Perspiring poetry: a collection of unnamed poems

These poems are all about different things. some have meaning some were just topics that interested me. Some are about topics that poems aren't normally about. But all were bouts of inspiration that came about like perspiration seeping out of me.


Her silhouette,
A shadow against the moon lit night
Shimmering hope
Perched upon her lips' edge
Ready to give us flight
Each moment passes
Like a life time
An eternity
Memories wither and fade away
But this will remain
When all is gone
Etched into my granite soul


Her flirty skirt
Tempting me
Daring me to take a closer look
Her legs slender and thin
Long lines disappearing
Beneath the shear thin linen
Her hair bounces to an’ fro
A giggling life of all its own
Each step its life’s breath
A gentle smile hides
Peeking out from the corners of her mouth
A smirk is hidden there
Her head turns to tease me
A twinkle in her eyes like bait
She knows she has me hooked


Angel’s Tears
A sobering medicine
Waking me,
From an intoxicated slumber
A breaking heart,
A silent cry,
Calling out to me,
Her hopes and dreams,
Crushed in a single swing
An act of pure insanity


Colored clouds graze the sky
eating away the day light
time slips away into the nether
darkness slowly surrounds
Twinkling lights open their eyes
set into the blanket of night
the moon wakes from it's slumber
rising from it's bed
Waves fall upon the shore
the ocean's heart beat slow and calm
content with it's place
Crystals ride the endless wind
a smell, a scent, a catalyst
gently lifting memories from beneath the surface.


Sitting upon the sand
I remember the times I made you cry
it brings a tear to my eye
knowing the pain I caused
because of my arrogance and stupidity
all the time we have lost
I have sunken deep into the earth
a shallow grave I have dug
awaiting a numbing wave
to chill my heart from this pain
but then the sun peeks over the edge
and dawn brings hope
riding on first morning light
I'm lifted from my self dug pit
I reach for you and you are still there
with a loving heart and tender eyes


My curse and my desire
a need and disease
It's my bad habit not even I have to like it
I know the warnings
they are quite clear
I fear it may be too late
the cancer I feel is near
Poison it has indeed
one that I know I need
don't worry I only have a pack or two a day
I'll quit and be okay
that's one sure bet
So...anyone have a cigarette.


walking amongst my thoughts
like broken glass shattered upon the floor
each barefoot step a painful memory
a mirrored gaze looks back at me
reminding me of where I once were
a familiar face with time undisturbed
a ghastly figure just a shadow of a memory
whispered nightmare thoughts, pull back at me
clawing at my sanity
Proactive I must be
setting me free
from chains and shackles
unbinding me


Gazing to a place that isn't there
we ponder massless thoughts
weighing words of intangibility
our minds lost wondering aimlessly
until reality knocks upon the door
our waking dreams come crashing to the floor
never again to be where they were


Peering at gentle curves
a device to tempt the heart
locks cascade upon her bust
drawing out hollow men's lust
empty words and pleasantries spoken
hanging in the sterile air
like a surgeon she knows every inch of anatomy
with precision, a gentle touch, a caress
every operations, climatic success
self sacrificing to fill his void
leaving her emptier than before
her dreams are gone, out the door
what was meant to be is no more
she is trapped in her hourly rated chore.


A peeking sun
breaks the dawn
morning twilight pass
soon be gone
the gentle wind
the morning's breath
the sprinkled dew
it's sweet nectar kiss
a day renewed
a life refreshed
time to live
do nothing less


Luck and chance
dance upon our hearts
risking love
hoping we never part
faith in hand
we reach out
finding solace
as our souls forever shout
a painful song our hearts do weep
a healing touch we will seek
a warm embrace, gentle touch
lifts our hearts with much haste
returns smiles to our face.

Time like a fist full of sand
slips between our fingers
you hold on
more and more slips from your hand
leaving only memories
time purely a relative thing
loses all meaning
when forgotten about
minutes can be hours, be days, an eternity
a life time passes in a flash
we watch it die
with each tick tock
our life's countdown
shacked by the clock
only set free once we begin our morbid sleep


I dangle there
my feet bare above the floor
the rope is taught
the chair no longer there
time slows to a sloth's pace
agony as i watch the clock
each second an eternity
my life should pass
but I'm clouded with my own mortality
like all others
air abandons me
In the shatter mirror
a mimic of my life
I see my image
distorted but some how true
the time has come
for my El Fin
I greet it with a tear and grin
confused until the end.

My Secular Prayer - In search of a virtuous and prosperous life

Virtues according to Benjamin Franklin
Personal Virtues

The eight personal virtues relate to your attitudes toward activities and their challenges. Good personal character traits will better your chances of success in achieving your goals.

Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
Social Virtues

These five social virtues that Franklin stated concern your attitudes toward people with whom you have dealings. Good social character traits result in other people wanting to do business with you or to have relationships with you.

Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.


Dale Carnegie - How to Win Friends and Influence People

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
Give honest and sincere appreciation.
Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

Become genuinely interested in other people.
Smile.
Remember that a man's Name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Talk in the terms of the other man's interest.
Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.

Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking

Avoid arguments.
Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never tell someone they are wrong.
If you're wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Begin in a friendly way.
Start with questions the other person will answer yes to.
Let the other person do the talking.
Let the other person feel the idea is his/hers.
Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
Sympathize with the other person.
Appeal to noble motives.
Dramatize your ideas.
Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
Call attention to other people's mistakes indirectly.
Talk about your own mistakes first.
Ask questions instead of directly giving orders.
Let the other person save face.
Praise every improvement.
Give them a fine reputation to live up to.
Encourage them by making their faults seem easy to correct.
Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.

Stephen Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Habit 1: Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Choice
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Vision
Habit 3: Put First Things First: Principles of Integrity & Execution
Habit 4: Think Win/Win: Principles of Mutual Benefit
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Principles of Mutual Understanding
Habit 6: Synergize: Principles of Creative Cooperation
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

I think I understand...

I think I understand what it means to surrender yourself to the one you love. It is the only time that when you surrender you end up receiving more than you ever give up. I give myself to you. With undying love I surrender to you. Forever more will my love pour into you and fill you up to the brim. 

I think I understand now what love is. Love is dying each time you are apart. Love is a feeling of completeness. Love is knowing where ever they are they are thinking about you. Love is when you go somewhere and think how much better it would be if they were here with you. Love is the warmth you feel when they enter the room. Love is the smile that comes with their eyes meeting yours. Love is a gentle touch. Love is surrendering.

I think I understand what you need from me. You need me to commit to loving you. You need me to confirm my love is equal to yours. You need me to show you how much I love you. You need to know that I am not whole without you. You need my arms around you. You need me to hold you in a warm embrace upon seeing each other once again. You need me.

My Departure

4:50 AM Wednesday, December 3rd
My Last night in the U.S. was quite restless. I laid in bed for about 30 minutes and tried to get some sleep. After what seemed like an hour only ten minutes had passed. This repeated two more times. The clock always seems to do the opposite of what you want it to do. Even though, I tried to relax I just couldn’t get to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I would see myself at various stages of my trip. I walked myself through my mind skipping along the envisioned time line; checking in, going through security, endless waiting at the gate. I fell asleep around 11:45 and woke up 3 hours later.

My Uncle Carl and my Aunt Julie woke up and helped me load my bags into the car and drove me to the airport. I arrived at the airport at 4 AM, much earlier than I would even consider waking up. Fifty minutes later I’m sitting in front of my gate with one hour before they begin to board. Checking in my bags took a while I guess it is to be expected if you bring an extra bag. It was surprising to discover that the nice lady at the counter was well mannered even at 4 AM. She told me that she was happy because she gets home before 10 AM, which would suggest she started at 1AM if she works a full 8 hour shift. Yikes! But seriously I was surprised to find out they didn’t know how much to charge me for an extra bag.

Once again being nice has paid off. The woman at the check in counter upgraded my flight free of charge. I was upgraded from Economy to Economy Plus, whatever that means. So many people have complaints about airport staff but if you treat them nicely and with respect then they will treat you in a similar manner.

As I sit here waiting for my flight my mind flickers back and forth to various memories. Being at the airport will always remind me of my first time flying a plane, a truly memorable event. Not taking a plane but actually flying one, it was a single prop Piper.

When my mind settles I quickly realize it is me and Amelia’s anniversary. We have been dating for 3 years. I remember that this date isn’t really the anniversary of when we begun dating but of the first message I sent her on Myspace. I remember how much time we spent chatting online and talking on the phone. A night didn’t pass when we weren’t online or on the phone. I had spent almost 4 weeks chatting with her before we ever met in person. At that time my life was crazy and rapidly changing I was finishing up college and was gearing up for the real world.
I got on my flight from Sacramento to Los Angeles and spent the duration speaking with a nice woman, mother of five, on an anniversary trip to Hawaii. Their 15 year anniversary was 1 day after my 3 year anniversary.

My 3 hour layover was pretty uneventful. I boarded the Korean Air 747 and quickly took my seat. As the plane got ready for the take off I pleasantly discovered that the seat next to me was empty. I took advantage of the vacancy fully, stretching my legs often. I had the window seat and enjoyed view and also being able to lay against the wall of the plane.

The guy who sat in the aisle seat was interesting. He had similar interests as me. We talked for about an hour and a half about topics as varied as Obama, automotive history and future, flying, and economics. Overall he was a very interesting person to talk with. However, no matter how interesting a person he is guys can only talk for so long. So, most of the flight was spent watching movies and viewing the GPS map system on my personal screen located in the back of the seat in front of me.

Beginnings and Expectations

Let’s start at the beginning.

Since my first year of high school I have desired to not only travel but to live outside of the U.S. It all begins and continues with a woman. During my first year of high school I met a girl from Norway. Her name was Heidi. She was a very interesting person. She was the spark that ignited my curiosity of other countries, their culture and perspectives. She had a very cute accent and was attractive too. We were both on the track team so I was able to talk to her often.

Growing up in a small town, Garberville, in northern California made me feel even more closed off from the world. Having this feeling of disconnect only strengthened my desire to explore and gain worldly experience. When you are so far away from everything curiosity of the world dominates your thoughts. Unable to wait for graduation I applied for the Rotary Scholarship Study Abroad program. This program would allow me to go to almost anywhere in the world for my senior year of high school. The entire bill would be paid for excluding food and supplies, which I assume the host family, would help with. Unfortunately I was runner up for the program. I don’t know what is worst not being even close to going or being so close that you begin to wish ill of the person going so that you could take their place. The person chosen was healthy as a horse and went without a hitch. My desire to leave was too strong. So, I moved to Sacramento for my senior year of high school.

While attending school in Sacramento I became great friends with a foreign exchange student named Luiza. She was from Brazil. She and I became best friends. I loved hearing her perspective on worldly subjects and try to see things from her point of view. She was gas to my flame of desire to travel. That year I applied for another scholarship program. This program would have sent me to Germany for a year. Even though I was one of the four finalists I was not chosen.

Each year of college I entertained the thought of studying abroad. However I had two big obstacles in my way. One, the programs cost money I didn’t have. Two, they usually didn’t offer the classes I needed or the classes I needed were offered on campus during the same time as the study abroad program. So, five years of college passed and the only excursion into another country under my belt was a quick trip to Mexico via the 5 freeway. If you have been to southern California you know there is very little distinction between northern Baja California and southern California. If it wasn’t for the border crossing no one could ever tell when someone passed from one country to the other. During my last year at UC Davis I met “Amelia” EunJin Han.

Amelia is a very interesting woman. She was born and raised to the age of 16 in South Korea. She then moved to Spokane, WA for two years. She moved to Los Angeles upon graduating from high school. Her experiences were unique and interesting. Her perspective was not of an American but also not of a Korean. She was somewhere in between. She successfully merged the two cultures and perspectives. She acquired from the two whatever she needed or deemed appropriate. She made me not only want to travel and explore but being with her has shown me an interesting culture that I otherwise may have over looked.

I dove into the Korean culture and loved every little bit of it. It was so foreign to me, so different. Unlike Chinese and Japanese I had very little exposure to Korean culture. Every tidbit of information was new. The sights, the tastes, the smells, the language; everything was new. At some point my knowledge of Korea or at least modern Korea equaled that of Amelia, my Korean girlfriend.

Amelia and I will have been together for 3 years on the day I finally leave the U.S. Dec 3rd 2008. Amelia decided to move back to Korea to be with her family and be an older sister. I commend her on her decision, it was not an easy one. She was suppose to go back on the 19th but she ended up missing her flight, which I must admit I didn't mind too much. She went back on Oct. 20th. I have missed her since and can't wait to see her again. I love her a lot. She raises the bar for me and makes me want to be a better person. Being with her has become one of my main reasons for going to Korea. My desire to travel may have begun long before I met her but she will always be my main motivation. As soon as Amelia told me she was planning on moving back home I began my job search.

When I was looking for a job in Korea I discovered that since I have a degree and I am an English native speaker from a country whose native language is English I qualify to teach conversational English in Korea. This job would not only pay me a fair wage but also pay for a round trip airfare there and back, a severance package of one month’s pay upon completing my 1 year contract, and reimburse the cost of a work visa. The only out of pocket expenses were getting all the paperwork together, notarized and apostilled, and shipped to Korea. And of course enough money to live off of for one month and if you are like me and have bills to pay, one month’s worth of bills set up for automatic payment.

Instead of just contacting a random recruiter, which there are a lot of. I looked up the top companies in Korea hiring native English teachers. The first one I contacted quickly told me they only hire teachers with experience, which I had none. I had better luck with the second company. I was able to quickly set up an interview with one of their company’s recruiters. It’s always a good sign if a company doesn’t have freelance recruiters. I was able to convince him to hire me by sharing my personality, my perspective, and my knowledge of Korea and its people.

I got a job with one of the biggest English teaching corporations in Korea. They have been teaching English for over 30 years. They are opening a new office in HwangSung-Si Dongtan U-city. I will be the only native speaker at that location until spring. It will be interesting being the only foreigner at the office. I am not new to the feeling of being the odd man out. There had been times when I have found myself in a conversation where I don’t know what anyone is saying due to a language barrier, mostly thanks to Amelia and her Korean friends. I can’t say that I went from point A, the interview, to point B, getting on a plane, without a hitch. Between my company’s misunderstandings and pitfalls of the Korean bureaucracy it has been a bumpy road with many delays. If you find yourself in a similar position don’t let it discourage you, just keep moving.

I don’t want to have too many expectations. Instead I want to keep an open mind while in Korea. I want to be like a sponge and just soak up the culture, history, and the language. I expect to learn and to experience many things. I expect to try new foods and to listen to new melodies. I expect to be shocked and be amazed. I do not want to hold specific expectations nor be handicapped from misconceptions.

I am going to Korea to learn and to grow. I am going to Korea to not only discover the world but also myself.