Suicide is a casting director seeking actors for a one-act play. The search is advertised in depression’s darkness. Many showcase their talent within the darkness, ignoring a persistent stage fright, sometimes misinterpreted as happiness, as they try to convince Hopelessness, the play’s a… Read full post »

Last night I made a decision to stop blogging on Open Salon. I went to bed convinced this decision was sound—the right thing for me to do. Why? The answer is simple: I’m a writer. I put my thoughts to words in hopes of creating art that will inspire, provoke thought… Read full post »

Sometimes words aren’t easy to come by. I power up my brain, thinking of what I want to write of, but I get all trance like as if in a sleepwalk. Today is no exception. Reflection is not just a mirror image; it’s reconsideration—careful thought… Read full post »

I wasn’t going to write about you today. It’s your birthday; do they celebrate such occasions in Hell? Why the stupid question, isn’t that what you’d ask me, or should I inquire about it in the verbiage you ingrained into my consciousness, accented with your fists, kicks, s… Read full post »

Six months… for me the writer that’s a blip on my computer screen. But as a blogger, it seems like an eternity. Six months blogging on Open Salon, first as Mean Mr. Mustard, then Mr. Mustard and now… well, you know my name. I wonder… Read full post »

 Little Lost Boy

 Little lost boy did you ride

a warm October’s breeze?

Confusion, whispers, silence.

Some say they saw you fly

away with the angels.

Little lost boy no one knows

your journey traveled far.

Questions, torment, sorrow.… Read full post »

Today there’s a storm forming outside. Rain is coming; thunderstorms are predicted. Sometimes rain is good for it cleanses the air. But my heart is focused on another storm—intolerance. The air needs to be purified.

Choice… we all exercise it. Freedom… we all espouse its vi… Read full post »

Sometimes secrecy serves a purpose. A good ruse is necessary to fool those who think they know the obvious. Well the time has come to divulge all; my attorney RonP01 double-checked the pre-nup: my internet marriage to MiddleAgedWomanBlogging can now be revealed. I wanted her to write about/… Read full post »

Inspiration often mumbles some kind of inside joke, laughing at me until its vexation shouts out perplexing antidotal hyperbole to which I’m hopelessly immune. So, I retreat inwards until retrospection knocks at my door. I welcome such interruptions; my enthusiasm sometimes engages too strongly… Read full post »

What’s going on? Outside the weather is calm; inside the confines of here, all is a cyclogenesis. Is there a true reckoning begging recognition? Some seeking shelter from the storm learn that wanting to hoochie coo ain’t the same as shaking that thing; it’s a moth that wants/… Read full post »

The weekend is over. Saturday’s warmth and Sunday’s chilling rain are now a collage of sensory images I will process and adapt to as this Monday progresses. Still I’m haunted as my day begins. But for a simple look my brother gave his son on Saturday, I wouldn’t be thinking of… Read full post »

Are you feeling the good vibrations, you know, the excitation? Does the creative mood elevate your soul? I’ve been warned that there’s a black mountainside bogarting bogartsville. But I only sense it — I’m so sorry Uncle Albert, you know I haven't done a bloody thing al/… Read full post »

Some turmoil is nesting within the calmness of the Open Salon community. Do you sense it? Do you read it? Do you avoid it? What’s this disruptive commotion that I write of? It’s insensitivity, a virus that’s invading the decency of all who aspire, inspire, and write within broadband… Read full post »

Sadness

Silence sings a sad refrain,

Its muted melody prattles at the river’s edge.

Pain persists in memories thought abandoned,

Sadness coaxes the phantom shadow

Deluding despair’s slow dance.

Life, death, matters not,

The heart is long cold.… Read full post »

The sun is hot. I sit by the pool listening to the vacated water singing an adolescent’s enjoyment. Screams of enjoyment emanate from innocence; clear chlorinated water ripples a seduction. I want to jump into that water—my leap a baptism of renewal. But I see you lurking beneath the wate… Read full post »

This morning I met a homeless man. He was rummaging through a communal dumpster— one of three in the condo complex. I heard him before I saw him. The morning light seemed hesitant offering perhaps a false sense of shadow and grayness. He didn’t notice… Read full post »

Señor Sol came softly through my window telling me I could find any trick in the book with the help of the Green Lantern and Superman. Confusion compelled me to act mellow; I asked Señor Sol to calm down, but he screamed like an angry whale, “No more will my green/… Read full post »

I learned that Halloween is more than a confectioner’s celebration. The night of the pumpkin smashers and costumed cravers soon disappears as all the loving in our souls are sucked up succubus style with incubus intent. How one of the religious righteous might conjure up such a paradox,/… Read full post »

A monarch butterfly floated down from the purple haze attaching itself to my shoulder. He spoke to me in Mandarin: his accent heavy with marmalade inflections. I listened; his orange citrus breath smelled like Febreze—antimicrobial scented. The news he spoke of saddened me. I told this t/… Read full post »

I’ve been reading much about why we bloggers do what we do. This reading has taken me on a journey, far away from the reality of my busy life, putting on hold my: talks with political leaders, multi-million dollar fiction career paid in nickels, awesomely awarded illustration care/… Read full post »

There are so many thoughts rumbling through my head. No amount of medication or meditation will clear out the chatter. So I head to my MacBook, plug in the iTunes, and force my thoughts into words, hoping to stop the storm within.  What storm? Open Salon of course… but first I… Read full post »

My mental meltdowns are a lot like putting M&M’s—with almonds—in the microwave for 1:45 seconds on the baked potato setting: the reds, blues, yellows and greens mix together in chocolaty mess leaving the almond (the nut) exposed. Thank God I’ve got Dr. Pepper to lis/… Read full post »

Constipation can be oh so annoying. Cramping intermixed with bloating does irritate, if not circumvent purposeful fodder. I’m speaking not in the intestinal but beyond the bowel, my brain is blocked; I need relief. Metamucil is meaningless, so is helium. What to do? Perhaps I could generate som/… Read full post »

Sometimes life is a trickster, sometimes it's a truth-teller. If you listen to the music in your heart, allow brightness to enter into your darkness, perhaps lost can be found. I pray the brightenss intensifies for a long, long time....

It's getting… Read full post »

  Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom….

 And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree....

When the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me....&nb… Read full post »