Excerpt 4 “It has occured to me that humans are the least fortunate of all living beings. They have all the same instincts that all animals share; to survive, to feed, to reproduce. But they are also fitted with a curse that no other living being possess. Ambition. Once a human being reaches a certain age, it begins to aspire, to dream of becoming something more, to stand out among its kind. And in that trait lies also mankind’s greatest downfall. Because if you do not reach that dream, you view your own #life as one great waste of time. You may find other things that take the place of your original design for #life, and find contentment in that, but you are merely consoling yourself, with the notion that you found another purpose within the realms of possibility. You let go of your dreams, in the face of responsibility. No other living being does this, goes through this. A squirrel does not dream of building a pyramid. A bear does not reflect on the time it spent hibernating as time it could have spent doing something. A bird does not think of engrossing death. A dog does not judge its mate by what else is out there, or fantizises about a younger or prettier version. An animal does not know what failure is. It accepts its place and its limitations. It lives in the moment. It does not dream of days to come, or paths never walked. An animal knows peace. Have you ever seen an animal stricken by sickness, Carl? Seen it lie down on its side with a knowing glance that there is nothing left to do, that its time has come? Animals do not want your sympathy, or your pity, even in the face of death. They understand the natural order of things.”

All In One This is new to me; Held at gunpoint of such reverie Once I painted my words on shipwrecks of old Or fed them to lonely wolves out in the cold But I see it now; no such thing as a dark everlasting Light always waits, comes like the tide in passing Whispering frumpily as it reveals you to me 'I'd found you sooner, but you kept moving' And I glide on all fours Through your corridors, chimes and careening floors And whatever sent you, a whim of fate or coincidence Take my eyes, you'd never question a view like this And I dig in, to etch these words upon your heart To stay with you even when we're apart To find pink vitamin kisses where I lay my ode And unearth a heartbeat in my morsecode And I find, with each new sunrise The world's that much more yours and mine And while our lips do, we never say goodnight Or any gated lullaby to let silence us divide And I find in your eyes The sweetest smile when we collide An atlas of days and dreams to come My altar and lover, all in one

If You Sang To Me Now' When I wander in the back of my mind In shapes and worlds of my own design When I turn invisible or I stray You pull my blinds to kiss me awake And if you sang to me now, I know My darkest side has gone Gone and made itself a memory To lick its wounds inside of me When I'm tired, or in need of rest And my impulses get the best of me again When my head's down and I'm a mess You spurn me on nonetheless And if you sang to me now, I know Wherever we are, it’s home Our dreams mapped out on the floor Closer than ever before And if you sang to me now I'd follow you into the sound To a place where the coffee's warm A place we can die and be reborn A place we can hide and call our own If you sang to me now, we're home

Excerpt 3 Recollecting the city makes me smile. When you’re on your own, the city becomes your confidant, you know? Because a city is never just a city. Your home defines who you are, and to lose that connection is to lose, or ignore, a very vital part of yourself. The city reflects you. You never . . . had that feeling? I pity you. Never . . . felt like you could see her smile in the way the morning sun hit the damp streets? Caught her whimper when leaves fell outside the window? See, that’s the thing about adversity and #depression; you find surrogates in the strangest things. You hear a city speak to you and you make up imaginary friends. And before long you either find yourself staring down the barrel of a gun, or you try to create something that no one else can replicate, and hang onto the hope that it will pay off someday. That you’ll have your day. You put your thoughts on waves to see where they end up.'

Sweet Poetry' Wake up, I just can't wait anymore To see the light your eyes gently pour Drive away the lies messing up my head All these hungry flies circling the dead And how I long, even when we're in bed Tied up around you, my pretty web From the top of the world, I listen to you sing I could live in your voice and never blink And bask in the diversity of your sweet poetry As your great dynasty spans inside of me I know the best of songs are already sung Yet I listen, as if yours is the only one I'll sleep safely in the clouds of your sky In your heavens, your judgement night Drift upon your breath and swim in your sea Be your wealth, the shadow at your feet Because I have nowhere else to go I have nothing so beautiful