The Zero-Sum Game

This is something I wrote while waiting in the free lot at the airport for my buddy's flight yesterday...the first line is a line out of a song that was playing on the radio as I drove from my office to the airport - the rest came from, well, life...

Lose the beat, lose the rhythm
Lose the beat, find the rhythm
Find the rhythm, find your path

Skip the counting, just do the math
One and one can equal one, two, three or none
You are your own sum of life's equation

The possibilities are infinite
You are the one who limits
Opportunities and potential
Parallel and sequential

You choose the size of your box
Big or small
One size does indeed truly fit all

It's all equal in the end
For life is a zero-sum game, my friend

New Work

Wow, logged on to post these and found that this blog had just been viewed today - thank you!

I watched The Last Airbender last weekend, and the theme of water was rattling through my brain. Unfortunately, daily work life took over and chased it out, although it showed back up in life as rain and tears this week.

Today, as I was journaling, these two poems came through - not the theme of water, rather perhaps the larger theme of flow, which may be what was really meant to come this week.

letting go/becoming

focus on letting go - becoming has yet to be - becoming comes on the heels of being free and seems to be a two steps forward, three steps back process at times - keep aiming for the light at the end of the tunnel - focus on the esoteric what not the in-flesh who or the material thing

focus on letting go and then becoming comes - sometimes slowly and haltingly, like coaxing a feral animal into your life, sometimes with a burst of speed and light that takes your breath away - but it does come once letting go is gone

Life - Golden and Full

life is golden - truly it is - and being golden, it is precious and every drop should be savored, not slurped and hastily swallowed

pain adds the salt and joy the sweetness

a life lived fully becomes full bodied like a good red wine or a hearty ale or the smoky cheese that fills your mouth with its nutty flavor

Namaste!

Check, Checkmate

Yesterday I attended 100,000 Poets for Change, and this is the poem I wrote to share at this year's event. Other poems I shared were Misdirected Penguin, A Chance for Atonement, and Unsung Heroes (also posted below).

Check, Checkmate

The dove queen watches the eagle king play chess,

Getting into check again and again and again

Wondering if when the game finally comes to checkmate

Who or what will truly win

If humankind will all turn into pillars of salt or become

Shadows on the sides of the buildings that remain

Or if instead she will take the olive branch from the King’s claws

And bring peace down upon the Earth once more to reign

Unsung Heroes

Unsung heroes there

Whilst we are bickering here

Who is right or wrong

Sing thee the hero's song

For those in lands faraway

Who may not live to see another day

Unsung heroes every one

Someone's daughter, someone's son

Doing their job until day is done

Sing thee the hero's song

No matter what side of the aisle you're on

Or which religion you choose to don

Unsung heroes far and near

All to someone very dear

Ask not why we are here

Sing thee the hero's song

Pray for peace and freedom from greed

Pray for relief from every need

Unsung heroes every one 

Care for them as they cared for us

In our love they put their trust

Sing thee the hero's song

And pray they all see another dawn

The dawn of coming home

One Month to the Day

...since I last posted on this blog. Last night was a blaze of inspiration, brought on by an afternoon of brainstorming at work and the swirl of creative types I cybersocial with on FaceBook.

Here is what came from the muse last night:

Relationships

You might be, may be
Interested in him if
Only he were too

Interested in
You perhaps, maybe
You are into him

And this form is senyru, not true haiku...just so you know...

The next one was

The dance we weave is
Meant to deceive you, me
And all humankind

And Mother Nature
Has not a rewind feature
For any creature

No matter how great
Or how small, Mother Nature, 

She does rule us all

And our greed and our
Pride will truly be the death
Of us one and all

Then, based on prompts from a writing group, an episode of The Big Bang Theory, and my upcoming vacation, came this one:

Today I am randomness
Schreodinger's cat is named Fluffy
Smoke from a distant fire reminds me of camping
Getting up with the sun, not an alarm
No deadlines or commitments but the day to come home
Senyru (not haiku)
And to sleep, perchance to dream
Of trains, coal, steam

And then finally, due to the sky's colors when filled with smoke from a large grass fire yesterday at sunrise:

Gaia Mother Earth
Watch me set the sky afire
Turning Moon to gold

Being

Be still
Listen
Then follow

Sweet Wonderment of Nature

I'm blessed to live right next to a local park with a creek meandering through it. Those who know me on Facebook have seen my various photos and videos from my meanderings there. Here is a poem I wrote a couple of days ago after one such meander.

The light of day
The dark of night
The rich brown loaminess of the soil
The verdant green of the grass
The rich textured shades of browns and greens of the trees
The amber waves of grain
The vibrant reds, blues, purples, yellows and oranges
The rainbow of the flowers and fruits of Nature!

The ebb and flow, fast and slow of the water
Down the channel, crashing over the rocks

The rut of the deer
The cry of the hawks
The skitter of the slithery things in the brush
The red-winged blackbird perched on a tule rush

Ah, the sweet wonderment of Nature!

Three Faces of Gaia

My writing has been resting lately, lying fallow, gathering nutrients in order to burst forth again into bloom. Here is what has sprouted this far:

Three Faces of Gaia

Restless days

Sleepless nights

Burning out of my skin

Shivering to get back in

Losing my way

And in the end

Finding my tribe

Such is the path

Moving from Maiden

to Mother

to Crone