Damaged goods

The smell of smoke
The youthful rebellion
“School? What ever!”
“Let me hit that.”

Worry free school days,
Alcohol induced car rides,
Fun in the sun.
“This is the shit”
“Let me hit that”

Ambitious beginnings,
New friends,
New love,
Death of a friend on an alcohol induced car ride
“Sad about Chad.”
“Let me hit that”

New pad
Kick ass parties
Sex
Fired
“Wow! This sucks”
“Let me hit that”



Rugged recovery
New place
New girl
New life
“My plant looks good”
“Let me hit that
Blissful wonder
21st birthday
Love
Marriage
Peace
“For better or for worse. I do.”
“Do you have a beer?”

Drunken fights
Broken feelings
Distrustful accusations
“Bitch!”
“Let me hit that”

Uncontrolled freedom
Sex
Solid fun
Forgotten tears
Lonely nights
“It’s all her fault”
“Do you have a beer?”

Slow awakening
A soft taste of love
Silent reflecting
“I was such an asshole”
“Let me hit that”

True understanding
Controlled freedom
Willful rebellion
True love
“I wasted so much time”
“Let me hit that”


Peace
Lustful companionship
Sex
Trustful exchanges
“Will you marry me?”
“Wow! I need a beer”


Contented sharing
Heightened Ideas of understanding
Acceptance
Here
Now

“I’m glad I’m damaged!”

current in peach

rollin' waters

Me and Will

Boating the catawba with my boy.

Quote of the day

The greatest danger, that of losing one's own self, may pass off quitly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, etc., is sure to be noticed.(Soren Kierkegaard)

Driftwood

Bobbing and twisting,

In a current to big to know.

We float.

Near, caressing, touching.

Then away.

To private places where knowledge cannot be shared.

Sculpted and ravaged by,

Sun
Wind
Current
Tide
Storm

To be tossed, finally,

to solid ground.

To lie in the coarse, soft sand.

That covers us

in time.

Together.

For Danielle

My soul escapes me
"Ecstasy!"
When you embrace me lovingly.
It soars through the air,
exclaiming with joy.
That life has begun.

Quote of the day

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. (Oscar Wilde 1854-1900)

We all wait in nature

The first time I recognized myself.

The sun hung gigantic in the sky, leaves stired in the chilled spring breeze. While shrill cries of love and hate resounded from the numerous birds.


The first time I ascertained myself.

The sun was filtering through the dense canopy, sewing a patchwork of distorted shapes on the forest floor. While tiny insects appeared and disappeared through the columns of shafted light.

The first time I happened upon myself.

A grasshopper cocked its wings and flew, noisily, from one stalk to another. A bee hovered over a glistening red flower. A small frog vaulted franticly, into a shallow gurgling stream. The cloying sounds and smells of nature floated through out my world.

That was when I finally met myself.

Waiting relaxed and content,
in the arms of Mother Nature.

(Written at age 14 and age 32.)

Morning my favorite time(when im doing what i want.

proof nature wants us to be happy!

Our Lighthouse


Beautiful and Prominent
She stands.

In the calm sea of life,
she is accommodating.

A place to relax and glow, in the joy of a safe passage.

In the foggy and distorted sea of life,
she is true.

A place that is real and solid, as we drift through obscurity.



In the rough and dangerous sea of life,
she is safe.


A place of relief,
from our pain.

A place of hope,
from our despair.

A place of home,
from our wanderings.

A place of love,
from our fears.


She is our lighthouse.

You are our mother.

Beyond And Within

Through a looking glass of longing,
We see ourselves looking back.
Smiling and waving,
At each other and ourselves.

Like a slow meandering current that is nonobtrusive and easily over looked.

We drift closer.
Pulled from opposite banks by the images in our looking glass.
Coming together.
Swirling, spinning, pooling behind ledges in small eddies,
dancing and curling back up stream.
We drift away.

The float determined by the rate of the flow.

To inevitably spill us over fast falling riffles,
depositing us on opposite banks.

Peering through our looking glass waiting for the river to rise.

some of the gang

colorful winter

Sunset on the catawba

French Broad river Hot Springs NC.

The Meaning Of Life

The meaning of life for me is a constant wonder. Life ebbs and flows like the ocean. Some days calm prevails, other days the sea is rough and dangerous, as is life.

Yet even with the unpredictability of the ocean people still set forth across her surface.

So if life can be paralleled with the ocean then that means that all living beings have set out across its surface. Hence, making us all explorers, first meaning of life is to EXPLORE.

Now, if were all explorers, moving about across the surface of life sooner or later someone is bound to get into somebody else’s way. So now, to keep things running smoothly all of us explorers have to compromise. Second meaning of life is to COMPRIMISE.


So we’re exploring, we’re compromising across life.

Well, as is human nature, from time to time. The random bump up on the surface of life. Two explorers decide to explore together and they love. Third meaning of life is to LOVE.

And also; as is human nature the two explorers decide to take separate courses. Sometimes they never pass ways again so they accept. Fourth meaning of life is to ACCEPT.

And as is in all things out here on the surface of life, there are things not known to any explorer. This fact makes them wonder. Fifth meaning of life is to WONDER.

So here we are EXPLORING, COMPROMISING, LOVING, ACCEPTING, and WONDERING. Where does it get us after all is said and done?

As we explorers head toward the end of our journey what do we have to show from all our wonderings. Well a LIFE.

So with that I say the true meaning of life is just to LIVE.


By: James Berry