Erik Gern
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erikgern.bsky.social
Erik Gern
@erikgern.bsky.social
98 followers 160 following 220 posts
Sometime writer; developer in higher education; just an odd duck/silly goose in general. Opinions are my own.

Blog: https://blog.erikgern.com
Location: Tampa Bay, FL
Pronouns: he/him
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erikgern.bsky.social
"Room to Stretch His Wings." #poetry
Room to Stretch His Wings Erik Gern Have you ever looked at a flying fox, With his puppy dog eyes and snout, And mistaken him for a Sweet brown mutt You might adopt from the neighborhood shelter? The flying fox will never be a dog. He has his own needs: Fruit and nectar, A place to dangle from the ceiling, Room to stretch his wings. Do we love equally Both our dogs and our flying foxes?
November 20, 2025 at 3:05 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Damn Heroes." #poetry
Damn Heroes Sick patients, bankrupted, Young children, starving, All frightened, erupted, “You cowards, keep fighting!” But they have all fled, Their infected hearts dead. – Written November 11, 2025
November 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
My afternoon in downtown Tampa.
A hand-drawn protest sign with the rebellion badge in red, white, and blue; RESIST! on the bottom; and May the Force Be With You along the top corners. A man with curly silver hair holding a protest sign downtown.
October 18, 2025 at 11:02 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Climb." #poetry
Climb Erik Gern, 10/16/2025 Now, my friends, let us climb Over jagged granite bluffs, hands bleeding, Keeping the sun at our backs. I falter, yes, and falter again, yet will Never leave this righteous pilgrimage. Give it one more chance, always, until we See the summit.
October 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Roman Chair." Named after a torture device--I mean, exercise equipment used during my physical therapy. #poetry
Roman Chair Erik Gern Difficult situations can teach you To move in ways You thought impossible. A life upside down Requires a change in perspective And determination. Push on though. Soon you'll be Right side up again.
September 26, 2025 at 5:50 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"While I Do Good." #poetry
While I Do Good If I must be shot, Let it be while I do good. Feeding the starving. Comforting the grieving. Protecting the vulnerable. Inspiring others by creating art. Heaven forbid I am shot While making the world worse.
September 11, 2025 at 1:14 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"I sought my father" #haiku #poetry
I sought my father Among silent mountain pines Yet found wind and water. —Erik Gern
September 2, 2025 at 5:54 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Ukemi." #poetry
Ukemi When will I learn to fall, To meet the ground in a roll, Let my body rotate on itself As my legs stand me up? But I haven’t failed myself: I find flow in every step. My problems may charge forward, Yet I step aside and guide Each one to the floor. Where now is my center? If I find it in my heart, I’ll keep it as my axis, Drawing circles with my feet. --Erik Gern
August 11, 2025 at 1:46 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
On the 80th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombing. #poetry
On the 80th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombing The snow bank glows pink in the sunrise As it clings to the mountain slope, A blanket of beautiful doom. Every day, princes and generals Carry buckets of ice cubes from their freezers, And dump it onto the bank. One avalanche is warning enough; Two is a condemnation. A third would wash the whole valley away. Only the mountain would survive. –Erik Gern, August 8, 2025
August 6, 2025 at 12:20 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Hope is a Bicycle." #poetry
Hope is a Bicycle I give you my anger. It is a car bought off eBay, Tires worn and smooth, Engine locked, Transmission grinding, A machine that runs on fire. Hope is a bicycle, And I must power it myself. --Erik Gern
July 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Optimized." #poetry
Optimized In computer science, There is an optimal algorithm for Almost anything, A solution that, if not perfect, then As close as possible. A maze of a thousand by a thousand cells, Designed with one way in and out, Can be solved with the phone You keep in your pocket. Human life cannot be optimized. We do not live in discrete values, Like letters in a crossword, Or numbers in a sudoku puzzle. This maze is not designed With neat walls drawn to a grid, But is marked in watercolor, Paint mixing, still wet on the canvas, And no guarantee Of a path out. But isn’t it grand To live an un-optimizable life? Free from the burden of perfection? --Erik Gern
July 14, 2025 at 2:17 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
Happy Pride.
A rainbow with squiggly borders underneath some hand-written text: Yes, there is exhaustion Yes, there is fear But still, there is PRIDE
June 28, 2025 at 11:51 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Mend Without Thread." #poetry
Mend Without Thread I hope God doesn't exist. What forgiveness is possible For dropping bombs on children– For starving the poor– For ruining the Earth– For our methods of self-destruction? But if God doesn't exist, What hope is there for tikkun olam, For mending the world? How do you mend without thread? --Erik Gern
June 22, 2025 at 9:05 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
A poem for today. "Cruel, Broken Men." #poetry
Cruel, Broken Men The world has too many Cruel, broken men. They see us who aren't like them, And they try to break us In the same ways. Pulled apart at our joints like plastic dolls, Limbs bent and snapped, Reassembled, but mixed up and backward. Put on parade in tidy rows as the cruel, broken men watch. But we remember how we should fit When those cruel, broken men turn away. With school glue and popsicle stick splints, The limbs we find, put back in place. Changed, but whole. --Erik Gern, 6/14/2025
June 14, 2025 at 11:15 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Bearing the Sun." #poetry
Bearing the Sun Find some way, Until that life we’re gifted is Carried off, to be Kind to one another. In each moment, behold that Calm within you. Everyone bears the sun inside. --Erik Gern, 6/10/2025
June 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Looking After My Heart" #poetry
Looking After My Heart You asked if I needed you To look after my heart As one would a wayward child Lost at a mall. But my heart is no child. It is a cat in the meadow And wild as it is It knows when to come home. –Erik Gern
June 3, 2025 at 12:48 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"The Uncut Tree/Zhuangzi". #poetry
The Uncut Tree/Zhuangzi I was never suitable for war. I flinched at my yelled name, My stepfather’s booming voice. How could I endure The screech of a Warthog? I had too much compassion To be a good salesman– Taking advantage of another, Pushing a buyer into a pit of debt. I would not remove my own heart. Now, so many– Friends, Creatures, Spirits– Rest in my shade. –Erik Gern
May 19, 2025 at 7:28 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
Olly still loves her tunnel toy, even if she's too big to fit in it.
A chonky calico cat, caught in a cat tunnel toy, back legs poking out.
May 11, 2025 at 10:32 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
"The Crimes at Hand." A quick poem this morning about how to keep living while everything is being torn apart.
The Crimes At Hand In meetings, at my desk, staring at screens, In traffic, trapped on a highway at dusk, In bed, while begging for sleep to return, Sound the crying, the wails from crimes at hand. My heart withers as I ignore the sound, But if I listen, my body will stop. My soul tears in two, an inch every day, From the crying, the wails from crimes at hand. While I mend my soul with some borrowed thread, I listen to them as long as I can. Listen all, until that new day arrives, When we finally stop the crimes at hand. Erik Gern
April 19, 2025 at 1:44 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
Spotted on my evening walk.
Raccoon by an asphalt sidewalk. Raccoon by an asphalt sidewalk.
April 14, 2025 at 12:34 AM
erikgern.bsky.social
Staying home on a day off has its advantages.
A relaxed tabby cat on a striped throw, on a blue couch. A calico looking out a glass door in the left background.
April 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
Birdsong (bird chatter!) by Cay Lake in Orlando. Sound on.
April 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
erikgern.bsky.social
"Between Carelessness and Perfectionism." Working out some personal issues lately.
That middle way Between carelessness and perfectionism A hammer and a knife The fear of not doing well enough And the harm of doing too much Erik Gern
March 25, 2025 at 12:58 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
The photogenic young man.
Handsome tabby cat resting on a person's lap, looking into the camera. fake wood paneled floor in background.
March 23, 2025 at 10:35 PM
erikgern.bsky.social
Last night. 30 seconds later, they were fighting.
Two tabby cats lie on a slate grey reading chair. One lazily glances at the camera.
March 21, 2025 at 4:10 PM