A quiet traveler reaches the final gate, carrying a lifetime of memories and a heart ready to let go. As she steps forward, a familiar face welcomes her home—and a journey beyond begins.
Author Archives: ManninoAcid
A Penny for Your Memory
As the penny is finally decommissioned, its small copper life lingers on—in luck, childhood, and memory.
Protected: The Origin of The Storyteller
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Yellow Footprints
Every Marine starts the same way — feet on painted yellow footprints, eyes forward, past erased. But behind the posture and precision lies a quiet war between identity and conformity, individuality and brotherhood. Those steps mark the beginning of something more than training — they mark transformation.
The Theater: An Allegory Up In Smoke
What starts as a single match strike grows into a conflagration of defiance, indulgence and decay. This is the smoke-filled theater we are choking in today.
Apophorism
A darkly playful poem that twists old sayings into new absurdities, blending satire, philosophy, and carnival imagery in biting verse.
Friendly Foreign Shores
We took a trip across the inland seaTo an island beyond this placeWhere the music played and beckoned meAnd the natives were warm with grace There we found equanimityA place just this side of perfect.Absent was any hostilityThat we have grown to expect Instead, we found the kindest folkOffering the bounty of their spiritWhere wordsContinue reading “Friendly Foreign Shores”
A Father’s Day Lament: In Gradients of Grateful Grief
Father’s Day lately has been a bittersweet occasion—a time of inevitable melancholy. Join me as I explore the complex array of emotions this annual commemoration of Dad can elicit. As it turns out, generational inertia tugs in both directions
Baseball: Harmony in Time and Statistics
Baseball isn’t just a pastime — it’s the passing of time. A ritual played in discrete innings decoupled from time. A game with no clock, but endless permutations. Its baked-in mathematics has long made it the sport of philosophers, statisticians, and anyone enchanted by patterns hiding in plain sight. At its core, baseball resonates withContinue reading “Baseball: Harmony in Time and Statistics”
The Surreality of “Subreality”
Last week, I was reminiscing with some high school pals over the terrible songs my short-lived high school band produced, most notably “Subreality,” where my pathetic attempt at singing has turned the song into the stuff of legends. The guys regularly throw old lyrics back at me, and we’ll laugh at the absurdity. There, inContinue reading “The Surreality of “Subreality””
Mannino Acid 