In Silent Passage - Text and Visual Art by Chris DeRobertis (Dero): 2016

// Saturday, December 31, 2016

Today's Tendril...

A handful of rain is better than a bottle full of lightning.

// Friday, December 30, 2016

This visual-and-text composition is a work of fiction. Names, places, institutions, events, incidents, characters, persons, locations, contexts, scenes, scenarios, symbols, glyphs, iconography, and/or organizations either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Full Creative Writing Disclaimer.

Today's Tendril...

What does a soul-punch feel like?

A lie.

// Thursday, December 29, 2016

Real for a Moment 6 (Dark Version)

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* Original version

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Salve 3

Decidedly positive.

The glass is half full.

Positively decided.

Fortitude doesn't cavil.

Negativity sears.

Mental scars criss-cross.

The coin — two-sided.

Don't leave choice to chance.

Today's Tendril...

Sometimes you have to drink from the fire hose.

Sometimes you long for an oasis.

And sometimes, just sometimes, you get to sip from the golden chalice.

// Sunday, December 25, 2016

Today's Tendril...

The most interesting path to follow, is the one that winds through the mind.

// Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas (2016)

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Today's Tendril...

The line between "a broken will" and "a stake in the ground" is drawn with choice.

// Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Fallen (2016)

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Today's Tendril...

First love is a soul-stain that never comes out.

// Saturday, December 17, 2016

Salve 2

Fingers love to point.
Eyes love to pry.
Emotion is a pendulum.
So trust in the mirror,

Because the mirror does not lie.

Today's Tendril...

Patterns that fluctuate between a heavenly pause and a hell-bent deviate are the marks of either a tormented mind or an enlightened one.

// Friday, December 16, 2016

All Again

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Updated 2018
Original version released 2016

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

// Thursday, December 15, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Success is a tuple of: independent spirit, business acumen, conversational savvy, and resiliency.

// Monday, December 12, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Justice might be blind, but it can still bare its teeth.

// Sunday, December 11, 2016

Salve 1

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Characters Within (Interis Dieagolis) 7

"Silence is golden," said Modesty.

"Not when you're a cut above the rest," replied Hubris.

"Absolutists. Both of you," said Balance, in disgust.

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

This text composition is a work of fiction. Names, places, institutions, events, incidents, characters, persons, locations, contexts, scenes, scenarios, symbols, glyphs, iconography, and/or organizations either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Full Creative Writing Disclaimer.

Today's Tendril...

Old habits might die hard, but new habits take a while to grow up.

And even longer to mature.

// Saturday, December 10, 2016

Today's Tendril...

The weight of forgiveness is a curious thing.

It can be as heavy as an anchor when being sought, then become as light as a feather once it is received.

Cityscape and Waves (in the Abstract)

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// Friday, December 09, 2016

The Totality of Value

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Today's Tendril...

The trouble with a deity that only you can hear is that the "holy message" communicated to the rest of the world comes across as a one-sided conversation.

// Saturday, December 03, 2016

Today's Tendril...

When science reinvents itself, it's called progress.

When faith reinvents itself, it's called aberrance.

Life is not static.

And a faith locked in dogma and legalism is no more alive than a stone.

// Friday, December 02, 2016

Today's Tendril...

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// Thursday, December 01, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Hive mentality — good for structure, continuity, and safety.

Bad for creativity, individuality, and evolution.

// Wednesday, November 30, 2016

A Saying of Kairis (Reality Dots)

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KAIRIS is a ™ trademark of Christopher V. DeRobertis

Today's Tendril...

Hate is a pilot fish.

Doom is a shark.

// Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Today's Tendril... (Focus, Revisited)

Focus doesn't set the course — will sets the course.

Focus doesn't stay the course — dedication stays the course.

Focus doesn't set the pace — ambition sets the pace.

Focus is a noise canceller,

A sharpener,

A filter.

// Monday, November 28, 2016

All Creatures (Threaded)

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Rumination 2

Obsession with connection, this "always on" expectation.

Daily bread is no more.

Follow a thread; reach a score.

Daily stats feed the machine.

The addiction? Digital amphetamine.

RID: 1480309200

Today's Tendril...

The only "tough play" in life is sitting on the bench and dreaming about an opportunity.

// Sunday, November 27, 2016

Another Today's Tendril...

Living life with integrity, courage, and passion is to walk a fine line on a narrow path, while angels and demons bicker on your shoulders.

Perspective in Focus

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The Last Harvest Crows

A thread,

A purpose,

A path,

And it's down the rabbit hole I go.

If I don't return by the time the last harvest crows

Pick the scarecrows clean,

And the daylight dies soon after it's born,

Then send in the tendrils,

And the ghost-lights,

To pull me from the vines,

The barbs,

And the gloom,

Of the ever present,

Spiraling humor,

That is the melancholy now.

A Road Divided (Long Road Version)

A road less traveled.

Is paved with trepidation.

A road not taken.

For better. For worse. For hindsight and what ifs.

A road to nowhere.

Futility and apathy are safe ways; comfort zones.

A road to paradise.

Smooth. Well lit. Straight and narrow.

A road to perdition.

Uneven. Hazy. Wide and serpentine.

The road beneath –

A road divided,
Between Heaven and Hell.

* Original version

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Belief is always easy when skies are blue, the sun is high, and the breeze is cool and refreshing.

Belief is not so easy when skies are grey, the sun is hidden, and the howling wind is whipping dust and debris against your raw, unprotected face.

// Saturday, November 26, 2016

Seen in Red

Today's Tendril...

The path to "the truth" is easy to walk when it's offered as an unbroken sequence of well-defined steppingstones.

// Friday, November 25, 2016

Real for a Moment 6

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Today's Tendril...

Excessiveness isn't a journey.

It's not a destination.

It's a waste of time.

// Thursday, November 24, 2016

Today's Tendril...

The hedonist that is unsatisfied at the end of the day deserves no sympathy.

// Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Today's Tendril...

The trouble with "line of sight"

Thinking,

Living,

And believing,

Is that you're oblivious to the dangers sneaking up behind you,

And you don't even have an inkling that there's a neon-red bullseye on your back.

// Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Real for a Moment 5

The Resonance

Perpetual entropy?
No!
Clearly, excitation.

The resonance?
United.
Millions participated.

(Some, pleased. Some, perturbed.)

Understand. Support. Accept.
Share the resonance.
One nation.
Glorious.

(With liberty and justice for all.)

Today's Tendril...

Better to be half there, than all gone.

// Sunday, November 13, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Fortitude is one thing. Maybe even an honorable thing.

To claim that capitulation is never an option means you're either a liar or a fool.

Or a remarkable blend of both.

// Monday, November 07, 2016

Today's Tendril...

People often change their minds, but rarely change their ways.

// Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Redemption doesn't seek the path of least resistance, but its seekers do.

// Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween!

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Today's Tendril...

Hypocrisy is a two-faced head that speaks out of both sides of all its mouths.

// Sunday, October 30, 2016

Three Two-sentence Horror Stories (for Halloween) + 1 Bonus Story

My greatest struggle in life had always been fitting in with the world around me, because it was easier to be me and alone, than to be part of a group and feign interest and acceptability.

Funny the type of stuff that pops into your head when you've got eternity in a coffin.

Emily never cared for the sensationalized and exaggerated quality of so-called urban legends, especially those that were more gore and terror than clever and unsettling.

She quickly changed her mind when her car broke down on a dusty country road, on Halloween night, and a scarecrow with red eyes and a battle-axe leapt out of the cornfield on the other side of the road.

The over-sized jack-o-lantern looked particularly menacing in the middle of my living room, with its eerie green glow pulsing through missing chunks of its pumpkin flesh, and a bright red goo dripping from its pointy-toothed maw.

Too bad it was Easter and I live alone.

Bonus Story

Every night for several weeks our passion for each other was fulfilled in complete and undifferentiated darkness, and she would not allow me see her, no matter how much I pleaded.

But she finally gave into my request and revealed herself to me by soft candlelight.

That's when I realized that the ghost I had been calling Josephina was actually a Joseph.

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

These text compositions are works of fiction. Names, places, institutions, events, incidents, characters, persons, locations, contexts, scenes, scenarios, symbols, glyphs, iconography, and/or organizations either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Full Creative Writing Disclaimer.

Today's Tendril...

Balance favors the clear-headed,

The data-driven,

The mindful.

// Saturday, October 29, 2016

Today's Tendril...

We might try to rule with Maslow's Hammer, but we're still subject to Murphy's Law.

All of us.

// Friday, October 28, 2016

The Last Grain

    Several weeks ago, a grand field near my home held row upon row of tall, thick, healthy green corn stalks. All of the stalks stood proudly, their uniform height topped with marvelous tassels that bobbed and nodded whenever a strong breeze passed through them. And when the sunlight caught the ears just right, you'd swear they were the big, bold, and husky cousins of the pussy willow. Oh, such a sight to behold.

    But then the harvest came and went, like a thief in the night, and the cornfield became a ghost of itself. Even worse, though, the field became home to hundreds, if not thousands, of honking and foraging geese.

    Alas, even their presence is, at best, temporary. For once they've had their fill of the harvest's leftovers—unprocessed parts, mashed bits, waste grain and the like—they'll depart, en masse, for warmer climes and robust acreage. (I'm all but convinced that the resident field mice despise the transient fowls and are given to calling them "the amazing pooping machines" and "the fair-weather feathers.")

    Still, once the geese leave, all of us (mice included) will wait impatiently for the first snowfall, so that the vast emptiness that occupies both land and spirit will be concealed by a welcomed blanket of pure, undifferentiated white.

    The End

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

A Saying of Kairis

KAIRIS is a ™ trademark of Christopher V. DeRobertis

Today's Tendril...

The only things that change direction as often as the wind are social sentiment and politicians.

// Thursday, October 27, 2016

Today's Tendril...

If darkness is a harbor, then don't drop anchor there.

// Wednesday, October 26, 2016

One Candle from the Cabin in the Woods

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Pod 3

Reinvent the wheel all you want.

Think outside the box all you want.

Build a better mousetrap until you're blue in the face.

Construct the most marvelous Rube Goldberg machine the world has ever seen.

But until you truly care, are truly passionate about creating something, and are willing to put your heart and soul on display, then you might as well be trying to lasso a tornado, using week old spaghetti, while blindfolded, and wearing clown shoes.

PID: 1477454400

// Monday, October 24, 2016

Today's Tendril...

At the worst of times pain is a cell,

A hole,

A puppeteer.

At the best of times pain is an opportunity,

A divining rod to strength,

A focusing lens,

A channel to clarity.

// Sunday, October 23, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Visionary needn't mean the absence of reactionary. In fact, the former may emerge out of necessity from the latter.

The Mystic and the Machine

// Saturday, October 22, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Headlights, flashlights, and searchlights are irrelevant when the threat is invisible.

// Friday, October 21, 2016

Orivod

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Seasonal Sidebar

Angry stakeholders don't bode well for the success of your mission, endeavor, or vision.

Especially if you're a vampire.

Today's Tendril...

Red herrings are sometimes masked in shades of grey.

// Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Said the...

   "It is better to hold the heart of a dragon in your hand, than in your chest," said the angel on the mortal's right shoulder.

   "But it's far more fun to ride upon the dragon's back, than to be pierced by its talons," said the demon on the mortal's left shoulder.

   "Actually, it's far better to avoid the dragon altogether, than to lose the use of one hand, or to risk falling to your demise," said the mortal, who promptly walked away from the moment.

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

If you don't see God when you look through a microscope, or when you look through a telescope, then you might not be seeing things with an open mind.

// Monday, October 17, 2016

Today's Tendril...

True vision requires both i's (to be wide open).

// Saturday, October 15, 2016

Alive, Awake, and Aware 5: Hybrid Consciousness

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Real for a Moment 4: Star System Black Light

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Today's Tendril...

Magic lives and dies in the hearts and minds of dreamers, thinkers, and doers.

// Thursday, October 13, 2016

Sky Slant

When skies are cloudy,
   And thoughts are grey,
Some tend toward gloomy,
   Others sink into dismay.

No matter the slant,
   No matter the cause,
The weather above,
   Makes some people pause.

Today's Tendril...

Within conflict is "i" — how appropriate.

// Monday, October 10, 2016

Today's Tendril...

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

Still... "trust" but verify.

// Sunday, October 09, 2016

Recounted and Replayed

Autumn grey.
   Winter blue.
Spring ahead.
   Summer stew.

Thunder rumbles.
   Daylight dies.
Lunar madness.
   Midnight cries.

Echo canyon.
   Raven’s way.
Circled crops.
   A prayer to say.

Oh to recall,
   Mental bricks,
   In life's wall.

The Big Bang

Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All Rights Reserved. insilentpassage.com Copyright 2016 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved. insilentpassage.com

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Knot, the Tree of Life

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Today's Tendril...

If not for the minutiae—the atomic parts—then the "big picture" would not exist.

// Saturday, October 08, 2016

Today's Tendril...

A view from elsewhere and elsewhen...

You know a relationship has run its course when you go from being the anchor of someone's life, to being the anger of someone's life.

// Monday, September 19, 2016

Elution

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Today's Tendril...

You can daydream about slaying the dragon or you can agonize about being eaten by the dragon.

Perspective is a curious thing.

// Sunday, September 18, 2016

Today's Tendril...

Wishes are fireflies of hope.

// Saturday, September 17, 2016

Today's Tendril...

"Clarituity" —

One part clarity.

One part acuity.

Entirely silly.

Totally unnecessary.