In an Ancient Town [Free Verse]

Tourists walk an ancient town,
Hoping a residue of its past
Will cling to them...

But not too much:
Not the plagues,
Not the torture,
Not the petty monarchs
& aristocrats,

Just some romantic notion.

DAILY PHOTO: Ambiguous Hour, Laajalahti

Is it sunset? Sunrise? Both? Neither? It was like this for an hour or so when I was in Finland during the Summer. Never getting fully dark.

DAILY PHOTO: Clouds & Mountain, Mt. Shani

DAILY PHOTO: Taoist Temple, Kaohsiung

DAILY PHOTO: Haghartsin Monastery

DAILY PHOTO: Cemetery Angels

DAILY PHOTO: View from a Cliff, Yehliu

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DAILY PHOTO: Gangtian Temple, Hualien

PROMPT: Hated Question

Daily writing prompt
What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

Being a traveler who lives abroad, the answer is simple: “Where are you from?”

As a traveler, I can’t grasp tribal / jingoistic people’s obsession with where one fell out of one’s mom, and it always feels a bit xenophobic — as though, noticing one’s foreignness, there is a rush to determine whether one is one of the tolerable foreigners or one of the really bad ones.

As an introvert, the question offends my preference to be talked to by people who have something to say, and to be left alone by people who are just playing out social programming with the objective of breaking silence that they find objectionable (but which I, as a rule, find delightful.) (Even being highly introverted, I can converse for hours with someone who has something to say on a topic that is neither themselves nor me — i.e. I love ideas but hate small talk and interaction for the sake of interaction.)

Plus, it just gets annoying being asked the same question sixty times a day when I’m in more remote parts — a question, the answer to which will be forgotten in three minutes and is merely sound for sound’s sake. In the unlikely event that one hopes to have an actual conversation with me, one must start with something that is not your culture’s default socially programmed question. One must get to at least the second most commonly asked question, a question varies from person to person (in my case, it’s: “Why are you such an asshole?”)

DAILY PHOTO: Colorful Lanterns of Taipei