inversion, emotion

At my most vulnerable, my body turns inside out.
My muscles, in strips, form a bleeding armour (not an armour at all).

I turn into the man from the medical books, poised
and displaying his musculature.
His perfect skin (seen in the unabashed scientific nudity to his right)
cleanly removed.

I feel every particle of wind, even intentions of touch.
My crimson flesh pulses, my entire body beats.

Ode to Stovetop Things

My lips curl into a gentle smile while cradling a steel pot as water pours from the faucet and fills
as the chicken roasts in the oven, blushing, burned by the heat of a convection sun.
My mind warms as florets shed their stealthy forest green to smile bright and alive.
An ode to the simple pleasures of the kitchen.

Quote for Thought

All my little life I've wanted to roam
Even if it was just inside my own home

-Rufus Wainwright, Rules and Regulations

The Space to Emote

Over the past two weeks, my parents have been away. And in the past two weeks I've had moments of frustration and, with no one at home, I've had the space to really explore those emotions. Not that I don't love my parents or appreciate having them around, but to have that space to really dig deep is so important. There is no shield that automatically comes up, no muzzle that gets attached. Emotions can ooze, scream, cower, shake, and blurt things out.

I know that discovering my own emotional landscape has been a immensely rewarding experience, albeit tough and not always pleasant. At those moments when I've felt vulnerable, emotions usually bubble up like freshly popped pop corn, spilling over, spilling out. And then there are those moments when you feel awful and you have no idea why. There are also times when you are jubilant, quietly content, radiantly happy. All moments in the emotional landscape.

Many times I've said that I love space. It even led me to try out an intro to architecture (my misadventure into and quickly out of architectural practice). But what I've come to realize that while I do really love a great open space, a thoughtfully constructed architectural space, a cozy room, and places with personality, I think I prize emotional space above all else. It allows me to just be a bit of an emotional mess without judgement, just let it all out, let things play out (it's not necessarily hysterical or anything), but just let emotions come to fruition, to completion. And then beautiful writing can happen (or angsty or terrible, but all necessary), and creative work ripens. Emotional space, it's a beautiful thing.

Dating 2.0?

In the age of Web 2.0, I don't go searching for information, I let it all come to me. GoogleReader gathers all the posts from all the blogs I follow; I no longer know their www addresses. Facebook and Twitter exclaim the latest from friends, acquaintances and admired strangers. Access has become such as to reduce the effort, reduce the search. Let it all come to me.

If we are in this habit of minimal effort, how then does one seek out romantic partners? Have we become insta-judges, ready to ditch a person if first impressions don't come up to par? We are so preened to think of the way we present ourselves to the world.

How then can we encourage people to truly network and truly get to know one another? Who will take the initiative? Who will take the responsibility?

In an age where we expect things to come to us, what becomes of the phenomenon of dating?

Thought

If you enjoyed life all the time, would you really enjoy it?

If life were rosy all the time, it would be just a flatline at the apex. Without life's lows, you can't truly experience life's highs. It really is something of a relative measure. One emotion can't really be achieved without its opposite.

Think about that one.