Tag: mental health

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJul 21, 20248:27 pm

Chaotic Grid, Tablelands Hike, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

The Game

He played the game

All day
And all night

He played the game

Because when he played
He never cried

When he played
He never felt shattered

Or broken

Or alone

He played
And he played
Until he exhausted consciousness

He played

Until even the terror
Even the darkness
Deep inside him
Could no longer hold
Sleep at bay

And then he slept

Until the dreams
The nightmares
Woke him again

The images
Never survived consciousness
He never remembered the dreams
Just that a dream woke him

Leaving only the shattered terror
And the loneliness
The lovelessness

So again
He played

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJun 6, 202411:31 am

Waiting

We wait
This cold wet morning
For a train that is never on time

Huddled and swaddled
Against the chill
The platform
Covered from the rainy mist
But the breeze bites
Even through the blankets

In a mood neither bleak nor hopeful
But resolute and assured
For while the train is late
It is all but inevitable
And will take us from here
To somewhere else

Where somewhere else
May be work
Or home
Or family or friends
Somewhere we’ll find
Something we need
Or let go of something we don’t

Perhaps the only value
Of waiting here
Is to be able to step off
Somewhere else
Somewhere that is not here

And
For the moment
That is enough

Poetry by Patrick JenningsMay 6, 202410:11 am

Sunset III, Revelstoke Lake, Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada

Blues ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #368

Blues run layers deep
Beneath an intoxicated heat
Rustling the lake with scattered breezes

No storm tonight
But ’round a distant point
Rough waters wait

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 30, 20247:22 am

Athabasca Falls, Athabasca River, Icefields Parkway, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Finding Rainbows

As falls the water
So fall I
Into the chasm

The inevitable course
Into the tumult I tumble
Fractured until no more than mist

There in the light discover
The true nature of I
Refracting all hues of possibility

Disassembled I
Finds the path
From broken to whole

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 17, 20247:00 am

Cascade, Western Brook Pond, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

The Fall

I fall
A cascade
Out of the mist
Down the rocky narrows

Seeking the still
Cool waters
Their calm

But there is no pool
Only the decline

Until I am reduced

To a trickle

Then

nothing

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 5, 20247:43 pm

Waiting / Not Waiting

I wait my turn
Patience
As life streams by

Finding neither
Moment nor desire
To enter the stream

Faith in
Fate or serendipity
To sweep me into the fray

Content when
Reality
Makes no such demand

Poetry by Patrick JenningsMar 18, 202410:33 am

China Southern Airlines CZ329, on approach to Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia, Canada

Motion ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #361

To be in motion
Is my way of stilling thoughts
Stillness quells the pain

Poetry by Patrick JenningsNov 8, 20216:53 pm

Burrard Iron Works, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Irony ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #289

I am having
High-order, ill-mannered thoughts
Inconvenient truths
As the saying goes

Understatement that it is

And I have always
Wondered why
Understatement
Doesn’t have a better word

Overstatement has
Hyperbole
Pointed overstatement
An extraordinary word

Understatement
Seems so…
Well
Understated

But I’m lying
Not about understatement
I cannot overstate it
I cannot be hyperbolic

About understatement or lying

But I digress
I dissociate
Because I am lying
About having these

Thoughts

I’m not having them
I mean that emphatically
Which is also a better word
Than understatement

And still I digress
Dissociate
Dis-associate
Because I also most emphatically

Do not want to have them

So I digress
Again
Diverge
Obsess about other thoughts

Any other thoughts
Or no thoughts at all
Even better
Any activity which annihilates

Thought

Television
Computer games
Hours-long arguments
On social media

Irony
Another great word
A device used properly
Only as a hammer on an anvil

I have arguments
About high-order, ill-mannered thoughts
To avoid thinking about
A particular set of high-order, ill-mannered thoughts

But I digress
From my digression
Which speaks to the power
Of dissociation

I dis-associate
From dissociation

But those thoughts
I don’t want to have
They want to be had
They want to be thought

And they’re knocking at the door
Pounding at it really
Against the big metal door
Protecting my consciousness

Like a hammer on an anvil

Even now
I am buttressing the door
Keeping it shut
As it reverberates

I desperately want
To turn on the telly
Play a game
Or open Facebook

Poetry by Patrick JenningsMay 31, 20211:51 pm

Edison Bulb in the Darkness, Crease Building, Riverview Hospital, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

Freed ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #272

In the darkness
An inner light
Dim but ageless

Beyond is daylight
Through a window
Barred

Trapped
Inside
I quell the panic

Mindful
Of the small dim light
Until it grows

Illuminates the darkness
And the latch
To the bars containing me

I am free
Remembering the power
Of even a small dim light

Poetry by Patrick JenningsFeb 15, 20212:44 pm

Autumn's Lingering Hues, Pacific Spirit Regional Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada copy

Vibrance ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #266

Recall the vibrance
Once displayed in many hues
Now no more than trace remains
Though brightness scattered
Here and there

Decay sets in
Drains true nature
Of its lifely due
Thus am I left
With naught but mem’ries

Fading fast

Remiss this guard
Of summer past
Which lingers still
In so few leaves
Fallen to the forest floor

There soon enough
Back to earth
Will they be drawn
And all that was
Will then be gone