I am happy to announce that my latest collection of poetry is now available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats. FREE for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. You can find it here.
“A collection of sad love poems about the grief, hurt, and sorrow of unrequited love. This poetry anthology contains a wide range of love poems for him and her that explore heartbreak and break ups. There is nothing as painful as getting your heart broken by the one you love. A perfect book for anyone hurting after a failed relationship or a divorce, offering both comfort and assurance that you are not alone in your pain.
This collection is for both the casual and serious reader of poetry. The poems alternate between short, bite-sized poems and medium to long poems that are more in depth. A wide range of traditional, classic poetry and free verse; all of which have some type of rhythm and rhyme.”
In celebration of my newest release and the beginning of Lent, I am also temporarily giving away my collection of poems about God – A Voice in the Wilderness – away for free on Kindle.
Hello, everyone! I have recently published my first chapbook of Christian poems titled “A Voice in the Wilderness – A Chapbook of Poems about God”. This has been developed and polished over the past six months or so. I am happy with the final product and hope you find encouragement in the poems but also a validation that the spiritual life is not all sunshine and rainbows. We all struggle. We all have periods of questions and/or doubt. But it is the yearning that keeps us coming back for more and allows us to experience joy.
You can purchase either on Amazon or on my own bookstore (it is cheaper and has free shipping on my store) and is available on the Kindle and in paperback.
*Trigger Warning – contains elements of suicide, pornography, masturbation, and vulgar language.
This Is Not Love
I've fucked you
through the screen countless times.
Jerked and came to you,
even though you don't know my name.
Smirked in devilish delight
at your lack of limits,
and the way you smile, giggle, and moan
in pleasure during the most obscene acts.
But as I search for you
across the web on this dark night--
in between the thumbnail images of you
riding cock with so much vitality--
I catch a disturbing headline.
It seems you weren't having
nearly as much fun as you had let on.
Twenty and dead, slayed by your own hand.
And my own hand is still wrapped around my cock,
lusting after your naked body
but sickened by what my pleasure cost you.
You were someone's daughter,
someone's sister,
someone's friend,
and now you're gone.
But despite my emotional grief,
this selfish beast within me
can't stop wanting to see
you get railed from behind one more time.
Because the screen, like a glass curtain,
disconnects me from you;
it allows me to strip you of your humanity
and view you as merely an image--
a moving picture I can claim as my own,
do what I want with, and hang upon my wall--
instead of a precious child of God.
Bile rises in my belly.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I feel so disgusting, so dirty.
Porn is not healthy;
it is not harmless fun nor necessary sexual release.
There's a young woman who's deceased,
and all I can think about
is using her ever after she's dead
to get whatever pleasure I can
from watching the life
get fucked out of her.
This is not a fun, sexual feast.
This addiction, this craving
has reduced me to a beast--
no more than a selfish animal
driven by unrestrained desire
and confined by the chains of lust.
Yes, it's exciting and thrilling,
but I know in my gut
that we were created
for so much more than this.
This is not love;
this is a perverse sickness
that spreads by convincing your conscience
it's natural, nothing but fun and games.
Have we no shame,
lusting and feasting off
another human's pain?
This is not love,
but its ancient enemy,
consuming without giving,
leaving both performer and observer
wounded, lonely, and empty.
Justin Farley
Anyone interested in my published collections of poetry can find them on Amazon.
The morning will always let you know in advance what kind of day it will be. When the darkness of night begins to fade and the first light of dawn begins to penetrate the sky along the horizon, Nature broadcasts far and wide today’s forecast. She reveals right away whether or not that pale light will be confined to the horizon and a dark curtain thrown across the rest of the Earth’s dome, or whether Dawn will stretch out her fingers of light and spread overhead as bird chirps welcome her arise.
Your morning will also always let you know in advance what kind of mental weather you’ll have for the day.
Rushed and hurried–expect downpours of tension and anxiety, fraught with agitation and booms of thunderous anger and worry.
Sleepy and lazy–expect a whole day to be wasted away, morning practically gone by the time you coax yourself into movement. Expect sluggishness and resistance to getting anything meaningful done.
Wake with the dawn–expect to find solitude and gratitude in the first moments of your day, sipping coffee, aware of the beauty of life, filled with the absolute certainty that today is going to be a great day.
My collections of poetry are now available on Amazon
Technology's Whore
The crickets have resumed
their late-night lullabies--
such sweet serenades to my ears.
They echo across early spring skies,
and I've begun to realize
how much I've missed
solitude's serendipitous surprises,
revealed when distractions are cleared.
In their melodious music
I find more meaning
than in the endless stream of digital chatter.
We've all been cajoled
into lowering our eyes to life,
hypnotized by sparkling screens,
willingly wearing shackles of dopamine,
and hailing technology our master.
But paradoxically, the Internet's
constant stream of content
has not enriched our lives
or given humanity a much needed drink.
It has only washed away our ability to think,
eroded our foundation,
and its current has carried away
the essence that existed at humanity's core.
So from now on I'm content
to listen to the concerts of crickets.
I choose real, tangible, rich, and meaningful;
I'm through with being technology's whore.
Justin Farley
My first three collections of poetry are available on Amazon. I am desperate for reviews. If anyone would like to leave an honest review in exchange for the book, please let me know justinfarleyauthor@gmail.com
When tragedy and evil strike that have been caused by humans, we realize we're still capable of some really bad stuff. And we're not nearly as good as we think we are; the evil is just hidden under superficial goodness.
Winding Down
There is no sense in denying
that the path of humanity
doesn't rise in glory,
climbing up into the clouds of heaven.
It winds like a clock,
giving the appearance of advances
only to consume its own hands
like the ancient serpent devouring its tail.
And after we've become enchanted
by assuming the gears and wheels of the clock
are beyond the need of routine maintenance,
somehow we are shocked by the silence
when the feet of humanity
quit marching forward,
when the hands of time halt,
and we horrifyingly discover
we have revolved right back
to the beginning of time,
dealing with the same destructive tendencies
we were sure we'd left behind.
Justin Farley
Link to my poetry books on Amazon
She walks in stride with the sun,
every day traversing the sky.
Hovers above my head like a halo,
eternally throwing light at my shadow;
brightens my night when I've gone awry.
Justin Farley
My newest collection of heartbreak poems, “Thorns of Love”, available soon. Link to my first two collections on Amazon (Free with Kindle Unlimited).
Be content living no one else’s life but your own.
I believe one of the greatest issues in our society (as well as in my personal life) is when we try to measure ourselves against other people. Too often, we are trying to live lives that we were never meant to live. Pain, inadequacy, resentment, jealousy, and a whole host of other negative emotions are the only possible outcome.
Be the absolute best version of you. It isn’t OK to be average – an average version of YOUR potential. But your best might always be average in the eyes of society and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone has different callings and paths to walk. Those paths of humble and quiet objectives are just as important as the in your face, change the world in giant ways missions. Walk your path and don’t pay attention to the paths you weren’t born to walk.
Link to my poetry books on Amazon (FREE with Kindle Unlimited)
I am excited to announce that my latest chapbook of poetry is now available on Amazon in both kindle and paperback formats. These poems have gone through many edits, and I’ve invested lots of time in them. They are centered around my love for nature and also the wisdom we can learn from it. While it isn’t nearly as spiritually centered as my first book, “A Voice in the Wilderness”, there still are themes of God within it – but very general themes; I wanted this to be a collection that almost everyone could enjoy.
While not necessarily a “full” collection, I feel my poems still have more “meat” than a lot of the popular “full” collections of poetry today, consisting of only one or two lines per page. My stanzas could certainly be read that way, but most of my poems are about a page, and a few that are more than that. I only say this to assure readers that the chapbook still has quite a bit of content.
Summary- “Justin Farley’s second chapbook is a collection of poems about nature. Starting in his early childhood, the woods have been a teacher and source of beauty, exploration, adventure, and love. “Nature’s Bounty” is the accumulation of a lifetime of wisdom gained from exploring nature and observing the lessons nature teaches us. This nature poetry collection will reach the hearts and minds of hikers, bird watchers, campers, naturalists, and all those who hold the rivers, lakes, mountains, animals and forests in high esteem. Contains poems on subjects such as birds, animals, the spiritual aspect of nature, gardening, flowers, trees, hiking in the woods, etc.”
I am happy and grateful to share this with you and hope you enjoy it 🙂
Feathers
The weight of the world
is a feather in the hand of its maker.
It does not burden, break, or bury
the one who reigns outside of Time and Space's domain.
Our behemoths are merely single barbs
attached to that weightless shaft
that flutters like the forest's souvenirs
given to a child, fallen from the wings of a jay.
In his hand our juggernauts
are not threats but specimen.
His palm is large enough
to hold worry ad infinitum.
Push the crushing fear
off your chest and rest,
knowing that it's but a harmless feather
fluttering in your father's hand.
Justin Farley
Have you ever wondered whether you are too dependent on your partner? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines codependency as “a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person is controlled or manipulated by another who is affected with a pathological condition (such as an addiction to alcohol or heroin)” or “broadly : dependence on the needs of or control by another”. Of course it is bad to be codependent based upon the first definition; the broad definition is where I believe many people run into trouble.
Codependent is a misleading and often misinterpreted word. I have seen numerous posts on social media basically referring to any relationship where you’re “co-depend” on one another as toxic…that we should have everything in our life together and figured out before we even try looking for someone to date. This thinking is not only a misinterpretation of the word, it is toxic itself.
If you’re waiting until you have everything together and not going to bring any baggage or negative energy into a relationship before you look for one, you’re either going to die single or you’re a liar. No one is perfect. Everyone brings negativity into relationships. Of course if that’s all you’re bringing, that’s a problem. But my fear is that many people buy this lie that we should have everything figured out before we jump or that our partner shouldn’t have any issues.
This attitude breeds a toxic idea that will consume any relationship. If your expectation is that you or your partner should have all their shit together, shame and judgement are going to run rampant in your relationship. Worse, it eliminates the possibility of real love and turns marriage into a conditional contract, ripped up anytime either person makes any major mistakes (which is undoubtedly going to happen because both people are flawed humans).
If you don’t depend on anyone for anything, you are the one with the problem. Humans are built to rely on one another in community. We do need each other. Any healthy relationship is co-dependent in terms of each person relying on the other for some of their needs. A healthy marriage is one of give and take, sharing responsibilities, sacrificing, and putting their needs in front of your own (as long as these are healthy needs).
Being codependent in this way is not weak…it is love. This toxic view that you’re weak or broken or disqualified from a relationship because you are going to “need” or rely on something from that other person is prideful, arrogant, and selfish to its core. Unfortunately, this self-reliance on steroids is killing people’s chance for happiness and love.
Along the Barren Road 