“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide
Shared with Kevin’s No Theme Thursday and this picture prompt
Submitted to No Theme Thursday (picture prompt) and Poets and Storytellers United – substitution – a meditation on the stupidity of mankind when presented with the tools for wisdom and peace.
Inspired and paraphrased from this post at Spinning Visions
14th Feb 2025 – Shared with No Theme Thursday and the picture above.
Submitted to the above picture at this week’s No Theme Thursday which brought to mind Polvo’s Light of the Moon (hence the penultimate line). The picture makes me nostalgic for my childhood village life, where legends were absolutely made, yet not repeated by the following generations.
Shared with No Theme Thursday (attached picture prompt) and dVerse MTB – tableau
16th Dec 2024 – Shared with Ragtag Daily Prompt – meditate
My first attempt at a triversen (as discussed at dVerse) using the No Theme Thursday picture attached as a prompt
*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.
Submitted to No Theme Thursday (and the attached picture)
Today I’m feeling:
Super tired as I definitely didn’t catch up on any missed sleep from Sunday night. Never mind. I’ll have to try tonight.
I was looking forward to sitting down with some coffee and free time when my grade 9 students called me and asked to move their class from the afternoon to this morning again.
As this kinda suits me too, leaving the afternoon free, I rushed back and we went in search of a free room, ending up in the library.
Health:
Physical: 6
Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Nong Kratae for helping out Anchan as much as she can. It may not be much and it may not be enough for Anchan but Kratae is offering some hope at least. I will have to think of something that I can do for her as thanks one day. And I will ask Anchan for suggestions and if she can contribute in some way too.
The best thing about today was:
I felt my health improve a little over the day, especially mentally. Somehow, being at school is picking me up mentally, whilst seemingly running me down physically.
I was particularly energised after my grade 8 class finished at 12.30 but I didn’t leave school for another 45 minutes as various groups of students came to distract me, wanting to chat.
Something I learned today?
After much hassling from my students, I installed Instagram and TikTok and have been trying to work out how they work and if they are even remotely useful for me.
I still don’t quite get them or how they work. At the end of the day, I just want to use this software to stay in contact with my students in the future.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
As I was contemplating being able to finish early and go home, Anchan messaged me asking to go with her to Nong Kratae’s for the first time today this afternoon.
I guess as I wasn’t due to finish until 4.30 pm anyway, then it’s not a big deal and I’m hanging around at House catching up on reading and writing. Trying to get my brain back into poem-writing mode after a few days away from writing.
Submitted to No Theme Thursday and the attached picture.
Cinquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem with twenty-two syllables distributed in five lines: 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.
Line 1 has one word (the title).
Line 2 has two words that describe the title.
Line 3 has three words that tell the action.
Line 4 has four words that express the feeling
Line 5 has one word which recalls the title.
Today I’m feeling:
Not so terrible but I can’t speak clearly because of whatever is going on in my throat.
I felt ok to get up but once I got to school I felt tired again.
Today I’m grateful for:
My grade 10s contacting me whilst I was at the cafe, asking if I could teach them immediately, as they had no other classes today and didn’t want to wait until 2.30. It seemed like a good idea because it meant that I could finish at 12.30 and go home too.
This turned out to be a double-edged sword. The grade 10 was simple enough and the grade 8s immediately afterwards went well enough too and I headed home. However, I was low on energy and motivation and had an hour snooze and after getting up again from that, just felt like wanting to sleep more.
This meant that I didn’t do any reading or writing today and I’m back in bed again now at 7.30 pm
The best thing about today was:
I put my grade 8s into random pairs to practice conversation. Most of them complained and asked to swap partners, to which i just ignored them and asked them to get on with it.
This showed me who was prepared to just get on with it and do what was asked rather than avoiding it until the very end. None of them got away.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Despite my fairly low feeling today I didn’t let anything in particular bother me.
Something I learned today?
I came across this quote that I like: “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” – Soren Kierkegaard
This poem was inspired by the story of Richard Feynman and a phrase taken from his story about three students/assistants that became known as the Three Graces. Researching the Three Graces led me back to Greek Mythology (hence the title and theme of the poem). The image of the phoenix rising is then tied back to the science of the nuclear age and the events of August 1945 in Japan. Nagasaki means long promontory and Hiroshima means broad island and also sometimes city of kindness. The bombs were called little boy and fat man. The phoenix rising highlights the rise of Asia since those events.
Submitted to No Theme Thursday (and the attached picture), Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Hypnotic, Weekend Writing Prompt #374 – Belligerent (though a little more than the 68 words specified), Ragtag Daily Prompt – fire, FOWC with Fandango — Narrow and Word of the Day Challenge – gratification.
Today I’m feeling:
Pretty good, getting up at 8 am and soon out for coffee. Whilst at Utopia, I worked on some poetry which came out pretty well, I think.
Without any other real plans for the day, I got myself into my room in the morning and started adding more old 1998 and 2009 entries to the blog.
Revived with lunch, I got back in there and did more, all the while listening to music I’ve downloaded in the past 12 months or so and deciding to either keep or delete. Finally, an hour or so of guitar playing too.
Today I’m grateful for:
My former self for being smart enough to keep some of my old emails that remind me of times past. There is a lot of other stuff that is no longer accessible, though, unfortunately.
The best thing about today was:
Getting a poem highlighted on AllPoetry.com, which was nice to find this morning and generated some extra commenters. I’ve been happy with what I’ve been writing recently and it’s nice to get some positive feedback.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
This morning I also watched the mini-match of the Swans game and it was obvious within a couple of minutes that it wasn’t going to be a good day for us.
Still top of the table but with 4 losses in the last five games, our form is not inspiring confidence as we come towards the difficult end of the season.
Something I learned today?
Part of the problem with Australia’s high-priced housing is that not enough houses are being built for all the people who are either moving there or looking to move out of their family homes. I was surprised that there were just 170,000 homes built in one year. The lack of availability pushes up rents and house prices.
The average income required to buy a house now is 250K per year but the actual average income is only 120K.
It’s making me wonder where I might end up. Australia is still the most appealing place in the Western world, though. New Zealand may be an option at some point, I suppose.
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