The space between
this & that,
us & them,
then & now,
now & later.
The pregnant pause —
a pause without cause —
Just senseless nothing
in between.
A Space Between [Free Verse]
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Author Archives: B Gourley
Autumn Rain [Haiku]
wet yellow leaves
stick to the sidewalk
after Autumn rain.
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BOOK: “The Young Monk” [Vol. 4 of the “Journey to the West” Series] ed. by Jeff Pepper / trans. by Xiao Hui Wang
The Young Monk: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary by Jeff PepperMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — Imagin8
This book, Volume 4 of the Journey to the West series, takes a turn from the books thus far. While the first three volumes (Ch. 1-7) focus on Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, this volume leaves him under the mountain where the last volume left him, and — instead — focuses on the origin story of Xuanzang — the monk who is sent by the Buddha to India to get scriptures in the original book — based on the real-world monk who did travel to India to complete the selection of Buddhist scriptures available to Chinese Buddhists.
The monk’s story might not sound like it would be as thrilling as that of the superpowered immortal monkey, but it’s a gripping tale. The story begins before Xuanzang is born and ends in his eighteenth year. So, before he is assigned to travel West to get scriptures.
As I’ve said in earlier reviews, I really like the approach of this series. It has Simplified Chinese script, pinyin, an English translation, and a full glossary of terms used, and it’s organized so as to facilitate reading by a language learner.
I continue to recommend this series for language learners who need a linguistically simplified text to be able to read.
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PROMPT: Coolest Thing
I once found a $100 bill half frozen into the snow on a random stretch of sidewalk in a not-so-great neighborhood. It’s only now occurring to me that it was literally the coolest thing I’ve ever found because it was encased in ice and snow. I acknowledge it’s not so “cool” in the colloquial sense of the word.
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DAILY PHOTO: View from the Tomb of Saadat Ali Khan
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BOOK: “The Serious Guide to Joke Writing” by Sally Holloway
The Serious Guide to Joke Writing: How to Say Something Funny about Anything by Sally HollowayMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Google Books Page
This book presents a textual version of the author’s joke writing seminar. It offers a few techniques for joke writing that are informed by the premises that: 1.) jokes exist out in the world for one to find — rather than to create; 2.) Anyone who is funny with his or her friends can be a funny joke writer, BUT not without effort. That effort comes in the form of training oneself to look at words and phrases in unconventional ways and in applying (largely mechanical) processes to coax or wheedle the jokes out of the ether. I say “largely mechanical” because there is a chapter on stream-of-consciousness joke writing, but the heart of the book is a process called joke-web building that is a step-by-step approach to finding humor wherever it may hide.
The book alternates practical and “theoretical” chapters. The “theoretical” chapters are mostly about the psychology that gets in one’s way as a joke writer and the ways around it. That is, those parts deal with the value of breaks and the need to manage anxiety. The practical chapters explain the procedures and have Q&A style troubleshooting sections in addition to a description of the process.
I found the book to be interesting and a quick read. Some of the procedures seem a bit tedious, but they do produce results. It may be possible to streamline them to one’s own situation.
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PROMPT: Routine
Daily writing prompt
What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?
The part that feels routine.
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Bald Mountain [Haiku]
Spring rains stalk up
behind a bald mountain;
a brown flood flows.
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DAILY PHOTO: More Scenes from Muong Hoa Valley
FIVE WISE LINES [November 2025]
A thing is mighty big when time
Zora Neale hurston; Tell my horse
and distance cannot shrink it.
…if you want to be elected, it is better
hunter s. thompson; Better than sex
to be Mean than to be Funny.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
jesus; Matthew 5:38-40
go with him twain.
The only gamblers who will talk openly
Kit chellel; lucky devils
are the ones who don’t make money.
The successful ones keep their mouths shut.
To live a creative life,
joseph chilton pearce
we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 