the dog or the wolf?
you are free to pick just one
who’s side are you on?
A haiku inspired by this article by Katy Keeleher
Todays’ Daily Stoic poem:
Tag: freedom
the dog or the wolf?
The Enemy Of Happiness
A Free Fool – 16th January 2026
Chained to the shadows of reality, dancing on the wall
The prisoner is set free from ignorance
To see the truth that it was never real at all
Returning to the shadows and facing ridicule
Freedom is just a philosophical fancy
There is little difference between the fooler and the fool
A cherita shared with W3 #194 – prompt word: cave and channelling Plato’s Cave.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Never Do Anything Out Of Habit
All our old ideas are in a box marked ‘habit’
They must be true but we’ve forgotten why
Our rote behaviours lead to mindlessness
And so it came to be as the time went by
Belly Up – 16th December 2025
The belly up dog
rolls in recognition;
celebrating the leash,
revelling in submission.
In a democratic house,
its institutions sing
“we are free” until
it doesn’t mean anything.
The belly up dog
doesn’t need to be told
he’s free to roam
the lonely nights of cold.
Inspired by a couple of quotes:
we now live in an era when the slaves celebrate their slavery.
Nick Tosches
Democracy is a con game. It’s a word invented to placate people to make them accept a given institution. All institutions sing, ‘We are free.’ The minute you hear ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’, watch out because in a truly free nation, no one has to tell you you’re free.
Jacque Fresco
No More Morons – 25th November 2025
So, General William Rousseau
guarantees genuine freedom
with coercion by questioning!
It is education or death!
A choice made for utopia!
I would have been shot, too. Inspired by Existential Comics #604
The Fear Of Freedom – 16th March 2025
A paranoia that’s well-earned
Too many times fingers burned
A back stabbed by an active mind
Fears the freedom it has defined
Scared to step out of the light
Shadows whisper late at night
Whips and cracks echo the fear
That freedom is not present here
When they are us and we are them
And together we each condemn
Each other, our freedom’s clear
Surrendered ourselves to fear
Inspired by a short piece by Ryan Holiday
You Said It! – 19th February 2025
Announced outrageous and absurd
It’s the freedom of the word
Away from interpersonal affairs
Nobody listens, nobody cares
There you go, it’s done, you’ve said it
With the minimal thought you fed it
No need to worry about splitting hairs
Cos nobody listens, nobody cares
‘Death to the Arabs’, ‘death to the Jews’
The meaning is difficult to confuse
If there’s one thing everyone shares
Nobody listens, nobody cares
Welcome through the gates of the west
Those that failed the intelligence test
Say what you want, no need for prayers
Cos nobody listens and nobody cares
Inspired by these words I found online somewhere (but forget where):
In the West, we have the freedom to say anything we want, simply because nobody listens and nobody cares.
The Greatest Happiness Possible – 26th November 2024
Look deep into the eyes
Of the cat and dog freed from its cage
There to be seen
The root of all human happiness
To chase around the beach, cuddle and engage
Inspired by Existential Comics 566 (excerpted)
24th Sep 2025 – Shared with dVerse Poetics Tuesday
The Taste Of Words – 25th June 2024
The taste of holy waters
No longer tainted with words
A story as old as time
Perspective, the rule of thirds
A violin sublime in the subway
Passersby pass on by
Soars serene in isolation
When the audience will try
Every failure, new success
Taking the necessary steps
Once rained on, weeping
Onwards, the beat of the blessed
Submitted to Wordle 660 and inspired by a David Elikwu newsletter
The taste of holy waters
No longer tainted with words
A story as old as time
Perspective, the rule of thirds
A violin sublime in the subway
Passersby pass on by
Soars serene in isolation
When the audience will try
Every failure, new success
Taking the necessary steps
Once rained on, weeping
Onwards, the beat of the blessed
The taste tainted with time
Perspective sublime
In serene isolation
When will failure step on the beat
Submitted to Friday Writings #135: Less is More at Poets and Storytellers United
Today I’m feeling:
A little tired and gloomy, due to the weather and grey skies. Everything is fine, it just looks a little off. I have heavy eyes, perhaps from staying up too late last night.
Today I’m grateful for:
My umbrella, or more specifically for thinking of taking my umbrella with me from the car before my second class. It pissed down about twenty seconds later.
The best thing about today was:
Writing what felt like a pretty good poem in between my two classes today. I struggled for any inspiration earlier in the morning.
Something I learned today?
Julian Assange is finally free.
A lot of the grade 8 girls got a cervical cancer vaccine today and I only found out when I saw Palm crying and when I grabbed her shoulders to comfort her she started crying more!
Review your acts, Good and bad.
This evening I messaged Palm to see if her arm is ok now.
Armed with my umbrella I offered to share it with Ploy and Kaem as they were stuck in the canteen until I came along. We all still got pretty wet though!
Limitation – 20th May 2024
There’s liberation in limitation
Reality cannot be broken but may be bent
Your freedom is in your imagination
Not in the amount of guns or money spent
Everything is a choice to be made
Choose anything and all else is rejected
The reward is in the excellence made
That’s the freedom that you selected
Inspired by Epictetus and this Stoa Letter
16th Oct 2024 – Shared with Word of the Day Challenge
Today I’m feeling:
Really lazy this morning with nothing to do except check out and then go somewhere to hang out before going to the airport.
Amy returned about an hour after me last night and had been throwing up. I got her into the room and after a bit of sorting out, she slept.
Today I’m grateful for:
All the taxi drivers, train drivers and airport folks who got us from there to here. Home again. It’s a massive effort of societal coordination and a privilege we often don’t think about.
The best thing about today was:
I experienced a brief moment of bliss as I balanced the taste of lemon tart and bitter coffee at the Coffee Club at the airport. It was so expensive I made damn sure I savoured it.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
There was a lot of waiting around today. It’s a bit of a write-off. We weren’t inspired to venture anywhere. I used the time to catch up on reading some poems.
Something I learned today?
Manchester City won the English Premier League. I think it was for a record-breaking fourth time running.
Leashed – 21st January 2024
Obedient to a master
Every day I’m called good
Is it a lie, a deception?
How am I to be, how I should?
Dance and beg for treats
But I got to the eats
I will not strike out
I will not forge my own way
Rolling over or playing dead
I will stay
All this time doing well
Makes no reason to rebel
inspired by this cartoon at Existential Comics
Today I’m feeling:
Pretty good though it was a struggle to get up as I had enjoyed a couple of drops of cannabutter last night that knocked me right out.
Today I’m grateful for:
Go Nuts chocolate bars. They are kinda like Snickers but cheaper as they are manufactured in Thailand (I guess). They are smaller than a Snickers bar so I usually end up eating two at a time but even then they are cheaper. I still like a little something sweet after a meal, kinda just finishes it off for me.
The best thing about today was:
Spending a couple of hours in my room listening to new music and finding new songs to try and play on guitar. I also enjoyed being in the garden watering all our plants.
Something I learned today?
I saw a message posted to our department messaging group that there is something going on in the morning tomorrow which maybe means a change to our classes. I’m hoping to arrive at school tomorrow to find out my class is cancelled! It’s no big deal if it’s not but a bonus if it is!
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
I shampooed Tigger again just before lunch and he put up a little more of a fight this time but I managed to get it done without any scratches, thankfully.
As mentioned above, I watered the garden whilst Amy was enjoying watching a TV show and after that, I came in and fed the cats.
25 THINGS ABOUT LIFE I WISH I HAD KNOWN 10 YEARS AGO
1. Struggle Is Good. Never say “I can’t take it anymore.” Say “Bring it on!”
This has taken me a long while to realise and embrace, although looking back I can see that I did this often.
I have a capability to endure certain things that others might not. Conversely, I’m sure others are capable of enduring things I cannot. It is the attitude towards this struggle that I embrace more now so that I might look forward to the difficult tasks.
I tend to visualise and actualise the feeling of having completed something and being able to relax, satisfied that I had done something.
When I was a teenager, so long as it was something I was interested in, I could start big, wild projects that could occupy my time and mind. These things didn’t feel like a struggle. Without realizing it I soon discovered that it wasn’t always the satisfaction of finishing something that made me feel good but just the doing of it. Over time this meant that I could take on tasks that were less interesting to me because I would just enjoy the doing, the struggle of them.
When I ask my students to write out a few paragraphs of text I enjoy taking note of those who complain and those who just get on and do it. This reveals a lot about their attitude.
These days, having a space that I love to rest my head at night, I can rationalise all discomfort at uninteresting tasks knowing that when the sun goes down I have a place where I can relax and do the things that are interesting to me.
Whilst I would rarely say ‘Bring it on’ I am no longer afraid of the challenges that confront me.
1994ever 