#caregiving
“Their roles were stripped genderless through a wildfire of loss, standing stark where lush growth might have hidden predators, there was only charred and shivering sufferer and co-sufferer, lover and beloved.”
- Say Say Say by Lila Savage
in my mind’s eye, you’re frozen
in time, in place
not even revolving, never evolving
taxidermied, preserved, stuffed
until the next time we meet,
face to face
and you ask me to reassure you,
learn you all over again
this time:
i see you
you look soft and spiky,
like a tumbleweed
happier drifting with the wind
and your thorns
but when you latch on
to your chosen rock,
they’re stuck with you,
more often than not…
because you’re endearing,
as much as you’re wearying.
again, you ask me to reassure you
i hear you
you said: i’m ready to bloom
and i said: let me take a step back,
and you can have the room
and i wait
it seems i’m always waiting on you
to let go, to latch on
to latch on to me, preferably…
ha!
instead, i see you grow
i hear you, and i know
it’s my problem, not yours
but
i’d like to cultivate my roses, too
and i can’t do that
if i’m letting you still my room,
waiting on you to see me
and the space that i need.
Sparano’s Stray Thoughts 11/10 - It’s just one atrocity after another.
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Sparano’s Stray Thoughts 11/9 - Such is my life.
Please like my comic here and check out all my comics by going to patreon.com/fishysarcasm @patreon
Sparano’s Stray Thoughts 10/20 - I reflect on the past 3 years.
Please like my comic here and check out all my comics by going to patreon.com/fishysarcasm @patreon #
The End
This brings Nick’s Hale Koa (1.0) to a close….for now.
* * * *
Family caregiving and hospice responsibilities will take my full attention for the foreseeable future.
I’ll return afterwards with a somewhat different approach to this blog….posting photo essays of my travels (especially on great ships going all over the world)….when it’s safe for all of us to venture out into the world by land, air and sea once again….and I can return to a “less responsible” life, as well.
Can’t wait to post very cool pictures from some fabulous cruise ship going someplace amazing….in Nick’s Hale Koa 2.0. And maybe sometimes wax poetic along the way, if I may, about my love of ships and the sea….
In the meantime….wishing everyone Fair Winds and Following Seas….
Nick
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@the-wandering-whumper, my TAT video. Might be getting more though.
This is the sweetest whump scene ever omg
Hourly Comic Day 2022. A hard one, but I’m glad I did it.
(Panel-by-panel alt text is available here.)
I’m so excited to finally share this little comic with you! When my dad died in 2015 it was difficult for me to make much art about it, but words poured out of me. I wrote journal entries and Facebook posts. I recorded stories and snippets of conversation. I sketched out ideas for future artwork, too. A couple of months into the grieving process it occurred to me that the perfect way to utilize all of this writing would be to create a graphic novel about his death. A few months later my mother’s cancer returned, and chemotherapy failed, and I slowly came to terms with the horrible reality that I would soon be losing my mother too. I produced more and more writing and sketches and took notes throughout the last year of her life, the numerous hospital visits and scares, my moving back home to take care of her and her entering home hospice. As awful as a lot of this time was, I don’t want to lose any of it. I don’t want to lose any part of my parents, good or bad. I also really want to share some of this experience with others so that those who haven’t had similar experiences can have more empathy towards those who have, and so that those who have can feel less alone.
For obvious reasons this has been a difficult project to work on. The writing was doable, but the artistic aspect can be painful. It’s hard making it all come to life again. But now, almost a year after my mother’s death, it is also really rewarding. This is one of many short stories that I intend to join together into one graphic novel detailing my life ages 25-28, including tales about me, my parents, their deaths, and what came after. I just applied to a comics residency abroad that will be a perfect opportunity for me to work on this project, so keep your fingers crossed! I’m also planning to apply to others though, so send me recommendations if you have them! Also let me know if you know of any publishers who would be interested in this project. I intend to keep working on it on my own regardless, but deadlines are always helpful!
I’m looking forward to sharing more of these stories with you <3.
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I was thinking about this conversation last night and decided to make this short comic about it. It takes place about a month and a half before my dad died.
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