1. A kangaroo skipped in while blustering storms blew through cobwebbed windows shuddering bed frames jolting my dreams to life— losing a day somewhere over the ocean
2. A Golden Kaiser-i-Hind flew down from the highest bough and fell into my warm hands a little too soon a smooth and shiny candy eager to be eaten
3. A quiet smiling kokeshi on the bookshelf anime eyes wondering a green tea maid a soy sauce sorceress keeping secret doubts
4. A spicy Sriracha soi dog wanders a tropical island night shadow dancing in firelight before sunrise reveals floods of frangipani and a chain of jasmine blossoms
5. All of all of you broke off a piece that you keep as I keep mine like a trinket like a teacher
Shared with dVerse MTB: Cadralor 5 numbered stanzas choose 3-10 lines per stanza (keeping the stanza length throughout) each stanza stands alone as an imagist poem (just the obliquest of connections) 5th stanza pulls the 4 unrelated stanzas together into a poem of love, of yearning rhymes and syllabic meter are NOT wanted
Golden Kaiser-i-Hind is China’s national butterfly A kokeshi is a traditional Japanese doll A soi dog is a stray Thai dog (soi means lane)
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
The Benefit Of Kindness
Nature bids us to do well by all Every moment is an opportunity In return expect nothing at all The kindness is all that needs to be
*Sometimes I feel like I’m living with a stranger I’m talking to myself The branches hang down to the stream A tilt to somewhere else That I don’t know
Words are gathered and turned to stone Scratch and blow to see old bones I don’t know why
We keep it tethered, our world unfeathered We’re out of step, so don’t forget To keep your ear to the ground
Returning home to meet the stranger She’s talking to herself From scratch, she bakes such lovely cakes But words are somewhere else That I don’t know
We tilt until the room is feathered Or blow until the stone is gathered I don’t know why
I can see her avalanches turn into sharpened branches To break her bones, so don’t forget To keep your head to the ground
*Lifted from Three’s Swann Street as are the rhymes and rhythms. Submitted to No Theme Thursday (the two pictures) and The Sunday Whirl Wordle #669. This poem partially reflects on the time with my second wife, Kyoko and how, eventually, our cultural backgrounds couldn’t be overcome.
Today I’m feeling:
Not quite right. Slept early again and woke up a little later, skipping exercise.
I want to go to the hospital to get checked out and contemplating whether to do it this afternoon or in the morning.
Health:
Physical: 5 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Being able to leave at lunchtime and come home for a nap and a restful evening.
I decided that I would go to the hospital tomorrow and take a day off but then Amy said I should use the health insurance coverage that I get through work, which means going to the hospital in the city. Then Jet messaged me for help with her accent for her play.
So I guess I’ll clock in in the morning and then see what they say at the hospital and decide then whether to go to school. I’d like to help Jet and I only have an afternoon class, so I could do it if I don’t feel too bad.
The best thing about today was:
Getting to my first class and finding that only half would be there as the others had to attend a meeting. It made for a much more intimate class with only twelve students and was very enjoyable.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
That half my class was missing today made me wonder how to proceed but I figured the best way was to teach the same lesson to the other half next week and let today’s students have free time, which they weren’t going to complain about.
As I was walking to my second class Iphone told me that their morning meeting was about events next week and that the school was closed! Huh!? Another student, Jee, confirmed it too.
When Kru Tang went by my class a little later, I asked her and she said that she had only just heard about it from another student as well!
I’m used to this by now. Anyway, Monday to Thursday, we are supposed to be teaching online but we all know that that isn’t going to happen!
