Untitled Poem

 Untitled Poem 

                                        Forbearance is how I bear this                                          

Patient pain of guilty conscience

Kissing away my common sense

There’s a cost to each soft sip

Excruciating, alleviating, debating

The dangers of this tasting...

Shameful shamelessness cloaks my aimlessness

Careful chaos, 50 respectively, on black and red each

Wagering a paradox on semantic sameness

To lose the silk chains of crafted speech

Innovating, restating, manipulating

The rules of my approximating 

Vicious apathy brewed masterfully washes down your casualty

Sipping casually the coarse cocktail of selfishness

Caring costs, causes Self consciousness of its superficiality

So feast of inexact actuality and relish the bliss of undecidedness

Liberating, exhilarating, postulating,

My passions decide my actuating

Forthwith, this is the fourth hit

The fourth and final kiss of flesh and death

Living on the edge of grinning lips

Gripping the bloody soul of my inner chest

Intoxicating, elevating, escalating

Begging me the question, “what am I trading?”

. . .

To live or not to live,

Is to give or not to give,
For life will take twice
For each and every gift

To face the tick of time

As life folds into death

Leads a man to wonder

What is worth his breath?

If between birth and earth

Is all I stand to lose,

What is worth my winning?

And how am I to choose?

The timid may take little
And suffer just the same
The choice is only yours
What pleasure for what pain

If I must give to live

When death does finally call

Let my living echo

I gave to life my all.

- Quin McGlaughlin

The Black Keeps Bleeding

The Black Keeps Bleeding

The black keeps bleeding 

Seeping and creeping

Into the hope I harbor

The white grows grey 

Obscurity’s martyr

Till all that is left

As the light gives way

Is dark and darker.

---

I'm afraid the wine won't wash away

The blood that brands my hands

Mourn the loss of more innocent days

When I thought I knew who I am

Call a thing by better names 

It is no better or worse

To see the dark side of light

Is a rare and painful curse

To scar a man's mere mortal flesh

Is a sin simple enough

But far fouler it is a transgress

To kill another’s love

Quod me nutrit me destruit

David’s disease also haunts me

Living to die, dying to live

Resigned to conclude, “c’est la vie”

Pick your poison, Socrates

How the rope doth fray

Defy your death, Dionysus

Game Pascal dare not play

Ravenous hunger for everything

O, Heart so far from pure

Give Kierkegaard my apologies

Thank Camus for the cure.

---

Even as I cling so desperately to life

And pretend that I be free

I glimpse on the fringe of Sanity's sight

Death blows kisses to me.

- Quin McGlaughlin

Where the Wild Things Grow

Where the Wild Things Grow

For my father, Flint McGlaughlin,

Who taught me to cherish beauty, to love living, and that life without beauty and passion is not living at all.

Find me where the sunlight shines

‘Twixt the running river and climbing pines

Slumber under the wolf’s lullaby

Where the greenwood wind cries

Where earth under bone can feed my soul

With the heat of a flame to chase the cold

Where fireflies dance at forest’s fold

Under starlight’s crystal lull

Where God spreads blanket of lilac and rose

Over gaping fields for my heart to roam

And the moaning oaks stoically pose

Where the wild things grow

Where the clouds sleep on mountains high

And the horizon folds into edge of sky

Bids farewell to Moon’s knowing smile

And Nature hums her breezy sigh

Where earth trades dirt for green and gold

The secrets of the sacred organic are told

The world is cast in Beauty’s mold

I am home.

- Quin McGlaughlin

Five Key Levers for Increased Productivity

Five Key Levers for Increased Productivity

1) Prioritization - what you execute - What are the most important tasks for me to execute?
2) Organization - clarity as you execute - How can I minimize wasted work necessary as I execute?
2) Systemization - how you  execute - What is the most effective sequence to execute this in?
3) Fluidity - how well you execute - How can I execute fastest without incurring hindering mistakes?
4) Consistency - how much you execute - How much/long can I productively execute?

A System for Sin Prevention

Three Methods:
1) Proper scenario - do not expose yourself to situations or environments which increase the probability of succumbing to temptation (these are, more often than not, easily identified, though sometimes can catch you by surprise)
2) Prior boundaries - operate with a predefined standard of moral conduct that predetermines ethically questionable decisions.
3) Personalized precautions - understand your individualized inclinations and personal proclivities using this to tailor your lifestyle to minimize the probability of sinning.

John 12:29

If the stars align,

We’ll call it a sign,

Just enough,

To call it divine,

Too perfect to pretend

It wasn’t design

And perhaps we will find

That we were right...

- Quin McGlaughlin

Zion's Momentary Loss

Zion’s Momentary Loss

Quin McGlaughlin

Began: 4.12.2013

Finished: 4.16.2013

Note:   This poem was originally written simply as a creative exercise. It is designed to adhere to a specific format, 1) Only three words per line, 2) Each verse begins with a color, contains an image, and ends with a theological/biblical reference. 

Crimson redemption drips

Reddened wrinkled brow

Softly smiling lips

Thorn-adorned crown

                                                

Burgundy dirty earth

Bloodied brown flesh

Grace given birth

Dying unto death

Blue bruised skin

Body crushed cries

Tearful eyes grin

Darkness takes flight

Yellow sun bright

Burning raw wounds

Mercy conquers might

Creation rejects Truth

Fleshy sneering faces

Blindly jeering fools

Filthy fists waving

Innocence made new

Silver sinful nails

Calloused broken hands

Eyes icy pale

Await glory grand

Golden angry sky

Scandalous crude cross

Heaven weeps tonight

Zion’s momentary loss

Dark powers retorted

‘Neath leather sandal

Salvation is forged

Upon wooden anvil

-        Quin McGlaughlin

Until the Rope Breaks

Until the Rope Breaks

Song 1

Quin McGlaughlin


He closed the window pane
To keep out the rain
She closed her eyes
To shut out the pain

They closed the door
To quiet the shame
But its only so much fray
Until the rope breaks

And it rained. . .

He was late again
And he smelled like sin
And sin smelled like gin
And looked like lipstick

He staggered down the maze
Of his driveway
But its only so much fray
Until the rope breaks

And it rained. . .

Never again, he swore
But sorry she knows is shown
And as long as they’re together
She’ll always be alone

Its only so much fray
Until the rope breaks
She closed her eyes
She felt the pain

And it rained. . .

Another night, another glass
But this time it costs
Half to be exact
A losing battle well fought

Because she’s had enough
And he never could
And its only so much fray
Until the rope breaks

And it rained. . .

He swallowed his drink
In an empty home
So this is how it felt
To be the one alone

There was nothing left to lose
Except for his greed
So he lowered the noose
And with one jump was free

Its only so much fray
Until the rope breaks

And it rained. . .


- Quin McGlaughlin

The Ecclesiastes Moan

The Ecclesiastes Moan 

Quin McGlaughlin

10.12.2012

With such frequently fortuitous fortitude

I’m fortunate to forget my fickle fits

Of feigned forgetfulness amidst my ineptitude

For the four times or more that I’ve given in

What do I mean? What do you mean?

This mean symmetrical cemetery of seeming

Seething beseeching by my closest enemies

Imposing on me my destiny and other things

What do I believe? Why would I believe?

Things I can’t see seem more appealing

Than those I can see visibly which are appalling

Forgive my deafness, all I can hear is this calling

Why not defy these indefinite dreams of things

That can be seen and useless amassing

Those dreams are but schemes and trappings

To disguise the lie about living and what it means

Think. . .

Why not try and dare to ask why?

Like why do I work and why do I try

To climb figurative ladders and lie

About how I feel about my life

Why try harder to forget than to fix?

Until we don’t even enjoy our sins

We placate with anesthetic get-togethers

And converse modestly about the weather

They sacrifice true life to die well

Well, I’d rather die living and not a shell
Pray tell people, isn’t there more?

Teacher, what is worth living for?

This is the Ecclesiastes moan.


- Quin McGlaughlin

Everyone is better than you. . .

Everyone is better than you

Quin McGlaughlin

10.1.2012

Everyone is better than you. . .

At something. It is generally safe to assume that every person you will ever meet is better than you at something. The inquisitive mind should always be striving to for progress. So in your time with anyone, do not waste an opportunity to learn about the things at which they excel. In this way your socialization will not be idle or wasted and in addition, people appreciate the feeling of being valued, especially for things at which they pride themselves. You will make people feel admired, respected, and valued and they will be drawn to you for your humble curiosity.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”

-        (Proverbs 27:17, NIV)