How to Pronounce My Name

Got Game?

BORING HICCUPS
Between the dark matter of nothing
and the supreme light of God
a pile of dishes must be washed

One soul cries from a pit of despair
another soul cries from the glory of heaven
and I fold a pile of laundry

I wish to be neither and I wish to be everything
I wish to merge into the sublime bliss of love
but a hiccup brings me to now and I sweep the floor

Wondering why enlightenment requires the mundane

Why my journey requires toothaches and dust bunnies

I'm an odd kind of spiritual soldier who battles toothpaste spray on mirrors
Who travels to exotic places like grocery stores
Slaying the beasts with ironing boards of justice
Dousing the evil with Pinesol
Victorious in the daily battles, struggling in the nightly meditations between the sublime and the ridiculous
- Cronin Detzz

POEM: STRING & WING THEORY

Particles and strings
and crow's flapping wings
Create all the illusion of which we sing
Sunsets and golden oak trees ...
Crying babies and war and disease

Wake up and see we are all One
Wake up to the reality that ascension has begun
-Cronin Detzz

Poem: Possessions

An egg timer set to detonate in three minutes
Aromatic roses decaying in the sunshine
Pearls and flowery teacups and pinky fingers

Black and white photo of a vibrant husband
The American flag folded into a crisp triangle
Silver urn on the mantle holds what remains

Mahjong tiles and a ceramic rooster Kitchen gadgets from QVC that she never uses
A recipe card holder hermetically seals her coffee cake instructions
Tupperware lids and gravy boats set sail

Memories crocheted into afghans
Carefully
A mantra for every seam in her cross stitches, "She's going to love this"
Denying her possessions could define her
- Cronin Detzz

ALICE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Down the rabbit hole
So dark, so dark
Cobwebs and enticements
"Drink this"
"Eat this"

And no amount of anything will fill the void
And no amount of solitude will reconnect her
She knows this, yet she goes anyway

It's all lost, she's all lost
Chasing the rabbit
He is just so damn fast
If he can sew up her shredded soul
If he can stir her up and make her whole
Then yes, she'll keep chasing him down the rabbit hole

All she really wants is to feel normal
To wrap her arms around everything that means home
And never never never let go
-Cronin Detzz

EDIT REDUNDANCIES: YOU HAVE MY WORD

Do you have favorite words that appear repeatedly in your work? There is nothing wrong with that unless it becomes a distraction to your readers.

There 211 appearances of the word "atop" in the "Game of Thrones" series. Granted, I am a fond student of words so I may be hypersensitive to word choices - but I don't believe I'm alone in this. Several occurrences of "atop" within one novel wouldn't be worthy of a blog article, but hundreds of times is a bit irritating to see in a great author's work. Why don't editors point this out?

In Dan Brown's "Lost Symbol," the word "atop" occurs 26 times. Items can certainly be perched atop objects, but Brown even uses it to explain that a character's name is "atop the letterhead" on some business stationery. In his novel "Inferno," atop appears a more respectable 11 times. I really enjoy his books so it surprises me that these redundancies exist.

More annoying was the frequent use of the expletive "My God" in Brown's "Lost Symbol." The phrase was used 29 times: 10 times in dialogue and 19 times as a character's thought. If this phrase were connected with only one character, then it could be argued that it was his catch-phrase, similar to a modern teenager's incessant use of the word "like." ("Like, son, that's like annoying.")

I did like Brown's adjective "elegant" to describe an erudite, well-groomed supporting character, but he used this word 24 times in "Lost Symbol." Hey - he also used it 24 times in "Inferno" - I've decoded Dan Brown's hidden mystical symbolism! There are 24 hours in a day, too. I'm seeing a noble pattern...

One of my favorite authors, Gregory Maguire of the word-famous Wicked series, seems to like the word "fury." He only uses it 4 times in "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" (a great book - please read it). He sprinkles some fury here and there in "Mirror Mirror," a revamping of Snow White's tale set in Italy. Lucretia Borzia is the wicked stepmother - it's a splendid read.

By the way, George R.R. Martin uses "fury" 116 times in his "Game of Thrones" series. That's 5 books and it was well-placed and not overly used. It's a great word and I plan on using it in my work in progress.

I'm trying to be cognizant of word redundancies. In my last book, as yet unpublished, my Achilles heel was "wonderful" and I have done a wonderful job obliterating its use. Well, mostly.

What words have repeatedly slipped through your work? How did you catch it? Please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.

Keep writing & keep sharing! - Cronin Detzz

HAVE YOU WRITTEN YOUR EPITAPH?

As a writer, you may have given thought to your epitaph. If you are a poet, why don’t you write a little something to encapsulate what you are all about? Even if you don’t want a headstone, you could still write a poem and seal it in an envelope, with instructions to a trusted love one to open the mysterious envelope upon your “graduation day” to the afterlife.

Here is mine:

Life is brief and fairly fleeting
at the end, there should be no grieving
Moving on to learn all that can be known
open eyes see all that can be shown

Beautiful bliss, basking in the blue
Unstruck chord plays just for you
Sunshine bright below and above
There lies everything
in nothing but love

Please leave a comment below and share your epitaph. This poem was published in “Poetry for Our Time.” You can peek inside at Amazon: "Poetry for Our Time"

Keep writing & keep sharing – Cronin Detzz