Tag Archives: life

PROMPT: Phase in Life

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Daily writing prompt
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.
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I guess it’s a confession of antsiness to admit that I haven’t experienced such a time. I left home a week before my high school graduation ceremony. I never gave reenlistment serious consideration when I was in the military. There was a several year gap between my undergraduate studies and my first graduate degree. I’ve never left a job teary-eyed.

If it’s the case that everyone experiences such a time, then mine is yet to come.

Let it Float [Lyric Poem]

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Sans fear of dying,
 The angst of trying
   Is felt and left
      To float.

“Worldly Place” by Matthew Arnold [w/ Audio]

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Even in a palace, life may be led well!
 So spake the imperial sage, purest of men,
 Marcus Aurelius. But the stifling den
 Of common life, where, crowded up pell-mell,

Our freedom for a little bread we sell,
 And drudge under some foolish master's 
   ken
 Who rates us if we peer outside our pen --
 Match'd with a palace, is not this a hell?

Even in a palace! On his truth sincere,
 Who spoke these words, no shadow ever
   came;
 And when my ill-school'd spirit is aflame

Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win,
 I'll stop, and say: "There were no succour
   here!
 The aids to noble life are all within."

PROMPT: Gifts

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Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

As a kid, my first non-hand me down bike, a bright yellow and blue trimmed BMX bike.

Now the really interesting question is whether there was anything special about this gift, or – rather – it came at the height of the appeal of gifts for me, an appeal that faded into adulthood and is virtually nonexistent in the present day. (no pun intended)

“Sorrow” by Edna St. Vincent Millay [w/ Audio]

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Sorrow like a ceaseless rain
   Beats upon my heart.
 People twist and scream in pain, --
   Dawn will find them still again;
 This has neither wax nor wane,
   Neither stop nor start.

People dress and go to town;
   I sit in my chair.
 All my thoughts are slow and brown:
   Standing up or sitting down
   Little matters, or what gown
      Or what shoes I wear.

Quest [Lyric Poem]

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Is it every person's dream
   To be what one is,
   And not what one seems?

Or would one rather be
   The creature of one's dreams --
   Who no one ever sees?

Or should one be the best
   Of real and imagined:
   The host and the guest?

How much of who we are
  Is the views of others
      And how much is ours?
      (And is any of it 
      Written in the stars?)

PROMPT: Dream Home

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Daily writing prompt
Write about your dream home.
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I think Chōmei said everything that need be said on the matter — and more eloquently than I would — in Hōjōki [i.e. 10-Foot Square Hut.]

For elaboration, see…

HERE

PROMPT: Ideal Day

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Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.
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Hiking in the mountains (at most, low- to mid-VHE [Very High Elevation].) Wake at sunrise, walk, pitch camp before sunset.

PROMPT: Perspective

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How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?
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I’m getting more at ease with Death by the day. In a broader sense, it’s progressively easier to not get worked up over the everchanging and unpredictable nature of the world.

Swimmingly [Free Verse]

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Swim through the world
      - effortlessly -
  Don't crave speed;
  Maximize the glide.

With each stroke,
  Sail as far as the limbs
      will send one.

Don't thrash. Don't splash.
   Don't gasp.
 
Feel the catch. Feel the pull.
   Don't let short, wild motions
      exhaust one.

Breathe!

Be wary of drag.
   Put less effort
      into propulsion,
   And more into streamlining --  
   Shoot through the void,
      without struggle.

Never lose sight of the value
      of a good glide.