Brian’sPoems

The Collected Writings of Brian J. Mueller

A single poem, met at the right moment, can change a life.

Search and read all 1,834 pieces by Brian J. Mueller — 1,675 poems, 38 prose pieces, and 121 haiku from 12 published volumes. Free to read and share.

Search tips

Search by title, first line, poem text, book, or type — results appear as you type. Look inside the poems for any word or line, or wrap a phrase in "quotes" to find it exactly. Use the chips and the book menu to narrow things down.

← All poems

Beating Heart

The world is not machine!

Sometimes I don’t realize
I’m doing what I’m doing,
or feeling what I’m feeling,
until I fall off to sleep,
trip down a rabbit hole
and reawaken to the subtle,
but no less profound reality
where everything speaks
and everything is connected
by fur, feather, feelings,
all as colors begin bleeding
into a beautiful, wet rainbow
right before abrupt re-entry
to my normal state -
a hyper-alertness clinging
to analytical understanding,
which always fails to explain
the subtext accompanying
my every action, conversation,
and the resultant emotions.

I write this to remember
the world is not machine.
It’s a beating heart,
breathing lungs,
seeing eyes.

Published in