Nothing is what it seems,
or as it feels it should be.
The world is full of
smoke & mirrors --
neither here nor there...
And yet everywhere...
& everywhen.
Illusory [Free Verse]
Reply
Vagabond [Lyric]
![Photograph of a statue of a young vagabond taken at Fo Guang Shan [佛光山,] near Kaohsiung, Taiwan.](https://berniegourley.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/img_0378.jpg)
Each Soul contains its Vagabond
- Who yearns to travel light & free -
But they load too much baggage on,
Then tether him to a big tree.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Hualien Martyrs’ Shrine [花蓮縣忠烈祠]
Image
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Nameless / 无名 [Lyric Poem]
![Photograph taken in Hualien, Taiwan at the Hualien Temple and Dongjing Temple (花蓮寺東淨寺) [Buddhist.]](https://berniegourley.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/img_1218.jpg)
They call me Nameless,
Well-known as fameless.
My plans are aimless.
My faults are blameless.
My chess is gameless.
My disgrace, shameless?
But my glasses are framed.
My passions are inflamed.
My wild horses are tamed,
And my arrows are aimed.
All due credit is claimed,
And nothing else remains.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Autobiography
Daily writing prompt
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
“And that’s how you do that!”
(I’m told that in medias res is the ideal narrative approach for memoirs.)
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Winter Springs [Haiku]
an eerie fog
weaves through the trees:
Winter hot springs.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Beitou Park
Image
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Night Sun [Haiku]
a full moon glows:
its color, pale yellow —
posing as the sun.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Where Trees End [Senryū]
where the trees end,
a colony grows in a
cancerous fashion.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Couldn’t Live Without
Digestible non-toxic protein, digestible non-toxic fats, and digestible non-toxic carbohydrates.
Also, water and air, but they are non-commoditized (to a large extent, anyhow.)
Also, certain vitamins and minerals, but they would be subsumed in a good mix of the aforementioned three.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 