While things are as bad as they can be everywhere, it always seems worse when the weather is bleak. Take heart in that you are a very talented writer and I don't just throw that compliment around.

You so don't suck, Tink. I see this as a song - I'd go for U2 or Sting doing it, because I'm old. But Lady Gaga might make it danceable.

Been there. But you must remember this: "What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire". -Bukowski, Poet & Burnt Sole (like you and me). R

Miguela, thank you very much. And I mean that!

~nodding~ and it does seem bleak when the weather is bleak!!

Mumble, Lady GaGa told me she could give it a spin!! :D

I suck but I always swallow. Wait...:D

Trudge, damn right, I walk through the fire like this, OUCHI, OUCHIE, MY FEET ARE ON FIRE!! ~FLEES INTO THE THORN BUSHES~ :D

If one more person tells me it can't get much worse, I'll puke. It will, and can, get a helluva lot worse! But, we'll always have Philadelphia...,

read it first over there :) but couldn't find the rate button
poetry is such a relief, huh?

The Troubled Man
So bent and so battered,
Troubled and torn.
Lines in a face,
Deeply careworn.

A broken ol’ hulk,
Ready to rest.
Feeling he failed
When put to the test.

No one ever warned him
When he landed here
That roses have thorns
And bitter is beer.

He didn’t want much;
A job and a life.
But something went wrong;
He got trouble and strife.

How much can he bear,
This man so ill treated?
Can he find victory still,
Or is he defeated?

Perhaps he looks inward
With too sharp an eye
And cannot see flowers
Or birds in the sky.

Perhaps his great sorrow;
The hurt to his will,
Has let him forget
Those who love him still.

Deep in his sadness
’Tis easy forgot
That were he not here
They would like it not.

On days when he’s down
And feeling so blue
A smile on his visage
Still says, “I love You”.

The tiniest chuckle
To his loved ones gives
A need for his presence -
Pure joy that he lives.

So put up your problems
And straighten your back
Your littlest moment
Keeps them on the track.

"Now, the way to riches, lies from the men in suits and ties,"

So the way lies WITH men in suits and ties and IS lies FROM men in suits and ties. Nice double entendre.

I feel strangely positive through this period we are in. Cautious, keeping my butt covered as well as I can without fur, such as cats have, but like we can make it out the other side to the new normal. It is scary. You don't even need to misstep to be down, you're just collateral damage. People are finally mad. Is it to late? Time will tell. What can we do? Fight our little battles and pray they add up to a conflagration of cleansing.

Courage, Tink. You've got friends. And maybe a UV lamp to alleviate SAD could help? At the least, it could keep the catnip thriving.

Exercise more. Take multi-tab Vitamin B pills, and lay off the catnip. Otherwise, hugs and kisses.

Your comedic writing often touches on deep themes, so not surprised to see this. You are a very good writer.
I know your father was in the hospital, and these are hard and confusing times. Look after yourself. Nothing is static; change will come.
r./

Most excellent, Tink. A side of you too seldom seen, if you want my not very humble opinion.

For some reason it puts me in mind of a bleak poem called "Indian Revelry" or simply "The Revel" quoted in a fine novel by Sean Chercover. It was sung (to the tune of The Lost Chord, it is thought) by newspapermen in Chicago in the 1890s, and, says Chercover, it is occasionally sung to this day. An excerpt:

"No, stand to your glasses, steady!
The world is a world of lies:
A cup to the dead already --
And hurrah for the next that dies!"

I'm sending you a machine gun and a one way ticket to Wall Street for Christmas. Make good use of them!

Tink, if you ever need a place to stay, I run a home for homeless cats- can you milk a cow? i would say some nonsense about your sense of humor being too great to let you get too far down the road to gloom, but you and i both know that isn't true. Great poetry. Sucks to have the feelings necessary to write it.

You cats. You and Skypixie0. Full of poetry today. Good stuff. Good good stuff.

Your writing doesn't suck Tink. And you are not alone.

R

I feel this way more often than not. Don't give up. -r-

I agree with Scanner and Con lives in Boston..
HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Christ. Nothin' to say. Wish & hope things get better.

Humor only works for so long my friend...
Love, tr ig

tink ~ Ok...
I drank all the cheap sweet wine.

No. I lied. They drank it, but
we're stuck with the hangover!!

christ!!! and the bill!!!!!
(what a headache...)

Tink, this is damn good, and I wish you weren't feeling this way, but I've been there too (and still drive by the neighborhood often).

Tink, I'm so sorry to read that times are tough for you right now. Reading a poem from you is a perfect and lovely surprise. I would love to read more from you, Tink.

Poetry gives breath to that which takes our breath away ... according to Kate anyway. : )

Hold tight, Tink. Love and best wishes.

I think that the words that came to you are words too many are thinking, feeling, but afraid to say out loud. Thinking of you, and all to whom the words come. Could we really have anticipated such mine fields. And yet ... somehow ... surely ... light must come ... I hope ...

I agree with Miguela in that you are a talented writer. I found myself thinking, "I hear ya' " before I got to the poem part, it is getting harder to stay jolly these days.
Then with the poem it was just emotion...no words.
Sorry things are so tough for you, Tink. Thanks for sharing this...

Sorry to hear things are tough. Thanks for showing this side of you, you are great at humor, and now I know you are great at writing about serious things too. Hang in there!

I don't know which I like better, the poem or the graphic. Both give a glimpse of your interior struggle equally well. If it's any consolation, if you're feeling terribly alone, just know you're not the only one on that road. I'm on it too and there are more of us, we just can't see each other because the pain gets in the way. But you give us a voice.

I wrote a poem like this once, I was at the end of a month on Prozac and decided to have a little scotch on the rocks. Perhaps you are right and we should all be drinking sweet wine.
rated with TLC and love

Sorry Tink but things are going to be this way until we pick up our guns and take back our country

Tink, it's time to confess, I have always loved you. I am coming out of my months of lurking to give you this true confession. Because of your posts, I always visit Open Salon right after Porn Hub. You make me laugh. I understand that you make me laugh because you, too, have spent too much time lurking in the subterraneans of the soul, but, here are hugs and kisses.

Tink, as I just commented on Catherine's blog. You are one of the good guys. Your posts bring joy to many.

Hand in there, and have patience. Your Karmic account is well overdue for a meaningful credit.

-R-

It's always better to light the fuze on a stick of dynamite than to curse the dark.

I always say the same thing when you write like this. You know it by now, no need to repeat. I hope your dad is better. There seems to be more though. You're in my thoughts Catman.

Well written...and yeah....it is that real now!

People are getting hurt, and it is not always obvious how, but this latest "economic upheaval" seems like one so different from any others.
It's as if the world has forgotten that business is not ultimately about the bottom line, but about making a living and taking care of each other.

I am sorry you are hurting out there, Tink.

Tink, keep writing, cuz it helps. Hope you can get out and shake off the blues. Love ya man.

Great stuff, Tinkertink. Front Page.

scanner, and remember, North Dakota has jobs!!! But it's North Dakota!! What? :D

Julie, ~nodding~ Yes it is!! The like button over there is at the bottom!!! :D

sky, I got whiskey and grenades, you wanna come with me and blow up some stuff!!?? ;D

phyllis, I d0n't know if the People are mad and protesting the right things, I might be mad at the wrong stuff myself, maybe we should turn ourselves on the people we elect, who even now, play kids games of 'I hate you!" "I hate you more!!" Blah blah, block everything just because you can, not because it's wrong or whatever....:(

**Rolls some of of the good catnip** :D

lefty, I tried that exercise stuff, the gay waiter who hits on me all the time, didn't like the skinny me, so I was like, WELL, THANK YOU MARCUS, I LOVE YOU EVEN MORE!! :D

islandtime, I keep hoping for a nice sandy beach to sit my butt and watch the waves crash!! ~nodding~ :) Thanks....

**slides a beer down to Boaner** Thanks! I like that very much! Most of my poetry is dark, comes from that place where my true demons lie(their names is Sampson and Clara!!! :D). I need to go check that out!!!!

Harry, HURRRRR-RRRRRRAH!! LOCK AND LOAD, ONE SHOT, ONE KILL!! **Evil grin** :D

Token, ~nodding~ I can milk three cows at the same time!! :D And yeah, it sucks to have to go to that place to write such stuff, but I've learned, if I'm gleefully happy, I can't write stuff like this, I can write COCO CREAM AND BUTTER ,which poetry.com said was the best thing they ever read!! :D

Matt, us cats invented poetry, or pissed on it, who can remember!! :)

toritto, thanks my friend, I know I'm not alone, I got you guys and my imaginary friends, and the voices in my head!! :D

Christine, neither of us can give up!! WE ARE US!! :)

Linda, I'm going to New York City with a gun I got from Harry. Teeheehee!! :D ~hug~

Myriad, me too!!! :(

trig, ~nodding~ I like the humor more though, gets me more groupies!! :D

Inverted, I'm still blaming Wall Street!! :D

Cranky, ~nodding~ We need to find better neighborhoods to drive by!! PFFFFFT!! Ones with free cable!! :D

Kate, thanks very much!! Poetry is one of those things that seems to help take the bad air away and replace it with sweet. ~nodding~ Toughest thing to do, besides hitting, POST!! :)

anna, my serious answer is, yes, there will come a light(and hopefully not the train coming down the tunnel!! :D) and hope and a new day with the sunshine will be soon approaching(I keep that buried in my pockets so when the gray skies and rains are falling, I can remember and keep a chance of hope!!!!

Thinking, thanks! Yeah, hard to keep smiling when you getting jabbed with the spear all the time!! :(

Kevin, I'm a hanging!!!! Somedays, wanna let go, but I don't feel like crashing into the rocks below!! :)

Margaret, that's one of the things I love about the Internet, it gives us all that look above the high fence, that shows us others are out there, dealing with the same things. One of the reasons I share some of my more darker, serious sides, others have stumbled acrossed it, folks who are going through worse things than I, and they tell me, 'I was searching for something, an answer, and I found you...'

Then I tell them, "Oh lord, we's gots to get you some help better than I!!" :D But you know, at least they found something.....then I charge them $100/hour for counseling, hey a cat has to eat!! ;D

RP, no meds involved!! Can't afford them!! ;D But yeah, more wine!! :D

Jack, ~nodding~ And that's even scarier!!!

aspasia, ~Tears~ I CHECK OUT PORN HUB TOO BEFORE OPEN.SALON....LETS ELOPE...**Runs away from here** :D

jane, see, yas gotta get drunk before you can truely understand my dancing...wait, what? ;D ~GROPE~

mark, I think you might be right, but I went and talked to the Karma Police and they said, "Nope, you've still got to pay for that last life of yours when you killed all them babies and then made them into pillow cases!!" :( Stupid Karma Police!! :D

Jan, ~nodding~ I like to use timers on my dynamite, get away and watch from afar as my 'Art Work' do their thing!! :D (A NOTE TO THE FEDS: No, seriously, I don't do that, I just light the fuse and run away!! :D)

heron, Thank you my bird friend!!!!! Yeah, there'll be more down the hill and into the wall, I'm sure, before the upswing into the weed whacker!!! But I'm strong!! I GOT STRENGTH!! And lots of bandages!! :)

J D, and the worse part is there folks out there worse than me!!! I know that and I can't do anything(other than grab a gun and march into D.C. but all that will give me is five minutes on FoxNews as the 'latest hippie on a killing rampage!!' :( )

diana, I'm shaking the blues away, actually, right now, I'm waiting for 2 am so the clock will go back to 1!! :D (It's the little things in life that have the much amusement!! :D)

Kim, thank you my friend!! Front page, with the best of the bestest of the Open.Salon!!!!

ASDFGH sent me a message congratsing me too!! :)

Profound and spot on...

I'm glad you hit POST, Tink. Really I am.

When the going gets rough, the tough get going ... and show the rest of us just what can be done. Good for you, Tink.

Linnnn, thank you very much!!!

Kate, ~takes a bow~ :)