I'm moving the Rough Sketch show to once a month because life (clients, interviews, and general chaos) is loud, and I'm using that extra space to go back to poetry — the thing that actually hooked me on art. I'm Timothy Kimo Brien, your resident instigator, and this episode is me dusting off 12 steno pads, putting pen to paper, and reading a rough sketch called "Going Back" that leans on jazz, nostalgia, and the messy, beautiful return to simplicity. The poem walks through late-night weariness, a mausoleum of depression, and the small ritual of scratching thoughts down as both warning and salvation — basically me trying to send postcards to myself from places I shouldn't have left. I talk about why prompts didn't stick, how I decided no prompt was needed, and why editing in a new way helped the work breathe. Stick around for the pieces I read, give me your honest take, and take this as your friendly nudge to tame that inner critic: create more than you consume, write a poem about what you're going through, and maybe share it with me. I'll catch you next month — same chaos, more poems.

Poem:

Going Back

6 Sept 2026

The record spins

The arm lifts up,

over, gracefully

I am back to 1992

Looking at the hard-fought bags

under my bloodshot eyes

Aching body

Aching mind

Vision is blurry

Daily meditation done

French lesson done

The house encompasses us all,

creaks and moans

As the weather changes from an unforgiving summer

To the wet and dreary fall

And I am looking at boxes

piled up for recycling

Making a modern art sculpture

Unfinished diamond painting

Brushes hardened by dry acrylic paint

and empty canvases

Twelve steno pads wait

to become memorials

to my thoughts

That I dare not share with my loved ones

I’ve isolated myself

from the rest of my home

I have created a mausoleum of depression

There are no tickets for sale

Remarkably,

there is no line a mile long to enter

So I feel the only way

to fill the gaping hole

in my soul

Is to go back to the beginning

Jazz playing in the background

Living vicariously

through the disciples

of hard bop and cool

Pen to paper,

releasing inner struggles

Scratching my thoughts

Not as a user manual

But as a warning

A warning of what not to become

Letting the subconscious

out of its self-imposed prison

To feel the sunlight

that finds its way into my cave

Timidly, trembling, cautiously

I’m going back

to when I thought simplicity

Was the way to be

To find the decisions that led me

To a place where I was

Or should have been

Content

And remake those choices to stay there

I’m going back

So I can send postcards

to myself

From where I should have never left

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So this is October's rough sketch.

Initially, I was thinking this is going to be once a week, but I'm going to make it once a month because I have too much stuff going on in my life with interviews and with my business and with work and all that.

So we're going to make this once a month.

All right, well, welcome back to Create Art Podcast.

My name is Timothy Keemo Bryan, and I am your head instigator for the podcast.

So, like I said in the intro here, I'm going to be doing this once a month because I.

While my business is booming, I've got a lot of interviews and I've got a couple of clients, but also there's a lot of people that want to be on this show.

And that takes time.

Pure and simple, it takes time.

So I'm going to be doing these once a month.

We may get to once a week, but we're gonna do once a month.

So this time, for this episode, I had started writing poetry again.

And there was a lot of good stuff that came out of that.

There was a few good poems that came out of that, because I'm trying to get back to the simpler times in my life and getting back to the original thing that really got me into art, which is poetry theater.

But poetry has been the thing that I've been doing pretty much the longest and the most of.

So I went into that with no preconceived notions of what that was going to look like.

I bought 12 steno notepads and 12 pens, so that way I could get back to that old feeling that I used to have.

I was looking through some old folders on my computer, and, you know, I've had some ideas of, hey, I'm gonna write my own prompts and write a poem a day for these prompts, and that just didn't work out.

But I figured, you know what?

I just need to go ahead and write.

I don't need a prompt.

I just need to go ahead and put pen to paper and then edit it in a new way that I haven't done before.

And, well, I'm going to present a couple of the pieces here to you today, and, you know, I'd like you to let me know what you think about them.

So this first one is called Going Back, and it kind of describes how I'm feeling and, you know, doing what I started off with doing.

So I'm not going to give you too much here, just going to say it's called Going Back.

The record spins the arm lifts up and over gracefully.

Aching body, aching mind.

Vision is blurry.

Daily meditation done.

French lesson done.

The house encompasses us all.

Creaks and moans as the weather changes from an unforgiving summer to the wet and dreary fall.

And I am looking at boxes piled up for recycling, Making a modern art sculpture, unfinished diamond paintings, brushes hardened by dry acrylic paint and empty canvases.

12 Steno pads wait to become memorials to my thoughts that I dare not share with my loved ones.

I've isolated myself from the rest of my home.

I have created a mausoleum of depression.

There are no tickets for sale.

Remarkably there is no mile long line to enter.

So I feel the only way to fill the gaping hole in my soul is to go back to the beginning.

Jazz playing in the background Living vicariously through the discipline.

Disciples of hard bop and cool pen to paper Releasing inner struggles Scratching my thoughts not as a user manual but as a warning.

A warning of what not to become.

Letting the subconscious out of its self imposed prison to feel the sunlight that finds its way into my cave Timidly trembling cautiously I'm going back to when I thought simplicity was the way to be.

To find the decisions that led me to a place where I was or should have been content and make those choices to stay there.

Going back so I can send postcards to myself from where I never should have left.

So that's my rough sketch for you folks here.

It's something I wrote in the beginning of September when I started this and I really like it and it kind of lets people know where I'm at, where I'm sitting at right now, what's in my headspace right now.

Going back to the stuff that really inspired me from the get go.

You know, listening to the jazz and writing and all that.

So again, that's my rough sketch for this month.

I hope you enjoy it and look for me next month in November and go out there and tame your inner critic.

Create more than you consume.

Write a poem about what you're going through.

Feel free to share it with me and go out there and make some art for somebody you love yourself.

I'll talk to you next time.