Forums
By suggestion, a place for the poets among us to post their words.
take your pills
take your pills swallow them whole and hold them in your stomaches fist fast and strong and pull them down deep into the well of your soul and let ‘em go
light
the blurred vision distorts what is outside and not what is in but the light refracts and lies and what is in is not what is right bu it might get stirred and blurred and spat back at us, bad habits, and the things that are true just cigarette butts crushed under dirty ashy sole
hooks for hands
hooks for hands sitting smiling smoking passes the joint from metal hook to fleshy hand his box of false flowers resting on expensive coffee table. he goes outside and is home for a while, and he smokes in his house but keeps it meticulously clean inside the outside of his home and back in my living room assholes spew out words while outside inside his house hooks for hands sells false flowers but speaks the truth for free
SS America
Sniff snip stick-shift shlock,Shuddering schlong-slobbering, salutitious Saracen's soul-smattering snatch-scathing salubrious saponification....speed!
Masticating mindless mandibles meticulously matriculate mindless masses, mandating more classes. Fat asses, seat plaster, faster faster fornicate...
Love lost, spines tossed, what the cost, look who's boss.
Halitosis Hallelujah, How the Hell are ya!
Spectral expediency want more wait and see...
Serve it up, swerve it up, stick it up, slick it up.
Pestilent platters,
Nothing else matters.
World-whacking, mind-cracking, ass-jacking, shit-sacking,
Lip-smacking, fresh packing.
Wal Mart, war world,
Internet porno, little girls.
Wise-cracking ass-smacker Constitutional hijacker.
Crack-smoking whore-poking, hometown loser mind-rot boozer.
Camelot, came alot, who got shot, compost pot.
Transsexual hermaphrodite, Natural Born Killers, Michelob Lite.
Plaster-caster, alabaster, Masturbator of Disaster.
aliveintherain
There's just nothing like walking through the backroads of a rustic old town in the rain.Nothing rivals it, except maybe wandering through the deserted aging warehouse/cannery district of a rotting metropolis like SF.
Maybe it's the smell of the rainwater soaking into the old rotting timbers or the old tar smell of the road which the rain magically brings to life again.
But the rain is an integral part of it all.
Drip drip drip, and it's all comming to life; like some supernatural elixir trickling down to where the spirits are lurking within;
Reincarnating them to live for a time in the shadows. You can feel them then, if you have a soul, there's a depth of feeling that transcends the senses;
Surrounding and enveloping you, adding multiple layers of time until the density becomes almost palpable.
Whoever thought that old tar and rotting creosote soaked timbers could hold lifeblood within them?
But it's more than that; more than the rusty iron railings and smooth rail tracks.
There is a tangible residue of things done and times past here. There's a warmth of human blood.
There's a feeling of things accomplished and an assurance of continuance. And lurking beneath it all:
The strong thoughts of someone before seem caught in the chinks and cracks of the walls, teasing to be thought again;
To be recycled in the places that bore them.
some toys
Roving dark masses eat light,Morphing procession never lingers.
Streamers flying, fat underbellies soaking up sound.
Spoon floating, canned heat...showing some, most not.
Shades to keep out the sheep.
Wet work for the pros fixes the intrepid and the soft.
Jam happy tune toys and bill loads tie most,
Buy and sex the rest.
Fly 'em low and test the works.
Freak the civs ha ha ha...
what happened
what happened when the sea swallowed me whole and salted me through slowing time and speeding events that shaped my life while I was preoccupied with fixing my shoes
skin
can’t stop scratching itching bitching and calling out loud the pain in my brain bursting forward and out through never stilled eyes that burn like ice feels nice then itch and scratch and bleed straight through until skin becomes a burden constricting conflicting and it has to be removed
dead afternoon
Clattering chime mumbles as myriad breezes blow.Clunk chitty chunk, clunkety clunk.
Numb noggin knockin' against knee,
Memories turned to dust and spider sacks.
Chug chug chug, hill thug inhales deep
Then smoke curls through lonely eye sockets.
"Wanna dance punk?" Spinning cord holds it for now.
Boo woo woo, old dog grumbles and farts,
Spasming, dreaming, pawing wood pile,
Fat tick still sucking as legs dissappear.
"Fuckin' bug!" Thick fingers pop it like a grape
And leave it dangling for amusement.
Greasy dust cakes old bike parts with years of intended use.
Lost lipstick case fills with dirt to adorn lips already covered.
Piney breeze stirs carpal strands to aimless tickling
While numb noggin knocks out of time.
Working on the music for this one
(words will probably change a few times before all is said and done. . . )
Clouds blocked out the sun today
Like they did the day before
Now the world's a little colder
Since you walked on out the door
Guess I should have seen it coming
They're right though, love is blind
Thought for sure we'd make it
Never dreamed I'd be left behind
Heartache seems to follow me
Love's here and then its gone
Well the hardest part of losing you
Was finding me alone
What am I gonna do now
Can't face another day
Wondering how it all went wrong
And why you went away
Now the bed's so cold and empty
And my pillow's turned to stone
Yeah the hardest part of losing you
Was finding me alone
dead family
I smiled inside...I finally got a ride
it was a bus all filled up with heads
they looked me over and checked me out
and I just smiled behind
the guy in the back was eagle eyes cautious
the girls up front took my pack
my black pocket tee says nothing about me
my pants are dull and brown, the road is all they've seen...
but my boots, my boots, steel toes and, brown leather, epoxy and glue and sheet metal screws...and soles I cut out of cork from the bulletin board...they're covered in salt water and blood and tears and grease and diesel and sand and mud...ash and humus and dog shit too, oh yes, my boots will tell stories to you...
it didn't take long
I knew the words to all the songs
and they knew the words to my soul
the bus rolled on to where I was goin'
and my mind reeled out of control
it went this way and that with significant facts
hey dig this man, until thwack...
that awful familiar sting
it was the guy in the back
he gave me a whack
a flat handed smack
like something I'd felt somewhere before
I stood there in shock
as the tears welled up
and caught a smile
out of the eyes in the backs of my feet
it wasn't a whack, or even a smack
it was my brother from my dead family
Pacific West Coast Holiday
(One of my favorites. Maybe one day I can get the recording online. . . )
As the four winds slowly blow away
The leaves all run
While the palm trees sway
Pacific West Coast holiday
Like the river flowing
Up to the sea
Some force of Nature's guiding me
There's no need to run
Run and hide
We'll stand alone and side by side
Watch the river flow
Pacific West Coast holiday
Two weeks have gone
Now the time has passed
We're not the first and
We're not the last
The play has surely lost its cast
Its time to go
Farewell my love don't you cry
no more
We'll meet again
On those distant shores
And there again
We'll laugh and we'll play
Pacific West Coast holiday
Round rain is always
Round rain is always rain.Medulla oblongata is always brain.
===================
moc.swencigolyzzuf.www
===================
Glory
Creating, light from the darknessShining, this is who we are
Growing, falling down and getting up again, and again
Searching for our God
Glory, from the mountains to the sea
Beauty, on everybodies face
Holy, is the way I feel when you hold me
TELL ME, do you believe in Love?
Waiting, for the liberating force to call on me,
and finally set me free
Going, to a land of everlasting love, and peace
Where everything's OK
Glory...
Firefly by Flowpoetry
Firefly
This is not for the squeamish and those afraid of dark, Afraid of gone to new day like fireflies without a spark, Those rubber ducky babies with silver spoons all tucked in bed, Hyena howling tiger lillies stretched waiting for the dead, Wooky bearded babas squatting in the dust smoking head.
This is for the hurried few dragged along by teams of dogs, Stuck beside heart’s ditch of mud cast ashore like driftwood logs, Sand strewn nymphs red ball bounce upon the beach, New York bound cats grin ants stuck in their teeth, Bowler capped boys chuckling tweak the beast.
So come all ye’ hula hooping maidens gamboling on the lawn, Frogs a’courting moonbeams and velvet painted dawn, Silver saddle stirrups and guitars made of rain, Wing footed fleet streeters dancing out the pain, Tree hugging butterflies with no need to explain.
This is not for the squeamish and those afraid of dark, Afraid of gone to new day like fireflies without a spark, Those rubber ducky babies with silver spoons all tucked in bed, Hyena howling tiger lillies stretched waiting for the dead, Wooky bearded babas squatting in the dust smoking head.
This is for the hurried few dragged along by teams of dogs, Stuck beside heart’s ditch of mud cast ashore like driftwood logs, Sand strewn nymphs red ball bounce upon the beach, New York bound cats grin ants stuck in their teeth, Bowler capped boys chuckling tweak the beast.
So come all ye’ hula hooping maidens gamboling on the lawn, Frogs a’courting moonbeams and velvet painted dawn, Silver saddle stirrups and guitars made of rain, Wing footed fleet streeters dancing out the pain, Tree hugging butterflies with no need to explain.
Lyricist for the Zen Tricksters to Perform on June 21st in NY
Writer for the Zen Tricksters, Pozzy Ghuru, The Dave Diamond Band, The Mighty Underdogs and others.....Billy Capozzi (Poem of the day guy)...will be reuniting with his band (that has played and recorded many times with Buddy Cage on Pedal Steel (from New Riders of the Purple Sage) "FINALLY BALANCED," at Lefty's in Long Island, NY on JUNE 21ST for the first time since 2003. The intense poet of improvisational feel is coming into town from the California desert where he's been working on sounds for tv and movie gigs to NY for the first time since he left in 2004. You don't want to miss this! For information call 661-972-0907, or, 661-406-2806 .......
Rise from the Bottom
every day I awake quaking fire heartknowing that I'm part of the heavy soul existence of God, Ja, Jehova
I'm just a lover, but society keeps getting in my way
everyday it happens
I'm learning that I can't escape
raping me of what I am
I'm just a lover
and, society keeps getting in my way
everyday I feel the pain
draining energies/pure ache
I'm just a lover,
but society keeps getting in my way
the engine room
the engine room, a safe place;
it’s where I’m supposed to be.
nobody complains when I’m working,
except maybe the chief.
and nobody cares about him,
he’s just a fat old version of me.
but I can’t find the door
to where I used to be.
so what happens now?
we’ll just have to wait and see.
Climb
You know the darkness of the nightIs overcome by the light
And the bondage caused by fear
Is released when Love shines clear
May you find, some peace of mind
Just don't give up, keep looking up
And climb
The clouds they come, with tears of rain
And then the sun shines down again
These tears they make us grow
We shed our skins and then we go
On to find, some peace of mind
Just don't give up, keep looking up
And climb
And like the moon we're born a-new
And grown until we become full
Then slowly, we fade away
So let your lovelight shine today
And then you'll find, some peace of mind
Just don't give up, keep looking up
And climb
From the Mind of a Decomposing Polar Near (vision 1)
Endangering the worlds supplyLavish carpetbaggers exploit loopholes, their actions are backed by real bullets.
Shoot the messenger, god died for you so you can now again die for it.
The trailer park monarch of skin head shampoo
Feels commercially betrayed by the failed expectations of rebellious imports.
Organizing the common protest for a free lunch, picking over the bones of a lower degree of public response.
Lets get complicated, politicalizing the policy.
A freewill condition is naturally pious with enough authority to satirize the tragic.
Capitol turmoil, Dixie privilege, harmful as the wrong law.
Negative news, lets do noise, that's a violation of patriot commitment?
The basic world condition, the neighborhood pipeline, eminent domain.
In the year of martial law it's all about maintaining the infrastructure.
Without warning or indication the nation changed.
The madmen's dress rehearsal is a matinee at the empire museum.
Titan crusade plays off of contemporary fears
The physiognomy of weaponry Fills the country with voter apprehension.
Puppets pull their own strings, their secrets are used against them.
Primeval warriors are again the cruelest, forever praying with attitude.
Global unemployment, underground economy, a subcultures industrial ghetto.
They turn their the children over to the institution, then turn their family over to the reconditioning.
Who controls the images, the illegal expressions, the state of the art is the art of the state.
The updated monopoly game has a hotel on ground zero.
Offering the oppressed only more oppression
Presidential wealth diminishes the ordinary, while denigrating the common.
Very Good!
JerseySchwartz!**********************************
Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live.
Samuel Clemens
One Third Of The Rebellious Seraph Followed the Presidential Pre
Obedience holds a twisted cross of self righteous interpretation.Think small it fits your personality.
Those who have nothing to offer the public dialog, confuse the revisionist.
Forsaken advisors, seduced by the beauty of the beast
Are being taking advantage of by those who oversee their own worst enemy.
Remaining afraid of what can’t be manipulated.
Guaranteed minimal transparency, the mediators randomness lacks warmth.
Regrets are individual, not political.
Shaking hands with their evil twin, aggressively reasoning their sense of priority.
Denied the access to prove a professional responsibility
Rationalize a changing world, they openly offer servitude
That's despised for the wrong indication, while honored for the wrong warning.
Desperate technology, a broken map, tributes of oil
Impersonal percent of citizen influence hangs on a popsicle stick crucifix.
Martyr's master a difficult opportunity to pacify innate abstracts of being
By living the way of those who must.
Prove themselves-
By rebelling against the terms of this nations court appointed theocracy.
i like!
wow, peakin that strikes deep chords with-in,very nice and thx!
and jerseyswartz, i like the way you think and write, pleeze more spewing forth of taloned word thrusted towards au THO r I zed op PRESS i ON of the mindnumb instant gratification masses swaying in front of the i got mine now i want yours ticks feeding on the underbelly of the beast we call home... well said, well spoken
peace
collectable
blintzes sparkle inside twined marshalled cabinetssprinkles and frosting coupled with barbed sugar disasters
municipalities fail in the clutch of the drip
one for the agents and the scribes
portals into frozen shark-muscled wings
no trails to dessert
nothing to follow
| Wait until the veil is shredded, then reveal it |
Elysian Hide & Seek (two sparrows)
Watercolor glint, intricate as the Vespers templateLiberates its aspect of daylight.
Cerulean particle, solitude Orb at stationary form.
Mind to mind, the simplest of light enveloped the purest of silence.
The mystic anomaly dissolves its ethereal obstacle.
Stubborn illumine interacts alongside the paradigm of our illuminant characteristics.
Ah actualization, perpetual focal point, neutral projection.
Suffused disappearance in the distance, guided through a charged ion of transformation.
Incessant after-fade, what's left to be rearranged ?
For this transparent hint, invisible clue, redeemed in a great sense of nothingness.
Drift, harmonious nuance, epoch of the light, recoiling cerulean fury.
Innate presence, hidden in a delicate rain, resolved to be as a tears'
Individualized sense of oneness, as if time itself, returns unto it's original form.
Elysian ever present, plays hide and seek amongst two sparrows.
Integrated similarities, cultivated common ground.
Here forth acknowledging the inner spirit's beginnings, the outer soul's continuation.
on the trail
I looked at life as I was walking down the trailSearching for the Secret that would finally lift the veil
Through the pines, to a ridge out in the sun
The river down below me said "Be forever young"
And as the wind blows through the trees
It whispers there's a world that is still free
The eagle cries, and suddenly you see
Ain't that the way it's supposed to be
I hate you more than I hate
I hate you more than I hate my enemiesI hate you more than I hate my opponents
I hate you more than I hate my adversary
I hate you more than I hate my rivals
I HATE YOU BUT.....
WHY I STILL LOVE YOU?
________
:- )
This goes out to JerseySchwartz- I hear ya!!
I thank all of you who have posted on this forum. It's great to see all the flowers of creativity.
Interstate Samhain Blues
The rolling view
from the car window
mimicks the clicking
of an antiquated sixteen millimeter
motion picture movie projector.
It's playing a bizarre
B-rated horror flick
dreamed up by a weaning neophyte
from the jack-o-lantern's teat.
An all saints chorus
of cirrus and sun
sprays Segrada Familia
magentas of flame
that melts the crystalline vapor
of an Itascan morning
flowing into the
Mother American river. [yes, I know. It's a road song like BTW :)]
The barren cornmeal soil
forgotten by the harvest,
yet familiar to summer's ghosts
expose tricks and treats
to the hard pressed
rock candy, salt water
taffy of the earth.
They're wearing yesterday's masks,
hiding in homes
all saccharin bloated
on waxy candy corn dreams,
and trying to atone
for the sins loaded with artificial colors
of red, white and blue.
Yellow dye no. 5
stains the road east
with it's jaundice justice.
The second half of electricity's sigh
is the pentagram spokesman,
a skilled vetriloquist of warfare might.
America has become a puppeteer
who's lost control of the marionette,
a Potomac Pinocchio of Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld and Rice. (poem c. 2005)
Yellow dye no. 5
stains the road east
with it's callous cowardice.
An alternating current
of citizen thought
should mold marzipan martyrs
from America's backwaters.
If not,
the blistered sun
will be eclipsed in crude blackness,
bloodened with a viscosity
similar to the caramel
upon the golden apple
that hides the razor blade
we all must swallow.
The eye of the hawk
performs helixes on the heartland horizon.
It zeros-in on the military snake
bleeding from the apple's blade
and soaking in Eden's perpetual rain.
Lazarus is walking,
adorned with bandages to cover
Hades' transgressions
and the lacerations of Cerberus' rage.
Lazarus is talking
of a reversal in fortune.
In three days
we'll be dead,
sans ascension.
The desert storm troopers are painting
their own Hieronymus Bosch imitation.
"War on!", is an erroneous Bush insinuation.
Soldier sacrifice
bloats the U.S. economy
with artificial colors of
truth, might and heady
delusions of prosperity
that even Mark Twain coudn't fathom.
Hannibal waits
with elephant bombs
to whitewash our faces
and brainwash our
Huckleberry dreams
of lollipop rivers
and Pollyanna prairies.
The American dream
is an illusion of exclusion
from the rest of the world.
Globilization is the world's affliction
of the American predatory zombie
engulfing anything with a pulse.
The sarcophogus is empty,
so the indigenous shamans
are concocting potions of protection
from the top-of-the-food chain mummy
who believes wisdom is in the brain.
Bottlenecked in Coca-Cola corporations
our cheetah capitalism
is on a sorghum grass safari,
soon to climb a tree
and die a slow, molasses death.
The technological spider
has spun it's web
and forgotten about
the agrarian barn
that's shelters it's lattice haunt.
The road reels on,
and as I exit the heartland
passed the Arch and the river Styx,
I see Charon's ferry churning south.
The sign reads 'no vacancy'.
All is ready
to engorge the Mardi Gras meat
of debauchery and sin.
I shiver my last polar chill
and feel the chemotherapy fever
of the ever closer latitude of cancer.
The tropics warm
with leucocytic power.
A hurricane is no longer
just a drink you order
in the French Quarter.
Mother Nature's archery rivals
that of the new rising Orion.
I cover my eyes.
The veil is too thin.
The dependence upon
Earth's black death,
and the subsequent wars
to establish pallbearer status,
has made the corpse bride
of the widwower soldier
all to familiar
with her own death.
When her man comes home
as a letter shroud
in the army lieutenants' words of solace,
describing her as a newborn daughter of America,
she touches her belly
knowing more than he says.
The Liberty Bell's crack
is the cause of it's own ineffectiveness.
Our Graceland is no longer
a new frontier
of mountains and valleys
carved of glacial melt
and thrusting magma.
We have exhausted
the wilderness paradise.
It rivals the ruin of ancient Memphis,
choked with barbed wire fences
and bled dry
with concrete needles
that replace Earth's plasma
with embalming fluid
of unknown consequences.
Until our streams of consciousness
can set new courses
toward oceanic thoughts
with tsunami magnitudes,
we'll be stuck on
the Land Between the Lakes
surrounding doldrum marshes
of methane, peat and rotting carcasses.
Our media heroes
and technological warriors
are dressed in camouflage
and performing marches
for the lofty feats
that democracy promises.
The tug of war
of the two-headed snake,
in lands of asbestos dust,
suffocates tolerance
like a creeping radon death.
America's AC/DC,
worldwide, iridescent glow
sits in a spinning limbo,
like the dark side of the moon,
when viewed from Olympus Mons.
Shadowed in the harvest moon,
pumpkin-hued light,
a feared new Tartarus,
just a part of our collective consciousness
and a synaptic firing of the new world brain
reaches Mars upon Mercury's wings.
On the war planet of the celestial pantheon,
A false idolotry
of a mysterious god
suffices alien criterion
and a new, foreign religion is born,
adding to the hodge-podge
of public opinion.
Alas,
my metaphoric muse
just makes me another minion
of our current controversy,
another Mary Shelly fantasy
reiterating the spiral energy
of life immemorial.
The saints and souls
wearing masks
of science and ritual
or mystery and chaos
are singing the same chant
from behind the veil of Cronus and Christ.
They're dethroning the old
with knowing grace,
celebrating the monarch of chrysalis faith
and dancing a jig of universal taste.
As the clock strikes midnight
on a new day, month, year and century
our ancestors are urging us
to plant a golden apple tree
worthy of Atalanta's ruse by Aphrodite.
*I know it's a bit long, but I hope you all enjoyed it.
......And there were days I know when all we ever wanted was to learn and love and grow.
broken arrow
There you go, movin across the waterThere you go, turnin my whole world around
silly putty
Warning: levity ahead
We're just a bag of skin and bones
Amino acids and chromosomes
Made to think, and built to roam
A mystery that's ours on loan
We've evovled since time unknown
Planting seeds and throwing stones
Then we learned to write and read
The written word began to feed
Whatever light shines within you
If it's for Love I'm with you too
It's nice to have something to do
Come walk with me I'll walk with you
And in the end we'll know the truth
I hope we find fountains of youth
Till then I'll live day to day
And hope for you to walk my way
very interesting
very nice to see all this beutiful poetry ,, keep up the nice work of words folks .. it is amazing just how far my suggestion for this forum has gone .. i need to post more of my words soon .. Take care everyone !! Peace and sunshine to all !!
play Silly Putty
Play Silly Putty on guitar! G-Em-D-C with a reggaeish feel.
Silly Putty
Two times through each verse, right? Sorted! Fun and bouncy!
Conversation is always more interesting than recitation, so speak your mind and not someone else's.
That works
Plenty of room for jammin too. Thanks for trying it. And a big thanks to Stuman for suggesting this forum. My favorite.
the beast
I have long hair and I just don`t care
watch out for that bear
I must say
do you see the tree`s sway
we better stay away from here
is what I hear
for the great beast
has no fear
don`t you hear what i say
look at the tree`s sway
we better stay away from here
for the great beast has no fear.
4-7-08
in the shadows
in the shadows of the moon
I heard a great boom
like the sounds of thunder
coming from down under
I stand and wonder
what kind of blunder
could posibley come from
down under
could this just be thunder ?
do`es this make you wonder ?
4-7-08
Daystar
There is day, and there is nightThere is wrong, and there is right
Some find peace, while others fight, oh yeah
In the cities, and in the towns
There are smiles, and there are frowns
Some see the priest, I'll take the clowns, oh yeah
You'll be up, and you'll be down
You'll be lost, and you'll be found
Look for Love, it's all around you, yeah
There is sunshine, and there is rain
There is laughter, and there is pain
May your love, always remain, oh yeah
All I see is illusion, the hands of man have built
Don't give in to confusion, or be haunted by guilt, oh yeah
your love
7/27/08
Sunlight splatters
Nothing matters
Without Love
Take me and awake me
Don't forsake me
With your Love
And I'll try, to do the best I can
To get by, and give ourselves a chance
It's time to make a plan
And leave it up to Love
Jam
Reason tattered
I've been captured
By your Love
Give your dreams
A set of wings
And give yourself a shove
And you'll find, that the world was made for you
If you try, there's nothing you can't do
So to your heart be true
And let Love see you through
inside my head
my head is throbing my head is pounding
I try to smile
but can only frown
like being a sad clown
I can not shake this frown
as my head keeps pounding
I continue my frowning
and the twinkle in my eye`s
starts to slowley die
drownding in my oun tears
8-5-08
Gigi , Leanne , Marye
Thank you very much !! Thank anyone else who may be sending positve vibes !! it`s gone for now but Doc. said it could come back anytime ,, hope it don`t ..
Wrote this many years ago
when I was in a deep, dark place. Don't know what made me think of it today. It has music as well.
You wake up all alone
and remember that they're gone
and you have to wind it down.
It's not the same old place,
it's missing another face
and you have to wind it down.
You know you hate this part
hoping for something to fill the void.
Try to find another way to deal.
Then waves of dread come crashing in
reminding you that pain is very real.
The empty pillow there
you toss it in the chair
cause you have to wind it down.
They won't be coming back
their life is on another track
and you have to wind it down.
Staring blankly into space
try to focus anywhere but there.
Searching for a sliver of the sun.
It doesn't help to scream again
no respite from your life that's come undone.
You sort through some old things
and fight back the tears they bring
cause you have to wind it down.
Sad, and all alone.
So sad, because they're gone
and you have to wind it down.
Conversation is always more interesting than recitation, so speak your mind and not someone else's.