DAILY PHOTO: Atlanta from Afar

PROMPT: Famous Person

If you could switch lives with a famous person for a week, who would it be and why?

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Being famous seems like it would be a drag, like it would be the worst part of being skilled at, and / or beloved for, some people-facing art. I might like to engage in some of the artistic endeavors, but only if I could pass on the fame.

Half Moon Haiku

Autumn half moon
shows itself in an
azure sky.

BOOKS: “Poems, 1965-1975” by Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney: Poems 1965 1975Seamus Heaney: Poems 1965 1975 by Seamus Heaney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – McMillan FSG

This book gathers the poetry of the four Seamus Heaney collections that come out during the titularly referenced decade. This is his early work, his first four published collections, and includes: Death of a Naturalist, Door into the Dark, Wintering Out, and North.

I enjoy reading Heaney’s work. His poems tend to have a country influence and have a physicality that give them heft. Though in the latter half of the collection, there is increasing political influence — i.e. regarding the issue of Northern Ireland. Heaney’s poems often remind me of those of Robert Frost, though Heaney wrote much more free verse. Heaney had a love of words that some will adore while others find it distracting for the frequent visits to the dictionary with arcane words.

I’d recommend this collection for all poetry readers — especially if you love Frost (particularly for content, not form,) you’ll really enjoy the poems of Seamus Heaney.

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PROMPT: In the Woods

PROMPT: Stress

How do you manage stress?

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Through the realization that one packs one’s own load.

Everything is passing weather, how one dials up (or down) the significance of the present situation is up to one (even if the situation, itself, is completely out of one’s hands.) As the Stoics said, either you can or can’t do something about a given event — either way, it’s not worth one’s worry. If you can’t do anything about it, worry is futile. If you can, do the virtuous thing and you can feel content even if it doesn’t seem to work out for you.

PROMPT: Your Younger Self

If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice, what would it be?

Don’t be an ass!

Lonely Mushroom [Haiku]

lonely mushroom
climbs out from under a rock;
after autumn rain.

DAILY PHOTO: Backyard Coyote

Photograph of a Coyote taken in my backyard during the first coldsnap of the season.
Photograph of a Coyote in the metro Atlanta area.

DAILY PHOTO: Red Brick City, Medellin

Photo of red brick barrios of Medellin with purple flowers.
Photograph of Medellin stretching across the valley.
Photograph of a barrio on a hill with city beyond in Medellin, Colombia.