Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.
Only when I’m among people.
PROMPT: Out of Place
3
Category Archives: People
PROMPT: Complain
People. They’re the worst. Or, possibly, technology. It’s a close runner up, at least. Of course, on some level, it’s all one shitstorm. Humans are the technological animal, and technology facilitates the making of comfort junkies who avoid deep thought at all costs. (Which is at the core of my beef.)
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“Song of the Open Road” (8 of 15) by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]
The efflux of the soul is happiness, here is
happiness,
I think it pervades the open air, waiting at
all times,
Now it flows unto us, we are rightly
charged.
Here rises the fluid and attaching character,
The fluid and attaching character is the
freshness and sweetness of man and
woman,
(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher
and sweeter every day out of the roots of
themselves, than it sprouts fresh and
sweet continually out of itself.)
Toward the fluid and attaching character
exudes the sweat of the love of young and
old,
From it falls distill'd the charm that mocks
beauty and attainments,
Toward it heaves the shuddering longing
ache of contact.
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PROMPT: Famous Person
It’s between a US Senator who served many terms and was involved in some major legislation (that bears his name) or a Nobel-winning Economist. So, no one that 99% of the planet has ever heard of. I will not comment on whether these individuals fell in the “famous” or “infamous” category.
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PROMPT: Historical Figure
If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?
Assuming no babel fish technology – i.e. that we’d need a common language – I’d say William Blake, Walt Whitman, or Mark Twain. The latter would probably be the most fun, the middle the most uplifting, and the first the most insightful (or perhaps most mystical.)
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BOOK REVIEW: Wrath of the Dragon by John Little
Wrath of the Dragon: The Real Fights of Bruce Lee by John LittleMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Release Date: September 5, 2023
There are many Bruce Lee biographies out there, from general bios (such as Matthew Polly’s Bruce Lee: A Life) to those that are much more narrowly focused (e.g. Rick Wing’s Showdown in Oakland about Lee’s fight with Wong Jack Man.) This book is somewhere in between in that it is theme-focused (Lee’s fights and matches,) but it does offer insights from Lee’s childhood through to his death as they pertain to these fights and sparring experiences. The book explores all of the known real-world scraps and matches, as well as some of the more telling sparring sessions. Fights range from Lee’s adolescent skirmishes as a punk kid through the challenge matches with extras on the set of Enter the Dragon as an astute (if still quick-tempered) master. When I say that the book includes sparring sessions, I’m not talking about every time Lee sparred, but rather those exchanges that offered particular insight into Lee’s prowess, such as his last ever sparring session with his old Wing Chun teacher, Wong Shun-Leung (a senior student of Ip Man’s) as well as those with athletes at the top of their respective combative sports.
The point of the book is to challenge a belief — widespread at times — that Lee was a blow-hard offering banal quasi-mystical Eastern philosophy and martial insights that were based only on a few Wing Chun lessons from Ip Man. In contrast, the book paints a picture of a broadly experienced fighter who was obsessive about his betterment as a martial artist. Lee was an innovator and trained with great endurance and intensity. The book portrays Lee as a martial artist of such speed and athleticism that even World Champion competitors were left in awe.
While reading, one does have to question how objectively the information is being presented. After all, Little is definitely a bit of a fanboy and he’s clearly taking a stance on Lee’s prowess. Furthermore, the fact that (at one point, I’m not sure about presently) Little was the only one with full access to Lee’s archived notes suggests his message was sufficiently on point for Lee’s family to feel comfortable with him. That said, I felt there was enough admission of Lee’s weaknesses and mistakes as well as a willingness to present competing statements when details were in question that I believe this is an honest attempt to get the details right (within the unavoidable constraints of memories of events being decades in the past and being seen from multiple perspectives — psychologically as well as geographically.)
I found this book to be fascinating from cover to cover, and well worth reading. In addition to the stories of the fights, the author discusses the lessons that Lee learned along the way. Even in winning, Lee was sometimes dissatisfied with his own performance, and this drove him to adapt and to develop new training methods. I’d highly recommend this book for those interested in the martial arts or who love a good biography.
View all my reviews
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We Are Makers [Free Verse]
Are we Makers?
Yes. We are!
And damn good ones at that.
We can turn a planet
into plastic trinkets.
We can use every last morsel
to make stuff:
bright & shiny
or
loud & colorful.
We can even make ideas:
good or bad,
true or false,
but always 100% believable.
We're the ones who invented Evil.
Yes, that whole toxic notion
is brought to you by us.
And Left-Wing & Right-Wing...
It used to be just a bunch of people
trying their best to understand
and to get by.
But we built mental / conceptual corrals,
corrals good enough that we
could no longer recognize each other
as part of the same species.
We are Makers.
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Introvert in a Crowd [Senryū]
of all things for which
“just a little is enough:”
1.) human beings
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Invisible Fetters [Tetrametric Verse]
People penned up without borders by some hidden social order wear uniform-less uniforms, and form a matrix, not a swarm. What invisible chains bind them? Where are the minders who mind them? Is compliance written in our genes -- remnant from ages of Kings and Queens?
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Squirrel Grind [Common Meter]
The squirrel's life 's an acorn hunt: forage and hide the nut. But a feeble mind requires that it hide them by the glut. Squirrel happiness is fragile no cache is big enough to be certain it'll make it through should the winter get rough. Oh, give me the tardigrade life, not a doubt it'll survive. No food, no water, vacuum of space and the thing 's still [bleeping] alive. Rather than gathering plenty, I'd rather need much less, or, at least, not be so mindless to hoard in great excess.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 