By Jessica Bonczewski

Fuel for Life

Beach Sand

Maybe it is the memoriesThe change of pace that brings us there

The sense of vacationMaybe the smell of the place

The sight of the gulls, the dunes, the grassesBut oh it is the feel of it,

The crunch and slide of itThe feeling of beach sand

So different from dirt, soil, loamNo, not earthy, moist, rich

But oh so granular and grittyEven when wet,

Moveable paper spreading under toesSliding beneath the soles

Smoothing my skinClearing my mind

Unburdening me of the restDrawing me to the tactile, the feel

Of beach sand

- Raymond A. Foss

Dreams

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren field frozen with snow.

The poetry of the earth is never dead.- John Keats

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.- Albert Einstein

I Sit And Think

I sit beside the fire and thinkOf all that I have seen,

Of meadow flowers and butterfliesIn summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamerIn autumns that there were,

With morning mist and silver sunAnd wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and thinkOf how the world will be

When winter comes without a springThat I shall never see.

For still there are so many thingsThat I have never seen;

In every wood in every springThere is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and thinkOf people long ago,

And people who will see a world,That I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and thinkOf times that were before,I listen for returning feetAnd voices at the door.

- J. R. R. Tolkien

If there’s magic in the nightAnd it’s really really rightIt’s the only thing I needIt intoxicates your mind

All your troubles left behindSo come on and take my leadIt’s not just me who feels it

Music plays a mind trick

“Light Up My Room”

A Hydro-field cuts through my neighborhoodSomehow that always just made me feel good

I can put a spare bulb in my handAnd light up my yard

Late at night when the wires in the wallsSing in tune with the din of the falls

I’m conducting it all while I sleepTo light this whole town

If you question what I would doTo get over and be with youLift you up over everything

To light up my room

There’s a shopping cart in the ravineThe foam on the creek is like pop and ice cream

A field full of tires that is always on fireTo light my way home

There are luxuries we can’t affordBut in our house we never get bored

We can dance to the radio stationThat plays in our teeth

If you question what I would doTo get over and be with youLife you up over everything

To light up my room

A Hydro-field cuts through my neighborhoodSomehow that always just made me feel good

I can put a spare bulb in my handAnd light up my yard

“Inaudible Melodies”

Brushfire fairytalesItsy bitsy diamond wells

Big fat hurricanesYellow bellied given names

Well shortcuts can slow you downAnd in the end were bound

To rebound off of we

Well dust off your thinking capsSolar powered plastic plants

Pretty pictures of things we ateWe are only what we hate

But in the long run we have foundSilent films are full of sound

Inaudibly free

Slow down everyoneYou’re moving too fast

Frames can’t catch you whenYou’re moving like that

Inaudible melodiesServe narrational strategies

Unobtrusive tonesHelp to notice nothing but the zone

Of visual relevancyFrame lines tell me what to see

Chopping like an axeOr maybe Eisenstein should just relax

Slow down everyoneYou’re moving too fast

Frames can’t catch you whenYou’re moving like that

Well Plato’s cave is full of freaksDemanding refunds for the things they’ve seen

I wish they could believeIn all the things that never made the screen

And just slow down everyoneYou’re moving too fast

Jack Johnson

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of being and ideal grace.I love thee to the level of every day’sMost quiet need, by sun and candlelight.I love thee freely, as men strive for right.I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.I love thee with the passion put to useIn my old grief ’s, and with my childhood’s faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If we don’t do more to save the outdoors, there won’t be anything left to save.

Desiderata

Go placidly among the noise and the haste,And remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,Be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;And listen to others,

Even to the dull and the ignorant;They too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;They are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,You may become vain or bitter,

For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,For the world is full of trickery,

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;Many persons strive for high ideals,

And everywhere life is full of heroism.Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love,For in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

It is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,Gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and lonliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,Be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universeNo less than the tress and the stars;

You have a right to be here.And whether or not it is clear to you,

No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,It is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.

For naught so vile that on the earth doth liveBut to the earth some special good doth give;Nor aught so good but, strain’d from that fair use,Revolts from true birth, stumbling on the abuse:Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied;And vice sometimes by action dignified.- Romeo and Juliet

Embrace Chaos.

To one who has been long in city pent,‘Tis very sweet to look into the fairAnd open face of heaven, - to breathe a prayerFull in the smile of the blue firmament.- John Keats, Sonnet XIV

Beauty Without Rules.

“No matter how far wrong you’ve gone, you can always turn around.”

“Where the sun coaxes you to be a little less shy.”

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.- Confucius

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,There is a rapture on the lonely shore,There is society, where none intrudes,By the deep sea, and music in its roar:I love not man the less, but Nature more.- George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost,The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by the frost.From the ashes a fire shall be woken,A light from the shadows shall spring:Renewed shall be blade that was broken,The crownless again shall be king.- J. R. R. Tolkien

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

- Marilyn Monroe

“Dream as if you’ll live forever,Live as if you’ll die today.”- James Dean

I welcome the sun, The clouds and rain,The wind that sweeps the sky cleanAnd lets the sun shine again.This is the most magnificent life has ever been.Here is heaven and earthAnd the brilliant sky in between.Blessed is this lifeAnd I’m gonna celebrate being alive.I dwell in the darknessI live in the lightI sleep in the afternoonAnd become the noise in the nightI trespass in temptationSuffered from sacrificeBut I awake each day with a new sunriseBlessed is this life, ohAnd I’m gonna celebrate being alive.- Brett Dennen

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.

Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;But, with mein of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door-

Perched on a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door-Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

‘Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou, ‘I said, ‘art sure no craven-Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore-Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”

Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore!’

Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore;For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door-Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

With such names as ‘Nevermore.’- The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe

Steady as We Go

I walk halfway around the worldJust to sit down by your side

And I would do most anything girlTo be the apple of your eye

But troubles they may come and goBut good times they’re the goldAnd if this road gets rocky girl

Just steady as we go

Any place you wanna goKnow I’ll be next to you

If it’s treasure, baby, your looking forI’ll search the whole world through

Know troubles they may come and goBut good times they’re the gold

So if the road gets rocky girlJust steady as we go

So when the storm comesYou shelter me

And I don’t say a wordAnd you know exactly what I mean

In the darkest timesYou shine on meYou set me free

And keep me steady as we go

So if your heart rings dry my loveI will fill your cup

And if your load gets heavy girlI will lift you up

But troubles they may come and goBut good times be the gold

So if the road gets rocky girlJust steady as we go

- Dave Matthews Band