All ideas already exist, waiting to be discovered by art.
An American Sentence inspired by the Red Hand Files #356. It may not look like much, but this poem is brilliant!
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Tag: The Red Hand Files
Corralling The Unnecessary
All Manner Of Things – 27th June 2026
The trepidation is acute
I ain’t got no motivation
Not even for a haiku
It’s verging on paralysing
But I must write for you
An ephemeral burst
of Fireblossom’s perfumes
these anxieties are
intrinsic word engines
Experimenting – to that motion
By stirring the pot, poets shirk
responsibility when it’s taboo
Sober rhythms revealing
something of my soul
I can scent intentions
but it’s also little wonder
I felt scared
The art blues of a job left undone,
of lucky fragments lacking sense,
is its own torment
zeroes sums to a dream unrealised
The coyote eats its own kind,
and fox of hell’s hidden rooms
turning creativity, so cunning,
into wildflowers of a beautiful war
After all that digging, in the weeds
are heroes of the noblest contest
The lilies, finest of them all
in this soup of writing,
of punning, all manner of things
shall be well.
This is another old dVerse prompt that I kept in mind and returned to today. The idea is to write a new poem while weaving in fragments of an old poem, which must be kept in their original order. I decided to use my own short poem, ‘No Haiku’, italicised above. While thinking about this idea, I was also reading the latest (at the time) Red Hand Files #365, from which I noted down several nice phrases (in bold above) in Nick Cave’s reply, along with a quote (bold italic) from Julian of Norwich, utilised for the title and final line. I decided to try to work these two narratives together. Clean text below should be easier to read.
The trepidation is acute
I ain’t got no motivation
Not even for a haiku
It’s verging on paralysing
But I must write for you
An ephemeral burst
of Fireblossom’s perfumes
these anxieties are
intrinsic word engines
Experimenting to that motion
By stirring the pot, poets shirk
responsibility when it’s taboo
Sober rhythms revealing
something of my soul
I can scent intentions
but it’s also little wonder
I felt scared
The art blues of a job left undone,
of lucky fragments lacking sense,
is its own torment
zeroes sums to a dream unrealised
The coyote eats its own kind,
and fox of hell’s hidden rooms
turning creativity, so cunning,
into wildflowers of a beautiful war
After all that digging, in the weeds
are heroes of the noblest contest
The lilies of them all
in this soup of writing,
of punning, all manner of things
shall be well.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Adversity Reveals
How did complaining help?
Now you have more things to do
Take the challenge upon yourself
This future is a gift given to you
Reincarnation – 13th April 2026
what happens
to one
happens
to all
be nice
to the beggar
holding out
his hand
play nice
with the mother
who nurtures
us all
Inspired by The Red Hand Files #345
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Less Is More
The person of too many words and too many deeds
Might find themselves with more than anyone needs
A person only needs to stand on their own
Economy and brevity – where less is shown
The Moving Song – 28th March 2026
(body)
There’s a bomb in the carriage,
oblivious to all one’s cares.
Emptying out all the thunder,
with its white and waxy affairs.
(mind)
In the shadow of this fact
one’s thoughts must be defused;
Those tiny beams of light
search for something to be used.
(spirit)
By singing from the heart
all doubt will disappear.
Moving muscles to the beat
is sure to bring good cheer.
Inspired by a combination of this Substack post ‘Body Mind Spirit’ by Deidre Lewis and the Red Hand Files #344
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Cowardice As A Design Problem
Life without design is erratic
Chaos ensues without a plan
A cowardly retreat is automatic
If you’ve not readied all you can
At Gethsemane – 12th January 2026
Incomplete, abandoned,
we yearn with our five senses;
Midnight-to-midnights found lacking;
universal consequences;
Aching for the beautiful and true,
filling the abyss with stones
God no longer answers
to the rattling of bones.
Inspired by this Red Hand File
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
The One Path To Serenity
This morning, the sun rose without my asking
Before I lunch, I chose the freshest vegetables
In the afternoon came an uninvited guest
I trust that in the evening, a cool breeze will come
In Silence – 14th October 2025
Inspired and paraphrased from the Red Hand Files (again!) #337 and for the GloProWriMo Day 20 prompt:
write a poem informed by musical phrasing or melody that employs some form of soundplay (rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration). Also, the poem ‘In Evening Air by Theodore Roethke was suggested as an example, and I used the rhyming form, which I found quite pleasant and I think worked very well.
18th Dec 2025 – shared with What’s Going On – Silence
Maybe not a helpful admission,
I’m not sure where I stand these days;
as the ground shifts
exposing each other’s rifts,
it hardens without permission
and uncertainty sings its praise.
The world, beautiful but broken;
my temperament wishes no further harm;
no left or right
or centre might
have, to me, truly spoken
and guided me towards a calm.
My reason searches for the true
to ease the burden of each other’s sorrow;
how easy it is to break,
to forget to give and take;
cautious and careful in what I do
when nothing is certain tomorrow.
Not knowing what I’m talking about;
does the world need to hear that voice?
Listening to all divergent views
makes me ever more confused
so that when still filled with doubt
silence is my choice.
So maybe I just stand with my art,
valuing the deed over the word;
to the fragile flickering spirit bring
a striving for such praise to sing;
At least, it’s a place to start
so that the silence will still be heard.
Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #24 and my quick thoughts:
MockART – Some nice noise here that is keeping my brain active whilst trying to download an upload for my computer so that I can practice guitar again, since something has messed up one of the apps I like to use. Not sure that I would listen to this at any other time though!
Wet Nurse – Fractured and somewhat scary energy here. It’s interesting for sure but a bit too disturbing for me these days. About 20 years ago I would’ve been all over this.
Meira Asher – Interesting punk hip hop that reminds me of some similar weird freaks I met from Japan in the 00s. I like the more rhythmic tracks over the atmospheric ones.
Half Empty Glasshouse – I have their albums already but had forgotten about them. Lots of time changes and genre warping. This is my kinda jam for sure.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – ditto
Petition Your Saints – 7th October 2025
All the world a stage for dead actors
their curtains drawn tight
this unearthly fraternity soon factors
once stepped into the light
illuminating with a deeper meaning
to raise a roar transcendent
so petition your saints, convening
a spectacle, exquisite and resplendent.
Inspired and paraphrased by this Red Hand File
Seeing Clearly – 2nd June 2025
All the echoes call back to me
Drowning in their history
Their insistent beauty I may not see
Clearly today
The curses that come to visit me
With shocking desolate energy
The daily dying, the sacrifice I see
Clearly today
The grief that roars up at me
Spins a subtle trajectory
Finally, its emptiness I see
Clearly today
Inspired by The Red Hand Files #317
Faith, Hope and Courage – 24th May 2025
Constant communiqués of despair
The end of times always kept in mind
The hollow rings of Happy New Year
Distracting us from our daily grind
We become living embodiments
Of the catastrophes we’ve foretold
Trapped within these dark environments
Hopes are fading for the dreams we’re sold
Embolden the heart! Be courageous!
Inspire action to defend the world
Sell, not be sold to, is contagious
Flags of faith, hope and courage unfurled
Hope becomes the energy of change
A radical audacious duty
With optimism, we can arrange
Our thoughts towards a life of beauty
Inspired and paraphrased (one more time) by Nick Cave at The Red Hand Files #308. The title is also a play on words of Nick Cave’s album Faith, Hope and Carnage.
9th Mar 2026 – Shared with Reena’s Xploration Challenge #420
Fiery Forgiveness – 14th May 2025
Will you stand up to the bear
that blocks the way to proceed?
Asking for forgiveness
and acknowledging the need.
Or will you tense up and hold
tight a weapon and prepare
for the imagined attack
predicted in your stare?
Inspired by this story at the Red Hand Files #316
1994ever 