Sad to think
I never really knew you.
As I sift through gleanings
of a life concluded,
hidden facets surface that I am
just now seeing for the first time.
Sad to think
I am left to piece together
a life story that for all these years
lay nestled in yellowing tissue paper,
carefully tucked away at the bottom of
your cedar chest.
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Quest
Humans are so creepy,
with only four legs and
hairy heads and
just two eyes that sometimes
have glassy covers or dark lids which
obscure their eyes completely.
Whenever they see me
they jump and scream
and start flailing their four legs about;
you’d think they’d caught a hornet
in their web.
It’s really quite scary.
I wish they’d leave me alone
and go back to where they came from,
wherever that is.
Sometimes I play with them.
I know it’s not spiderly of me,
but it’s such a kick to hear their squeals when they
pull back the shower curtain and find me
hiding in the bath tub.
This Halloween I think I will dress up
as a human.
The Daily Post one-word prompt: Jump
© Barbarico | Dreamstime.com – White Dove
September 21st is International Day of Peace or “Peace Day.”
I can’t help but wonder about priorities when a day or so ago, I saw a lot of internet hype over “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” And today, I happened to see Peace Day listed in a single obscure online post.
Granted, that may say more about my own interests and inclinations, as Big Brother of the Internet parses my cursor’s every move and feeds me whatever It thinks I want to see and/or what It wants me to see. But I’d rather not perceive myself as so simplistic, nor the Internet as so intrusive. No offense to pirates.
At any rate, I’d like to add my voice (figuratively) to the call for world peace, and share with you a favorite video of mine (but not me). “United” by Playing for Change. Enjoy:
One hand clapping
Today the Daily Post’s one-word prompt is Silence.
I wrote a poem years ago with that title, and will share it here. The poem has a totally different voice and came from a completely (almost) different person than I am today.
I am content with who I am today, and grateful for the journey that got me here. Sometimes it’s a valuable exercise to look back and be reminded from whence one evolved.
Before ego there was silence.
Then ego emerged, dragged by intangible forceps
from the serene sea of oneness with its maker
into the harsh artificial light of material world.
No wonder ego screamed.
The small, still voice – also part of Oneness –
was drowned out by a raucous cacophony.
Ego began devouring material world like a strident crow
feasting at an overripe dumpster.
I meditate, try to invoke the resurgence of silence,
but my goal eludes me.
I strive to empty my mind,
but ego will not go away.
It careens from synapse to synapse,
ricocheting off every thought mote
that sifts down through my span of consciousness.
Silence is golden (so they say),
but when I fall mute, others worry.
Outwardly I am judged as too quiet.
Inside, ego shouts in derision.
Is silence relative or absolute?
Is there such a thing as too silent?
Or partial silence? (The sound of one hand clapping, perhaps…)
We seldom understand what we hear.
Why would we expect to comprehend silence?
It is not essential to fill every void.
Only ego thinks this way.
Silence is not a void begging to be filled,
but I do beg…
that ego will surrender, and the void in me can be filled
with the still, small voice that is Silence.
~ MCC (@ 2000)
“Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.”
~ Henri Nouwen
If we were having coffee, you might ask why I haven’t been posting a whole lot lately. I would tell you I hadn’t really noticed until today, but it’s probably for the best that I post when I have something to share, and not just to meet self-imposed quotas.
I have many interests that seem to ebb and flow: blogging, stained glass, gardening and landscaping (a newly formed interest), home improvement DIY projects, reading, poetry, walking my dog and taking photos, binge-watching entire seasons of my favorite programs on Netflix, playing with my grandkids, playing with my (adult) kids, playing with my food… and probably some other interests that are so far into the ebb stage I have forgotten them for now.
Blogging seems to be ebbing for a bit right now. With the rainy season coming up and more time spent indoors, my posts will likely pick back up. Be forewarned!
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I took my dog Chules to a doggy daycare for the first time this week. It tuckered him out and he’s been napping a lot since. The daycare streams webcams of their play areas so you can see what your pet is up to at any given moment. I admit I spent a lot of time checking in on Chules.
There were a lot more white dogs in attendance than I expected, but I had no problem picking Chules out of the crowd. While other dogs walked or ran around, there was one dog that literally pranced in and out of the camera’s view. That would be my Chules. Perhaps I should have named him Prancer.
I’d better sign off for now. It’s time to attend to something that is definitely not one of my favorite pastimes: house cleaning. Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to put off my chores for a while. If you want to hang around, there’s a pile of clean laundry that needs folding.
No? Alright then. Have a good weekend. Hopefully you will find time to enjoy your favorite activities.
Thank you Diana at PartTimeMonsterBlog.com for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that my demolition activities have now extended from do-it-yourself house projects to the great outdoors. Since realizing that the majority of my yard consists of plants that are designated as weeds and invasive plant species in my county and state, I’ve decided to take on the challenge of converting my lawn into – well, something other than lawn.
Granted, the plan is a bit vague at this point, but I bought a book , Lawn Gone! Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by Pam Penick, that may or may not be helpful (I haven’t gotten very far into reading it yet; I’ll let you know), but the title is promising.
I’m going to demolish my lawn and, as time, money, weather, health and personal inclination allow, turn it into something that doesn’t bring the term “noxious” into play.
So far, using photos from online publications, I think I’ve identified the following “weeds” in my yard: thistle (multiple varieties), Japanese knotweed, blackberry, St. John’s wort, sticky weed (catch weed), groundsel, dandelion, deadnettle, English ivy, London rocket, roberts geranium, wild carrot, prostrate knotweed, fox tail, cheat grass, and morning glory.
Obviously, there’s little room left for regular ol’ grass.
My goal is to use only organic methods of plant control, and try to use primarily materials and plant species native to my region to replace the lawn. I’m pretty sure that AstroTurf is native to this area. Or not…
If we were having coffee, I’d note that now I have dallied here so long, it’s too hot to go out and work on my grand landscaping project. Maybe I’ll just sit in the cool and read about how to get my lawn gone.
Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to pull some weeds on your way out. Bonus points for the “invasive” species.
Thanks to Diana at PartTimeMonsterBlog.com for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare.
at the edge
of the shadow
light meets dark
in a deception of
distinction and
division and
sometimes
dissention
but this edge
where light meets dark
is only an illusion
of differentiation
because under the shadow
no edge exists.
The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: Edge
What Rhymes with Stanza? 