who are you?

This is one of the central questions plaguing our generation's existence, it seems like we just can't get away from it for long enough to actually do anything of substance. Day and night, when we're not mindlessly going through tasks pre-assigned to us by powers over our heads that we can neither see nor control, we're chasing this question of who we are and what that even means if we find out.

I wonder if people have always had these questions. If your life consists of finding food, water, and shelter, do you ever stop to wonder who you "really are"? Are these questions the consequence of an abundantly easy life?

I use the term easy loosely. By easy, I mean "not fearing death at every step". Before, we were worried about the "how" of life, now it appears that we've moved past that and we're on to the "why" of life. I'm not ignorant to the point of believing that there aren't actual hardships and poverty around the world, but if you're reading a blog on the internet, you're probably doing pretty alright compared to the rest of humans who have ever existed (whether you think you are or not). Grocery stores make things infinitely easier, it would appear.

So from "how" to "why", and we seem to be stuck on that. Part of that "why" appears to be "who", as in "who am I?" Maybe one day we'll move on past these questions and to another one.

But for now, we're stuck. We can't seem to see ourselves through everything around us, even though we're constantly in our own minds. There's too much clutter that we can't see past. Or maybe we don't know where to look.

But, by eliminating everything around us, by removing things one by one until we are the only thing left -- what do we have then? If you remove everything you have, see, hear, own, get rid of it all until it's just you, alone on a bus to a different city where you know nothing and no one, where everything is strange and you don't have your casual devices and friends and family to fall back into, you don't have your phone to play games on or your comfort food to eat or your favorite places to walk or your dog or your computer ---

who are you?

Wishing for Winter

Thoughts of cold and snow stir
within a warm body,
the only place those thoughts
can be found here to whirl.

But my mind is in need of a cold couch
And a warm blanket, held by
cold hands near a hot fire,
the cold dark night all around.

I need frosty windowpanes and my breath to be seen
so I can stay inside, huddled and close and safe
hot cocoa in hand
rekindling the fire burning in bright eyes.

As we move from warmth to warmth
in a house chilled by the cold,
we secretly hold the journey dear
for making the destination feel more like home.

And on those wintery nights
when our eyes finally fall closed,
tucked in our warm beds we lie still
as in our dreams we smile.

<3 smr

Hello world.

I suppose I must be frank here, and tell you that the only reason I just created this blog is because -- well, ok, actually, there are two reasons.

1) ReverbNation keeps demanding for my blog in order to "complete my profile" and I finally caved. It's going to hound me about Myspace next, so I suppose I'll have to do that too, and
2) My good friend Cassie's blog on Blogspot is providing her with a good deal of enjoyment (and readers too!) and I've really enjoyed reading her blog. So I suppose the next logical step from that, is that I assume I as well will derive some kind of pleasure from blogging.

Or perhaps this will be my only post, ever. We'll see.

<3 smr