Blunt

An old friend of mine

I’ve known for thirty years

Told me

I was blunt the other day

He then said

It was one of the reasons

He has remained friends

With me

For so long

He knew exactly where

He stood with me

At all times!

I was surprised by this

I said, I thought I believed

I was careful

With people’s feelings

My wife then joined in

The conversation

“You thought you were

a sugar coater?”

A smile then pulled gently

Across her face

His wife chuckled

“You’re no sugar coater!”

I spent the next few hours

Pondering all this

Like Archimedes

Pondering Physics

I wondered

What people would think

If I didn’t try to sugar coat

My words?

A few days later

And

Hours into a day

Of

Dealing with customers

A coworker said to me

As her brow

Slowly moved upwards

“You don’t have to be

antagonistic with the customers”

I said,

“I’m not.”

“But I’m also not promising them

unicorns and rainbows”

From my book, When The Cedars Shade Your Grave

It’s Amazing

Yes, it’s amazing

What we believe is

Not coming for us

But

We know

Good and well

Is!

We put sweets into our body

Knowing the crash

Is going to come

But we eat them anyways!

The drunks drink their drinks

Hoping

They escape the hangover

Coming the next day

But it will come

With all of its glory

All of its misery

All at the same time!

The voter wants

So badly to believe

The politician’s lies

Knowing deep down

There is no possible way

They can deliver

All they have promised

And

The ones who become life long

Anything

In a position of power

Become

Way to Godlike to the masses

My mother used to say,

“The preacher needs to go after

A few years. Because the flock

Will start to worship him

More than God!”

Yes

Food, alcohol, money and greed

Will all lead

To your soul being consumed

By the wolves of the world! 

Like Tuberculosis eating away

At the lungs!

We all are guilty of wanting

Something different

Than what we know

Is on the way

For us

Shutting our eyes to what we

Clearly see leading to its arrival

From my book,  When The Cedars Shade Your Grave

Jason E. Hodges Quotes

“Never be an artist that starts worshiping yourself or believe your little group is better than anyone outside of it. For, you are nothing more than a grain of sand on a hillside in this world of ours. Even Da Vinci’s work is only glanced at then scrolled past on a phone or computer these days. Climb down off your throne and become humble once more.” Jason E. Hodges

“Your only guarantee in this life is that eventually it will end. So make it extraordinary. Live like tomorrow won’t start for you.” Jason E. Hodges

“The biggest weapon that threatens us all is, mankind’s stupidity.” Jason E. Hodges    

“To forgive is powerful. To not remember the reasons why you had to forgive is foolish. So continue on with open eyes and see all that’s before you.” Jason E. Hodges

“To pluck out debris from one’s eye can be quite painful. To dig into one’s self can be unbearable. But in order to move forward we must pluck out the painful and fill our souls with hope that the pain never returns.” Jason E. Hodges

“I’d rather fall climbing a mountain hand in hand with someone I felt was my equal than to make it to the top by stepping on them.” Jason E. Hodges

“Humans have the ability to rewrite history. Within a few decades it is not even questioned. Stories of the past become as real as the world you walk through today. Wars are waged over false history. Sins are denied. All for mankind to move forward and feel comfortable about its past. Your true history is written in the stars. Look up, breathe in, and be humbled by the ones who came before you. The ones who have suffered, who have endured, who have overcome. Their blood is alive in you. Their spirits roam freely in the heavens above.” Jason E Hodges      

From my book, When The Cedars Shade Your Grave

The Journal

Bound by leather

Worn by age

My journal

Truly understands me

Its tattered pages creak

When I turn them

Too many rides

Of

Backpack adventures

And

Day to day travels!

My journal is the tool

That allows me to drift

Drift farther

And farther

From reality

Or

Into reality

It’s hard to say at this point?

Yes

I study the world around me

Like Sabrina Pasterski

Studies physics! 

I give all that I have

To make sense

Of

This world!

I have no PHD

No college degree

But what I do

Have is the drive

To understand

All that surrounds me!   

And I think

Sometimes

Are my thoughts

What others call hearing voices?

Do their dreams

Sound so foreign

So beyond

What they believe is obtainable

They do not hear

Dreams whispering in their mind?

Some truly seem

So programmed by the world

That surrounds them

That any differing

From the daily planer

Must be a sickness!

If you speak

And

Say what others

Are afraid to say

You are easily dismissed

Mocked for being different

Yet praised

If your writing becomes viable!

For now

Journal

You're safe

I won’t let them read you

I’ll keep you locked away

Far from their sight

Until you are needed

To awaken

The minds of the sleeping

Sleepwalking

Their way right through life

From my book, When The Cedars Shade Your Grave