Monday, December 27, 2010

Simple...

Sometimes life is so complicated, it's simple.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Everyone...

Everyone who is loved by anyone has changed everything for someone

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Faith...

Faith
 
Some think everything's made to be broken
Some believe everything's made to whither and decay
And that we live in a world made only of distance
Always drifting yet farther away
 
You know, a man killed his wife and children
Painted their future blood red just the other day
'Said all the world was made of nothing but pain
'Said he wanted to save them from life
'Said there was no other way
 
If only he'd looked and listened
He could've heard the universe quietly say
"Need no faith in fate or destiny
Don't believe in the glory of Gods or the sacred USA
You can give yourself your own purpose
Don't wait, there's no revolution coming
No distant retribution
On some imaginary judgment day"
 
Life could always be better
There will always be things you can improve
But improving things is one of the joys of life
Perfection is a goal always to strive for
And will forever let you have something to do
 
Every morning as the sun quietly rises
And the dark night fades slowly away
Look afresh at the world around you
See with a child's eye the coming day
Notice a little black beetle busily stewing his morning stew
If you watch closely his industrious searching
Amid the tiny scuffling on grainy desert soil
You can see the universe gently smile your way
And in the new morning breeze
You can hear life softly whisper, "I'm here right now.
If you let it be, today will be a good day."

Dewey Dirks Copyright 2010

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Boxes of bullets...

Dangerous World

I walked down to the park
just the other day.
It wasn't very cloudy outside
and the sun was shining high
in the bright June sky.
I stopped to chat awhile
with a guy who looked pretty worried.

I said, “Hey there dude!
What's troubling you?
He said, “My God! Don't you see the news every day?
The world is a dangerous, dangerous place!
He said, “I got back from New York just last summer.
There were so many crusty lookin' people!
The place sacred the livin' shit out of me!
He looked around quickly, then continued on.
He said, “I got so worried,
I bought three extra boxes of bullets
for my gun just before I left town!”

I said, “Well, I agree there's some dangerous places
in this old world.
There's war zones in a few countries
and there's places like the Sudan
where complete chaos reigns.
There's always been places like that
and there probably always will be.
But maybe you ought ask yourself
how many bullets you actually used
when you shot your way out of downtown Manhattan?

He looked at me surprised,
“None,” he said
“And how many bullets
do you think you'll actually use today
when you shoot your way home from the grocery store?” I asked
“None.” he said

He thought for a minute
then he chuckled a little and said,
“You know, all those boxes of bullets I bought in New York
have been sitting in the back of my closet unopened
goin' on eight months now.
They're right beside a couple of unopened boxes
I bought two years ago in May

And how many bullets
do you think you'll probably use
by the end of the next month
as you shoot your way to work every day?” I asked
“Not a damn one,” he grinned.
I smiled back,“Well, it sounds to me
like the only place you ever go
where there's piles and plies of bullets
is the back of your closet.
And even there, there is really no need.”

So many people lookin' for monsters
under every rock.
So many cops with their hand on their guns
every time they stop some old lady
for drivin' forty miles per hour in a thirty-five zone.
So many people go through their lives
every day always worried
somethin' bad is gonna happen in the next five seconds.
Every night they go to sleep worried.
Every day they wake up scared of their own shadow.
Eighty years go by
and they become worried old men and women
Maybe by the time they're eighty-one
they'll figure out
it's far better to pay close attention to your everyday life
than it is to pay close attention to your anxiety.

Dewey Dirks---copyright 2009

Thursday, September 9, 2010

If things were perfect....

Perfection of anything is an illusion. No one and no situation is ever 'perfect.' Strive for a life that is very, very good, but not perfect.  Perfection is a goal to be striven for but never attained and the desire to be a perfectionist is not very compatible with being a fulfilled person.  You gotta learn that nothing that involves more than one person ever turns out exactly like you plan for, and you have to learn to be happy with the idea that things may turn out good or better but never perfect.


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

If you're thirty or forty...

You're fooling yourself if you're 30 or 40 years old or even 60 or 70 and you think you know what you've amounted to in life.  The worth of a lifetime isn't decided until many, many years after each of us has passed on and someone says, “You know, your Grandma used to say...” or “You know, your uncle used to do this....”  And if you're 30,  or 40 and you've had a few failures and setbacks, don't sweat it.  EVERYONE has had a few setbacks.  What matters is what you with you do with yourself in spite of your failures and setbacks.

Here is a song on youtube to go with todays post

Monday, September 6, 2010

Spend time every day...

Spend at least two hours every day doing each of these three things----Be productive. Work at something you want to accomplish. It can be your job, a project you want to finish or a goal you hope to achieve. Next, entertain yourself.  All work and no play leads to very dull life.  You HAVE to spend time every day doing something you really, really enjoy.  Third, spend time every day talking to someone you love.  The love between people is something that is meant to be indulged, and a good conversation with somebody you love is one of the nicest things life on Earth has to offer.  

Music on Youtube to go with todays post 

The Spark

The Spark

Hopeful as a lighthouse beacon
On a hurricane killer sea
Vengeful like a Kansas tornado
On an August night seethe
Powerful as an earthquake
In the city of Angels on mid-summers eve
Forever too small
For the big boys to see

Angry as a rap riot
Pounding out deeds
Sounds like Led Zeppelin and Cinderella
Or a Beethoven symphony
It’s on the breath of old farmers, children, and artists on fire
It’s in the passion of sailors just back from the sea
Tonight it sleeps with you and I
In spite of homeland security

Has coffee every morning
With code breakers hacking Windows XP
Stayed with the Jews at Masada
And the Sioux at Wounded Knee
Spends a lot of time in intifada city
Where it never dies
But often is the last gasp of those who are free

It can break the heavy chains of God
Keeps dying men alive
Lets blind men see
When Uncle Sam has a policeman in every pocket
And he shows us what to see on the wide screen TV
I’ll still see the spark in you
And you’ll still see the spark in me

Sometimes it’s the only survivor
When come packing the dogs of tyranny
Spark is the light in the wise mans eye
When he says ‘If I didn’t believe in love,
I wouldn’t believe’

Dewey Dirks Copyright 2003

Sunday, September 5, 2010

A word for writers..

A word for writers---some of the best advice you'll ever come across is found in three minute rock and roll songs.  So, if you really need to say something, and you can't say it in the same space as four stanzas and chorus, you probably need to work on being a better writer

Saturday, September 4, 2010

You just can't please all of them...

If a politician wins 55 percent of a vote they call it a landslide but there's still 45 percent of the people who disagree with him.  In your interactions with people around you—co-workers, family, and friends, you probably also rate around  55 percent approval.  Realize the truth of the idea that you can't please everyone all of the time and you'll lead a happier, more focused life....

Thursday, September 2, 2010

After winning an argument....

After winning an argument with his wife or girlfriend, the wisest thing for a man to do is apologize.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

There is no problem...

There is no problem so huge or bad that it cannot be ignored---Just look at the way the government acts.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Dumb man...cute legs...

Male chauvinism is still very real in this country.  Many men still believe they are much smarter than their wives and girlfriends...but you'll notice that a woman never seems to marry a dumb man for his cute legs...

Sunday, August 29, 2010

If you could kick....

If you could kick the ass of the person causing ninety percent of your troubles, you couldn't sit down for a week.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Doctors say....

Doctors say drinking and smoking are bad for you...I don't know....Around where I live you certainly see more old drunks who smoke, than you see old doctors ;)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

A lot of our Anxiety....

A lot of our anxiety and restlessness come from being taught from an early age that we all need to be doing something all the time to entertain ourselves.  Practice doing nothing for an hour a day and you'll soon find it doesn't lead to boredom, but a more fulfilled life. 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Twitter This....

Patience means being able to understand how trivial most things are going to be in the fullness of time.  The more patient you are in life the more you're gonna be able to accept life as it is when it happens, instead of being upset because it doesn't happen exactly like you planed.  When something upsetting happens, learn to always ask yourself  'In twenty-five years, how much difference is this going to make?'

Monday, August 23, 2010

Twitter This....

Make sure you understand others before you make sure they understand you.  If you want quality communication make the effort to understand someone else before you try to get them to understand you.  Being understood yourself flows naturally from understanding other people. 

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Twitter This...

Don't sweat the details.  Stop trying to be so perfect.  Stop bitching at others for every fault.  No one EVER bats 100 percent.  What is important is that you and your loved ones are pointed in the right direction and moving a bit forward every week.  As a general rule success happens by inches at a time, not miles.

Twitter This...

If love were based solely on behavior, no one would ever have been loved as a teenager.  Loving someone means you not only care about who they are right now and what they do today, but also about whom they hope to be and what they have the potential to do in the future.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Twitter This...

If you're alive there's problems in your life. Happiness isn't having no problems. Happiness is learning what to do when problems arise. Are you happy?

Twitter This...

..It's pretty simple.  If you want your life to stand for bullshit, do shitty things.  If you you want your life to stand for peace and kindness, do kind and peaceful things.  The things you do every day are who you are.  I know who I am....Who are you?

Friday, July 30, 2010

Journey

Journey

Life is a long journey.
The time you enjoy along the way
is not wasted time.
Each day you spend in love is worthwhile.
Everyone teaches, everyone learns.
Life is a great circle.
There is a time to spend staying at home.
There is a time to move on.
Time to spend idle.
Time to love.
Time to be busy at work.
Time to return home again.

Each person is an endless series of moments passing by.
You can give each moment its own reason.
Make sure the moments that are you
lend kindness to others
and always give you good things to do.
Love life and others as best you can.
Let fame and fortune come and go as they may.
But forever dream to strive.
Always strive to dream.

Forgive others their mistakes the best you can.
Realize you make a few mistakes too.
Try to be as balanced as you can
and when you get off balance
remember, everyone falls down every once in awhile.
When you are fearful
remember things are never as bad
as you imagine them to be.

Everyone lives life the best they can.
Everyones journey takes twist and turns.
If my life draws memories to leave behind
that are uncommonly true
and spread a little happiness to others
I'll have lived my life
as I wanted to.
 
Dewey Dirks-----copyright 2010

Monday, July 19, 2010

Good at Something

Good At Something

Paula tends bar down at the Corral
If ever you go down there
She's got a long, tall Miller, a sparkle in her eyes
A good ear, and a friendly smile
And if you've got a problem big or small
Paula will even give you a welcome conversation

She'd be surprised if she only knew
How far what she's happened to say has gone
With the desperate and lonely, and the forsaken
Who've walked through her doors
On a thousand slow Wednesday nights
And not wanted to leave her till dawn

There's a guy who comes in every day
Paula fell in love with him a long time ago
He's a blue collar man, down to earth
With a good, honest way about him
But he's already taken, and happy
She's never said anything
Hopes only the best for him
It's no matter, she tells herself
She gets to see him every day
And when she wants more company
There are many very willing
To give her all the time she wants with them

Two blocks south, and four blocks west lives Emily Blair
She's got a husband and three kid's
'tween the ages of ten and nineteen
Been married going on twenty-one years now
She works hard for her family each day
All she asks in return
Is that you pick up your own socks from the floor
Give her a kiss on the cheek when it's bedtime
And make sure you clean up all your food
Before you ever dare get up from the table

If Emily could jump forty years down the line
She'd be surprised to find
Three adult's always telling their children
“You know, your grandma always used to say...”
And, “Your grandma taught me this, now I'll teach you..”
She'd see her words and her love
Echoing the long years away
And though Emily doesn't realize
While he's at work or at play
Her man talks of nothing but her all day, every day

All the Earth is a single town
A small blue dot in a very big sky
Men are mostly good or bad or in between
We all are small town born
And each grow up to play a small town part
In a small town play

Sam is Emily's husband
He's been a welder since he was fifteen
Every day at five pm he stops by the Corral
Chats with Paula
Has a drink, says hi to a few friends
Then along about six-thirty
Emily stops whatever she is doing
And smiles when he walks in
He's grins  back, and gives her a kiss
Says, “Hi babe, how was your day?”

If you live anywhere in the tri-state area
It's likely you've driven across a bridge or two
Held together with beads carefully crafted
Born of the blue arc in Sam's old welding rig
Sam doesn't know it
But a thousand times a day, Emily thinks about him
Hopes his job is going okay, wonders what he's up to just then

Find out what you ought to be doing
You have but to ask, life will give you a job
Everyone is good at something
Sudden and sweet or long and very slow
In ways you see and ways you don't,
All you say, all you do
Touch the ones standing next to you
Take care that you do what you should

Sam talks a lot down at the Corral
To the biker we all call Slim
From where he came, no one knows
Slim's fifty-five and never put down his colors
He's always got a good word
His laugh is big, his smile soulful and warm
He knows what it is to ride alone on a long, straight road
Knows what it is to walk the sharpest edges
Slim's got a story or two
Lord-God if you've got the time
If you look across the years, you'll find them peppered
With crossed-up kids bent straight by him
A hundred times he's been at parties
And talked cranked-out pairs of bikers
Out of knifing each other

Slim and Paula got a thing on the side
But he knows her eyes are forever on another
He says he doesn't mind
He knows the man, and he's a good guy
He tells himself it's an ideal arrangement
Slim says that love is just another tie that binds
And one of these days, he'll hop on his hog and ride

Paula and Slim, Sam and Emily
All good people without a single doubt
But every day down at the bar
Sam breaks Paula's heart
While Paula is busy breaking Slim's
Two blocks south, and four blocks west sits Emily
Never knowing her good love has caused so much mayhem
All the while, the four spread kind tidings
In ways that remain unknown and hidden to them

Paula and Slim, both so good
At handing out wise advice
Are flaming fools when it comes to their own love life
And Sam and Emily, who have a love that will never know death
Never tell how much each one means to the other
All of them make their own mess
All of them draw their own straight and crooked lines
I suppose it only goes to show
That even the luckiest and most astute
Can act like complete idiots some of the time
 
Do what you do best
And you'll do well as you can
Everyone in life can find a groove
Everyone teaches, everyone learns
Remember the ways that you act
Always have more than one side
Wise to know, we all tell two stories
The fable, good or bad
Of what we seem to do
And the secret tale
Of what life has put us up to
Quietly, and unnoticed

Dewey Dirks Copyright 2009

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Fifty Summer Fling

Fifty Summer Fling

With people, love affairs, and seasons
All the world through time rolls
Come first tender and warm spring rains
Followed then by summer and fall
Comes next the indifferent winter
When ignorance and amnesia of better times blankets all
Then doing what’s right
Makes you seem the fool

But every so often
Once upon an uncommon time
Two are met of mischievous and heroic delight
All the universe suddenly moves as one
Eyes conspire, and an electric air turns
So schemes the summer to shine for a lifetime

In all the rolling world
There is nothing like the touch of rare lovers
Nothing so good as their fifty year fling
Nothing so passionate as their enchanted embrace
Nothing so charmed as the endless summer in their kiss
Lots of things make this old world go ‘round
But only a romance of which stories are told
Makes it worthwhile

Dewey Dirks Copyright 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Bravest Woman

Bravest Woman

I am a working woman
with children almost grown.
I'm nearly fifty.
I hope I still have a pretty face.
My husband died almost three years ago.

One cold winter day
a old man shot him dead
through our kitchen window.
He was the father of a thirty year old woman
and he thought my husband
was having an affair with his daughter
down at the bar where he used to go.  

Life isn't fair sometimes.
Oh God I loved my husband so much.
We were married nearly twenty years.
Lord God he used to like to talk
to people down at the bar.
He used to like to talk
to that woman down there.
He'd go down there and sit, I know.  
Lord God he used to like to talk.  

I stumble through each day.
I cry through through every night.
Sometimes I think I'm a broken woman.
Sometimes I think I'm broken.  
I don't know how I'll go on.  
But there's bills and bills
I've got to pay.
A home that needs cleaning
and dishes to wash.
Children who need lots of love.
Children who need advice.  
And a house with a hole in the window
that needs to be sold.  
How can I go on without my husband?
I don't know if I can carry the weight alone.
Lord God, I'm so alone.

I miss his voice.
He used to like to talk.
Oh God he used to like to talk.  
He visits me in my dreams at night
He cuddles me tightly. He kisses me softly.
He used to tell me,
“Jessie, you're the bravest woman I've ever known.”
Now I hear him in the night softly say,
“Don't miss me, please don't miss me.
I'm here with you now. Don't miss me.
Jessie you're the bravest woman
I've ever known.”  

I get so mad at him.
Lord God, he used to like to talk.
Liked to talk to the pretty young women.
Liked to talk to everyone.
Now he visits me in my dreams at night
He cuddles me tightly. He kisses me softly.
He says, “Jessie don't miss me.
You're the bravest woman I've ever known.
If you fall down, I'll help you up again.
I'll help you up.”
Lord God I miss my husband
He used to say,  
“Jessie, you're the bravest woman
I've ever known.”

Last night I dreamed of a great river
with a boat to carry me across.
On the river bank my husband was standing
I walked up to him and he kissed me
He said, “Jessie life is kinder than you think
Every night in dreams you don't remember
You travel to another land.   
There you and I are young again
And together we sit and talk and laugh
drinking iced tea
beside a great cypress tree.

When your days here are done
to that distant shore you'll travel
and if you still want me
I promise I'll meet you once again
beside that tree.  

Jessie, oh Jessie
You are the bravest woman I've ever known.
And the love we feel for each other
is that cypress tree we meet under each night
with roots so strong it will never know death.“


Dewey Dirks---copyright 2010

Monday, June 28, 2010

Points of View....

One of the things I'm asked most often about The Questioning Way is whether or not it's a book of poetry. The answer is no, it has a poem at the beginning of every chapter but most of the book is prose. The poetry used in the book is what I usually show people when they ask about The Questioning Way, because it's the quickest, and most satisfying way I can think of to briefly tell someone about the views expressed in the book. In a society that has become accustomed to getting information in sound bites on television, and as short bursts of text on venues such as twitter, poetry is becoming one of the most poignant and effective ways express a point of view in a very brief manner. Some people think of cutesy rhymes when someone mentions poetry, but I believe well written poetry is all about conveying ideas about every facet of modern life in a way that not only expresses points of view but the emotions propelling those points of view as well.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Don't Call Me Collect--God

Don't call me collect  --God 



Perhaps on some golden throne 
alive in the sky, you watch over each of us
--rain warm love, bathing one by one
man and sparrow with most tender care 

Or, like a child at play 
did you make the clock your grand experiment? 
then, called to dinner, you plan to be back at eight
wondering if we'll still be tocking 

Are you a big ashen bearded daddy?
with all the answers up there
will you spank us forever if we don't believe? 

Maybe you're a cosmic hippie 
you say "Hey don't you remember? 
ten thousand years ago
we all stood at Salisbury in ecstasy" 
Then, with hand to forehead you say 
"Or maybe it was nineteen seventy-one 
you know, all that acid still gets to me" 

Are you a wrinkled old man? 
stuttering, the very edge of senility
you wait at the gate, white picket complacency
We come home for a hug and obligatory visit 
the younger playing Grandfather for a free dime 

Perhaps you are a crone, ancient and wise
living in rock, road, brook, and tree
You made a hard, wondrous, magical land
where stumbling, we acolytes slowly learn of beauty

With fire on your finger tips 
maybe you throw lightning bolts
make floods, cause the sky to darken 
Perhaps you'll let five thousand faithful in 
"All the rest be damned!" you say as the earth quakes 


Perhaps one time, some time, ever time 
we'll be sitting in the park, you and I
Muhammad, Gautama and Einstein play dice across the way
cool green grass, white daisies, blue sky, shade trees 
I say, "You know, I wondered always if you were a figment" 
You say, "Don't we all, my friend, begin and end in fantasy?" 

Dewey Dirks Copyright 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Pirate Girl

Pirate Girl

I know a pretty pirate girl.
She is a friend of mine.
We explore life, we joke and wonder.
When we talk from time to time.
Her spirit is a darting bird
—Flies high, free and happy
A little bit risky and a little bit wild.
Quick to laugh and suddenly wise.
Her eyes sparkle as she asks,
Why so often do clouds in the sky
arrange themselves in such an auspicious manner?”
And sparking inside her heart, the finest treasure
saved for the day the right man walks into her life.
Now whiles come and whiles go
and for awhile all men are a pirate buffet for her to browse.
Every day is an adventure in nibbling
and she is like a pirate Popsicle.
Sweet, good to see and inviting to taste.
For awhile she’s trouble on a stick
for all those men she keeps on the line.
Here I sit and talk and explore
wondering how many whiles
this old sea dog might last.
Or perchance to don hat, pistols, and patch
and become that one special pirate man
who shows her where begins the real adventure….
Her smile comes easily and honestly.
Her laugh is joy personified.
And her dark eyes are a vast, wondrous ocean
for the brave soul who dares set sail
on a long and deep uncharted voyage.
 
Dewey Dirks Copyright 2010

Thank You...

This month Thequestioningway.com reached the milestone of welcoming 140,000 visitors since coming online in Jan 2009. People from all over the world including readers from Europe, Asia, India, Japan and Australia have shown an interest in the book. Response has been outstanding, and I’d like to thank everyone who has come by the website to read about The Questioning Way and purchase a copy for themselves. As an author, I’ve long felt something is not worth writing unless you can put your heart and soul into it. The Questioning Way, although its is not a long work, too several years to write. Now that it’s in print I’m happy to say that in all likelihood it will be available to read for many years to come. Thanks once again for your support and kind words of encouragement.

You all have a very good day
Dewey Dirks

Bravery

Bravery

When I walked into the bar
Two kids were calling him out
One had a broken bottle, the other had a short club
Steiger was not a big man, and he was unarmed
But good lord, he had a look about him!
A chill went through the room and he stood to face them
Steiger squared up and said
“Before you start
With whatever problem it is you have with me
I’ll tell you this— I don’t care
What kind storm you think you are,
I guarantee that you have never seen the like
Of a few of the storms I have been through.
Now, you do what you think you want to do
I just thought you ought to know.”
Steiger waited
The kids stared back at him
I don’t think they knew exactly what to do
Finally, one of them pulled his friends shirt
He said, “Shit Jeff! Come on let’s go!”
Ole Jeff dropped his bottle and walked out of there
I guess he realized
He’d bit off a little more than he could chew
Steiger sat back down
And I shimmied up beside him
I said “I’m pleased to meet you
I think that’s the bravest thing I can recall seeing
Steiger took a drink and smiled
‘Said “Hell son, that wasn’t brave
That was just solid sense.
Now brave? I’ve seen brave a time or two”
Brave is jumping back over the wall
To save a good man down
As the bullets come flying back at you
Brave is being alone on your bike
And trying that corner at seventy
When there’s gravel, the sign says twenty-five tops
And you know what’s gonna happen
If the ground takes a swipe at you
Now, that’s the kind of bravery that faces death
But braver still, I think
Is the kind that faces life, son
Brave is being a single mother alone in the big city
You come home every day to two little ones who are hungry
And you know the only thing
Between them and some serious hurt
Is you and your shitty job
Down at the 7-11
There is a kind of bravery
That hopes beyond all hope
And still tries to get things done
When just about everything in life has fallen apart
All the chips are down
And all you’ve got is a pair of three’s on the table
There is a kind of bravery that has a dream
And still keeps crawling on
When you’re only half-way done
As all the bills keep coming due
And for all the world it still appears
That you don’t have a ghost’s chance in hell
Of ever seeing it all the way through
Then there’s the kind
That loves deeply and loses
But dares to try and love again
And the kind that loves easy
And dares try to find room in their heart
For everyone
If you face death and lose
Well, you’ll be dead and gone
And nothing much will matter to you
But if you face life and lose
Then you have to live
With what has happened to you

From “The Questioning Way by Dewey Dirks Copyright 2009

Doubt

Doubt

Don’t doubt that you’re breathing
If you try you can increase
Your ability to understand how and why
Unless you’re a hermit high up in the hills
And you haven’t seen anyone for forty four years
Don’t doubt there’s a few people in this old world
Who care about who you are and what you do
If you try you can increase your ability
To understand what they’re saying to you
And see their care and actions for what they are
Don’t doubt that you’re strong enough to weather
The stormy gales of time
If you try you can increase your ability to recognize
When the storms have passed and you’re okay
Don’t doubt you’ve got all the emotions
The powers that be gave everyone else
Don’t doubt they can be made useful
If you try you can increase your ability to recognize
When a solution is passing your way
Isn’t it good to hate prejudice?
And even petty jealousy can make you strive harder
Don’t doubt that life talks and listens to you
If you try you can increase your ability to understand
What it is saying and why
Don’t doubt that everything you see
Everything you think
Everything you feel
Everything you do
Are raw materials
That can be put to good use
Don’t doubt that you’re an artful craftsman
If you try you can increase your ability
To recognize a job well done
Some need to doubt
That they’re foolish, stupid, or crazy
Others need to doubt that they’re always right
Don’t doubt that doubt can be good for you
If you practice it gets easier to know
When to stop and when to start
Good to make your best guess
Then ride the storm or go with the flow
Always remember when you’re most in doubt
Set a high sail and follow your heart

From “The Questioning Way” by Dewey Dirks copyright 2009

Waiting Flight

Waiting Flight
Moving with pen
my hand draws in idea, a feathered form
Restless, reaching out
a thought strives flight Often eager, sometimes sad
my heart beats making sweet life
Forever it’s expression I’m seeking

Always almost finished yet never quite completed
vibrant their meaning clasped in graphite
shimmering my words are waiting
caged here on this page

Freedom is found
only in emotion given to you
My thoughts remain unfulfilled
until their reflection’s been mirrored
finding flight in eyes of another


Dewey Dirks Copyright 2010

Power...

Power can corrupt you. As you grow in life, always be on the watch to stay true to your ideals.

Hope...

Faith, disappointment, laughter, quest for knowledge, hope, and success, are universal among humans. See? Five upsides and only one downside. That’s not so bad.

Creativity...

In nature creative energy can be destructive or constructive and there will always be a an equal balance of both in the universe. Order and chaos always balance themselves.

Ideals....

Make sure to stick to your ideals.  At the same time be open to change.

Too Much....

It’s good to strive for success in life. But too much striving can be a bad thing. We all need to take the time to slow down and just enjoy life from time to time.

Love Released....

Love means letting go when you need to. Love released into the world will return to you many times over again and again

Love is....

Love means letting your children pretend to be whomever they want to pretend to be. It means kicking them in the ass when they need a kick. It means kissing them when they need a kiss. It means fixing whatever is broken when they can’t fix it themselves. It means letting them go out into the world to seek their fortune when they grow up. Don’t worry, they’ll call all the time and come by to visit when they can

Love is....

In my experience, love can be stronger than amnesia, hate, greed, death and faith. Is there anything stronger than love? I really don’t know nor do I care to find out.