DAILY PHOTO: Cheonggyecheon [청계천] Greenery

Fake Snow,Real Cold [Haiku]

fake snow from
fountain spray in wind;
the cold is real.

PROMPT: Most Scared

Daily writing prompt
What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

A self-administered lobotomy.

Having to watch MELANIA.

Solo? [Haiku]

Photograph of an egret flying over the Gomti River in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.
solo bird flies
over sprawling waters
with upside down mate.

DAILY PHOTO: Ghanta Ghar, Lucknow

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Clock tower, Ghanta Ghar, in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Gateless [Lyric]

Photograph of a gate at Kothi Gulistan-i-Eram [कोठी गुलिस्तान-ए-इरम] in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.
A Wall -- one may love or hate.
But picture one without a gate.
It is our ever-present fate
to need to see from either side.

Soul Deaf [Lyric Poem]

This mural is in Lucknow, India. I believe it's by Jace, and -- if not -- it is certainly styled after his work.
As I've traveled around the globe,
I've felt the music from some souls --
Those who exude, in part or whole,
a secret and sacred rhythm.

And when their tunes did call to me
I felt a yearning to be free
to dance and sing, if out of key,
yet ever so resonantly.

Who could have known that I'd go deaf.
With ear to ground, nothing was left.
It felt like a horrible theft
from all (and yet received by none.)

PROMPT: Complain

Daily writing prompt
What do you complain about the most?

The state of the modern world. Increasingly, I feel humanity has jumped the shark.

Years ago, I heard someone wise use the term “information inflation” to describe the fact that we were so awash in information that each piece of information became virtually valueless. [Not to mention that with so much information it becomes harder to distinguish quality information from junk information or quasi-information.] I think we are now treading water in an ocean of [mostly shit] information and quasi-information, and the exhaustion is setting in.

This makes people crave simplicity, which would be great except that we often try to simplify the complexities that must be accepted to have a bit of tolerance and humility.

[The one thing I learned in years of education involving policy is whenever anyone says, “This problem would be so easy to fix, all you’ve got to do is ____________.” that person has no idea what he is talking about and is completely blind to the challenges, complexities, feedback effects, and externalities of the issue at hand.]

DAILY PHOTO: Wat Hosantinimit, Vientiane

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Photograph of Wat Hosantinimit in Vientiane, Laos -- a Buddhist temple located near the Patuxay.

PROMPT: Favorite Sports

Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

I would gladly watch free-form survival games, such as the Hunger Games or the Running Man, if such sports were actually available in my viewing area. As for playing, I like darts.