Is this progress?

Looking back only lets the monsters get closer

Hi Runners!

Sometimes you can’t afford to look back…

the peaceful sunset
was prelude to arrival
of the invaders

Here is another poem:

My approach to dealing with my demons
is to outrun them. If I keep moving,
they won’t have time to sink their claws
into me.
The secret is to never
look back.
Once you peek over your shoulder,
you slow down, and the demons
catch you.
Nostalgia is fatal,
only the future holds hope.

Of course, this is a totally unsustainable approach to dealing with stress and trauma because we all have to rest sometimes. But for a long time in my life, this is exactly how I handled the monsters stalking me—I ran.

Now I write and draw instead.

Below is the first version of the haiku comic above. I made this in 2020 while reading Lynda Barry’s Syllabus. I drew it on the back of an index card. Now, three years later, I have the courage and skills to make a comic like the one I saw in my head in the middle of the pandemic when my demons finally caught up with me.

Be the weird you want to see in the world!

Cheers,

Jason