Today's poet

[Hes]

Ideas

words are flickering like a humming birds wings
Concentrate, Concentrate!
Ideas that were clear have begun to pixelate
Mind holding onto thoughts like fingertips
scratching at cliffs edge but, slip
slip, slipping.
Words now; inapproprite shoes
Kicking
at the face;
crumbling,
no purchase.
falling, blurred
and gone...

Must be something in the air tonight? This is wonderful NDubya. I love the hummingbird analogy. I know the feeling too...so many ideas but each nt quite within your grasp for long enough to make anything of them.

[Hes]

Hes this is truly sublime...it makes me ache with shocked empathy.

Thanks very much for that Mossy. I think people forget that side of break ups sometimes. 'love me, love my kids' also means 'lose me, lose them too'.

[stevefoster]

Hate.

Don't try to change the minds of the ignorant,
By trying to make them force down P.C. platitudes,
They will take no notice of you and never repent,
Their minds are closed books full of violence and feuds.

Well meaning you maybe put this approach gives them power,
What needs to change is the focus of attack,
Then their position will weaken hour by hour,
By bringing it back to the so called victim we can take it back.

What i mean is that if you're told that a word will hurt then it will,
So turn that round it is only a random collection of letters,
If you use this train of thought you can knock down the hill,
And never worry again about these cowardly braggers.

To conclude lets start now and take the words back,
And destroy their power and be upfront and proud,
There is nothing to stop us walking this track,
So tell the world I'm mentally ill and proud.

By Herakles.

Very moving, personally, i'd rather be mentally ill than ignorant of other peoples feelings and illness's.
But the bullies and ignoramus' sometimes win, i got the cane at school for hitting a couple of lads who were bullying another lad (he was mentally affected by finding his father dead when he was very young) they got a little pep talk. It was the only time i dared go home and tell my Dad i'd been caned

[XRunner]

Our poetry thread has captivated another person.

We will need Hanneke to translate the haiku.

An example:

Sneeuw
In de sneeuwnacht roept
plots een uil de stilte stuk.
Een vreemde vogel.

Hes will enjoy it!

[Nathaniel Lee]

Thanks everyone very kind. My view on this is to do exactly what iconic rap outfit N***** with attitude did and others which is reclaim a word that was used in a derogatory fashion and use it as a term of endearment. Hence the word loses all it's power and just becomes like any word a random collection of letters. So as far as i'm concerned bring it on call me mentally ill ,retard,freak whatever because i know i am and i am proud of it. If you were to read some of my poetry you would see i feel fortunate being able to view the human experience in a special way. And yes of course i have my ups and downs but never because of an ignoramus.

[Harry H Howgill]

That is beautiful Hes.

Didn't relationships seem so simple once upon a time: You met a few people, found the "right one", settled down, had kids, they had kids, the end.

That happens for a few I guess, but there are so many incredible variations and permutations that have to be considered when travelling through a thoroughly interesting life. Battling with other people's emotions and our own to find a path with which we are happy. Never perfect, just the best route to get you to the next junction. Robert Frost and his two paths always makes it sound so leisurely, but it is often never that straight forward.

While I'm at it....I wrote this a month or so ago. The mason imagery I used elsewhere but I reread this and didn't dislike it as much as I thought.

Fathers and lovers

Those two lovers have come and gone
But like the mason shaping stone
Their hands and words leave indelible marks
That linger invisible in mind and body
And shape my future self
Looking through windows to the past
I glimpse family mornings
And I, the temporary guest,
Sitting at breakfast tables
With his timid daughters
And his fiercely passionate twins
I took as little space as possible
So that my disappearance would go unnoticed
When I pass them in the street
We smile at each other
but I do not know them now
Long limbed coltish
Beautiful young women
Do they remember how I swang
Upside down to make them laugh
Took them to their first concert
Jumped rivers to please them
These surrogate children who were never mine
I mourned the loss of my lovers
His blue eyes and wolfish grin
Long body, firm hands, gentle voice,
And he, sullen yet passionate
Anger simmering behind fierce loving
But it is them that I miss still
I am no longer privy to their promise
I will not celebrate their successes
Hug them through their failures
My little strangers.

[Harry H Howgill]

Our poetry thread has captivated another person.

We will need Haneke to translate the haiku.

An example:

Sneeuw
In de sneeuwnacht roept
plots een uil de stilte stuk.
Een vreemde vogel.

Hes will enjoy it!

I love the sound of that haiku even though I don't understand a word!

[Harry H Howgill]

Ideas

words are flickering like a humming birds wings
Concentrate, Concentrate!
Ideas that were clear have begun to pixelate
Mind holding onto thoughts like fingertips
scratching at cliffs edge but, slip
slip, slipping.
Words now; inapproprite shoes
Kicking
at the face;
crumbling,
no purchase.
falling, blurred
and gone...

That is superb NW. I can sometimes get home after a run knowing I had the best idea for a poem ever; but can I remember what the earth-shattering verse was? No chance.

[Mossdog]

Ideas

words are flickering like a humming birds wings
Concentrate, Concentrate!
Ideas that were clear have begun to pixelate
Mind holding onto thoughts like fingertips
scratching at cliffs edge but, slip
slip, slipping.
Words now; inapproprite shoes
Kicking
at the face;
crumbling,
no purchase.
falling, blurred
and gone...

I hope those words and ideas have only gone temporally N-D.

[Mossdog]

That is beautiful Hes.

Didn't relationships seem so simple once upon a time: You met a few people, found the "right one", settled down, had kids, they had kids, the end.

..........

I found this some time ago regarding a 'western' Zen perspective re; relationships and their significance in our lives.

http://www.tricycle.com/magazine/col...nships-no-gain

There are some interesting ideas here.