in empty dirty bars studying time, but here I am/

all alone/ staring out a stainless glass window

watching life happen and wondering about

the sublime.

So many heartbeats out there strive for greatness;

so many dreams colliding while searching

for possibilities hidden inside shells of moral

capabilities. Some lead with eyes wide open/blind

to the finely crafted bullshit of rhetorical motivation

and some are the followers who waggle

just slightly behind inspired by historical innovations

and there are some, who drink alone/like me,

who search for truth in a half empty glass

of optimism slightly buzzed.

It’s funny how when you are drinking everything

makes a little more sense.

Sometimes you need the alone time

to hear what your thoughts are saying.  Sometimes

you need to be away from everything out there

to understand the true ideals of individualism

because we are fascinated by difference

even when we think we are afraid

of not fitting in. We seek shelter in handcrafted

cliques just to delay the inevitable of standing

on our own.

We all embrace that maybe tomorrow entitlement

of procrastination, that daily hesitation that makes

everything around us happen….eventually

and maybe I’ve just had too much to drink/swirling

around ice in a empty glass once filtered by Tanguary

and a twist of tonic while still studying the sobriety

of a drunken society of hopeful prosperity.

Life makes a nice drink

because it is a bunch of nonsense we intake

until we’re intoxicated in the mind and stumbling

just to stay on our feet/stuck in time; a time that ticks

slowly when we’re in pain

and fast when we’re entertained

but at times, like now, it does pause

reminding us that we are on borrowed time

sipping on life with imitations of the sublime.

© 2012

Tarringo T. Vaughan

There are moments I stand still drenched in reality
looking up at a sky that stares back at me without blinking
as time drizzles into the distance of the recurring memories
I have sheltered deep within as my strength towards progression;
a progression that has led me to a temporary regression
as I filter through anger to find that dry place I feel I belong
and this is my search to be strong

because sometimes the rain
washes away the emotional stains
of all the heart gains; sometimes the rain
is the healing dark clouds release
in order for me to shine again; sometimes the rain
reveals all that has emptied/
all that has escaped down an never ending drain

and sometimes the rain
is just all that remains.

© 2010
Tarringo T. Vaughan

When, we are out there

alone, on our own – exploring a whole new world

far from home

a new day arises

when the education of life

opens our eyes

to new ways of thought and energizes new visions

of ideology which uplifts the mind’s biology

with new ways of  finding truth.

But higher learning, the quality of which, is not

just about creating genius,

it is about the friendships that bond,

the religious freedom

of the heart, the politics of independent transitions

and it is about finding ourselves

within a society that has to find its own way

to adapt to our difference.

Higher learning is that need to define

our knowledge and take it to new heights

of understanding

who we are,

who we are to become

by celebrating the history of who we were

and although we are taught to embrace

our dreams and capabilities, it is

the higher learning of life that guides us

to rise and conquer the many possibilities

out there, in a world

that is ready  for us to make our own and take hold.

(c) 2013

Tarringo T. Vaughan

the mask, photography by Steffen Ulbrich

There is deepness in my eyes/a deepness sculptured/from the journey

of my grandmother’s strength and the passion inflamed through the energy

of many ancestors who have risen through the tunnels of defeat

molded from the sweat and scars of pride as they continue to march

in every pour of my textured definition/a familiar recognition/that strengthens

my soul to stand on these thirty-four year old tired feet.

Take a good look at this face and see all that is hidden

behind the mask of my hearts embrace/ my stare have walked

through fields of ignorance for many years shielded

by a self-made disguise and guided by the tracks of my own tears;

I’ve been a gladiator battling in the coliseum of life with no amour

to defend the shadows of pain and no mediator to shield me

from the hardship and sadness of an internalized stain,

but still I’ve stood in victory/determined/with faded sideburns

showcasing the genetics of honor and the biology of discovery

because those who have come before me have taught me to rise

and find the prize within me and hold it as a trophy/shining bright;

a reward recognized in the chiseled framework of my chin

and the fight that exploded from the definition in my cheek bones.

So take a good look at this face and uncover all that is hidden

and discover the many places my blood has traveled.

© 2010

Tarringo T. Vaughan

into an open temperature of stillness with branches
that are waving to my eyes in a perfect salute;
time is staring at me through a fragmented window
just clear enough to see the energy of my mind.

Thoughts clutter in a silent rewind
as I sit here recognizing all I have come to appreciate
through loss, emptiness and the promise of renewal,
and as the clouds massages the sky into a gentle
relaxation, I am softly whistling the tune of faces
who have always smiled at me with warm voices;
loved ones who have gone but continue to touch my heart
with a paralyzed tenderness that never loses feeling.

They are the brightness that has led me to healing
all those dark, gray covered days where sadness and pain
met on the battlegrounds of my emotional disdain,
they are the memories I embrace and hear
in times I give in to the luxuries of life’s fear;
moments I hide just to observe the mysteries I feel inside.

They are the reminders telling me that the presence
I have become is a tribute to the appreciation
and value of every enjoyment of vision we see
as it only takes one moment to breathe
the freshness of connection; it only takes one moment
to believe and receive the hands fate has extended
into our lives and it just takes one moment–this moment—to give gratitude
to all who have strengthened my soul
into these awakening moments of solitude.

© 2010
Tarringo T. Vaughan