DAILY PHOTO: Munshi Ghat, Predawn
Reply
POEM: Information Age Ailment
Screaming streams of information pelt all corners of the mind. Neurons are constantly flickering with flinches. Meanwhile, the body whispers its secrets in the hushed tones of a prayer uttered during a shootout.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Dead Leaf Mantis [Haibun]
This mantis pulls off the dead leaf look. Its abdomen mimics a leaf - desiccated and rolled up upon itself. A barber-sign slant spiral of veins add the perfect touch. Even once one notices the six thin legs, legs invisible to all but a piercing, hunched-over stare, there remains a period during which it is more acceptable to the mind to think of it as twiggy leaves than as an insect. Amid a litter of dead leaves, I'm sure my eyes would never land on this skinny bug, but even on a rocky outcrop that's perpetually swept bare by way of the breezes that whip and wrap around the mountain, it still seems more leaf than bug. a dead leaf mantis, standing in an unlikely place, yet my mind screams, "Leaf!"
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: The Ganges at Rishikesh
Subconscious [Haibun]
Couriers carry communiques from town to town in the country of me. These secret messages are unprojected, but couriers sometimes sneak peeks. Then, a summary can be read in an expression - a precis that could elsewise not be divined. An expression read from aspect of eye is a hint, and is as reliable as any hint -- which is to say, not very. A hint is subject to misinterpretation. It presupposes a common language, a lingua franca that doesn't exist because one side has no language and the other is afflicted by the arrogant assumption that all things are understood via language. shooting signals snap through the unmapped spaces of my mind
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Sunflowers [Haiku]
sunflower field, stretching to muted hills, smiling warmly
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Boat in the Bay
Image
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Sunrise in the Karst Labyrinth [Haibun]
The sun rises; its fiery form flares in the slit between monsoon skies and rocky monoliths. The crazy array of karsts, pillars, and islets block this bright amber flash from most angles, but here the light aligns with eye. A golden walk painted on the rippled surface stretches to the boat's bow. A thousand boats won't see this rising fire, but this one did, this one time. the sun squints beneath thick clouds, painting a line to us
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
BOOK REVIEW: When the Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson
When the Sparrow Falls by Neil SharpsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Out: July 8, 2021 [June 29, 2021 some places.]
The Caspian Republic is a Soviet-style dystopia, but set in a future in which it is the sole holdout against rule by Artificial Intelligence (AI,) against virtual living, and against downloading one’s consciousness. When, Nikolai South, an unimpressive agent of the State Security agency is given the seemingly undemanding, yet diplomatically sensitive, job of escorting the foreign widow of a deceased “journalist,” something is amiss. Nikolai’s work philosophy has been to find the sweet spot where he is neither noticed as a shirker nor for his excellence, and his mastery of this Goldilocks Zone has made him nearly invisible to upper management – or so he thought. What makes the job tricky is that the journalist, a man who wrote rants against AI and downloading of consciousness, turns out to be a downloaded consciousness, as is his wife, making her visit a little like the head of the Dalai Lama Fan Club being invited to Beijing.
I found this story compelling. The book perspective jumps toward the end (throughout most of the book, it’s first-person narrated,) but for the most part the perspective shifts aren’t problematic. While this shift away from first person narration isn’t hard to follow, I would say this section goes on longer than I would have preferred. There is a point about two-thirds of the way through at which we lose the the thread of Nikolai, and at that point the story becomes largely a history of a fictional country (which, sans a central character, is a bit tedious,) but then the book resumes a character-centric story to the book’s end (and I resumed enjoying it.)
If you’re interested in books that make you question what being human means, and where the boundaries lie, you’ll find this book intriguing and worth reading.
View all my reviews
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Guangdong Assembly Hall Gate
Also called the “Assembly Hall of the Cantonese Chinese Congregation.” Taken in December of 2015 in Hoi An.
