Tomic Riter

Blog

  • Finding Inspiration: Lessons from 9 Years of Writing

    Finding Inspiration: Lessons from 9 Years of Writing

    Each night, as I sit to write, something always comes out. Isn’t that strange. I’ve never not been able to write so far. There’s always something to write.

    The year was 2017 and now it’s 2026. I’ve been writing regularly for nine years now. On and off. Mostly on though. I’ve got two published poetry books. Besides that, more than thousand poems scattered here and there. And still, as I sit to type, something always comes out on the paper. I find it quite strange.

    Sometimes I wonder from where all of this comes, the things that I write. Personal experiences of course. But it isn’t just that. I believe one must get out there and put himself in all kinds of situations. It demands certain courage and not just that. It demands a certain level of madness too. Were I not a bit mad, I’d just stay indoors and eat and sleep and one day, die. But I don’t want that. I want conversations, experiences, challenges. I want to earn a good long sleep.

    But not each day goes in the way in which I want it to go. Most days are spent doing slave work. It hurts. Hurts a lot! But such is the situation sometimes. One’s got to do stuff to get money so that one may live a little of the life that one wants to live. And one does all of this while getting hurt. Absurd but true. Life is absurd. Is it so difficult to live the kind of life that one wants to live everyday?

    I don’t know. I cannot say much about that. I believe that life is to be lived well, and it is to be lived so despite failures and successes.

    But why am I suddenly talking about life. I was talking about my writing journey and suddenly I started talking about life. I think that such is life. It seeps into everything, into all the aspects. Life is one and whole and should be lived so.

    – Tomic

  • Rum down: A poem

    Rum down: A poem

    rum first and then ice cubes
    ice cubes first and then 90 ml of dark rum
    nothing first and no cubes
    a little fizz on the top
    soda will do
    or some carbonated drink
    or some other sweet poison
    I'm here
    I'm not going anywhere
    when have I ever gone?
    make me a good drink
    tickle me with a forgotten song
    a memory
    a something on and on
    get me drunk
    make me feel alive
    and when I'm atop the highest summit
    throw me down from there
    punch me into my grave.

    Copyright ©Tomic. All rights reserved.
  • Ramblings: Man alone

    Ramblings: Man alone

    Man is burdened with work. He is alone and sick. He cannot share anything with anybody. Nobody to share things with. He is just so alone and so sad. Each evening, he waits for the work to get over so that he can go home and be alone for the rest of night. He can go anywhere at night, be anyone at night. But he is just too tired. He doesn’t want anything. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone. He doesn’t want good wishes or consolations or motivation. He wants his bed and he wants some rest. His spine aches, his mouth runs dry, his eyes are hurting all the time. He knows that the morning isn’t far. It’s on the way and like a demon, it’s coming right at him. He doesn’t want to think about the morning and about work. He hates work. He wants to give up and run away to some strange land and live on bare minimum. He wants to spend time in divine company. He is tired of running and hurting. He wants to take everything slow. He is waiting. Waiting. Waiting. He is waiting for the right time to leave everything behind. How would he know that the right time has come? How? I’ve got no clue. I’m as lost as he is, probably more.

    – Tomic

  • Takes a lot: A poem

    Takes a lot: A poem

    takes a lot to wash away the night from my face
    takes a lot to wash away the memories from my eyes
    takes a lot to let a severe pain sink
    takes a lot to walk again sometimes
    take a lot to clean the dirt off my skin and my mind
    takes a lot to getting used to nightmares each night
    takes a lot to fail repeatedly and blame nobody
    takes a lot to have nothing and not complain
    takes a lot to be utterly broke and be happy
    takes a lot to sacrifice what’s most dearest
    takes a lot to be alone and not lonely
    takes a lot of years and lives to completely forget the scars
    takes a lot sometimes to keep blood red and moving inside the veins
    takes a lot
    a lot
    a lot
    and sometimes even more.

    Copyright ©Tomic Riter. All rights reserved.

  • The Struggle of Waking Up Early: A Personal Journey

    The Struggle of Waking Up Early: A Personal Journey

    I had to wake up early this morning but I couldn’t. I had to wake up early yesterday morning but I couldn’t. I had to wake up early on all the mornings before and I didn’t. I couldn’t. Do you understand how it feels to wake up failing?

    During the day, the mind keeps itself busy at work. The work continues for most of the evening. It is only after late evening that I begin to regret for not waking up early morning. There are tasks that are better done early morning than late night. Walking. Exercising. Writing a bit. Reading a bit. Meditating on a form.

    Once I’m back from work, my body is tired. My eyes hurt. My mind feels heavy. Severe back pain. All I care about is eating and resting. I am unable to put my body and mind to another heavy activity. I just want to sit in my chair, listen to good music, maybe have a drink or two, and when it’s time to lay in bed, I lay in bed and close my eyes.

    Every morning I put three alarms and I fail to get up from bed on all three. I hope that I wake up early tomorrow morning and break this dumb cycle. I believe that a productive early morning would lead to a much more fulfilling day.

    – Tomic

  • Understanding Silence: A Journey Within

    Understanding Silence: A Journey Within

    Complete silence. Utter silence. Silence that is too loud. Does it make you lose your balance? Does it make you feel dizzy? Does it scare you? Does it make you cry? Does it make you feel disconnected with the material world?

    There’s a ball of light within me. Sometimes when I sit in complete silence for long periods, I feel that ball of light moving from hand to leg to other hand to other leg to chest to stomach. I can only see the ball of light with my inner eye. I understand if none of this makes sense. It doesn’t make sense to me either. But some experiences become unforgettable. This is one such experience of mine.

    Whenever I sit in complete silence with eyes closed for more than twenty minutes, I start losing connection with my body. I stop feeling my body. This feeling scares me. Whenever I open my eyes, I feel lighter. Sometimes my eyes become wet. Often, it’s difficult to make rapid and large movements in the body.

    – Tomic

  • Detachment: A hard earned lesson

    Detachment: A hard earned lesson

    There’s a pattern. A beautiful pattern. The pattern repeats itself for days, months, even years. One day something happens and it causes the pattern to break. Sometimes the pattern breaks in such a way it makes a man go insane.

    Man is not prepared for such a sudden disturbance in his life. Man was happy in his world. Suddenly he isn’t. Man was fearless. Suddenly, he isn’t. He is afraid. Sometimes, he is even paranoid. He fears he might break something. He cannot calm his mind. He cannot control the movement of his limbs. He cannot choose the words coming out of his mouth. He is deteriorating more and more with each passing second. There comes a moment when he stops functioning like a sane man.

    There’s a beautiful pattern in a man’s life. Different men have different patterns. But each man has his own beautiful pattern dear to him. When the pattern breaks, the man breaks with it. Different men break to different extent. Some break to some extent. Some break down completely. Some break very little. Some do not break down at all. Detachment.

    – Tomic

  • Battling Addiction: One Day at a Time

    Man in leather jacket drinking coffee beside a café window

    Slept around 4:55 am. Woke up at around 5:15 pm today. What’s wrong with me. When I tried to wake up, my back started aching badly. It felt as if an infection is travelling upwards through the spine and not letting me move. It was a strange sensation.

    Haven’t smoked in a day. I feel the urge to smoke but I won’t. Or maybe just one. No I won’t. Just one maybe. No. Just one. Won’t. One. No way. No fucking way.

    The fight is ugly and real. I’m closing my eyes and listening to something pleasant. I love the music of Hermanos Gutierrez. It captures that fleeting feeling. It captures that long stretch of time when nothing much gets done and days feel the same and the observer is doing what he does best – observing.

    9:05 pm. Sleep won’t come tonight. I know it won’t. The weather brings nothing except melancholy. Man is sick but he can’t rest. There’s much to do. There’s people to look after. There’s duty to carry out. Man is sick and dying. Sometimes he finds rest only in his grave.

    – Tomic

  • Late Night Reflections: Nature and Nostalgia

    Yesterday evening at around 5:30, I went to the river. Sat there for almost three hours. When I looked at the gently flowing river, I felt my heartbeat slowing. I’m glad that there are places in nature that offer such silence. It isn’t the kind of silence that one fears. I sat near the flowing waters and meditated. Before last couple of months, I used to go there every weekend. I missed going there and yesterday evening, I was so glad to be back there.

    Sometimes the evidence of divine is experienced but not in the ways in which a logical mind would understand. Not everything in this world seems logical. I feel that not everything in this world has to be logical. The most bizarre experiences of our lives keep challenging our logical frameworks. When I sat near the river with closed eyes, I felt this profound stillness within me. Everything fell quiet.

    After sunset, I drove to a bar nearby. Had a beer and roasted fish while I listened to some old melodies from the 90s. I love to sit in places that do not bother me. I love cafes and eateries that aren’t too crowded, and so I do not have to be in a rush to eat and pay bill and leave. I like to take my time. I like to observe things around me. I like to talk a bit with strangers. I do not want to do much of other stuff.

    I returned home at around 9 at night. On my laptop, I saw these people from the 8th century raiding and massacring everywhere. They’re popularly known as Vikings. Not much of anything else was done that night.

    – Tomic

  • Embracing the Ordinary: Thoughts from the Bathroom

    Man sitting on toilet with head resting on hand in contemplation

    Like a pig I slept. It’s 12:46 noon now and I think I didn’t get enough sleep. I fell asleep some time after 2:30 in the morning. I usually fall asleep around midnight. Yesterday night, something kept me busy.

    12:48 noon. Im sitting on the toilet seat, wondering where to go next from here. I’d rather sleep a bit more but I shouldn’t. Hunger pangs in my stomach. I should take a shower, get dressed and go out.

    12:53 noon. Nothing else makes me happier than taking a proper sh*t in the morning without much struggle. Sometimes when you take a huge dump, you start feeling somewhat dizzy in your head. Strange!

    12:55 noon. Listening to Memora by Gesafflstein. He is an amazing artist. I admire his music and come back to it from time to time.

    12:58. Time to exercise a bit, not much. These muscles need some movement. Lower back is hurting as usual. Feels incurable. I hope it isn’t.

    – Tomic