700 Followers!

Wow! So, I hit 700 followers the other day!
I haven’t been posting much because I wanted to make it a point to enjoy the summer months as much as I can, so this achievement caught me by surprise.
As I am typing this post about hitting 700 followers, I also noticed that I recently passed the “100 posts” mark!


Anyway, staying true to my previous achievement posts, I will share a fun fact.

Fun fact: My birthday was last week!
A lot of people like to say, “ugh, another year.”
However, I like to say, “we are like fine wines getting better with age!”
What can I say; I am an eternal optimist.

I decided to create an Instagram account if anyone wants to connect: @travisjamesmcroy33
or scan this name tag/QR Code below to add me!

I am not too active on there because I recently created it. However, I will peruse through your posts, like, and follow back.

Again, I’d like to say thank you so much for the support thus far!
I appreciate every comment and interaction and look forward to many more!

If you are reading this and not a follower of mine, please feel free to read over my blog, follow, like, etc., and I’ll show the same respect!

Short and sweet!
Thank you again for all of the support!!!!
Travis

A Haiku, The Unknown Universe

I am an avid lover of space and exploration of the universe. The other night I watched a 10-minute clip of Mars footage/photos, and it got me thinking, what if we did meet intelligent alien life?
A discovery like that would change everything we thought we knew. But then I took a devil’s advocate approach and asked myself, “we don’t even fully understand each other; how do we expect to understand alien life?”
Needless to say, I wrote a haiku about it!

The search for new life
Perfect strangers to our Earth
Ambitious creatures

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved
Image by Андрей Сидоренко from Pixabay 

A Haiku, The Winds

One cannot ignore the contrast in power that the wind possesses. One moment it offers soft breezes to guide life. The next moment it offers ferocious waves as tall as mountains capable of creating unfathomable destruction. Needless to say, I wrote a haiku about the wind!

Soft winds carry life
Ferocious waves mountains tall
Harness my power

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved

A Poem, The Albatross

It isn’t The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but I sure had fun putting it together. The thought of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner came to mind last night, and then I dug in a bit revisiting the whole superstition on the bad luck of killing an albatross. Needless to say, I wrote a poem about it, haha!

We are but two men; how will we live
The albatross will guide us across the sea
A man licks his lips, thinking of the meat it can give
Don’t kill the albatross, or we’ll cease to be
Waves crash as the weak rigger sings
Emaciated and bemused, he slurs
The albatross lands and rests its wings
Hunger takes over as his vision blurs
You killed the albatross, doomed we are
Water crashes and cracks the ship
It plucked my eyes out, provoking the spar
As the curse of the albatross takes grip
In a glorious crash, the men were swallowed
The ship sails to land with the deck now hollowed

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved.

A Haiku, The Driftwood

We’ve had some severe rainfall the past few days. As a result, the river levels are pretty high. As I stared at the river, I got fixated on a nice piece of driftwood just flowing along the shoreline and watched it get caught up momentarily. I got thinking, “uh oh, end of your travels.”  The wind was pretty steady throughout the day, but there was sudden gust enough to push me slightly forward at that moment. Alas, the driftwood was free and continued its course.

Needles to say, I wrote a haiku about it!

Driftwood comes to life
The fleeting winds its savior
Guiding river flows

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved
Image by Юрий Яковлев from Pixabay 

A Poem, The Devil Won’t Come Here

I wrote this poem a few months back and figured it was worth a share. It focuses on the topic of the devil preying on the weak and hurting. If we remain strong in our faith through our trials and tribulations, we can continue to keep the devil away.

A crack of thunder as a crimson color rains
The river is as red as sin
Perhaps a knife opened up the skies veins
The devil is here, but I won’t let him in
I retreat to my safe place, clutching my cross so tight
It is not enough this time as I trek out into the crimson world
I can feel the devil lurking behind me, snickering at my plight
I breach the door of the church, keeping my mind furled
I sit in silence; the devil is not here
I pick up the book that was sitting next to me
A hymn breaks out in unison as I clutch the bible near
I breathe a sigh of relief, unburdened and stress-free
The devil won’t come here, in this place I dwell
I’ll continue to pray, forcing him back to hell

Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved

A Haiku, The Fear

      I got thinking of the four-letter word that can dictate so much of our lives. It is an emotion within ourselves that is naturally occurring. It can be physical or mental.
      In this haiku, I focused on the mental aspect of fear. If we let the fear consume our minds, our mental state begins to rot. Oftentimes, we build fear to be this monster, never facing it. We need to rise above our fears and eliminate the self-doubt that has poisoned our minds. We were meant to live our lives to the fullest and not let fear define our lives.  

Tyranny of fear
The rot travels to the trunk
Shatter your self-doubt

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

Blogging Anniversary!

I just got a notification that it is my one year blogging anniversary!
Has it really been an entire year since I started blogging? That time has flown if that is the case.

So with that, I’ll poke fun at myself by sharing a moment I got caught by my wife playing on a mini-excavator. I say “playing” because I told her I had some serious work to tend to outside. She recorded this “serious work.” After about an hour, I came back into the house, and she was giggling at me. I didn’t understand what was so funny until she shared the video. I was caught!

In my response to her, naturally, I laughed and just said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Then I said, “wow, I need a shirt that says, I don’t wanna taco bout it.” Sure enough, one existed! So I bought it. I feel like this shirt sums up so many days for me, haha!

Just another novelty shirt from my massive collection.


It has been an absolute blast getting to know the WP community over the last year. I appreciate the support and encouragement along the way. I have loved every interaction and hope to have many more in the future with you all.

If you are reading this and not a follower of mine, please feel free to read over my blog, follow, like, etc., and I’ll show the same respect!

Short and sweet!
Thank you again for all of the support!!!!
Travis



A Poem, The Glass World

This was a fun poem to put together. I thought of it this morning. This reminds me of something, something perhaps that some of us have in our home?
We know it for a particular name, but the contents within may call it their glass world.

I walked to the ends of my world
Shadows beyond my view creeping
What is this life? I ask as my mind swirled
My world shakes; with rage, I am weeping
My existence fragmentary but has meaning
Search for answers through this snow-filled land
Life beyond this shell, I can’t help dreaming
I want to hold the world in the palm of my hand
I traveled to the edge for the last time
My world changed forevermore
Bitter victory tastes of chyme
Mind unfurled, I drop to the floor
You see, I live in a glass-encased world preferably shaken, not stirred
I will continue through this façade of existence unseen and unheard



Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved



A Haiku, The Dust Bowl


I recently watched a documentary on The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. During this time, the nation was hit with economic hardship. It started with the stock market crash of 1929, and then severe droughts caused massive dust storms that choked the land in the early 1930s.
Needless to say, I wrote a haiku about this moment in history!

The barren land thirsts
Dust clouds mountains tall choke life
The Great Depression

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis
Image by amazingsdj from Pixabay 

Some Quotes, Wants and Needs

I’ve been writing for this character in an upcoming novel. He is known as Mr. Pembrook. He is an older, mysterious omniscient introverted hermit of a man offering sage advice.

Here are just a few quirky proclivities he exhibits:
He walks through the woods to get back to his home, but a peculiar trait of his is that he never takes the same path twice.
He prefers to be in total darkness, also known as Nyctophilia.
He prefers to be alone, living out in the middle of nowhere but is friendly and loves to talk to people.
He has a book strap loaded with five books that he takes with him while he walks.

It takes tons of research to get into this unique character, but it is fun creating little nuggets such as quotes.

Here is a quote of his that I felt translates pretty well into our reality that he said to the protagonist of the story:

“A foolish man is often tempted by the spoils of his wants, while the wise man is content in receiving felicitous needs.”

This simple statement sticks with the protagonist throughout the story. Using it as a mantra to keep himself grounded.

Here is another quote of his when the protagonist was struggling with the ups and downs of his life:

“Life swings ironically like the pendulum of death. Every swing that doesn’t spell our doom, we rest easy for that moment only to brace once again for our inevitable fate.”

And lastly, one more nugget on the topic of books, which we all hold so dearly to us all. I pulled this part of the dialogue from the book so it’s a synopsis of the altercation.
He was verbally assaulted by a group of younger men as he walked by, chastising Mr. Pembrook over his collection of books:

“My books? They are no use to you. I am not bothering anybody. I am just an old man passing by, is all.”

After this response, one of the teens grabbed Mr. Pembrook’s book strap.
To which a feisty Mr. Pembrook replied:

“So selective in your victims if only you were so determined to collect a thought. So quick to find a reason to dislike, hate, and despise any person that is not yourself.”

One of the teens pressed Mr. Pembrook on his reasoning for carrying his books around, to which he replied:

“Books are collections of truths, logic, thoughts, ideas, and impossibilities made possible. They are a reminder to us all, present and future, that we need to continue to think, be creative, and process thoughts, sometimes, think critically as a species. The day we give up on our thoughts, we sacrifice our individuality. If we become mentally stagnant, all alike for the wrong reasons, if we are all mentally similar, we are all the same, essentially a sea of nobodies.”

One thing I wanted to do is present truths in his quotes that are relevant to real life. The above quote speaks a volume of truths on why books are so important.


Anyway, let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved

A Poem, The Devil visits

I wrote this poem alongside a chapter introduction of my upcoming novel. I had just finished the chapter introduction and the character dialogue when the below poem fell into place, so I just went with the flow.
I’ve added the chapter introduction and the dialogue directly after the poem to give more context. In short, a devil descended on an obscure little town in the guise of a jester, psychologically breaking each of the characters promising each of them a nirvana. He visits at the lowest points of their lives, hoping to break them and gain their allegiance.  

Keep the devil at bay by saying no
His whipping forked tongue will spew words of deception
Do not weary or waver; never let go
Do not pay with your soul for a lonely damnation
The devil won’t let you sleep, whispering specious delight
He doesn’t care about the good or bad you’ve done
Do not be tempted and let the mind benight
He’ll say anything to get you wrapped in the twisted web he’s spun
If it’s love lost, do not turn to the devil for advice
The devil doesn’t know love; he’s never had his heart broken
Let the bloody footprints of your shattered world lead to God’s paradise
Times of strife test the mettle of humanity; confidence is the token
The tried-and-true stand tall against the devil and his lies
When the devil is beaten, step on his tail as you begin to rise

Here is the chapter introduction and dialogue that spawned the poem:

Portrait of a young man, a lost soul, searching for a purpose at the bottom of a bottle in a pitch-black room. His blinks grow more lethargic with every sip of his flask. He focuses on an unfamiliar silhouette sitting at his dinner table. To preserve the last of his energy for tipping his flask, he squints and takes another lethargic blink from his rocking chair. At this moment, the silhouette melts away from the table. Jacob, slightly confused, attributes the experience to his impairment.

A shrill voice cuts the air breaking the silence that had fallen over the room.

Ahh, Jacob Riley. Jacob, the town drunk. Jacob, the black sheep of the Riley family,” teased the jester, shaking his head in disgust.

“Look what you’ve turned into these days. A shadow of your former self. Your life swirls and circles at the bottom of that bottle as you look at me with that pitiful stare. There is nothing left for you in this world. I can take all of those pains away from you if you just let me,” said the jester putting his hands together in prayer.

“I don’t make deals with devils,” retorted Jacob in a slurred voice with his flask barely breaking away from his lips.

“And who are you to talk to me about looks anyways? Look at you. You’re dressed as a jester and promising a nirvana,” said Jacob squinting at the jester with a scowl.

The jester cracked an evil smirk, briefly revealing his jagged teeth but remained silent.

Jacob continued his patronizing, “I’m curious though, what is your price these days, devil? Is it the soul like people always say?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes, it is. Painless, I assure you, Jacob. The life you’ve lived, your soul probably doesn’t mean much to you these days anyway, does it? The life of loneliness and the grave you’ve dug for yourself, such a pit of despair,” quipped the jester as he inspected a dust-covered book on a shelf.

“So, I pay with my soul, and I get a nirvana?”

“Whatever are your utmost desires. Imagine it, if you will, no longer living in your uncle’s shadow. All of the power you could ever dream of, my friend,” said the jester as his eyes grew big, raising his hands trying to guide Jacob’s vision.

“I’ve got one question for you though, devil,” said Jacob pointing at the jester with his flask.

“Please, Jacob, you’ve earned it. What is your query?”

“Why would I pay with my soul for an eternity of loneliness when loneliness is free?”

“You see the conundrum, jester?”

“Perhaps I’ve underestimated your wit. Despite being impaired, your mind remains sharp. Think over my proposal, Jacob. It won’t be available forever,” answered the jester, waving his sharpened index finger at Jacob.

The jester made his way behind Jacob, rubbing the back of his chair as he passed, “keep your flask tipped up. It’s the only way you’ll be happy in this lifetime. With me, you’ll have it all.”

Jacob’s chair let out a loud creak breaking the silence as he sat up, “Leaving so soon? It’s not often I get to see a nervous devil in a room full of rocking chairs. Watch your tail, devil,” teased Jacob as he rocked in his chair.

“Clever, Jacob. I’ll see you again soon,” hissed the jester as he snapped his fingers and vanished in a flash.

“Pssh, a nirvana,” scoffed Jacob as he took a drink from his flask.

Jacob sat silently with disdain painted on his face, upset with how his life had played out thus far. He brought the flask back up to his mouth and abruptly threw it where the jester had disappeared.

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved

Tragic Storm

I recently found this blog by Ali Marie. Extremely talented young woman! When I read this post, I couldn’t get over her writing style, so I just had to share it. This is an excellent post. She is new to the blogging world, so please feel free to like, follow, etc.. Trust me, it is worth it. I seriously hope to do some sort of collaboration with her in the future.

Such Is Life

Inky clouds veiled the night sky, filtering in

Rain pelting on my porcelain skin

Sounds of God’s bowling from up above

A beautiful ballad to be sung

Deafening roars tumbled around

Then silence ascended, hearing no sounds

Streaks of white flared the world alight

Crackling loud, a magical sight

Ceaseless drops chilled my bones

Restless thoughts invade of the unknown

Sorrow absorbing all the air

Loneliness? Despair? I almost can’t bare

Vortex of winds swirl about

Frightening visions unfold as I cry out

By: A.Stuebbe

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A Haiku, The Wild Bears

So this haiku originated with a simple verse from a Winnie The Pooh jingle,
“I’m so rumbly in my tumbly
Time to munch an early luncheon
hum da de dum dum.”

It got me thinking about what bears will go through just for sustenance. With no reservations at all, they will swing their arms through swarms of bees just to get to the honey.
So, needless to say, I wrote a haiku about bears!

Swat as the bees swarm
Unfettered you eat to live
Harvest the honey

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved

A Haiku, The Thunder

Some thunderstorms passed through the area a day ago. For me, it was just distant thunder which was a welcome and quite relaxing sound. It got me thinking about how alluring the sound of thunder can be to a person. Then it got me thinking about the contrast of it all, what hides behind the facade of thunder, the originator of the sounds. So, needless to say, I wrote a haiku about the thunder!

Peal of thunder heard
Day benighted by dark clouds
My tranquil facade


Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
Travis

Travis J. McRoy 2021 All Rights Reserved