PROMPT: Bothers

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Daily writing prompt
What bothers you and why?
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I once got a masala cookie beside my coffee at a cafe that took itself way too seriously. What’s a masala cookie, you might ask? It’s treachery, I say. It sits on a plate pretending to be a delightful sugar cookie, but without sugar or sweetness of any kind — just salt and a spice mixture. It was supposed to bring out the notes of cherry, chocolate, and… Blah, Blah, Blah. You know what would bring out the notes of chocolate in the coffee, some fucking chocolate in the cookie — that’s what. You can’t just impersonate a cookie and expect anyone to tolerate that level of betrayal. I certainly don’t want to live in such a world. That’s it, the only offense of recent years that I haven’t gotten over. A few years after it happened, I walked by that place and saw that the cafe had gone out of business, replaced by a Hello Kitty phone-case store. Good! I hope the owner and staff have moved on, putting their liberal arts graduate degrees to good use, teaching at community colleges as they should, rather than terrorizing the public with pseudo-cookies to make their overpriced coffee seem more of a bargain. I’ll end my rant here to go sit with my trauma.

Innercity Magpie [Haiku]

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sidewalk amblers
 pass within inches
  of unruffled magpie.

The Flower That Reaches [Senryū]

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Hibiscus
 reaches for pollen; though
   pollen is nomadic.

DAILY PHOTO: Kowloon from Across Victoria Harbour

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“Limits” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [w/ Audio]

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Who knows this or that?
 Hark in the wall to the rat:
 Since the world was, he has gnawed;
 Of his wisdom, of his fraud
 What dost thou know?
 In the wretched little beast
 Is life and heart,
 Child and parent,
 Not without relation
 To fruitful field and sun and moon.
 What art thou? His wicked eye
 Is cruel to thy cruelty.

PROMPT: 10 Things

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List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

1.) Nothing is permanent.

2.) The world is not what it seems.

3.) One’s subjective experience is not determined by the state of the world.

4.) Nobody grasps enough truth to be intolerant.

5.) Uncertainty is the root of all fear.

6.) Fear is the root of all hatred.

7.) Hatred is a subjective experience (See #3.) Also, uncertainty is the root of all hatred (by the transitive property,) hence the benefit of travel.

8.) Any who: a.) has suffered a string of hardships; b.) allows themselves to believe that some “other” is wholly responsible for said hardships; and c.) who lacks a sufficient sense of self-empowerment to avoid surrendering entirely to a group identity can (and likely will) become a Nazi (or the equivalent of their day.)

9.) No one can predict the future. [Regardless of how much we all love to try. (See #5.)]

10.) Entropy increases (ultimately, in a closed system.)

NOTE: I remain ready to abandon any certainty in the face of better information.

Bell Pavilion [Haiku]

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Summer night: 
 bell pavilion - silent,
  but for cricket chirp.

DAILY PHOTO: Side Streets of Seoul

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“Crossing 16” by Rabindranath Tagore [w/ Audio]

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You came to my door in the dawn and sang; 
   it angered me to be awakened from sleep, 
      and you went away unheeded.
You came in the noon and asked for water; 
   it vexed me in my work, 
      and you were sent away with reproaches.
 You came in the evening with your flaming torches.
 You seemed to me like a terror and I shut my door.
 Now in the midnight I sit alone in my lampless room 
   and call you back whom I turned away in insult.

PROMPT: Security or Adventure

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Daily writing prompt
Are you seeking security or adventure?
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Not sure what to do with this one. It reads to me much as would, “Would you prefer air or water?”