“Come Over” – 25th January 2025

I hate that I like it when you leave
me to wonder what you are doing
It’s only myself I choose to deceive,
a turmoil casserole left stewing

Between the devil and deep blue sea
I hate that I like it when you leave
Unsure to be tied down or set free
I’m trying to make us both believe

Mixed messages that we both receive
and send, hung up on to higher hopes
I hate that I like it when you leave
the bruises from your ugliest gropes

Our heads are nought but mush and despair
What is it that we hope to achieve?
Every night alone I say this prayer
I hate that I like it when you leave

Inspired by this post at Girl Online and also submitted for a refrain assignment at AllPoetry.com

Not Fade Away – 24th January 2025

In every atom a universe
Where the sentient must survive
A speed of light, and so traverse
To keep life’s dream alive

Not fade away, cease to exist
Or slowly rendered rotten
The innate urge to persist
And never be forgotten

Without thought, without emotion
The proton set to dance
And swim the primordial ocean
Where life takes one more chance

Shared with No Theme Thursday picture prompt and also to dVerse’s MTB prompt about negation (which this poem sort of fits)

Are the Nations United? – 23rd January 2025

A petulant contrarian takes his bat and ball
Play by his rules or don’t play at all
You’re welcome to sit at the children’s table
Your membership card is purely a label

Majorities are a democratic dream
Sold the fantasy to the extreme
Somehow claiming the moral high ground
But where only the minority is found

Now as the world turns slowly burning
Eyes open to the virtues returning
Consign the child to go play at home
Where he can wonder why he’s all alone

Poet’s Pledge – 22nd January 2025

Written as reward
Benevolent monarch hands
Meaning to illiterate minions
Clinging onto every word

Posted in advertisement
The philosophical sword
Hangs on a single hair
Virtue is written in sunlight

Submitted to AllPoetry’s ‘An Expression of Yourself’ course – Brevity.
With this assignment, I would like you to use metaphor and simile. Focus on the ordinary but make it something more expansive to where your mind cannot find the outer walls of the images.


As an extra idea, I also put this through the N+7 machine and used (mostly) the results from N+14

The Monogram Handlers

Written as rhythm
Benevolent monogram handlers
Medic to immigrant misanthropes
Clinging onto every works

Posted in affair
The philosophical synagogue
Happenings on a single half-life
Vision is written in superlative

We Don’t Need Another Poem – 20th January 2025

We don’t need another poem
Out of the holidays, out of the seasons
Don’t make the same mistake again
Rolling seas and moonlight are not reasons
To write another one the same
And I wonder when are we ever gonna change
A prompt repeated ’til nothing else remains

We don’t need another poem
We don’t need the same old metaphors
All we want is life beyond
Another simile that simply bores

I know it’s something we can rely on
But there’s got to be better out there
Love and nature, their day is done
Just another castle built in the air
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change
A prompt repeated ’til nothing else remains

We don’t need another poem
We don’t need the same old similes
All we want is life beyond
Another metaphor to simply please

So what do we do with our lives?
We leave only a mark
Will our poem shine like a light
Or end in the dark?
Give it all or nothing

We don’t need another poem
About autumn, Christmas or Halloween
All we want is life beyond
Another set of rhymes already seen

To the tune of We Don’t Need Another Hero. After following a number of poetry prompt blogs for more than 12 months now I found it a little amusing that the same seasonal themes return again.

It’s more an observation than a criticism as I rarely bother to write about seasons specifically, or holidays (especially if they are not relevant to my location). Folks can write about whatever makes them happy. It’s easy to not read something! But I do like to be challenged by the writer to perhaps come at the prompt from a new angle for a change.

26th Sep 2025 – Shared with Poets and Storytellers United – fall


Today I’m feeling:

Good today, less pain in my shoulder and energetic after a good little workout this morning, skipping push-ups when asked by the app.

First two classes were fun but I’ll be glad when the last one is finished, though I still have to go to the hospital after getting home.

Health:

Physical: 8
Mental: 8

Today I’m grateful for:

The doctor who had the pleasure of fingering my prostate and the nurse who smushed in some kind of gel after he finished. What a job! Easy for me, I just had to lie there.

My prostate is fine, though just enlarged due to my age.

The best thing about today was:

A cheap Chinese guitar pedal that has good reviews finally arrived today and got me excited. However, due to being at the hospital for about 3 hours, I’ve run out of time to try it.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

The doctor recommended a cystoscopy (sp?), which doesn’t sound like fun. Sticking a camera down my peehole to see if there is any obstruction.

I’m quite curious about it, to be honest, but the downside of the procedure is that it will cost 10,000 baht. I made an appointment for next month but not sure if I will do it yet.

Something I learned today?

Metal Storm gun fires 450,000 rounds per minute from five barrels and intercepts hypersonic missiles. The US Phalanx system fires 4,500 rpm.

When Incommunicable, Stay This Way – 19th January 2025

Cyanide words in hot Julys
Sticky skin and fireflies
Warm and breezy, pulled outside
Golden hours of calm collide

Sweet and bold youth is claimed
Self-reflections blush ashamed
Come back again once gone astray
Beg the child to stay this way

The war that comes forces change
In adolescence turning strange
The inner child is shutting doors
To light dancing across the floors

To find the love in light tonight
To find the words burning bright
Experiments in consciousness
The honesty earned to confess

To the streets, to the skies
Cyanide words in hot Julys

Inspired and paraphrased by this post at Spinning Visions
19th Feb 2025 – Shared with Moonwashed Weekly Prompt prompted by the word unpretending.


Today I’m feeling:

Ok again. Perhaps a little tired. I woke up before my alarm and the sleep app seems to be telling me that I usually only sleep for 7.5 hours.

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 7

Today I’m grateful for:

Going to the city to try Bear Grill pizza for a change.

The best thing about today was:

Playing guitar and diving back into reading Stray Bullets again. Awesome.

Something I learned today?

Looking through RedNote today, I decided to search for punk and found a stack of USAsians asking about Chinese punk bands and so I realised that I need to make some posts about all the stuff I have in the tenzenmen catalogue.

I took this picture because this is hands down the best pizza that I’ve had in Chiang Rai.

Back To The World – 18th January 2025

In the autumnal airs, crinkled brown
A leaf falling is looking for a place to live
That big old house where we melted cheese
Time told us not to get old, to forgive

Pushing and pulling at different doors
What did the squirrels squeak watching in?
At 4am a split second of thought
Was a sadness that solved everything

Inspired by this post at Tiny Hearts


2025-01-18

Today I’m feeling:

Better rested, though my sleep app tells me I still didn’t make it to 8 hours of actual sleep. My shoulder is still waking me up at times during the night and I’d like to get a massage this weekend if possible. The trouble is finding a decent massage shop.

Riding back from coffee, I felt quite inspired and energetic, thinking perhaps to go with Amy for a little bike ride or to the sourdough shop in the city and perhaps finding a massage shop.

Amy was still in her pyjamas, though and didn’t seem particularly thrilled to go out today as we will go into the city tomorrow afternoon for pizza. So I decided on some reading and video watching until lunchtime.

Amy made a killer potato bake with carrots covered in cheese and as I started eating, a wave of tiredness overcame me. I managed to let lunch digest for a while before heading to bed for some comic reading and an afternoon nap, which I fell into deeply and felt quite refreshed on waking up again, so I headed out to my room to play guitar.

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 8

Today I’m grateful for:

Seeing a hoopoe in the garden this morning. I only know its name because I had to look it up. I’ve never seen a bird like it here before.

The best thing about today was:

Nothing in particular. It’s been a good, relaxing day all round. No highs, no lows. I’m glad to have a day off from exercise, to help my shoulder recover and also because my legs were feeling it after yesterday too.

Something I learned today?

The looming ban on TikTok in the USA has seen USAsians flocking to a Chinese app called RedNote and it has opened many eyes to the reality of China. It’s the exact opposite of what the ban intended.

I took this picture because Piti was chilling this morning.

Crank Callers – 17th January 2025

It’s the new crank call
A bridgeless troll
A keyboard warrior
In private euphoria

It’s a disconnection
On-screen reflection
On enters press
Eternal numbness

It’s a devil’s advocate
A spineless strut
A hit-and-run
Of thoughtless fun

It’s the new crank call
The death of soul
A bridgeless troll
The blackest hole

Inspired and paraphrased from this post at Sphere Letters


Today I’m feeling:

Not bad, though I slept very poorly with odd thoughts floating around. I still got up and exercised. The course is getting a little harder each day now, so I’m having to just do what I can.

My first class was rowdy but fun and at the end I followed them downstairs where David was finishing up trying to teach about situational and dramatic irony to the grade 9s. Great challenge but way over most of their skill levels.

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 7

Today I’m grateful for:

A couple of hours spent at Couple Cups where I caught up on some reading but wasn’t inspired enough for more writing. Not to worry, the words will come when they are ready.

The best thing about today was:

Only 12 students showed up for my last class (grade 11) and it meant that I could talk a little more with each of them and there was a good feeling as the work provoked some thoughts about character, both their own and others.

Something I learned today?

Apparently the director is talking about adding another 1000 students to the school next year! WTF! Where? How? Who is gonna teach them!?

Review your acts, Good and bad.

Pep talks with a couple of students.

I took this picture because Amy is happy to see her little succulent garden doing well.

Simples – 16th January 2025

Along the path, a muddy slip
Into the mediocre field
Or to sit under a tree for a bit
Until the bloodied knuckle healed

A bite of the hanging fruits
A nap before pulling on
The still-muddied boots
And trek where travellers belong

Looking for the complicated
Blinded all to common sense
The simple to be contemplated
To ensure the least expense

Inspired by this email from The Stoa Letter
Shared with Moonwashed Weekly Prompt – simplicity


Today I’m feeling:

Great except for my shoulder being more sore after doing some arm exercises yesterday. Today is Teachers’ Day and this year we have a day off, thankfully. No need to attend any kind of ceremony. So, I slept in for a little while before heading out for coffee and getting the car washed (finally) at the gas station.

For lunch, Amy prepared us a delicious mala hot pot, which we ate for more than an hour whilst watching food videos of Chengdu and Osaka.

I can feel some reading and an afternoon nap coming on!

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 8

Today I’m grateful for:

The car cleaning guy at the gas station who explained that they didn’t start work until 9am and I told him that’s fine and that I’ll come for coffee and come back at ten anyway.

When I got back, the car looked great again, inside and out. All for 100 baht.

The best thing about today was:

Probably that afternoon nap, to be honest. I remember nothing; I woke up without any lethargy and went out to my room to play guitar.

Something I learned today?

I was cleaning Tigger’s head this evening; I checked the lump on the back of his neck. He’s had it for a few years now but it never seemed to bother him.

Today I noticed that it looked a lot different to before and when looking closer, I saw that whatever it is inside was coming out when squeezed. And the whole thing just came out, just like that. Seemed to be a buildup of skin oils and maybe ingrowing hair.

It’s weird to stroke him now with the big lump not being there.

I took this picture because…beer!