The older I get
The more time me stretches out behind me
Once I measured my life in weeks
Now I measure in decades.
That milestone, ten years ago
This one fifteen.
I once lived a whole lifetime in fifteen years.
Now I’ve lived two.
Time is a funny thing
It starts out slow
And if you’re not careful
It picks up speed
Like a freight train
Before you know it
You run out of track
So put on the brakes.
Breathe
Savor
And measure
This living moment
In seconds.
Well, I’m learning some of my strengths and weaknesses in comic drawing. It’s difficult for me to think visually!
I like my pacing and plot and expressions. Lettering might be my favorite part next to the script. Panel layout is… Functional. Art is usually passable. World building is shit. Comparable strengths and weaknesses to my written stories, now that I think about it. But visual consistency? Nonexistent! Haha, he’s crossing a completely different street today, and he must have carpal tunnel bad because he keeps switching his briefcase from hand to hand. I accidentally put a jacket on him this page, fortunately it worked with the timing, though it was warm enough for him to wear just a polo yesterday…
Oh well. It’s my first multi-page comic. I’m cutting myself a lot of slack. Trying to force consistency breaks my brain and makes it not fun anymore. Right now I’m just happy to be telling a story.
Page 5 below
Gadzooks! I forgot to post this morning!
the dentist
drills to shave the edge off my crown
raw
agony
blooms
I take myself away.
Relax into the pain.
everything I have learned
from years of dysmenorrhea
comes instantly into play.
Relax.
Relax more.
it’s that or wriggle
and you best not wriggle
under the drill.
it’s not very sensitive, is it? he says.
nooo… that hurt. I reply
and we all have a good laugh.
how strange we humans are.
how trusting.
I open my mouth again
and let him do it
ten more times.
I was going to draw tonight, but I didn’t complete anything. It’s the cat’s fault. He crawled into my lap, working his way much higher than usual, leaving no room for my clipboard and pencil. Then Molly joined him, and they squeezed their eyes shut in perfect kitty bliss, as if to say, “Drawing can wait. Enjoy your snuggles to the fullest.”
Everybody knows you can’t win against a cat. I had no choice but to submit to their mighty influence.
When the world is first frostbitten
tender trees touched in thin ice
When summer shows its back
abandoning you for a faraway land
When winter’s wan face smirks at your peephole
hard fingernails tapping your door
knowing it will soon be strong
enough to crack your lock and let itself in
When everything disintegrates into blue and white and crispy brown
and the wind, mad surgeon, lacerates your summer softened skin
then the clouds part
affording you
one
glimpse
of heavenly light
a welcoming patch in which to stand
When you know you are about to lose it for good
that is when the warmest sun shines
Sarah D. Silvey 