To Be

I am becoming—
    Befuddled,
    Bemused,
    Bemoaned,
    Beleaguered,
    Bewitched,
    Bedeviled,
    Begotten.

I am between question and answers,
    Between actions and words,
        Between beginnings and ends.

I am becoming my worst enemy,
    Or so the mirror claims.

So I'll drape the mirror with a black veil,
    And trap the ghosts and demons beneath,
    Then let it fall to the floor
        To become the pieces of nevermore.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

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

A Lot in Life

      On a hot summer day, atop a fresh pile of steaming dung, a swarm of flies were having lunch, when one fly suddenly stopped, turned to its neighbor, and said, "Are you happy?"

      "Yes," replied the neighbor, without a moment of hesitation and without a hint of sarcasm.

      "Why," asked the first fly.

      "Because life is too short," replied the neighbor.

      The first fly pondered this for a bit, then upon reaching a conclusion, returned to its meal.

      The End

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Leadership (Upon Reflection)

What makes a "good" leader?

• Honed skills
• Real world experiences
• Credible and dependable
• Trusts, but verifies
• Many tendrils
• Few confidants
• Sensitive in the soul
• Tough love as necessary
• Knows when to listen and knows when to bark
• Smiles as a matter of course, but will bare teeth as a matter of recourse
• When a decision must be made, or a final vote cast, the following is clear to all:
  • One voice
  • One vision
  • One line in the sand

Re-titled on 2020.08.03

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Looking for the clues of continuity,      Even though their footprints and breadcrumbs,           Vanish with the perception of the fleeting moment.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

We become our misery when our rainbows are painted in shades of gray.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

When there's nothing left to hold on to, hold on to your principles.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

To be courageous or to be incorrigible — the choice is up to you.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Heaven and Hell (A Beginning)

I am less alone than you think.

But more alone than I feel.

To be caught between Heaven and Hell,
    Is a struggle
       All too real.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Four Tendrils on Fairness

Fairness is a lie, an illusion, a yoke.

It's the prospect of fairness that blinds everyone to the reality of its emptiness.

 

Fairness is tantalizing and alluring because we believe that it "levels the playing field."

The reality, however, is that there are those among us that choose to play the game by their own rules.

 

Fairness is like sun bathing on a cool summer's day — you feel comfortable, maybe even a bit chilly, but you don't realize that you're still getting burned.

 

Competition. Subjectiveness. Wants and desires. Striving to be head-and-shoulders among—and above—the rest. Survival of the fittest.

All of these (and more) are at odds with fairness.

 

About

At the earliest stages of our lives we're told to "play fair."

But then as we get older, we're constantly reminded that "life isn't fair."

The mind is caught between the obedience of childhood lessons and the sting of cold reality.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

ISP I

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

To the casual observer, delirium looks a lot like optimism.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Facts are cold. Faith is warm. People need both.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril... Bureaucracy

What is bureaucracy?

• A glacier (most of the time)
• An avalanche (once in a while)
• A dam (waiting to break)
• A damn (as in, another damn thing to get in the way)

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

May the penguin of complacency never waddle into your life.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

You can be honest without being harsh.

You can make a point without poking.

You can reveal without having to rip.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

An Inevitable Path

Failure is inevitable,
    Because we are flawed,
       Because our logic is in conflict with our emotions,
          Because we can only walk one path at a time,
          And that path
          Is marred and marked
          By our footprints
          Forward,
          Backward,
          And sideward.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

The heaviest hammer of them all is the hammer of reality.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Fall Kite

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

In knowledge we swim. In ignorance we drown.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Hate is a quicksand of the heart.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

A Prayer, of Sorts

Dear God,

The S.S. My Life hit an iceberg of uncertainty and now I'm drowning in doubt. (Cold, dark doubt.)

I think to myself, I'm a fish out of water, but that doesn't make any sense, because I'm drowning. Or maybe I'm not. It's hard to tell which end is up when you believe that you're sinking like a rock.

So would I recognize the life preserver if it hit me in the head?

Or would I be too consumed with flailing and gasping to have the presence of mind to reach for it?

Uh-oh, I think I see the sharks starting to circle.

God, please send me a life preserver.

And be certain that it hits me in the head.

Amen.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

The butterfly has no agenda.

The crow only comes when skies are gray.

The seed cannot help but germinate (and penetrate).

The cow is a jacket waiting to happen.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Memories of MoMA

Random thoughts as I walked through MoMA with my wifema.

• Abstract representational theology
• Lost amid the thinking of ourselves
• Opulent disparity and broken continuity
• Ghosts upon horses
• Study and consume
• Spit and hurl?
• No flight. No fancy. No forgiveness
• Held tightly; dreamt loosely
• Sorry, but a "spec" on an otherwise empty wall is not art, nor a profound social statement (no matter how much you stand there and rationalize it)
• The notebooks of Tim Burton — yet another example that the pages of notebooks contain nuggets of gold
• Just turn around and walk at full speed, as if the place were empty

P.S. This is all true, especially about the inconsiderate knobs referenced in the last bullet.

MoMA = Museum of Modern Art (NYC)

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Love is a road to hate, if and only if you travel the road alone.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

When God gives you a wake-up call, you don't go back to sleep.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Into the pandemonium I willingly go, thinks a soldier.

"For the glory of the republic for which I stand," whispers another soldier.

And somewhere near the front-line, in a foxhole, a soldier asks, "God, please forgive me for what I'm about to do, but I'll not let the enemy take my freedom away."

The first casualty of war isn't the truth—it's the spirit.

Dedicated to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces that fight everyday to protect the freedoms that I enjoy. I can only imagine the struggles that you face (physically, mentally, spiritually). Thank you.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Love is a road to hate,    when you:       Harden your heart;       Stop listening;       Make every moment about "me" rather than "we."

Updated 20220724

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Truth should never be used as a battering ram.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

Ripeness — good for food, bad for people (especially for people in close quarters).

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.

Today's Tendril...

"I only grow gray flowers," said Melancholy. "That is because you've forgotten how to smile," said Rainbow. The silence that followed became the chasm that divided them.

© Copyright 2013 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.