chugging upriver,
past karst spires, the boaters’
time seems to slow.
Upriver [Haiku]
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Category Archives: Perception
PROMPT: Good At
1.) Changing my mind. This wouldn’t be noteworthy except that there seems to be a stigma attached to adults changing their minds about a thing (even in the face of new, better, or first -time information.) It’s considered “wishy-washy.”
2.) Learning. I love learning and I devote a lot of time to it. Beyond youth, a skill for it requires a capacity for what Shunryu Suzuki called “beginner’s mind” — a state a lot of people seem to run from, rather than toward.
3.) Adopting another’s point of view. Truth be told, I wouldn’t really say I’m good at this, but the bar is quite low.
4.) Operating my body.
5.) Going the places that scare me.
NOTE: I thought I was better at humility, but the fact that I’m willing to answer the question speaks to the contrary.
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“Are you the new person drawn toward me?” by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
To begin with, take warning, I am surely far
different from what you suppose;
Do you suppose you will find in me your
ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become
your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would
be unalloy'd satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this facade,
this smooth and tolerant manner of me?
Do you suppose yourself advancing on real
ground toward a real heroic man?
Have you no thought, O dreamer, that is
may be all maya, illusion?
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“Before I got my eye put out –” (336) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
Before I got my eye put out --
I liked as well to see
As other creatures, that have eyes --
And know no other way --
But were it told to me, Today,
That I might have the Sky
For mine, I tell you that my Heart
Would split, for size of me --
The Meadows -- mine --
The Mountains -- mine --
All Forests -- Stintless stars --
As much of noon, as I could take --
Between my finite eyes --
The Motions of the Dipping Birds --
The Morning's Amber Road --
For mine -- to look at when I liked,
The news would strike me dead --
So safer -- guess -- with just my soul
Opon the window pane
Where other creatures put their eyes --
Incautious -- of the Sun --
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Fly [Lyric]
They say that each and every single fly
Has five thousand lenses in each eye:
A three-sixty view from toes to rump,
And thus I become the fly-swatting chump.
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Fish Time [Common Meter]
Fish mill about the koi pond --
No hooks or fishnets;
Just falling leaves to break up
Hours into minutes.
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Days of Wonder [Lyric Poem]
Some say they miss days of wonder,
But I think I see their blunder.
Those thrilling days, they never left;
It's something of one's soul, bereft.
That fatal flaw of lacking awe
Is from not seeing, cause you saw.
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Heed the Grass [Senryū]
the lawn blossoms:
attracting minds that never
paid heed the grass.
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PROMPT: Lose Track of Time
Reading, thinking, and learning.
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PROMPT: Bothered
The second half of the question is quicker and simpler to answer. Things bother me because I — through conditioning and petty impulses — allow them to bother me. I neither blame external circumstances, nor accept that said externalities can be responsible for my state of mind. I could remain unbothered by the things that bother me, with enough work to break engrained patterns. I should also note that I could choose to be bothered by a great many happenings that don’t bother or offend me in the slightest.
As for what bothers me, the list — sadly — remains many. That said, I don’t think it’s wise to broadcast the things that get under one’s skin out into the universe. Just like I wouldn’t announce if I had a gimpy knee or a weak jaw to a general audience that might include those who wish me ill. It just seems strategically unwise.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 