My 2022 Vignettes (So Far)

I always like to imagine every person as a living, breathing planet of complications. Carrying a level of depth that literally noone could ever fathom. To be honest, I see that depth in myself and simply translate it to everyone else.

This conceptualization is entirely deliberate because I modelled it after our shared reality of Earth.

We know a lot about Earth, but we don’t know everything. Hell, we’ve only mapped 20% of the global seafloor as of 2021 (Yet the ocean holds roughly 70% of the Earth’s surface). Keyword being  “mapping”, that’s not even counting the sea life that’s yet to be discovered.

When you take that same complexity and apply it to people, you’ll start to see why I call grandiose intuitives idiots. Why I hate anyone who discourages people from pursuing their dreams. Because somehow, they can just “tell” when someone is not good enough; without actual evidence. And even in the presence of evidence. What’s the harm in trying when the person knows the risks involved.

(Oh, but O.D. “hate” is such a big word) You’re damn right it is. And if you ask me, when it comes to people like that, “hate” isn’t entirely big enough.

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People often tell me that I seem aloof; that I don’t seem to care about much and I’m unaffected. I get how it might look that way, I’m not a highly reactive person.

I do care, a lot actually. However …

I’ve trained myself to only care about what matters to me. About things I can actively participate in and “fix” within my proximity — geographically and interpersonally.

There’s a lot to care about in this world, but I can’t care about everything. Not without losing some serious bandwidth.

There’s a lot happening in the world at any given moment; being part of it all is a level of ambition I’m not aspiring towards.

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I’m not religious. Those that have followed me long enough know this.

Some part of me believes I would have enjoyed the Bible a lot more if I wasn’t taught about it in small bits and pieces.

One day I would get taught about Moses — the next — I would learn about Cain and Abel. A few weeks later, a pastor would parse their interpretation regarding the Garden of Eden. 

I keep thinking: If I consumed the holy book in chronological order, I would probably have a better sense of structure before the breakdowns. As it stood, I was getting spoilers after spoilers. 

Lol I’m being facetious. But it’s a thought that dawned on me. We all learn differently.

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I was reminded about one of my pet peeves this past week. Using unnecessarily complicated words. I know being pretentious is, in many ways, subjective. But some people turn it into a sport. 

The irony does not fly over my head. My poetry has all manner of flair and bedazzling reflective of being pretentious. In fact, I would go as far as calling it that.

However, words in my poetry are arranged in a way that encourages the reader to use their imagination; it accounts for assonance, alliteration, rhythm e.t.c. There’s no way I can be a poet and not sound pretentious. But I don’t actually talk like that IRL.

Imagine speaking like that to someone asking for directions:

“Sir, we’re north of the equator.

The longitudinal lines mark your point of destination in the East.

Follow the swift summer winds.

E-T-A ten minutes”

If you don’t punch me when I talk like that, I’ll do it myself

(Obviously don’t punch people …… In public)

One of my good buddies said some of these people might feel intimidated, so they try to sound deep and knowledgeable. Maybe. There’s no way to know for sure.

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Speaking of buddies.

I made a new friend. Well, technically they had always been around talking to me, but — I never chose to call them my friend.

I recently did. That was nice.

If you’re wondering why I chose to make them my friend, it’s easy. They don’t bring me problems.

And that’s not to say friends shouldn’t share problems. It’s to say sharing problems shouldn’t be ritualized. If I know I’m getting a problem every time we talk well … I can’t be a part of that.

They bring their problems sparingly to the point where I get genuine concern. I believe their emotional intelligence is through the roof. I tell them that all the time.

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I have a Spoken Word coming soon.

If you want to know when I’ve posted it, simply look for this image:

Art by:  theirison

If you haven’t heard any of my Spoken Words till now, check them out here.

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I hope I find you well dear reader, I’m certainly doing okay.  I should probably be working, but I couldn’t stop myself from posting this.

– O.D. ©2022

Art by: ArthurHenri