Soft words & war cries
original poetry"Rail against mediocrity!"
Everywhere the luminous is being drained
Is a battlefield for idealists and cynics.
gestures, tones,
pamphlets, indoctrination, lies,
propaganda, shock, violence, distortion
& the weakness of denying one's true nature.
but I give them bitter gall.
In life's acrid underbelly
You will meet with yourself.
into hellacious graves?
Why do they breed ignorance
in hovels of the mute?
Speak, even when overwhelmed;
the assertion of the illusory
is often the prerequisite
for its dissolution
in a whirlpool of burnished chagrin.
Where is the fear of failure?
Self-judged beings lose themselves.
A fistful of briars!
With vibrant images
mundanity stokes its conflagration.
Thrown into the furnace of indulgence,
the people have forgotten
their effulgence.
Here it is - all of it!
Take it - in luscious imperfection.
"To live is to have flaws."
Whispers the one who
screams the battle cry.
Notes
What is a quick-write? It is a piece which is briskly created, without too much inner dialogue (similar to stream-of-consciousness writing.) The time frame can vary depending on the length of the piece. For this piece, it took less than ten minutes to write by pencil. It was then typed, and lightly edited. The idea is to make writing something which is second nature, an ordinary activity—an easy expression of one's inner essence as it meets the outer reality.
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Creation is a basic faculty; it is something that makes us human. It is not something that embodies only our noble nature but embraces our wretchedness all the same. If you are judged, you are judged by yourself alone! Get rid of the assumption that art is bad or good. It simply is. If we have love for an art form, we will practice it daily: the results are of little consequence. What is important is the journey of Self-Individuation, the discovery of the absolute through the vehicle of the subjective.
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Have you ever tried quick-writing? I highly recommend it for those wanting to establish a practice of writing, and of course, for already established writers, as well. Keep in mind, the more you do it—ideally daily—the more enjoyable and effortless it will become. In your "slow writing," use resources to learn new terms, of course read widely and not just in one or two genres, in short: stretch yourself! Then, the fruits of your studies will begin to show themselves through your improvisatory syntheses in the form of quick-writing.
All the best!
Ever yours,
With gratitude,
Daniel Pendergraft
Writing & photos
By 
@d-pend
2/19/18