Archive: Essays & Blog Posts, circa 2015
Most of these essays and blog posts deal with some aspect of the struggle to find sanity and sacredness in a insane and commodified culture. Some of these views have evolved, but they may have value for others on the path...and I may start writing essays again now that the poetry MFA is complete.
Where can you find my poems, you might ask? Sadly most of those are under-wraps because of the constraints of the publishing process. I expect to share more of them here in 2026, meanwhile, enjoy a few essays.
Where can you find my poems, you might ask? Sadly most of those are under-wraps because of the constraints of the publishing process. I expect to share more of them here in 2026, meanwhile, enjoy a few essays.
American Labyrinth
First gate: Best Western. I grab my key and depart room 103, where stale air stinks of something I’d long forgotten to notice...
Gratitude for Gratitude
Every once in a while I get a glimpse of the inner mental misery that most people seem to subject themselves to on a day by day, moment by moment basis...
The Arc of Remembering
Untitled. Blank. Nothing is here but the soft subtle wind that moves through. But I am not talking of weather....
Getting that Growth Junkie Fix, at Work
Hi, my name is Brooking, and I’m a personal growth junkie. Unlike the average bear who sees emotional discomfort and runs for the hills, the personal growth junkie seeks her fix with edges...
On Vastness, Identity, and Being Useful
"Fight with all the strength at your disposal against the idea that you are nameable and describable." - Nisargadatta Maharaj. This quote was a bit of a lighthouse for me for a long time...
All the Single Ladies
Every self-proclaimed ‘awakened woman’ I know spends half her time at home alone lighting incense at her altar and ‘calling in the one’. She and her awakened girlfriends talk over Kombucha and...
To Be or Not to Be Good
I have been struggling a lot lately with my internal ideas of what it is to be good - recognizing how much social and familial conditioning have primed me...
The Heart of Power and Politics
Last week I visited D.C. for the first time in many years. I went for evening walks around the capital, and felt blown away by how differently power shows up in Washington...
The Power of No
Lately, I have been somewhat obsessed with the energy of “No”. Much of this fascination of course stems from my own continued challenge with it...
Why Facebook is Saving the World
I take a radical stance on Facebook: I love it. I think it's world changing and a powerful force for courage, learning, remembering, and experiencing a level of support from community...
The Heart of the Problem of Social Change
I have been struggling lately with a sense of misalignment in the tech accelerator social change world I'm embedded in...The strongest thread has been this sense of a lopsided headiness...
The Vulnerability of Having Opinions
I have a dirty secret: I don’t like most poetry. Even the supposedly ‘good stuff’, the classics, the greats...
Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
This morning I encountered a tiny dog. One of those itty-bitty purse sized fluffy things that has been bred to look like a puppy it’s whole life. It was cute, and it was pathetic....
Moving in Worlds Beyond Words
This past weekend, after more than seven years of dancing, I finally attended my first multi-day dance intensive....
First gate: Best Western. I grab my key and depart room 103, where stale air stinks of something I’d long forgotten to notice...
Gratitude for Gratitude
Every once in a while I get a glimpse of the inner mental misery that most people seem to subject themselves to on a day by day, moment by moment basis...
The Arc of Remembering
Untitled. Blank. Nothing is here but the soft subtle wind that moves through. But I am not talking of weather....
Getting that Growth Junkie Fix, at Work
Hi, my name is Brooking, and I’m a personal growth junkie. Unlike the average bear who sees emotional discomfort and runs for the hills, the personal growth junkie seeks her fix with edges...
On Vastness, Identity, and Being Useful
"Fight with all the strength at your disposal against the idea that you are nameable and describable." - Nisargadatta Maharaj. This quote was a bit of a lighthouse for me for a long time...
All the Single Ladies
Every self-proclaimed ‘awakened woman’ I know spends half her time at home alone lighting incense at her altar and ‘calling in the one’. She and her awakened girlfriends talk over Kombucha and...
To Be or Not to Be Good
I have been struggling a lot lately with my internal ideas of what it is to be good - recognizing how much social and familial conditioning have primed me...
The Heart of Power and Politics
Last week I visited D.C. for the first time in many years. I went for evening walks around the capital, and felt blown away by how differently power shows up in Washington...
The Power of No
Lately, I have been somewhat obsessed with the energy of “No”. Much of this fascination of course stems from my own continued challenge with it...
Why Facebook is Saving the World
I take a radical stance on Facebook: I love it. I think it's world changing and a powerful force for courage, learning, remembering, and experiencing a level of support from community...
The Heart of the Problem of Social Change
I have been struggling lately with a sense of misalignment in the tech accelerator social change world I'm embedded in...The strongest thread has been this sense of a lopsided headiness...
The Vulnerability of Having Opinions
I have a dirty secret: I don’t like most poetry. Even the supposedly ‘good stuff’, the classics, the greats...
Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
This morning I encountered a tiny dog. One of those itty-bitty purse sized fluffy things that has been bred to look like a puppy it’s whole life. It was cute, and it was pathetic....
Moving in Worlds Beyond Words
This past weekend, after more than seven years of dancing, I finally attended my first multi-day dance intensive....