there is no greater feeling

than having a purpose people don’t understand,

don’t believe is possible,

and don’t do.

genius is

not merely thinking something different

but doing something different

so much so, that it become your identity.

intelligence

is overrated—many so called “intelligent” people

are doing repetitive tasks

that keep their minds carefully controlled

by the busyness of their day.

a genius does it differently

has a different value

and the whole person must be in alignment

with that value.

the problem with most people who practice major religions

is that they do so half-heartedly.

they should keep the commandments,

but they ask forgiveness instead.

there are problems with genius

it must be courted like a lover

because she won’t sleep with you

without finesse.

When I got my first apartment in Maple Valley

it was on the 3rd floor, overlooking a small town

and the hot horizon burned each black evening, above the treetops

and I dreamed

that the next morning, I was going to do it

but I didn’t.

I wrote a few poems, but I could never make her love me

all day.

My summer schedule allowed me to do this

and I quickly got bored, or ran out of words

or

it was just pure torture

to keep doing the thing

and I’d stop.

genius is continuous love

and it isn’t easy to understand.

Someone will ask me what I did last summer

and I’ll say, “I wrote my novel.”

“What else did you do?” They might ask

“I wrote my novel.”

“You didn’t do anything else?”

“What did you do?”

“We went camping, saw a few good movies, visited relatives…”

I guess they could call that living their lives

but it’s not the way I want to live mine.

genius sets you on fire like the sunset

it must be captured, before the lights go out

it is obsession

passion

and pure love

there is no other reason to be alive.

genius is the height of purpose.

it embodies you

it isn’t found anywhere

but in you.

it doesn’t react to arguments

it cuts straight through

like my bicycle

riding between

summer gusts of wind.

I type

I don’t know where my words come from

and my best writing begins forming sentences

before I wake up.

genius is as much about doing

as not doing

it requires great effort

to a point

until no effort is needed

and it does it on its own.

that is the miracle

and I live for it

What else is there?

“Do you get lonely?” I’ve been asked

“My ambition keeps me company.”

“And what is that?”

“To do, what I was meant to.”

Let celebrities have fame

Let successful writers be successful

Let someone else take the stage

While I write, without distractions

without the world calling my name

with only the sunset, to guide me.