Try it and see what you get

Stuck in l'embouteillage yesterday on the way back from POS.
Leather star hanging from my rearview mirror. Cement truck in front of my car.

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When stuck in traffic, if you have someone with you (and some paper and a pen), here is a possible game to play, to while away the hours. Try an example now (below) and see what you come up with.

What to do:
1. Think of and write down 5 random single nouns (e.g. window, field, etc.)
2. Once you've done that, scroll down this page. Don't scroll down until you've written those words down somewhere.

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3. Fill your words (in the order you wrote them down) into the blank slots to complete the poem:

Today when I woke up and saw the ______________,
I got goosebumps.
At once, I rose from my bed and went to the ___________.
A friend was there with this large _________ in her hands.
Giving it to me, she said: "Life is such a big _____________. Enjoy it!"
I smiled and danced around the ______________.

4. Feel free to put your completed poems in the comments. Would love to see what you've come up with.

I look into my glass of water

Location: Hotel Normandie
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A woman sings.
A man drums.
In my glass of water:
Vibrations.
Ripples.

When?

When use words?
When use silence?
When use action?
When use stillness?

Intimation

I sat
At your feet
And listened to you.
You spoke in the wind
And the leaves rustling.

There, with birds and time passing,
I came to understand:

You are bigger than this.
You embrace wide spaces.
You hold life within you.
You are home.
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Tomorrow we will go inside and the physical transformation will begin.

A second before (video)

Length: 32 seconds
Location: La Vega Estate, Trinidad
Shot on: Video function of digital still camera
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Shadows shift in the sun
Lightly
Naturally
Effortlessly
Changing
Releasing themselves
Never to be again
As they were
Before.

So why ...
Do we stay there in
What we thought
What we were
What we felt
What we did
What we said
A second ago?

Toco shadows (with haikus)

Paula (left), me (middle), Carol (right)

Stretching my body
Pulling down the sea curtain
Giving us some shade

Walking the tightrope
Fine line between sea and sand
Between shadow sun

“Where is her body?”

My levitating shadow
Asks of the ocean

Gush

(St. Lucia log)Oil spill seen this afternoon on walk back from beach and grocery.

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Rushing heart,
Gushing heart:
you spilled
your spell
and fell

I am the Divine's pet

As the Divine's pet,
I need not hunt.
I need not be snared by traps hidden in the forest.
I need not find myself wandering on lost roads.

I need not.

From the window the Divine watches,
Awaiting the moment.

The moment when I,
The Divine pet,
Return from my wanderings.

I call at the door.
Only once is necessary.

The Divine opens,
Lets me in
And everything is there.

Out of nothing

Out of nothing
I pulled something:

Ton
Hot
Thing
No
Goth
It
Go
In
Hint
To
On
Hi

Sitting here

This morning.
Quiet and surprisingly cool.
Swallows circle and play in the sky.
Nearby.
Birds are calling.
Varying calls.
Varying distances away.
Dogs barking.
Many different shades of green.
Never noticed how many trees!
I am above them, surveying from the upper verandah.
Cloudy spires.
Blue skies with some pink pollution in them.
Distant drone of traffic.

Living in the present

Maintenant
Je suis fatiguee
et mon lit est un nuage.

Je veux dormir.

Des anges,
comme des lumieres,
entre dans ma chambre

Ils restent avec moi.

Je reve d'un arc-en-ciel:
ravissante,
avec beaucoup des couleurs
et un fin d'or.

Et tu?
Peut-etre tu reves la meme chose.

Bon nuit.
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Now
I am tired
and my bed is a cloud.

I want to sleep.

Angels,
Like lights
enter my room.

They stay with me.

I dream of a rainbow,
charming,
with many colours
and a golden end.

And you?
Maybe you dream the same thing.

Good night.
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(Since I don't know the future tense yet, everything written here is in the present tense. Living in the now).

Beautiful thing

Found
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You opened yourself
Beautiful thing
In the midst of rubbish.

The eyes that saw you
Belong to hands that held you
And feet that walked wet sands
To bring you

To me.

To see.

To be.

Today it is hapening

Today is the Big Red Day
when something important happens
whether I see it or not
feel it or not
hear it or not
know it or not.

It is happening.

Shift

Every now
and then ...
a shift.
How can
I put
into words
what need not be said?
Only done.

Ocean

This week's Sunday Scribblings prompt is 'Ocean'

(Canada Chronicles continued)

Roaring subway.
Trains roll in,
Roll out again.
Rush hour tides ebb and flow.
No footprints left on
Sand-coloured sidewalks.
Clouds reflect in
Blue glass skyscrapers.
And we are driftwood.

Poetry on the way

(Inspired by the subway poems)

Shot of a billboard
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Walking down the street
I see the the bird that brought me here
whispering a secret to an open flower.
Her wings hum like the city
around me,
invisible.
Without listening,
I hear.
Without understanding,
I know.
The seemingly closed door opens:

New leaves

(In Canada)

Yesterday I felt that life has a fixed pattern of its own which is beyond our 'knowing'. There is a grand plan. Despite our best, worst or no efforts, what is to happen will happen anyway ... and it's best to be freed by this realisation.

Small leaves
Float down big rivers.
New leaves
Spring from trees.

Pieces of yesterday

Look at the photos and write one sentence/caption for each. Put them all together and see what your three-line poem is. When finished, then scroll down and see mine.


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A sunny day.
I planted my feet in the centre of the Universe.
Flowers bloomed.

Falling rain and pouis

Poui flowers stuck to my windscreen
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Today
Cool
Windy
Rain
Pouis
Fell

Busy

3:00 a.m.
My eyes fly open.

Awake in bed.

Darkness.
No birds singing.
Only the fan whirring.
Mind tossing.

I embark:
20 minutes of meditation.
Unstill, uncalm,
I shift
and shuffle
thoughts like cards.

4:00 a.m.
Time is slow
When it wants to be.

Finally the day grabs the sun
Out of the Universe
and puts it where it can be seen.

I get up.