Sunday, February 22, 2015

With the hunted


Run.
Begin.
One foot after another.
No mind to it.
Chew gravel.
Feel the crunch.
Everything moving.
Houses. Trees. Cars. People.
No mind to it.
Pace up.
It's the wind, saying welcome.
 I am here.
Feel it.
Its the blood on the stove.
Never simmered enough.
Its cooler now.
Its the air rushing through.
One foot after another.
Killing the mind.
Eat the road.
Its falling behind.
Oh the manic thudding.
Something is giving away.
Push it. Push it.
No mind to it. Pace up.
Its the burn. Cold fire.
One foot after another.
Oh brute will.
Its a wild blur.
Its flying.
The beckoning.
Answer.
The engine is failing.
Push it. Push it.
Unrelenting.
Take off.
One foot after another.
The plane changes.
This ground, this wind, this air
is holding you.
Look up.
The sky is all yours.
 
 
Penned Sunday, Feb 22, 2015
 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Reminder


 
"I want to get more comfortable being uncomfortable.
I want to get more confident being uncertain.
I don't want to shrink back just because something isn't easy.
I want to push back, and make more room

in the area between I can't and I can.
Maybe that spot is called I will."
 
 
  

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Spring is here


Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
Be like the sun for grace and mercy.
Be like the night to cover others' faults.
Be like running water for generosity.
Be like death for rage and anger.
Be like the Earth for modesty.
Be as you appear.
Within tears, find hidden laughter,
seek treasures amid ruins,
sincere one.
 
~ Jalaluddin Rumi ~
 
 
 

Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Explorer's Manifesto


The Bermuda Triangle

Leave home
Disconnect, leave aside for a moment your history and your usual way of looking at things. When we aren't clinging to our own ideas and habits, we can learn about and gain greater enjoyment from everything again.
 
Enjoy the journey
Do not be obsessed with the final destination. Try to be open to the unpredictable, the unexpected and the accidental and to the things that happen along the way. Seize opportunities. Change your plans.
 
Pack light
Too much baggage weighs us down and slows us down. It is distracting and interferes with our relationship to our surroundings. Take what is appropriate. Do not make too much effort to protect yourself from every possible risk. It is almost always true that what you lose in comfort or security, you gain in freedom.
 
Go far
Extraordinary things happen at the limits of possibility. Every limit is the end of one thing and the beginning of another. Explore the frontier with your own efforts and possibilities.
 
Forget the time
Try not to plan the beginning and end of events. Let them take the time they need. Enjoy the natural passing of time, with its periodic succession of day and night. When you travel, it sometimes seems as though the time passes differently, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
 
Walk
Whenever you can, walk. When you walk, you can look at things more closely and carefully. Walking is an action, the speed of which is natural and comfortable. You take one step at a time.

Deviate from the route
Often the most valuable experiences are found on the least-traveled routes. Marked routes are simply those already traveled by other people. Challenge yourself to open a new path. Be daring, discover.
 
Go outside when it rains
Things are different, and appear different, than when the sun is shining.
 
Ask questions
Find out about the things you see along the way; how and why they are the way they are. Curiosity keeps us alert and in a state of constant change.

Try new flavors
The food and drink in each place has its own flavors, smells and colors. Sometimes they have been prepared using recipes passed down through generations. Try them. Give them an opportunity to surprise you.
 
Do not stop
Movement keeps us alive and new experiences nourish us. Move about, do not stop. When you change to someplace different, new possibilities open up.
 
Stop
Pauses are just as important as movement. Stop and breathe deeply. Look. Listen. Take a break. There are times when there is nothing better than a siesta, contemplation of the landscape or reading a book in the shade of a tree.
 
Talk with people
There is nothing like conversation for getting to know other people. Talk with the local people. Tell them about where you are from, share your ideas and beliefs. Listen. Challenge your prejudices.

Listen to stories about the place
The present is enriched and better understood by hearing about the past. Listening to stories can also be surprising and fun.

Protect nature
Make sure that your journey through each place leaves no trace for those who come after you. Care for nature. Untouched places are an increasingly scarce treasure.


-
Source is here
Image Source is here

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Crunch


Jardin de Luxembourg, Paris. October 2010.

Did they die verse unwritten or did they refuse to have themselves strait-jacketed into form, into structure, how much of a leaf do you truly admire outside the canopy of the tree, or do you find verse in its free fall, its cascade into the heap that gets swept away, billowing into playful clouds and then melt into dust, until the next season of appearance, an appointment you are never fully aware of, that chances itself upon you, like that half glimmering side of the suncatcher that you happen to pass by, that for a fraction of a moment glints your eye, and you think what was that sparkle of light, the sun? It was attention that thing we fall short of, like the beauty we reflect upon in hindsight, like the cool shade of the canopy of the tree, and never the leaf or its veins in itself, it is the legion of recollections that flood in, billowing into playful clouds and then melt into dust.

(Penned Nov 9, 2013)

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Small talk



Bobs in own's keg of brine. Here a regret, there a lost love, a piece
of pride chewed on, unraveling string of childhood self, a life of
kites and bicycles, like mirror shards, a broken top, favourite gum,
page torn off a book, yellowing letters, all pickled bits, cast away
one memory at a time.

A packed room, chink of ice to crystal, only the finest trend in the
luxe will do, all deep words and hollow eyes, darting slow and
cursive, a shadow in the now, yes it gets as interesting, as a fly on
a sugar cube, or an empty subway with its twinkling lights at
midnight.

Oh the allure, swagger, free association, entices as much as an onion
shell, whirling to the breeze. Human pickle, bottled in your skin, you
are stacked on shelves by the dozens.

A relic maybe. Prized? A matter of opinion. Vintage? There're better
specimens in museums of the world.



Friday, April 19, 2013

That travels not


Lovely gift of gleaming green, outside the rain, without water, soft and thriving, jumping hoops, snares and kind words, a little resting, little cajoled, every which way discoursed, very welcome - winsome suggestion, not every arrow, bee, lost horse, heads where pointed. Load the lode, your map a dot. Flight foregone, is loss of journey. 

(Penned Fri, Apr 19, 2013)

Friday, September 21, 2012

Circuit Breaker


The circuit

Blogged on, Friday, August 27, 2010 at 9:54am ·

Version: Medium-Rare
_

There are some things among some of us that we have common.

You'd either know what I'm talking about or it may just go wasted. Either which ways, let's begin.

It takes us time, effort and inclination to explain to people what we do and why we do what do and how it impacts who and when, somewhere in the macro scheme of things.

Our parents may not understand what exactly we do or what keeps us awake in the middle of the night. Anything that takes more than 10 seconds to explain to the relatives is a bit of a bother.

Most of us are classic conditioned, borderline OCD cases, damaged irreparably. Those beyond the border OCD, wait to welcome us on the other side.

Our (non-air kissing) social life is confined to commuting hours. We are thankful to have a social life. Ditto for commuting hours; possibly since it allows for the former.

Our friends 'on the circuit' speak the same minimalistic language. Raised eyebrows, knowing smiles, nodding glances, supportive shoulder pats.

Our friends off the circuit wonder what the constant state of the big fuss is all about and tell us to get a life.

We are terribly guarded, perhaps not so much by baggage or biases but rather out of habit.

A history of political correctness ensures that we can’t really *talk* talk to just about anybody and everybody.

We especially enjoy our silences. When we have them.

Our personal accomplishments, however mediocre, are milestones and our world rejoices with “Alleluia!” Our professional accomplishments, however remarkable, are hygiene and yea, whatever.

We know we'd be most appreciated, at a point in time that we fervently hope ourselves, never arrives that we truly be needed.

We catch up only over whatever allows for generous doses of caffeine or alcohol. These are particularly less tedious if we speak the same language.  

Those who nurture us inspite of our scrolls of damnation can never be venerated enough for their large-heartedness, patience and compassion.

Our dream break is trotting off to see the world, getting all scratched and muddy in green forests or sunning like mudskippers across beaches, preferably over more alcohol.

What we truly need however, is to be heavily sedated and laid to rest with our ears underwater.
-

Image source is here

Friday, August 17, 2012

16-bit Intel 8088 chip (Charles Bukowski, 1985)


with an Apple Macintosh
you can't run Radio Shack programs
in its disc drive.
nor can a Commodore 64
drive read a file
you have created on an
IBM Personal Computer.
both Kaypro and Osborne computers use
the CP/M operating system
but can't read each other's
handwriting
for they format (write
on) discs in different
ways.
the Tandy 2000 runs MS-DOS but
can't use most programs produced for
the IBM Personal Computer
unless certain
bits and bytes are
altered
but the wind still blows over
Savannah
and in the Spring
the turkey buzzard struts and
flounces before his
hens.