reality and fantasy are blurred so closely? When our ultimate dreams become reality, how far do we go to satiate those desires?

Here's a more 'back jacket' synopsis here:  
Jordyn is a prosecutor who is accompanied by a slight pessimist personality. She escapes her social troubles with an invention called the Dream Realm. There, anyone can be anything.
​
Three murders turn up disconnected before Jordyn helps tie together one chilling fact. And all the answers await in the place where pure fantasy was thought and believed to rule all.

DREAM REALM is the 2nd season of the audiobook-podcast combo project by Matt Hribar. Voiced, Written and Produced by Matt Hribar.

​The season will continue to drop on Wednesdays, starting on May 1st. Check out the podcast trailer right now! 

To celebrate National Poetry Month 2019, I'll be sharing a few pieces I've been writing. I competed in slam poetry performances, including Brave New Voices in 2011 and 2012 and a few open microphones in Cleveland.

4.8

is it psycho
to feel emotions and absorb them
photosynthesis but of people
both grandeur and horrid
almost like dancing in stately manors,
chandeliers sparkling crystal while predators
watch from the shadows to steal you away.


I feel auras,
like tangible little baubles above the heads of people. Some dangling like Christmas lights you’d put in a college house.
Others like anvils inches from dropping upon them.
Color spilling out and drenching their bodies
like egg yolk dripping.
It’s like some superhero power unimpressive against fantasy


People with good intentions fact check their actions, pondering whether or not they could be better


Evolving fast like lizard spine on Galapagos,
Shedding old patterns and forming new designs of
emotions years ago I cannot find again
Nectar pooling in a brain that has changed ten times over since
A bauble not broken, but cracked slightly old porcelain filled in with obsidian and gold

Back when I was younger (as in two years ago), I was going out three or four times a week for casual margaritas and happy hours. I wasn’t working an aggressively early schedule and could afford to be up late spilling tea while low-key spilling water all over the table. 

Just this week I managed to sit down with two good friends, both of which who I’ve known for about six or seven years. One is more like a mentor to me, the other a respected colleague. Since we work in similar fields, they’re the kind of friends who can understand career advice better then if I were to talk to my friends in business and health.

“When I know how to do something, I do it.” I explained with confidence while dipping some plantains into queso fundido. “And I do it again and again. But when I don’t know something, don’t know how to do it, I balk. I just do what I can.”

I’ve known this weakness about myself for a long time. But I’ve slowly realized it’s less of a personal weakness and more of a universal truth. The unknown is scary, and while the end result of something is gorgeous the journey can be tedious, harmful or filled with a bunch of little spikes ready to prick your toes like leftover legos scattered on the floor.

I’ve been flirting with the idea of doing stand-up for years and I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m going to make it happen in 2019. But at the happy hour (and as I write this), I admit: I have no clue what I’m doing. I have an idea of what I need to do, but no clue how to execute it. And the end goal, of me on stage making a doofus of myself sounds awesome. But the journey to the destination is a quagmire of ‘is this right?’, ‘is this how I do it?’ or ‘what’s the technique I need?’ 

And hearing the stories of my friends over happy hour made me appreciate my journey and their own. One friend turned nothing into her own freelance operation which is blossoming due to her hard work and skill set. My other friend is turning work problems and family distress into laughter and strength. And here I am, complaining that I don’t know how to look for an open mic night and toss my butt on stage.

There were a few more topics which came up, including another direction I wanted to pursue with my free time. Ironically, the following morning I got an email that was like a sign from God. It was an opportunity I wanted to explore, one I had mentioned just at the happy hour the previous day. All I needed to do was do what I knew: reach out to the email. The unknown…well that would be handled as I went. 

In moments of rain, the times when it’s easier to look for protective cover (like doing what you’re used to), or standing in the water (flailing under the pressure of who you want to be or what you want to do), the easy choice is to drown. But instead, look to the rain for energy. Look for the lightning that sparks the sky, contrasting against the dark colors with a flash of light. That might not be the forever answer, it might not be the exact destination. But it’s certainly a sign of something…even if that something still feels muddled in the rain.