss. The more oblivious you are to a negative or toxic situation in your life (your shadow), the more happy-go-lucky you are and nothing bothers you so your better days (spring) are extended. So yeah. Here you go. My interpretation of your very interesting prompt :)

Dear sir or madam,

we regret to inform you that your application for the position as a crematory operator has been rejected for the following reasons:

1) You don't have any education, which may not be the main issue, but it is certainly a problem as we don't know if you can read, communicate or any other of the basic skills besides writing.

2) According to your previous workplace, you used to send out regular ash, not the people's. You also used to forget that you were cremating a body.

3) Your reason for sending this application for the job was "Because I like to burn people" which didn't quite settle with us.

Of course, there were many more, these are only the three main reasons. We hope that you will not be discouraged by this letter.

Wishing the best,

The ''Cross In Eyes'' Crematorium

She is not of this universe, never acting like the rest. A wild card she is and will never apologize for being that way. Her reflection is pure - her mind is hungry. When she smiles, she lifts the clouds on rainy days. A revelation of love and chaos. She is not an option - being okay with being alone. Someone once mistook her love for a temporary affair, now her dreams and ambitions keep her warm at night.

My friend dances on a stage covered in flower petals;

the Audience’s thanks for Their performance.

Their pointe shoes pick their way through the crowd of red and white roses

finding my soiled orange converse that complements the gray concrete floor.

I meant to give Them flowers today

at least fresh ones

but I had bought them a week before.

Not only do they wilt, but they crumple

curling like the ends of Their auburn hair

dried after sitting in the winter sun.

Without hesitation They snatch the bouquet from my shaking hands.

I blush, mumble, and excuse my inferior appearance

except they don’t care

They are just happy I am here.

She holds the sky together when everyone else is falling apart. Her hands are made of night fall and stars. She is the map of the soul within each one. Breathing fire and courage, for those whom said "I love you", her heart bled for you, pumped life into those loved souls. She has had her fair share of the heartless, who tested her, yet she still roams this earth unscathed. The true test of time is how kind one treats those who do nothing but cause heartache - pain. If one intenteds to do so, she will crush your heart, leaving it on the stake of mishaps and mistakes.

I've waited like a lumpy sack;

For inspiration to come back,

For tides to bring a song to sing,

For faults to die,

For hopes to spring.

I've kicked the dirt and punched the wall,

Waiting for good luck to fall.

My heart's been strung up, beating barely;

Waiting for those words so rarely uttered from a shaking mouth -

I've waited til North turned to South.

They say watched pots don't boil. -Wrong.

There's nothing that will stop for long...

Enough! To live. and laugh, and die.

And take a pause to wonder why.

the last time they

saw him

happy

was when he told them about

that weird dream

he had

in which wine

poured from the tap in

his kitchen

and that

was it

he had nothing else

in life to

be happy about

They didn’t need to

ask his

profession

Somehow they

all knew

he was a

poet

***

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Off comes the parka,

Flopped abruptly on the bed,

Representing idle warmth,

Conversation, passing glances.

Then you roll off both your socks,

A little damp with dread,

That pair of terrifying thoughts;

Loathing, Obsession,

Sticky with the demise of innocence.

Then off with your t-shirt,

Darkened exertion

Still lingering at the neck and pits.

Next you unzip your bottoms,

which drop embarrassingly to the philosophical tiles.

Finally you slip off your undergarments;

(The pain,

The love.)

And as you relax,

In the tea-tree mint suds of soliloquy,

You’re left only with the vital question:

To be,

Or not to be?

Before I knew what sex was all about, it was learning and proof I’d learned which ruled my life. I fell in love with academics and being taught. At the end of each year those marks and the pass to the next were a high like no other. I realize now, academics was my aphrodisiac, tailor made to turn my brain into a frantically begging organ over the course of a summer of novels and television. The discipline of structured learning brought me back on an even keel, and now, as an adult, educational television feeds my love.