My faith tells me I will see you again Though every step forward leaves you behind You are finally free of heartbreak and pain But I measure mine in everything I find
I must abandon you, to keep the comfort of my grief On the road ahead, I will greet my ghosts Keep watching over me, such is our belief Although you are far away, please keep me close
Inspired, again, by the Red Hand Files #354, where Nick Cave responds to someone who lost their wife to cancer, aged 30.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
How Can You Know Whether You’ve Never Been Tested?
A life that never met misfortune One that has never been put to the test How can one judge their real value Having never struggled to do their best?
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 intrinsicword engines
Experimenting– to that motion By stirring the pot,poets shirk responsibility when it’s taboo
Sober rhythmsrevealing something of my soul I can scent intentions but it’s also little wonder I felt scared
The art blues ofa 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 foxof hell’s hidden rooms turning creativity,so cunning, intowildflowers 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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
1994ever 