My Top Ten Poems: #9 “Life Continues—Unconquered”

/ Cody McCullough / 6 Comments

Life Continues—Unconquered

Dream fades,
Eyelids retract,
Sun illuminates,
Body moans,
Spirit awakens,
Pulse quickens,
Consciousness streams,
Reality unfurls,
Day begins,
Legs traverse,
Life continues—
Unconquered.

     For a long time, I’ve been a night person. A real “moondog” as it were. One who revels the time when the responsibilities of the day have been put to rest and there is finally time to enjoy one’s self and forget about everything that must be done. Lately, however, I’ve been looking at things from a different perspective.

     More and more, I’ve found myself enjoying the comforts of the morning. As Hemingway once famously wrote The Sun Also Rises. As I sit here writing this now, the sun’s warm rays are stretching out from across millions of miles and caressing my wanting skin. Whilst the scent of fresh brewed coffee wafts up into my nostrils. Yes, it is a good morning and a new day. A new beginning if you will.

     My poem “Life Continues—Unconquered” is about just that. It’s about waking to a new day and embracing it. Embracing everything that the morning has to offer and leaving the world of dreams behind even if your body moans a little.

     It’s also about overcoming adversity. We all wake up in an imperfect world, but we continue with our lives anyway. Not everyday is easy. In fact, many aren’t. Life, though, isn’t about giving up. It’s about putting one foot in front of the other and traversing each day as it comes to you.

     Indeed, the unconquered life is one in which you never stop moving forward. As the sun continues to rise in the east and set in the west, we continue to march on with our lives. From the long ago days of the ancients all the way into the unknown future: life continues—unconquered.

silhouette of a man during sunset

My Top Ten Poems: #10 “The Past”

/ Cody McCullough / 10 Comments

     Sometimes I think of the past as though it were a reel of film. A series of individual moments captured and recorded before being spooled up and shelved. A flimsy record of the past collecting dust deep in the cavernous recesses of some ancient library archive.

     Finding myself in this dingy and decrepit archive, I unspool the film and stretch it out with my hands. Holding up the film, I focus in on an individual frame. So that’s how it happened, I think as I realize the past to be different than the perceptions and beliefs I had formulated in my mind.

     Yes, that’s exactly how I think of the past. The past was a real place of free will and choices. A place of unlimited potential that slowly faded as the unrelenting progression of the present pushed over it and onward toward a new day. Thoughts like these are what led to the entirety of this little project of mine. Soon it too will be pushed over by the progression of time. Not yet, though. Now is the time for me to take a little stroll down memory lane by revisiting some of my earlier work by discussing my top ten favorite poems.

     In at number ten is the poem that started it all, “The Past”:

The Past

Only remnants remain,
Ruins and ghosts,
Trying to speak to us
Across a great chasm;
But we cannot hear
And must imagine,
Interpret, and reinvent.

     “The Past” is the first poem that I published on this site. As such it certainly deserves a spot in my list of the top 10 poems that I have written. Looking back at it now, I can certainly see why I decided to kick off The Past, Present, and Future with it.

     When I wrote it, I wanted “The Past” to be a piece that would both encapsulate the main idea behind my first collection and also be able to stand on its own. I opted for a short piece that illustrated the fleeting nature of the past. Indeed, the past is not a place that we can reach. That being the case, there is a quite a bit of imagination, interpretation, and reinvention in our understanding of it. That idea winds its way through my whole collection to a certain degree.

     Well, that’s it for now. Next month I’ll discuss poem number nine. In the meantime, feel free to perhaps spend some time thinking about the past and what it means to you.

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What’s in a Title?

/ Cody McCullough / 6 Comments

     Titles sell books. They also pique the readers interest and hopefully make them want to read the story. Needless to say, they are very important. That being the case, it’s not surprising that I have spent so much time coming up with the title for my book.

     The first title for my book, A New Beginning, morphed more into one of the underlying themes of the story than the actual title itself. After moving on from A New Beginning, I’ve toyed around with other titles before settling on one that felt right. That title is 2021: A Time Odyssey. Well, there you have it. That’s the title of my new book.

     As for the story itself, I’ve decided that I should hold off on revealing too much while I’m in the process of seeking publication. Once I have that all figured out, I’ll reveal more. One thing that I can say about the story at this time is that the story is a wild ride that is told through diverging timelines that build toward a climactic convergence.

     While I continue to pursue publication, I’ve decided to do a countdown of my top 10 favorite poems from the Past, Present, and Future. Next month, I’ll reveal number 10 and explain my thoughts on the poem.

     That’s it for now. These are exciting times, even if they are a time of healing, and I look forward to sharing my work with the world when the time comes.

novel books

On Change

/ Cody McCullough / 15 Comments

     Change is constant. For better or worse, it is one of life’s certainties. When it’s for the better, it’s easy to embrace. When it’s for the worse, it can be quite a challenge to accept. Lately, I have found myself facing the latter challenge.

     Change for me came in the form of a ruptured Achilles tendon. Accepting that my life will be much more difficult for the next several months has been more than a challenge. I know that there are much worse things in this world, and the change that I’m experiencing is only temporary. Still, though, it has been exceptionally difficult. Learning how to navigate the world without the mobility that I used to have has definitely been arduous.

     Even challenging changes, however, sometimes present silver linings. For me the silver lining has been extra time for writing. I was able to use this extra time to finally put those finishing touches on my novel. Complete at last, “A New Beginning” is now a reality.

     Next month, I’ll reveal the actual name of my novel along with a synopsis of the story. Hopefully by then I’ll have healed some and will be getting around better than I am now. In the meantime, feel free to search for those silver linings amidst the constant changes of life.

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Enjoying that Bend Life

/ Cody McCullough / 4 Comments

Still working on making time. In the meantime, I thought I’d reblog a post from my recently revived travel blog: Four Traveling Macs. Let me know what you think.

Four Traveling Macs

Dark starry nights offset by bright sunny days are what I remember most about growing up in Bend, Oregon. Of course, now-a-days Bend is known as a vacation destination for outdoor enthusiats and so much more. If you’re thinking about visiting Bend, here are 8 great activities to include during your stay.

  1. Float the Deschutes: There’s no better way to cool off on a hot Central Oregon summer day than to float down the crisp, cool water of the Deschutes River. Rivervend Park is a great place to put in. Continue floating down the river to the man-made rapids just below the Colorado Avenue Bridge. More advanced users may want to try out the whitewater channel.
  2. Traverse the Bend Ale Trail: The Oregon equivalent to “When in Rome…” would be: When in Oregon, drink craft beer. The Bend Ale Trail allows you to do just that. The trail includes…

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Making Time

/ Cody McCullough / 8 Comments

     It is something that Chronos and Janus never had any problem doing, so why is it that making time proves to be so difficult for so many of us? I suppose it could have to do with the fact that we are mere mortals. That being said, time is the one thing that we all have and the one constant that follows us no matter where we go. That being the case, making it shouldn’t be that difficult.

     For writers, time is both a blessing and a curse. Lately, it has felt like the latter to me. I imagine it has to do with the fact that I recently moved. Just a few months ago, it seemed like I was only mere hours away from ironing out the final draft of A New Beginning. Then the moving process and all the packing, document signing, unpacking, organizing, re-organizing, etc… that comes with it shattered my routine. Now, I’m just trying to make time again.

     To make matters worse, I’ve always been a midnight writer. Hence my fondness for novels like The Sun Also Rises. Instead of enjoying the quiet and calming nature of night writing, though, I’ve been completely exhausted just about every night lately.

     There comes a time, however, when everyone, writer or not, must examine themselves and determine what works best for them. For me, I know that soon things will be back to normal, and I’ll be ready to get back into my routine.

     When it comes to my routine for making time, I know that I need one special ingredient: privacy. When I was a newspaper writer, I could punch out a story with all sorts of commotion taking place around me. Now that I’m writing for myself, however, I can’t write with someone looking over my shoulder or causing distractions. Once I have my privacy, making time just comes naturally.

     Well, that’s how I’ve been managing to make time lately. I’d love to know how Chronos and Janus do it. Something tells me, though, that is a secret lost to the ages. That just leaves you, the reader. How do you go about making time?

assorted silver colored pocket watch lot selective focus photo

The Influence of Stanley Kubrick

/ Cody McCullough / 8 Comments

     Sometimes I feel like Icarus flying higher and higher as I seek to grasp that which I desire most before realizing somethings will always be out of reach. Such is the nature of life. Way back when I discussed my film influences, I somehow manged to leave Stanley Kubrick out of the mix. With films like Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, and, of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s hard to imagine a world where Kubrick hasn’t influenced aspiring filmmakers and writers alike.

     To me, Kubrick is Icarus. He wasn’t afraid to spread his wings and fly high. You can definitely see his willingness to push the limits of filmmaking in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s one of those films that makes you think. Nowadays that’s quite a rarity. 2001: A Space Odyssey also seems to be something of a prerequisite for watching Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. The references and allusions just make more sense if you go into Interstellar with a working knowledge of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

     Then of course, you have A Clockwork Orange which pushes more than just the limits of filmmaking. For me, though, Kubrick’s best works are some of his older films like Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and The Killing. It was fun to watch Kubrick take on satire in Dr. Strangelove. And who can forget the iconic scene where Major Kong rides the bomb? The Killing, on the other hand, strikes a more serious tone and helped to pave the way for so many other “one last heist” films. Then there’s that memorable last line: “What’s the difference?”.

     When it comes to writing, I’ve aspired to follow what I see to be Kubrick’s approach: Don’t be afraid to spread your wings and fly high. Have I been successful at it, or have I flown too close to the sun and melted my wings? The answer to that question isn’t up to me. That being the case, I don’t worry about it. I just keep writing. In the end, I suppose that is all that I can do. I’ll leave it up to the readers to decide if I have scorched my wings or not.

     So, thank you Stanley Kubrick. You inspired me. Now it’s time for me to get back to writing. I need to stretch out my wings and get ready to spread them wide. Just in case, though, I suppose it wouldn’t be a bad idea to grab a parachute while I’m at it…

vintage old film

Poem Analysis: now i know

/ Cody McCullough / 5 Comments

     Author intention and reader interpretation sometimes vary wider than the width of the Milky Way. Fortunately for me, the regular readers of this blog have proven to be very astute in their interpretations of my work. This helps me to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that my work hasn’t been misinterpreted.

        When it comes to reader interpretation, I’ve always taken the approach that a poem, or any other type of written work for that matter, has its own unique meaning to each individual reader. Personally, I love to see the different ways that others interpret my writing. Often, I purposefully create double-meanings as a way of both layering my writing and creating avenues for diverging interpretations.

        All that being said, though, I do have specific ideas in mind when writing any given piece. As I transition this blog to the focus of pulling back the curtain on my writing process, I figured it would be a good idea to analyze some of my previous work.

        What better place to start than at the end. “now i know” is the last poem of both the Lost in Time collection and The Past, Present, and Future collection as a whole. As such, I wanted it to be a piece that spoke for itself but also the entirety of the collection.

        One of the messages that I  worked to convey through “now i know” was the power of self reliance. Many of the institutions that surround us in this world want us to shed our own personal judgment and replace it with doctrine. Funny thing, though, I’ve yet to find the institution in this world that has been right all the time. Institutions make mistakes just like people. Their truths are not doctrine, their more metaphorical in nature. Metaphors can be useful and comforting but shouldn’t be relied upon wholly when making judgments.

        When making judgments, I believe that people should rely upon themselves. If you’re going to do this, however, it is 100% imperative that you educate yourself. Education and knowledge are the cornerstones of any self reliant person. After that, life is all about choices. The best way to make the right choices in life is to make educated decisions. Once you’ve figured that out, you can leave the doctrine and dogma of institutions where they belong: in the past. When you do, life becomes about living in the present. A place where educated people have the ability to make choices that will hopefully pave the way toward a brighter future for everyone and this small planet that we live on.

        Well, there you have it. That’s my poem analysis of “now i know”.  I hope this analysis helped to pull back the curtain on this poem and my writing process as a whole. Until next time, keep livin’ in the present people.

pile of covered books

 

now i know

/ Cody McCullough / 19 Comments

i used to believe
in luck
i used to believe
in superstition
now i know
there’s only metaphor

i used to believe
in politics
i used to believe
in government
now i know
there’s only metaphor

i used to believe
in god
i used to believe
in religion
now i know
there’s only metaphor

i used to believe
in war
i used to believe
in patriotism
now i know
there’s only metaphor

i used to believe
in us
i used to believe
in humanity
now i  know
there’s only me

i used to believe
in the past
i used be believe
in the future
now i know
there’s only the present

abstract alphabet arrangement away