When every day makes you unhappy, why ask yourself for a solution to get better?
When every day makes you feel so good, ask why it’s so and keep doing that – things will get worse.
Shared with Tanka Tuesday #57 About the title: I’m not sure if it is an Australian colloquialism or not, but a common phrase for an abundance of something was ‘having so much it’s coming out the wazoo’ and seemed to morph towards ‘coming out of the yin yang’ or any other variety of experimental and playful terms.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Pay What Things Are Worth
Do diamonds affect your decisions? How do you value what you have got? The market might be rational But the people comprise it are not
you were my shoulder i lay my head upon you where i learned to sleep
daily arrivals would calm the tremors of my shaken psychosis
you always wanted more of me, I would prostrate blind, oblivious
you were in control but i woke to the cold dawn sick of your deceit
the truths that you told between the lies were only my own self-abuse
Shared with Tanka Tuesday #53 – rensaku. This poem follows on neatly from yesterday’s, the effects of alcohol still on my mind and foregoing the request of seasonal poetry in the prompt, perhaps. This set of senryu tells an autobiographical story and maybe, just maybe, highlights an emotional spring, an awakening. The seed of the idea for this poem came from reading Matthew Maitland’s ‘You Want Mythology?’
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Cultivating Indifference Where Others Grow Passion
There are virtues and there are vices All the indifferents lie in between Cake is cake, no matter how it slices Always coverting more is obscene
~ written confessions burned or buried in the sand – you are my witness. ~ shame cannot survive being spoken in this space. ~ a quiet intervention within the circle; a therapy for family – can all sins be forgiven? ~
a moral compass, bent to the will of power; broken on purpose.
We can agree that peace is better than war So the choice to struggle – what is it for? Out of control, we’re afraid to sit still When the reasoned choice would be to stop and chill
Stories did their work for the future The world, still deciding what to keep
Before was long
Lounging, ankles crossed, watching the clouds Translating sunlight into stillness
The days are long
Adrenaline of whiskey shortcuts Dawn is held off by sheer momentum
The nights are long
The future shrinks, the past multiplies The scenes replayed all out of order
Life is so long
Whether it is silence or in song Meaning will redistribute itself
After is long
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
The Day In Review
What did you think and what did you do Each day, put it all up for review Things that were good, things that were bad All that made you happy, all that made you sad
God, I’ve got a nose to pick with you. Are you listening to my angry prayer? A few fucks in front of the altar? It’s not like you’ve never heard me swear.
My reverent heresy is born from The institution blindly followed. To commit their violence in your name Fed on half-truths, easily swallowed.
Shared with Tanka Tuesday – oxymoron but mine is just a nine-syllable quatrain. I got my challenges mixed up.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Peace Is In Staying The Course
Riding the waves of acceptance and rejection Tranquillity does not wander in every direction
Tired but ok. It was a struggle to get up but not too bad once done.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 6
Today I’m grateful for:
Plenty of parking spaces at the airport this evening. I even managed to park next to the other car here tonight for the family.
The best thing about today was:
In my second class I played along with my naughty students instead of getting upset with them. We were just doing quizzes, so it was quite fun. I wasn’t in the mood for serious work either.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
After a fun first class, I was sitting in the cafe and saw a message from Amy saying that she tried calling two times but the phone hung up on her. I never heard anything so I called her back and she seemed annoyed and distracted with her parents buzzing around in the background.
She asked me questions and then didn’t listen to my answers and so she asked them again.
Anyway, I will meet them at the airport in the early evening.
Then I got messages from Nut asking about Namsai’s phone, which I had taken from her in class and she swore badly at me. Nut’s messages were rude and direct (though I can forgive her, as it may just be her poor English).
These two things together, along with a sudden feeling of exhaustion, put me in a bad mood, though. I’m trying to think myself out of it now.
I got out of it by the time of my second class but when I got home, the tiredness overwhelmed me a little more and then problems with playing guitar made me grumpy again.
Now I just want to sleep and then hope to wake up tomorrow in a better state of mind.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I messaged Baipad last night about painting rocks and giving them away and this morning we looked around for some and she took three with her. A little later, she sent me photos of her painted rocks and who she gave them to.
I took this picture of my naughty students lazily doing my quizzes because I was going to use it to threaten them that I would show their homeroom teacher. BB, Namfon, Tulip and Baibua behind the chair. Khawhom jumped out of the way when she saw what I was doing. Ironically, they all blame me for being in trouble because their SchoolBright scores are so low but they have no answer when I ask them why I’m always reducing their scores! They do crack me up most of the time, though.
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