Fighting Goliath

  Prosthetics Take the pain, take the soreness because some vets have robotic legs take a mile walk and do a half hour on the elliptical, because some soldiers can't breathe smile at children because some soldiers--moms and dads, cannot I have trouble making each moment count with   a lack of confidence and motivation. But I owe the fallen soldier                                                                                                          ...

  Cruising Through A Winter Day   Balding Jesus steps down from his cross To sing a Grateful Dead song I am either under the bridge Screaming to be heard Or a member of a sing-a-long chorus My family, true and alive, can dance To the raspy tones of the piano man As my island named Sobriety Steps out to shine without haunting shadows The cold chills of ice cream And end of the year breezes move me Far from the dark The dolphin are responding to gestures I can’t understand But in my own head, I am choosing new behaviors The dolphin have no choices, but my choices are my own Cruising Through a winter day Distracted by the blonde highlights Of a girl I don’t know Going down with the sun Somewhere in the Caribbean ocean  

 Facing the Mountain  Originally published in Schizophrenia Bulletin sbae007 https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbae007  Facing the Mountain             I was on the second story ledge of my Army barracks, not sure about my intentions. Under me was another gravel bed. Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert was paved with them. No, I did not jump; if I had, I would most likely have broken some bones.             In the next days and weeks to come, I will lose rank because of my lack of motivation which was seen as insubordination. I would also be diagnosed with schizophrenia. Looking out the window of my room in the Army barracks, I could see a massive mountain standing alone. Alone in the desert of my life, I called it, “My Mountain.” I felt like that mountain was my only companion.             I had trouble relati...