When Daniel Boone goes by, at night,
The phantom deer arise
And all is lost, wild America
Is burning in their eyes.
“Daniel Boone” by Stephen Vincent Benét [w/ Audio]
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PROMPT: Failure
Daily writing prompt
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?
If one fails and one tries again, one will make course corrections. Keep repeating that cycle, and one is bound to home in on success.
Psychologically, I think juggling is a fantastic skill to practice because one must fail a million times and keep going. Furthermore, one must learn to choose failure over a spastic success (and condition that behavior in on the fly.) By this I mean, one must learn to let the ball drop rather than lunging to make a frantic catch, because if you are always making wild reaches, you’ll never achieve a smooth, natural rhythm. In other words, a catch that keeps the ball in the air for one or two more throws is not truly a success if it trains a wobbly, unsustainable movement pattern. More generally, one must redefine what constitutes success or failure at a fundamental level.
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Riderless [Senryū]
riderless horses
race across the pasture:
finish line unknown
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Hawkweed [Haiku]
Hawkweed blooms
beside a creek that sparkles
with summer sunlight.
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DAILY PHOTO: A Hazy Day in Xian
Image
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FIVE WISE LINES [March 2025]
Would the world ever have been made if its maker had been afraid of making trouble?
george bernard shaw, PygMalion
Refrain from talk of others’ shortcomings; don’t rest on your strengths.
Thousand Character classic [千字文]
[罔谈彼短; 靡恃己长.]
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
george bernard shaw, Man and superman
A child is the most reliable measure of time. His daily growth is proof of your daily ageing and decline. The child’s gains are your losses, and the closer a child gets to anything, the farther you withdraw, as though you were tied to one another on opposite spokes of a wheel and the wheel, without your noticing it, turns. Dawn for the child is dusk for you.
Otar chiladze, A Man was going down the road
We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.
George bernard shaw, Pygmalion
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“To Tirzah” by William Blake [w/ Audio]
Whate'er is Born of Mortal Birth
Must be consumed with the Earth
To rise from Generation free:
Then what have I to do with thee?
The Sexes sprung from Shame & Pride,
Blow'd in the morn; in evening died;
But Mercy chang'd Death to Sleep;
The Sexes rose to work & weep.
Thou, Mother of my Mortal part,
With cruelty didst mould my Heart,
And with false self-deceiving tears
Didst bind my Nostrils, Eyes, & Ears:
Didst close my Tongue in senseless clay,
And me to Mortal Life betray.
The Death of Jesus set me free:
Then what have I to do with thee?
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Trampled [Haiku]
beside the trail:
a trampled dandelion
springs back, slowly.
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DAILY PHOTO: Rocky River
Early Spring [Haiku]
lake shimmer;
Spring sneaks in early --
trees still bare.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 