Tri Duong
It’s forced at first. It has to be coaxed out and nurtured before it can really begin to blossom into something beautiful. That’s what they say, right? “All great relationships are based on a lie.”

It just spills out and goes from there, a whole world opens up and paints the white, cellulose walls with audible color. Sweet sounds of creation conjured by my plume fertilize the vacant space between words. This is great.

The pregnancy of the pause before the pen is put to paper is a feeling full of heaviness, brought on by the message I have to bear. This feeling of release is exciting, as the weight of the words leave my mouth. This is cartharsis.

Then of course, there is the block and the pressure mounts. Dammed back, not by the natural beaver lodge, but by a man-made monstrosity severing the jugular of a serpentine river pouring life down-stream. I close the window to stop the noises of the party next-door from damming back my creative juices. But still I can’t work out the block. Something is jammed in there, keeping me from continuing further into uncharted territory. My thoughts have been run aground and I’ve no way of pushing off into the inexorable current that will bear me along to my final punctuation. This is tragedy.

I remember! The dishes are to be done. And so they are done. My odyssey begins again in earnest, under full sail with all hands manning the oars. Thus the river flows its course and all is well. Thoughts are the under-tow, words are the fish and the frogs that color the waters with the vigor of life. The message is clear, un-mudded by the pollution of cliché, thus it refreshes. This river flows into others, creating an endlessly complex web in which river after river and stream after stream may flow and trickle on forever and for always.This is a story.
Tri Duong
Pain is such an exquisite thing
It opens brand new doors that I never knew existed
This sensation is something that shouldn’t be resisted
Nothing is better than a collapsed lung
Except for maybe
Putting your finger down the rabbit hole of your electrical outlet
Enter a brave new world
Of exploding lights and strange sounds
That would be an Ambulance

Pain can be so much fun
Think of all that can be done with a gun
Away go the kneecaps
Bam, no more sight
A broken nose
Is really a delight
It is the answer to the world’s plight
We try to stop it
When we should embrace it
And in war
Embrace it when we should be trying to stop it
Parents tell kids not to hit
What do they know
Faux pious people

Razors offer some cheep laughs
Put one in your mouth
And you’ll taste copper pennies
Wanting more
What can I find?
There! A blowtorch catches my eye
Things can get hot
Or down right blistering
A little alcohol keeps my wounds from festering

Don’t worry about the wife getting curious
I have no need to be mysterious
Because when I take my little trips
She’s the one holding the whips