D.C. Swanson
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dcswanson.bsky.social
D.C. Swanson
@dcswanson.bsky.social
Dad, dogfather, arm candy for my wife, and 5th in command in my household. I've written two kids' books ("The Book Cook" in 2023, "Catch" coming out in April 2026). I post rhymes here and at www.dcswanson.com
Some pictures hang inside my mind
The details clear, the points defined
I cannot crop them; they stay whole
These scenes are seared inside my soul
But though they bring me pain, regret,
I’d rather face them than forget.

#vss365 #sear
January 16, 2026 at 7:03 AM
Make your voice heard
So we'll hear and be stirred
Like a horn in the morning
adorning each word.
And polish your sound
Make it clear and profound
Like a diamond refined
as it's mined the ground.

#vss365 #adorn
January 9, 2026 at 4:42 AM
The sound of pages turning
At a steady, measured speed
Is like an author’s #symphony
Composed of words to read.

#vss365
January 7, 2026 at 2:57 PM
The path to curing cluelessness
is long, but here's a starter:
when billionaires choose what you see,
those things won't make you smarter.

#vss365 #clueless
January 4, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Some people pretend
that the truth’s a transaction.
That lies can comprise
what is real, not #abstraction.
But hanging your hat
on a hope of delusion
might slow down the truth,
but won’t change its conclusion.

#vss365
January 3, 2026 at 4:47 AM
Full of stubborn hopes? Embrace them.
Dreaming distant dreams? Go chase them.
Talents you can share? Don’t hide them.
Life's #delights are rare. Provide them.

#vss365 #delight
January 1, 2026 at 5:18 PM
The sun doesn’t ask for permission to shine
The moon doesn’t wait for approval to beam
The stars do not need to be told to align
And we are all free to look skyward and #dream.

#vss365
December 31, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Before I breathe my final breath,
I hope my life, from youth to death,
will slowly replay through my mind
with time to pause and press rewind.

But if my ending comes too fast
to reminisce about my past,
I hope the last #sole thing I see
before I go is you with me.

#vss365
December 29, 2025 at 10:47 PM
I’d like to soar beyond the place
where azure skies meet outer space
and hold your hand as we pass #Mars-
just you and me, amongst the stars.

#vss365
December 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Beneath the sea,
most creatures there
have never known
a breath of #air.

Yet those of us
who live on land
need air *and* water
close at hand.

Just think how simpler
things would be
to drink and breathe
beneath the sea.

#vss365
December 28, 2025 at 4:53 AM
It’s best to look before you leap
and judge before you #jump
for if you dive where it’s not deep
you won’t enjoy the bump.

#vss365
December 23, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Don’t just face your problems. #Fight them.
Don’t just state your stances. Write them.
Don’t just cut your corners. Turn them.
Don’t just claim your triumphs. Earn them.

#vss365
December 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Hubris tends to happen
when what was a #humble mind
grows besotted with believing
it knows how the world’s designed.
But this world has lots of layers-
many more than we can see-
and it’s best to lose our hubris
so we find humility.

#vss365
December 20, 2025 at 3:42 PM
There is beauty in those moments
when we blissfully forget
why our dreams cannot be real
and so we dream without #regret.

#vss365
December 18, 2025 at 2:15 PM
I have a drawer that’s filled with keys
of every shape and size.
I can’t #recall what locks they fit,
but saving them feels wise.

#vss365
December 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM
My mind is filled with memories, but oftentimes it seems
the ones that I like best are ones I only find in dreams.
I wish my waking thoughts could spare more time to reminisce,
but #memory recovery relies on slumber’s bliss.

#vss365
December 17, 2025 at 2:55 AM
The cost of algorithmic thought
exceeds the benefits we've bought.
To outsource thinking to machines
defers to them what meaning means.
How long until A.I. we've made
leaves us bemused, #bewitched, betrayed?
Let not give up the hard-won gains
we've gotten from our human brains.

#vss365
December 10, 2025 at 8:42 AM
It’s hard to explain what we can’t understand.
It’s hard to hold on with an unsteady hand.
It’s hard to console when we struggle to cope.
Sometimes we just need some improbable hope.

#vss365 #consolation
December 9, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Shakespeare, at his peak, was an iambic impresario
A living, loving, literary lyrical lothario
A spinner of #soliloquies, a poet in his prime
It’s too bad I never met him; I’d have helped him write in rhyme.

#vss365 #soliloquy
December 8, 2025 at 6:57 PM
As books recede, the screens gain ground.
As bindings fade, we are less bound.
As pixels glow, our charges drain.
If books are gone, what will remain?

From the #vss365 archives
December 8, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Maybe an engraving on a watch or in a ring.
Maybe with a tape-recorded speech or song you sing.
Maybe in a letter sealed and folded into thirds.
It’s a gift to give the ones you love your love in words.

from the #vss365 archives
December 7, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Back when newspapers were #chic,
I'd look forward, every week,
to baseball box scores, local news,
Calvin, Hobbes, and op-ed views.

Now that seems like days long past;
good newspapers did not last.
Calvin's truths, though, must live on,
so buy those books before they're gone.

#vss365
December 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM
The #chivalrous way
to respond to a slight
is ignore when they’re wrong
and improve when they’re right.

#vss365
December 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM
If you minimize risk,
you can lengthen your years.
If you sacrifice dreams,
you can placate your fears.
If you never make waves,
you can drift with the tide.
But when breathing your #last,
you may wish you had tried.

#vss365
November 30, 2025 at 2:20 PM
I can amble, I can strut,
I can stroll like I don’t care,
but I’ve learned what really #matters
isn’t how you walk, but where.

#vss365
November 29, 2025 at 1:30 PM