smooth boulders
dragged ever so slowly,
tumbling in floods,
sitting so far from the river
that they seem untouchable
River Boulder Tanka
1
Author Archives: B Gourley
DAILY PHOTO: Tunnel under a Castle, Budapest
Taken in the summer of 2011 in Budapest.
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POEM: Little-e Epiphany
The little “e” epiphany
strikes me in
the middle of the night.
Enveloped in darkness, I lie,
contemplating
the bold stories the world has told.
I think upon slapped cheeks
and
grand strategy
and
the universe outside my door.
I wonder whether one can
be change
and
change one’s being,
or
whether there’s a choice to be made.
I feel at peace —
though not enough
to drift back to sleep.
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POEM: Yoga for Giraffes
Surely, I have misunderstood,
“Put my head where, you say?”
“But I have bones, don’t you know?”
“I wish I could obey.”
“Now, you say, my feet are too wide?”
“Really, what the heck!”
“You said put my head ‘tween my feet,
have you seen my frickin’ neck?”
“I wasn’t built to stand on my head!”
“What do you mean, ‘We’ll see?'”
“I’m not sure that you’re acquainted
with a thing called gravity.”
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DAILY PHOTO: Gujarati Stepwells
Adalaj Stepwell; Taken in September of 2017
Modhera Temple well; taken in September of 2017
Rani Ki Vav; Taken in September of 2017
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Changing Skies: Three Tanka
I
a gray day,
low dreary clouds hang down;
smoky air
clings to the earth —
all is close; nothing moves
II
tall puffy clouds
drift across the sky
like ship’s bridges,
moving in armada
through skies, calm & blue
III
a blue dome,
unblemished by clouds
if not for birds
looking to the sky
would stop the world
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POEM: Invisible World
The clouds are on the mountain.
The world feels faint and fading.
I look out in the distance,
but my eyes can’t focus.
I believe the world is out there,
but I can never say for sure.
What’s beyond the shape of
that distant line of trees, there?
Is it something good, or
nothing of the kind?
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DAILY PHOTO: Temple Carving Closeups, Belur
POEM: Make Your Own Monster [Villanelle]
There’s something in the cave that one can’t know.
It’s scary, but still the mystery becomes
a force that pulls one like an undertow.
One first looks about for a rock to throw
to see if one can loosen the beast’s tongue.
There’s something in that cave that one can’t know.
One baits the beast by moving to-and-fro —
an imagined sound triggers heart’s PUM! PUM!
A force; it pulls one like an undertow.
At the cave’s mouth there lands a big, black crow,
and now one ‘s sure the cave’s depth must be plumbed.
There’s something in the cave that one can’t know.
Then one sees a red eye begin to glow —
the product of a mind that’s overrun
by forces that pull it like an undertow.
Uh-oh, your mind ‘s the cave, that much I know,
and I hear nothing but a steady hum.
There’s nothing in the cave that we can’t know —
just fear that pulls one like an undertow.
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POEM: Stretch Your Breath, Stretch Your World
I slow my exhalation rate –
my heart begins to slow.
The world then slows, at least my piece
just glides in glacial flow,
& all is well.
