Horror Author
Steam the milk
Shake the tea
Cue the shots
Squirt the syrup
Squeeze the caramel
Add the whip
Don’t add whip
Don’t add sweetener
Hot or iced
Pour the milk
Want a receipt
Cup and sleeve
And what size
Call and connect
We need ice
Stock the cups
Pour espresso beans
Brew more coffee
From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.
Pipeline of Madness
Noises in the pipeline
Vibrate through the body
Restless – no comfort
When does the peace return
Echoes swarming the head
Melancholy – sigh
The light breaks through eyelids
Join the madness or die
With eyes burned –
Silence is Chaos
With so much noise in the world
One wishes for silence and solitude
When this is achieved
One wishes for companionship
A vicious cycle with no end
When is one satisfied
With what one has
When does all the noise
Become too much
When does one find peace
In a world filled with
Chaos, pain, and abundance
From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.
Toward the end of January, I went hard with social media posting. I posted something every day and I checked notifications constantly. I think this took a toll on me. All that extra noise on top of already feeling depressed and people started telling me that I always say something that rubs people the wrong way. It makes me wonder if everyone I’ve met has felt this way and perhaps that is why I have difficulty maintaining relationships of all kinds. Have people only put up with me to avoid further conflict?
All this added up to needing a break from many things. I spent a day at home, signed out of and deleted social media apps, and spent the whole day in my pajamas. I think some would call this a recovery day. I think it helped. I have a refueled ambition for my blog but also for how to move forward with social media in regard to my writing. Within 24 hours of hitting my lowest point in a long time, I have bounced back to at least a slightly functional human. I have a list of tasks I need to complete, but I’m uncertain how to move forward with personal relationships.
This has always been something I’ve struggled with and when I think I’ve improved, I find more obstacles. It’s a never-ending battle and sometimes I wish I didn’t have to hold a job and could just write every day and make enough income to survive. I’m taking steps to move my life in that direction, and it will be years before that is my sole source of income. I have an appointment scheduled with a psychiatrist and hopefully from that first session I can get a plan of action. I’m giving myself a year to work on many things.
There are many factors I have no control over, and these are the things I think I struggle with the most. There is only so much I can do about my financial situation and stabilizing that holds the biggest uncertainty. Almost half of this past year I was unemployed, and many other things caused it to be potentially the worst year in my recent life. I think that’s why I’ve hit such a low point and can’t find any resolution. So, I do the only thing I know how to do. I bury myself in my work and avoid all humans. Sometimes that’s what I must do to survive.
James Pack 