Living, one’s own terms
no judgement for suicide
Dying, ones own terms
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Sweet Sweet Suicide
The last exit from life’s stage
Stigmata of choice
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On a high blue bridge
She jumps, flying toward the earth
Releasing all cares
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It takes great courage
To take the reigns of death
There’s no mortal sin
No more dreams to live
Heart stops, brain ceases, life ends
A cold grave welcomes
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Freedom on the wind
A bird will fall from the sky
Its heart beats no more
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And when the end comes
Can there be beauty in death?
Flowers in the snow
Ending transitions
Matter to anti-matter
Life turns into death
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Flesh will decay fast
When life is present no more
Bones will decay slow
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Circumstance unknown
I know neither time nor place
When death comes for me
When death comes to call
Alone I will fade and fail
remembered no more
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When the body dies
Software will be deleted
And hardware destroyed
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Autumn to Winter
All life has been drained away
Dry leaves in the fire
Weathers town crier
Thunders crashing box of rocks
announces the rain.
*******
The pink noise of rain
With distant lightnings white noise
A cool breeze for sleep
*******
Music in the night
This ambient symphony
A chorus of rain
Restless dreams at night
Toss’d ’bout on flashes of light
Ships on stormy seas
*******
A thunder not heard
The storm can’t hide its approach
Bright lightning flashes
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The quiet of night
Static on the radio
The rain comes lightly
Across the night sky
A visual symphony
Heat lightning flashes
*******
Disturbing the night
Punctuating the darkness
Heat lightning dances
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Dark blanket of Night
Heavens dome with light flashes
White doves in dark skies
gulls flight in the night
coastal lights guiding their slumber
humans haunting sounds
————————————–
seagulls on the prowl
dive-bombing at lunch in hand
McDonald’s french fries
O beautiful morn
shrouded and clouded in mist
fogged o’er secret Spring
wake up now dear Spring
shed the blanket of morning
wipe the fog away
Where, oh morn are you?
Where are your budding flowers?
Even birds whisper
In brush strokes
Spring flowers white, yellow
Daffodils
+++++++++++++++++++++
Spring grows warm
Magnolia trees bloom
Not for long
+++++++++++++++++++
Spring flowers
Temporal beauty
One moment
time is sliding
down a slippery slope
slipping away
all things I see
look like paintings through
dirty windows
*******************
quietly
soft rain plays on windows
songs for sleep
regal, pompous
purple martins majesty
live in mansions
******************
run, run away
a honking, snapping terror
the goose is loose
******************
blue heron
fishes in reflections
one stiff leg
flock of pigeons
flying over — blue skies
poop on my head
*****************
feeding time
excited sparrows chirp ’round
flower box
*****************
egg adopted
screech owl hatches wood duck
one family
Feels sooooo good!
First warm day of Spring
Steps lightly
======================
Shining Bright
Birds sing in mid-flight
Spring sunshine
======================
Looking clearly
A glass wall separates me
from Spring outside
Daily progress
with pain in every step
These “golden years”
+++++++++++++++++++
Unable to sit
Unease prevents stillness
My restless legs
+++++++++++++++++++
Time goes faster
Losing track of days
One more bare limb
+++++++++++++++++++
Once, clarity
of a happy, sad youth –
memory fades
Walls overcome by
broken vines and shattered panes leave
heart exposed to life.
Dark clouds slipping
through the cold gray skies of Spring;
Winter lingers on.
Pastel skies of
Lavender, pink and tangerine
paint the morning.
My ears warm to
the sweet sounds of Spring as
songbirds return.
The butterfly
believes it’s flying, still trapp’d
in its cocoon
Autumn paths remain
buried as Antigone’s wind shakes
the leaves from the trees.
An old man stands,
only holes for his pockets,
begging for more.
One last lonely leaf
Fragile, ravaged by Winter
Barely hanging on
Morning horizon
Bright red, like rush hour brake lights
Warning in the sky
I created a couple of Haiku’s to go with this favorite non-traditional Christmas song.
Heard the baby cry
Neighbors gently hush back to sleep
Thin walls breathe hope
Young woman, young man
Their Christmas gift arrived early
Joy all season long
Winter has been a favorite season of mine for a long long time. The things I always liked about winter were the cold, ice, snow and wind…. But winters have been milder (thanks to climate change) so I find them less enjoyable than previously. Looks like we’ll have a “green” Christmas – for at least the fifth year in a row…… I remember when Christmas’s were always “white” with snow. Oh well, that’s life. Last week we had some snow so I was able to get out and enjoy it for the couple of days it lasted. Today’s image is proof of that.
When winter comes
Its cold dark embrace beguiling
We search for warmth
Wind howls coldly
Wrapped in sweaters of warmth
Hide in hovels
Winters Solstice
Boldly we soldier on
Bring On The Night
Light only flickers
Dancing a tarantella
A dark long night-scape
In the northern hemisphere Christmas is also closely aligned with the Winter Solstice – the darkest time of the year when days are short and nights are long (unlike my friends in the southern hemisphere where this is the beginning of summer).
In honor of the Winter Solstice here is some music by the underrated Tin Hat Trio. The track is titled THE LONGEST NIGHT from their recording Book Of Silk.
I’ve long been fascinated with macro photography. It’s so hard to do it right. And I’m usually too lazy to carry a tripod around so I’ve never really bothered. But lately, as my previous post shows. I’ve started getting into the so-called groove of close-up and macro imaging. I still don’t use a tripod – all handheld – so the number of useable images are limited.
This morning was a beautiful frosty December morning and I decided to go to a local park close to downtown and only about 5 minutes from my apartment. Here are two of the images I was able to use from this morning along with two new haiku. Hope you enjoy them.
Frosty mornings
Inhale a crispy frozen breath
I gasp, in love
Whiplash wind storm
When I am lost you bend me back
See what’s behind
The music moment is provided by the Tindersticks. Their song FROZEN from their recent album – The Something Rain.
Night comes darkly
Bringer of dreams and nightmares
Floating in space
Flash of excitement
A thousand stars fading from view
Dreamers wake to light
Your music moment is by Mazzy Star – FADE INTO YOU
from their 1993 album So Tonight That I Might See.
Behind caged bars
restless heart, fearful mind
murmurs of change
This image is one of the not-so-hidden spaces in downtown Akron. Just on the other side of this building is South Main St. And it is adjacent to the Akron Civic Theater. This entire area has been under a slow renovation for several years. Just behind me is the popular LOCK 4 of the canal which runs through this area. It is already repurposed as a wonderful outdoor entertainment space with live jazz, blues and gospel over the warmer months. When I peered though the windows on South Main and between the bars through the cracks in the plywood I did see construction lighting and various clean-up tools as if this structure is under renovation. I just hope they don’t tear it down like they’ve done other historic buildings downtown.
Your musical moment to help digest this post is provided by FORQ (yep it’s pronounced fork). The track is titled THE HARD WAY from their self-titled album.
Hello again everyone. As many of you know I have a preoccupation with the subject of rust in my photos. More than a few of my photos feature rust in some form. Today is no different. I’ve been thinking about why I find rust to be such a dynamic subject. Part of it is (as I’ve written on my previous blog) the Wabi-Sabi aesthetic; Finding beauty in the imperfect, the flawed and discarded. But it also goes beyond that. I think rust has many lessons to teach us. No only about the inevitable end of all things but also how we can come to terms with the inevitable end. Rust is strong. It’s strength does not lie in speed, or the forceful blow to its subject. Rust is gentle. It does not seek to hide – it is visible in its destruction. Rust takes it’s time; the object of its affection is coaxed into its corrosive embrace.
You and me like all things must end. It is the nature of things. We are mortal. That means we will not live forever no matter how hard we try to extend the time we have. I don’t care how fit you are, how free of disease you have been, your physical fitness, or your emotional health. You will die. In fact, you might say you are already dying. And that’s okay. There is beauty in the process. What? Yes, there is beauty in the process of dying = it’s all in how you look at it. You can approach it with grace and appreciation for the time you have and the inevitable end or you can fight it every single step of the way. I once heard a woman say, “I do not plan to grow old gracefully, I plan to fight it every step of the way”. I’ve always found that viewpoint rather tragic. But that is the prevailing viewpoint in western society. In fact the exception in western culture is that you must fight it and with medical and technological advances you can fight aging, disease etc. But that is all a delusion. In the west we have become masters of delusion and self-deception.
Why do we find Autumn to be one of the most beautiful times of the year? Autumn is the season of dying. The leaves on trees are the most colorful just before they die and fall to the ground. And this change seems to happen rather fast but the change actually started at the point the leaf first came out and reached maturity on its branch back in the Spring. Our lives are the same way. It’s not just the newborn and young that are beautiful. Beauty is enhanced through experiences that are both good and bad. Rust is like that; it is one of those experiences that may seem to hasten the demise of something but it does not know that. It just is. It is a part of nature. A part of life experience just like disease, physical and emotional discomfort. Those things exist to add to our beauty.
You find me
Slowly you Change my life
I love you
**************
I feel your presence
your corrosion adds beauty
glory of Autumn
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Your rough embrace
Enhances my life through change
I welcome you
**************
The color of love
Textures the smooth beauty of life
Open arms tremble
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Sing a song of rust
A slow ballad of decay
Autumns dying love
***************
Sound of slow scraping
Crippled dry dusty fingers
Wabi-Sabi world
****************
Illusions of age
You teach strength through weakness
Beauty in Frailty
Your music moment provided by a band I recently discovered and had to buy all their albums – Do Make Say Think – A TENDER HISTORY IN RUST from their album You, You’re A History In Rust.
Album version
****Hey! if you have short form poem or haiku about rust and the ideas I’ve written about, please feel free to post in your comment. 😉
