Author Archives: Dom DiFrancesco

Winter Tragedy – 100 Word Story

The icy November winds cut through their winter clothing while horizontal snow bit at their exposed skin. This was all just a part of hunting during a nor’easter.

With a countdown, 3…2…1, the pair launched their duck boat into the whitecap topped swells of the bay and pushed off from shore to pursue their quarry.

Motoring out past the relative safety of the cove, violent wind-swept waves crashed over the bow of the little boat quickly filling the cockpit with frigid water.

This was the last time the two men were seen until they washed up on shore days later.

Stagnant Waters Their Diseases Yield

Stagnant waters their diseases yield,

Neglectful sores that never healed.

What once seemed healthy now reveals,

Sickness festering, under skin that’s pealed.

Seeking answers we look on high,

As scalpel cuts, we writhe and cry.

The blood doth stream until it’s dry,

Scarring seems as ever nigh.

We chose to hide our seething pain,

Though it cut against the grain.

Now unleashed this horrid stain,

No longer choosing to hide disdain.

Gnashing teeth and spewing spit,

The lower we sink in the hellish pit.

 Brought on ourselves by feverish fit,

The more unwillingly we submit.

Submit perhaps, or just gave in,

Giving up to mankind’s penchant for sin.

Our memories are short and patience thin,

Living a destiny that’s already been.

On fear of death, our egos flow,

No pain or suffering we’ll forgo.

Commonsense be damn as we do show,

We’re circling the drain for all we know.

I fear dear friend our wounds won’t heal,

As those before, our fates been sealed.

We never learn what histories revealed,

Instead, we embrace our end with zeal.

App Addiction That Lead To Procrastination

First, I would like to say hello to everyone and Happy Belated New Year!

I finally fulfilled one of my long-time wishes and that was to purchase an Apple MacBook. In this case, I chose the MacBook Air which I received in May 2020. I figured that since I would be keeping this machine for a few years, I would order an upgraded version with a better processor, more RAM, and more storage. I know this model has already been replaced by a newer faster M1 version, but that is neither here nor there, I’m happy with what I have.

Anyway, I have been wanting to return to consistent writing again by continuing to write poetry and by starting on a novel, but I find myself procrastinating as I endlessly look for the “best” writing software for the Mac. I have to admit that it has been kind of fun, but totally unproductive. I have installed and uninstalled many, many apps and have kept a few, namely Ulysses, Pages, Word, and Drafts. I know that any of these are more than adequate, even the lowly default text editor supplied with macOS would do, but that hasn’t stopped me from continuing to look for just the right app anyway.

In the past, I did all of my writing in Google docs since it seemed to copy and paste pretty accurately into WordPress and I could use it on any PC that I chose. I suppose that I could just as easily do that now and I would be perfectly happy, but coming from a lifetime of Windows PC use I have found the Mac and its apps to be quite intoxicating. 

Well like all good things this too must come to an end. It is time for me to put my procrastination behind me and move on. I’ve decided that I am going to settle on my writing app(s) this week and get down to being productive. As a matter of fact, I wrote this in Google Docs and I have to admit that it felt pretty good, at least I am writing something.

I don’t know if anyone else has had this problem, but if you have what did you do to break out of your cycle of procrastination, I’d love to hear about it.

Until next time, stay safe and stay productive.

Dom

Sorrow Fills My Soul

Sorrow fills my soul looking out to the in that is black and distasteful

Choking my essence and making me hateful

I bleed trying to quench the pain, but the pain won’t let go

What a fool I am and what a fool I show

No one knows it’s me because I keep it hidden in the deepest recesses

But God knows the heart that to myself confesses

I do nothing, justifying my wrongs just to live day-to-day

Though my conscience constantly gets in the way

What is it I’m after, what is it that I want as dollar after dollar goes to hell

Get rich quick, strike the jackpot, revel in the winning bell

It’s a fools dream, one that seldom comes true

A realization for no one, but the fortunate few

I swear each day after to turn down a different road, vowing to refrain

Sadly each let down, self-inflicted causes immeasurable pain

I don’t know if I can do this myself, do it all alone

When temptation knocks at every door where my weakness has shown

I’m scared, terrified at my persistent weakness

What demon has possessed me engraining this bleakness

Perhaps it’s me, my mind, and nothing more is to blame

Perhaps it’s just a weakness of character or a lifetime of shame

Maybe it’s just an excuse for a depressive mind

Or maybe it is really nothing of the kind

If help reaches out it to throw me a life-line

Gladly I’d take it as a telling sign

That nothing that happens cannot be cured

With love and kindness and strength that is assured

I put my life in the hands of a power higher than myself

Struggling to put my ego on a shelf

What else am I to do, but try and try again to be a better man

Doing what I know is right and doing what I can

~~ Dominic DiFrancesco ~~

Defeated And Detained

Defeated and detained;

His cries for mercy mercilessly ignored.

What warrant had they

To choke a life into lifelessness.

Was it out of hate and fear

Or is being black in America a crime.

We have not come so far as we’d like to believe,

Reliving the violence of Selma over and over again.

The wounds have been reopened,

Bleeding from what long ago scarred.

But there was no healing,

Just poison bubbling beneath the surface.

Erupting, toxins asphyxiating,

Pleas of “I can’t breathe”, echoed ‘til silent.

Guilt determined before innocence,

At the knee of those sworn to protect.

Judge, jury and executioner,

Hiding behind a badge.

Will there be any justice?

A question asked many times before,

Or will George Floyd be forgotten 

‘Til the next autopsy?

Depravity

There is a coldness,

A heartless side to man.

Feelingless, bloodless, soulless,

Human life means nothing.

Life and death are mirages,

Something to be spared or taken,

Sacrificed or saved it matters not.

Cane is buried deep within our Abel,

Hate within outward love.

In each of us there is darkness;

We hide it, pretend it does not exist,

But we know it exists.

Headlines scream it daily,

Good becoming evil,

Sickness throttling the well,

Peace shattered by bloodletting.

We are animals

Living for the moment,

Consequences be damned.

Our claim to be of higher form

Is the mirage;

Drawn from our imagination,

Our denial our ignorance.

Advanced! We are delusional;

Little more than protozoa

Living for the sake of life,

Eating solely to live,

Never thinking about tomorrow,

Thinking not of anyone but ourselves.

Wickedness courses through our veins;

We cannot stop it,

We cannot purge it.

We are beasts 

Living our chemistry

Through blood, death and depravity

With nary a care.

~*~*~*~*~

~~ Dom DiFrancesco ~~

Thirty Years Married (Tanka)

Embed from Getty Images

Thirty years married

Five weeks working together

Under the same roof

We haven’t killed each other

It must be true love

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My wife is still working from home, likely until the beginning of next year. I am back in the office now as of May 4th. It is a small office with lots of room between each of us for social distancing. The poem is light hearted as my wife and I get along very well and always have. As a matter of fact, since I’ve gone back to work, I’ve received a couple of messages telling me how much she misses me. It was very nice to hear even though we knew the time working together would only be temporary.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~~ Dom DiFrancesco ~~

If…

If a tree falls in the woods…,
Do we hear it?

If a boy cries wolf,
Do we reprimand it?

If politics contradict science,
Do we believe it?

If a lie is told over and over,
Do we ignore it?

If a line is drawn in the sand,
Do we cross it?

If we won’t think for ourselves,
Do we deserve it?

If we refuse to learn from the past,
Do we repeat it?

Question authority as a thoughtful man.
Trust the facts when facts support,
For ignorance can never replace truth.