solo bird flies
over sprawling waters
with upside down mate.
Solo? [Haiku]
Reply
DAILY PHOTO: Ghanta Ghar, Lucknow
Image
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Gateless [Lyric]
![Photograph of a gate at Kothi Gulistan-i-Eram [कोठी गुलिस्तान-ए-इरम] in Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh, India.](https://berniegourley.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/img_7619.jpg)
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.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Soul Deaf [Lyric Poem]
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.)
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Complain
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.]
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Wat Hosantinimit, Vientiane
Image
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Favorite Sports
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.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Shadowlands [Haiku]
BOOK: “The General in His Labyrinth” by Gabriel García Márquez
The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García MárquezMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Penguin
This is a work of historical fiction by Gabriel García Márquez that tells the story of the last days of Simón Bolívar as the revolutionary hero attempted to flee Latin America toward exile in Europe. (Bolívar led a big chunk of Latin America to independence from Spain and ruled over Gran Colombia — a country that included Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and parts of other adjacent countries.) The story covers a trip up the Magdalena River from Colombia’s interior to the coast and on to Santa Marta, where his trip (and life) would end. [FYI: The title comes from words Bolívar spoke slightly before his death when he was putting together his will in which he said, “…How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?”]
There is some contention about the degree to which the book is historical fiction verses a historical account. It seems there are some fictionalized elements, but because García Márquez leans into the degree to which Bolívar was quite ill during this period the book may be more accurate in some ways than more hagiographic accounts.
The events of the story took place in 1830, and the times present an interesting contrast to our own as Bolívar travels to places that have not yet gotten the news that he is no longer President and treat his visit as one would that of a head of state.
At the book’s end there is a brief epilogue by the author as well as an extensive timeline of Bolívar’s life. The latter is quite useful because this book covers only a short period of time, though one of is great interest.
I’d highly recommend this for readers who enjoy literary fiction and / or are interested in Latin American history.
View all my reviews
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Boats on the Mekong, Luang Prabang
Image
Tiger Riding for Beginners 