SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

No matter what is said
It is always determined
To seasonally toll the same
Without the needed light of day
Darkness emanates morose thoughts
Or simply zaps the energy
There does not seem to be any reserve
Only the lack of sun
And brief daytime hours
Brings some to their knees
In the hoarding doom of January
Unrelenting to the where withal
Or the inertia
Oh, how we await
That springtime warmth
Salvaging us from the brutality
Of winter’s curse
The world regains its colors
Moods can be eased
Energy rebooted
Oh, praise to the sun
The sacred, emotional nourishment
Pivotal to our existence.

Unforgettable Mark Battle

A Renaissance Man
For all seasons
And all reasons
He had the art of song & poetry
Was fueled by personal injustices
A boy losing his dad to the Klan
Now, expected to be a man

He rose to the occasion
Whether professional or personal
Reading people so gently and caring
With love for learning
Military strategies and breaking down steel barriers
A leader, among leaders

Always soft spoken
Smiling like a boy, man and king
Active of mind
Quick of wit
Slow, cautious movements
Full of ideas

A solid friend, a mentor
A majestic professionalism
He understood all the races
A pioneer adventurer
A true social worker (macro and Micro)
Like his favorite, old cowboy movies
He tamed new social frontiers.

The Many Faces Of Valentines

Won’t you be my Valentine
If I serve all your needs
And ignore my own
Won’t you be my Valentine
So you will never have to
Be alone
Won’t you be my Valentine
If I always had your back
And never let you lack.

Won’t you be my Valentine
If it was all about me
Clearly bursting
With quiet, necessary demands
You desperately accommodate
Just to prove you can
Won’t you be my Valentine
To rescue all my woes
And adorn me from Head to toes

Won’t you be my Valentine
If it was a practical arrangement
Of time and money
Right up front
Won’t you be my Valentine
For a fundamental exchange
Without the barrage of
Emotional estrange

Won’t you be my Valentine
Because our families
Say it should be so
Arranging life around approval
And never “letting go”
Won’t you be my Valentine
For purposeful, societal accord
Our appearances of “the ideal”
Could be the main reward

Won’t you be my Valentine
Just because I asked
So you can be so flattered
It will distract you from your past
Won’t you be my Valentine
To hold the power
Of your draw
Understanding you could live unscathed
Assuaged by adoration
No need to do more.

Won’t you be my Valentine
Because you are too trapped to leave
No hostage negotiation
From the rage that you receive
Then the threat of abandonment
To twist the guilt within your belly
Until it feels oh so Helly
Won’t you be my Valentine
As you have been so seductively convinced
You do not have the right
To even wince

Won’t you be my Valentine
To perpetually remind you
How you’d flounder without your cohort
Who saves you from yourself
And stashes your addictions and shortcomings
Proudly on the shelf
Won’t you be my Valentine
So I can own your soul
As following my dictatorial guidance
Will certainly take its toll

Won’t you be my Valentine
Because I am so desperately inadequate
In my self vision
Of being so unlovable
And scraps for me are the only things discoverable
Won’t you be my Valentine
Because we are both lost in fear
And we are so grateful
That anyone would come near

Won’t you be my Valentine
Because you are my mentor
A rock star, a celebrity
To take me in your fold
So I can pretend to be so bold
Won’t you be my Valentine
So surreptitiously
I can enjoy your fame
Act as if I have your talent and your brain
Starring on the coattails of your name

Won’t you be my Valentine
From a far
Keeping clear distance
So I never feel jarred
Won’t you be my Valentine
If in name only
As the commitments of emotion
Seem so onerous and remote
Like a derailed locomotion

Won’t you be my Valentine
So I can create a family
Belong to something, finally
Bring to fruition
The yearnings from childhood fantasy
Won’t you be my Valentine
To finally have a place to fit
And claim ownership
Of a pronounced connection
I think will be “it”


Won’t you be my Valentine
Because I mire in your presence
And we mutually reflect
The best of each others’ essence
Won’t you be my Valentine
Because we choose to grow in truth
Collaboratively preserving
With respect and endearments
The passion of Our eternal youth

Mind Over Matter

Thoughts are often injuries
To our senses
Catching odd ideas
On that ferris wheel of cognition
Latching on to something
Because it is relevant
Or strictly a shiny objects.

Cognitive and Behavioral
How could therapists really believe
That thoughts effect behavior
While behavior waits
Dormantly incensed

Can the mind know the truth
Or does it simply translate
From the perceptions we’ve been given
Or can it accept
Pure love from the heart

When the impulses
And the dark memories
Get aroused in the trauma brain
Can we discern
The past from what yet has not occurred

Our preoccupations
With interpretation
Rather than simply enjoying
Was created at the beginning
So our primitive mind could survive
And one day evolve to
the balance of thought and function.