Personal Update
Today’s issue of the newsletter is a short one. There’s just this rambling personal update and five poetry comics.
I’m currently putting all my efforts into getting my first graphic novel. Phantasmagorical Haiku, ready for publication this summer. This is the proudest and most excited I’ve been about a project in my life. It’s going to be like my regular poetry comics in this newsletter, but bigger and bolder.
I will keep you updated as I have more information to share.
This week I’ve had a lot of wonderful and terrifying experiences. I’ve seen all the dogwood trees lose their stunning pink petals. This happens at the end of every April here, and it is both a wonder and a blight. The trees are something to behold and the way the petals carpet the ground is like something out of a storybook.
But this annual event also coincides with a sharp increase in the pollen count. The pollen isn’t all, or even mostly, from the dogwood trees. It’s more of a correlation. Lots of things are shooting pollen in the air, and when you are a nature lover and highly allergic to most floral pollens, you pay attention to signals such as when the dogwood trees begin to shed their petals.
Being almost 45, I now see my annual spring sinus troubles as less of a reason for despair and more of a sign of the season. I put the dogwood petal shedding down in my book of wonderful things.
This week I’ve been experimenting with a new type of meditation. I’ve never been able to get the hang of meditation before. All the focusing on my breath hasn’t given me any insights or brought me any peace. It’s mostly just pissed me off.
Then I was reminded that transcendental meditation, the kind where you focus on your breath, is only one type of meditation. This week I’ve been doing a type of meditation where I let my thoughts wander around a specific question, while I sit still in a quiet place.
The first time I tried this for five minutes, the time went by in a flash. The only way I know how to describe the feeling I was experiencing was that it was like being in the flow while writing or drawing. I think I experienced what the experts call an altered state of consciousness. It was terrifying and wonderful. I saw a peek inside of my true self and I wasn’t thrilled with what was in there.
Like any hero in a horror movie, I keep going back in there, looking for the source of all the trouble.
Wish me luck.
Poetry Comics
One last thing. If you have any opinions on what you’d like to see more of in this newsletter or what you’d like to see less of, please let me know. You can reply to this email or comment on the post.
I want to make this newsletter something you are excited to read each week—something you can’t help but share with people. I’m overthinking brain is stuck inside of my thick skull. But you are free from my weird hangups with my own work. Your insight would be extremely helpful to me.
Thanks for reading!
Be the weird you want to see in the world!
Thanks,
Jason