– Dreams fuelled the fire – – Sacrifices made to inspire – – – Hard work satisfies desire – – – – A ladder to heaven – – – – – Ascending to the stars – – – – – – Dreams fuelled the fire – – – – – No stone remains unturned – – – – Sacrifices made to inspire – – – A lesson always learned – – Hard work satisfies desire – Reward is duly earned
With the brightest smiles and feined sincerity that serves you so well As the bee flits from candied purple to butterfly blue You’re on your way keeping all that honey as stored ammunition
It’s Me
The facade crumbled the honey on my lips enlightened by my taste Poison to my senses the comfort of your nest no longer warms I’m on my way I’ll make space for the next fool you find
The following poems were inspired by the Outcast and Other Words anthology which I came across sometime in 2024. I decided to take all the prompts from that anthology and see what I could come up with myself. 17th Sep 2025 – Shared with dVerse – reflections
We outcasted ourselves by dissemination Of the minutiae of every spit and cough Sharing feeble insights and useless opinion Considering a duck face meme be enough
A tragic victim of fate or led astray by odd notions? Either way, ended up beneath the roiling oceans Or frozen solid on a parade to the mountaintop Life lived in safety has already come to a stop
Sparky Attitude, an ungrateful iconoclast Demolished her own feeble castle keeps An arrogant empire would neither share nor last To a lonely future she limps and creeps
Show me the mould, I wanna break it It’s a lovealution and we’re gonna make it Put me in a box and I’ll find an escape That’s the revolution we’re trying to shape
Just need a little juice to fill up the whole A tiny spark to get some action-shifting A combustion of the heart that you stole To restock the emptiness of your gifting
Waking in the morning was as if nothing had changed Except that everything in life had been rearranged Walking again into the night the patterns are all the same What it was and what it is now has a different name
Taking a thought and pulling it apart Taking a heart and smashing it to pieces A fragment pleases, a misunderstood art An origami part, following the creases
Fighting for breath, caught in the undertow, Unplug from the drama, go with the flow Another story that no one else needs to know An ever-decreasing circle ready to be let go
Title taken from and poem inspired by The Stoa Letter email
Without explanation let’s concoct a story A dry tale to give the past some meaning Wrap an old coat around to comfort When these memories need spring cleaning
All my thinking folds in on itself* To stand proud, solid and silent as the tree A summer showing of greenest health Conceals the winter dark inside of me
I didn’t bring a gun to a knife fight I’ll not flash cash in a parade of wealth I’m no better than you and no more right I am only better than my past self
Are we are righteous, acting out a virtue? Or is there no other choice, no better outcome? Or do we accept that this is the way of the world? Or is this just a habit, the way we have become?
Which narrative will we use today For each decision that comes into play?
There’s no time to stop, even to live Pushed to the limit, something’s got to give Pumping ugly muscle, pulse under pressure Once busted it stays broken forever
If I wasn’t sitting down when the spin hit The swirling vortex afore me would soon see me sat Cartoon birds circle my head where I sit Stuck in a motion that keeps me where I’m at
A flourishing joy around a rope jump Lush youth laughing and chasing Hustle and bustle, the mad thrills pump Energetic thoughts set hearts a-racing
Spirited shouts and sudden screaming It’s an unharmonious harmonious noise Fresh-faced fancies of everyday dreaming Amongst the funky fires of the girls and boys
We’re chasing rainbows in a clown car* With common sense in the rearview mirror Whilst catching a glimpse of the future Where everything will become less clearer
With my love, my daughters will grow up strong With the wealth of the oil from the olive trees They will rise from the ashes to where they belong To return to their home from the river to the seas
You don’t exist yet No form but aspiring Struggle to germinate To break the seed skin A sprout to be set New growth inspiring Hollow bricks gestate A weapon within
Outside the window, I giggle in delight The first feel of snow after a silent night This day of love has already seen me grow Because this feeling, I thought I’d never know
I found myself once finding my tribe Along with a love I could only describe Now felt without any suffocating All this time patiently waiting
The love was always right under my nose Because I could cry at heart-wrenching prose Intoxicated walking along the city street Even enthralled by the glass and concrete
I will sip this love through a golden straw And take it home to the Eastern shore Where the soft dusty snow ignites A love for this garden of delights
When the beat of the drum becomes a banging and frontlines full of dead men left hanging, let’s raise white flags, redraw maps and decide unstable future’s by inequitable divide
Wheels forever turn Bloods boil and burn Guns forever bang Repeat sturm und drang
I recall the forests walked in winters Kings Copse and Queens Copse Muddied paws, misty views Foreboding darkness within Fresh pine beds for love’s liaisons Illicit affairs away from spies Let’s hope no one else is walking their dogs Wet nose Surprise!
Shared with dVerse MTB: An Etheree Tree and inspired my explorations in my youth where I would often walk our dog or just go exploring for fun. Sometimes, with my first girlfriend and hidden deep within the dark confines of the forest, we would lay down on the soft pine needle bed. Queen’s Copse is a pine forest and King’s Copse is an oak forest. There are not many pictures from this area and the one above doesn’t really show just how dark it was inside, just a few feet away from the track. No light was getting in there.
2024-12-07
Today I’m feeling:
Good after a nice sleep. I woke up before my alarm again and, surprisingly, was feeling hungry. I ate a lot for dinner last night, a slab of lasagna plus a bowl of salad, which contained four eggs. I also woke up with guitar songs in my head and look forward to playing today.
After lunch (more lasagna), I napped again (it seems I can no longer fight it) and then enjoyed some time reading in the hammock.
I say I enjoyed it, that was the book, but the constant irritation of flies and the humidity soon had me back indoors and into aircon, where, ironically, Amy was so cold that she got herself a blanket.
Where’s our winter?
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Amy’s lasagna has kept me fed for another day. One more piece left.
The best thing about today was:
Feeling inspired to set up Ableton Live on my computer again and to dust off the keyboard. I fiddled around a little bit with it to try and familiarise myself again.
I’m not sure that I will be inspired enough to keep going with it yet, though.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I talked a little more with Anchan, trying to convince her to open up more with her friends and to talk more with the teachers and counsellor at school.
I fixed some more of our sliding window mossie protecter handles today.
Good once I got going. I woke up stiff but tried my best with some tough ab exercises (tough for me!).
Lin told me this morning that my tummy was smaller today but I think she was teasing me!
I continued with my grade 8 classes in the same style as yesterday and that all went well (for me at least!)
Finishing off with just half of the students in my grade 11 class – the HAP students, as last week I only taught the J-Biz students and I knew the J-Biz kids could go and do preparation work for the Japan Day next month.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 8
Today I’m grateful for:
Gui at House contacting me saying that he will open again but he’s starting again at a new location in the city, which is a shame as it will be too far for me to go each day.
It was nice of him to contact me, though and let me know what he’s up to. I think I will try and get out on Tuesdays when I have a four-hour gap between classes. I will go to his new shop and also try a couple of others to see if I can find a nice spot again.
The best thing about today was:
Today was another one of those all-around good days with nothing in particular standing out as better than anything else. I like days like this.
I also think that going back to a full tablet of sertraline has had an immediate effect on my mood. I’m told that it’s such a low dose that it’s not even likely to be doing anything and it’s supposed to take a couple of weeks to take effect and perhaps it’s the placebo effect and all but either way, after just two days back at 50mg, I don’t have any bad feelings or thoughts.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
It was a little annoying to me to watch George just sitting in a classroom looking at his phone whilst his class were just playing games, doing make-up or messing around. I teach those students too, so I took the opportunity to help a couple of them whose work I didn’t have time to check during my class with them.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
David was getting frustrated with trying to print out his monthly report today and he asked me to help. I ribbed him about using a Windows laptop and even me trying to help didn’t fix the problem.
I asked him to send me the file so I could try it and, of course, it printed properly on the first try.
With my little windfall yesterday, I sent Anchan a little more money to support her.
I’m also trying to encourage Baipad to get back into drawing more, especially as it is something she shares in common with a boy she likes.
When I was coming back in from the cafe, some of my old grade 9 students were kicking a ball around, so I joined them. Next to us was another group of students also kicking a ball around.
Kru Ell was navigating her way between the two groups when the other group’s ball accidentally hit her on the head and hands, knocking her glasses off and spilling her drink to the ground.
The boys were super apologetic and I got the one boy who had kicked the ball to quickly go back into the cafe and get her another drink. Kru Ell’s glasses were ok and she was more shocked than anything – she didn’t blame the kids.
Toey took this picture of Baipad because they met after school tonight. I think she sent it to me to show how happy she was to meet him! Young romance.
1994ever 