A name acrostic (start and end) shared with dVerse MTB
kalima – Arabic for word
gharāmī – Arabic for my passion/deep love
qalb – Arabic for heart
Al-Rabitah al-Qalamiyya – Arabic name for The Pen League
Love Of Language – 22nd March 2026
Category: 2026
Propaganda – 21st March 2026
I am a lie lurking lovingly among the least intellectual.
Inspired by Hitler’s admiration of British propaganda during the First World War and still employed by those waging war these days. Written for last April’s Chimeric Poetry Scavenger Hunt: #12: Write an American Sentence using Alliteration.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
The Best Retreat Is In Here, Not Out There
Turn off, tune out and quiet the mind
Nothing else will provide us peace
Tomorrow can be today, you’ll find
Inward is where the noise retreats
A Simple Hug – 20th March 2026
Her head is far away
from her heart,
All that thinking
for the future,
Cut off
from the universe
of love,
Alive only in name,
a sapless tree
without root.
She is the outsider
by choice,
Uneasy, drifting
without direction,
Trying not to feel.
Efficient logic
manipulated
and controlled,
Thinking not to feel.
She was scared.
She didn’t know
she just needed
a hug.
Her demeanour
softened,
almost a smile.
She began to cry
before running.
She knew
that was all
she ever wanted.
This was written in November regarding a specific incident involving a student. Something common among many of the students I teach is the lack of affection they have received in their short lifetimes, not knowing or understanding that they are missing it. Just a simple hug has made a big difference to many.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Ready And At Home
Put your head on when difficulties knock at your door
Your visitor may not be who you were hoping for
No one wishes for adversity to be standing there
But your virtue makes it much easier to bear
The Poetics of Plumbing – 18th March 2026
Within the quiet, I withhold the pain
My muse compels me forward to explain
The pushing of the pen, pulling at truth
I prostrated at each fountain of youth
My muse compels me forward to explain
Yet my words are wrestling within this art
A secret lodged between the lines and heart
The pushing of the pen, pulling at truth
To release my demons, open the cage
A relentless filling of every page
I prostrated at each fountain of youth
All in search of a tap of flowing ink
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink
A trimeric poem, inspired by Dora’s recent use of the form and another poem, belatedly written for Punam’s dVerse prompt, which asked us to use opening lines from books as closing lines to poems. This one is “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink,” from I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Impossible Without Your Consent
When the circumstances seem to crush
Throw them out as poor assumptions
When the outside is painted with a frustrating brush
The inside must not consent to these disruptions
Consignment To The Toilet Bowl Of History – 17th March 2026
Feeling good
evacuation
found relief.
Exposure
situation brought to light
the worst I have seen.
Will it flush
and be forgotten?
History will
be unkind
waiting for the stink to fade.
Better out than in.
A double shadorma inspired by…
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
The Beauty Of Choice
Are you really the image you project
Or just the result of vain obsessions?
Does what you see in the mirror truly reflect
More than mere impressions?
The Hills Outside Zoro – 16th March 2026
I’m no fan of trigger warnings – this is real and happening in the world. We NEED to deal with it.
~~
without conjecture
without further classifications
they were HUMAN BEINGS
– two ‘girls’
– two ‘foreign’ girls
– possibly ‘runaways’, ‘problem’ children
one thing can be classified though
and that was the act
– ‘rough fetish’ sex –
(useful adverbs, not useless adjectives)
yet fetish implies consent
and how do we know?
because Mister E. said so
casually
describing how the bodies were buried
in the hills outside Zoro
after being strangled to death
during the act.
this is no longer ‘A Serbian Film’
“please arrange payment
to this Bitcoin address
3cr9tpvegeg4zg ppeddzmmc94hzusebhn”
Shared with dVerse OLN #403. Angry.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
That Sacred Part Of You
Blessed, we are, with reason
to navigate all circumstance
To improve ourselves is sacred
Responsibility doesn’t favour chance
Sydney Harbour Blues – 14th March 2026
Shared with dVerse Poetics – landscape. This one took a turn and describes the mixed feelings I have about one of the most beautiful cities in the world, one that I very much enjoyed meeting and living in for twenty-plus years.
Let me tell you a story,
one that denies what is seen;
because my eyes were open
without understanding what had been.
The lemon eucalyptus was unknown
to those such as me;
star-eyed sailors
on a voyage of discovery.
By the time of my arrival
all the murdering was done,
so I celebrated the widest skies
while never holding a gun.
The abundant harbour waters
the bridges that were since built,
were symbols more than cricket
to hide away our guilt.
Where the forest meets the city,
right down to the water’s edge,
all the sorries were insincere –
the surf repeats its pounding pledge.
The floods and fires – lost control –
so nature’s revenge befits;
glass houses return to the rocks,
like an opera that never quits.
I can hold you in my mind’s eye
now that I’m so far away.
Learned that anywhere is everywhere
and everything is nothing anyway.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Self-Deception Is Our Enemy
When we think we already know
We’ve halted our chance to grow
Meet ego with hostility and contempt
24 hours a day – no one is exempt
Few Feathers – 13th March 2026
I’ll never say that I miss you,
the bird that left few feathers for my pillow,
an ache I will never confess,
but whoever runs their fingers along my bones
will feel your name etched on each one
with a cornerstone of soiled sentiments.
This poem is really a collaboration, with only a little input on my part. Lines 1, 4, 5 and 6 were written by EC at the erroneous choices blog, in a short piece titled ‘lies we live under’. It stood out to me as a brilliant, poetic little paragraph that I thought I could use the idea, along with the last two words, as an alliterative full stop. EC was gracious enough to allow me to use it in full and so here it is, with my two added lines, shared for the dVerse quadrille prompt – bird.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
One Day It Will All Make Sense
It seemed like a disaster
But became a lucky break
We are a terrible forecaster
But reason makes no mistake
Happy Little Bluebirds – 12th March 2026
taking the first step
hope is on the horizon
so, so far away
morning mists rising
following rainbow’s release
will reveal the way
Shared with Senhai Saturday #42 picture prompt and Reena’s Xploration Challenge #420 – hope
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Seeing Things As The Person At Fault Does
Nobody thinks they are wrong, even when they are
They think they’re right, they’re just mistaken
Compassion and tolerance can heal the scar
Our duty, as we understand it, remains unshaken
Give And Get – 11th March 2026
I hate my job,
the lousy tips
and pernickety customers.
Sure we can accommodate you
but bring your own almond milk.
In fact, why don’t you just eat at home?
Showing off the latest ladies showing off,
the restroom mirror never lies.
Take a seat, take your time,
I am here with my insincere smile.
I love my job,
the great tips
and pernickety customers.
Sure we can accommodate you,
it’s our pleasure to bring satisfaction.
Please come back again and bring a friend
Those ladies, Oh, those ladies,
all cleavage and shining eyes.
Take a seat, take your time,
I’m here all night.
Shared with a November Ekphrastic Challenge for the attached picture.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
1994ever 