Dear friends:

I regret to advise that as blogger no longer works with my browser, I am now going to have to migrate elsewhere. I am therefore suspending my posting for now. I will post the link to the new blog when I have it.

Thanks for reading,

Lee

Edit:  After considerable fiddling, I managed to slip in my April 20 post.

I will continue looking for an alternative site, but this may take some time.

Thanks for reading,

Lee

Fabric: Holding it Together

Tired,

Ever so tired

Because it’s time

To go to bed

But,

I got caught

On words and thoughts

Related to my busy day.

There’s so much

Going on inside my head

And I’m not sure

How much longer it will get,

One word

Leads to another,

One thought,

Piles upon another,

I keep finding my way out

Only to find

My way

Back in again,

Forgetting and

Remembering my place,

Accomplishing a little

And then lost in thought once more,

Awaiting the finish

Of my computer’s

Latest virus scan

Before retiring,

Watching the numbers

Flash upon the screen,

‘Too slow!’ I fume,

Before turning away

And writing this poem.

Eyewitness: Life of the Party

What to do,
When cheering
People up
Is your business

And you’re feeling
Incredibly glum?
Buck up,
Old chum!

There’s nothing else
That can be done
But pull oneself up
From the latest slump,

To rise up
With a roar,
Dance back and forth
Across the floor,

Thumb your nose
At your troubles,
Blow away your woes
Just like bubbles,

Let them rise
Into the sky
And burst by and by,
Leaving no trace as they fly,

Take no notice
Of the gloom,
Jump up and down
Until noon

And soon
You’ll forget
About all your upset
And boogie once more.

Eyesight: Sailing the Briny Deep

Fire and brimstone
Me hearties!
As everything’s
Gone mad again!

It’s too far to go
To get what I want
And so, I’ll have to
Fight on, for what I’ve got.

Not sure what’s the point
But I’ll soldier on anyway,
Because life’s just
This way:

If we go forth unchallenged,
We get flabby and lazy,
If we have no obstacles,
We resolve into gelatin,

Thus we have to struggle
If we’re going to succeed
At staying afloat
On the rolling sea,

Hence, it’s
Look alive
Me hearties
And climb up into the rigging,

Setting the sails
And tacking
For as long as
The headwinds blow

And then, taking a rest
When the sun sets
In the west,
Providing the winds settle at dusk.

Eyewitness: Involvement

Out of touch,
As, so busy, busy,
Flitting about
And getting lost
In so much

But still
Getting by,
Getting jobs done
And having fun,

Tripping over
Technological glitches
But finding temporary fixes,
Even though it’s so annoying,

Injecting humour
At every turnover,
Sharing mirth
And establishing worth,

Running around
From store to bank,
From bank to store,
From store to phone and out again,

Losing the plot
But accomplishing a lot
Of related tasks
In spite of delays and obstacles,

Learning fast
From mistakes
And missteps
And making progress,

Then impatiently waiting
But turning towards the impatience
And enjoying the process
Of observation.

Eyeful: Fully Energized

Fully energized.
Could it be
Because it was
My last day on, for a while?

Or is it spring?
Or is it
Just some unexplained
Accidental exuberance?

But either way,
It’s purely physical
And so, not much
Is happening here.

All is quite mundane,
No cause for alarm,
No grievous harm
But only charm;

The charisma lava
Flows on,
From some unknown
Or hidden source;

Here for a time
And evaporating again,
Falling as rain
And laughing down the drain;

And it seems as if
There’s less pain
But no loss, no gain
In any other frame;

I’ll just keep going then,
As long as I can
Until it’s time
To move on.

Eye: Turn Towards

Here I am again,
Pounding away
At this crummy keyboard,
I’d like a better one, one day,

All day long,
I listened to the radio,
More on the world
But little good news;

I searched my brain,
For something positive
In what I heard
But little occurred to me;

Turning attention
To my reaction,
Noticing the feelings
And the attraction;

Pulled by the energy,
Which feels good by itself,
Never ceases to amaze me,
What a difference that makes.

It’s such an uncomplicated practice
To which I keep returning,
Whenever I get lost,
It comes to my rescue.

If only the world’s problems
Could all be solved
By such a straightforward technique,
In which we all got involved.

What would that be like?
I’d sure like to see,
If we all practiced together
In this simple way.

Exuding: Grumping Along

Valleys and peaks,
My back feels better
But my head aches
And my hands shake.

Looking for remedies,
Then enjoying the relief,
Sunny days
But not getting enough sleep;

Motorcycle roars outside
But the air is fresh,
Irritated by the noise
But attempting to ignore it, I do my best.

Hearing men shouting
And the slamming of car doors,
Returning my attention once again
I carry on with my chores.

These interruptions
Would not be so bad
If I was really interested
In my tasks

But my mind wanders,
As if searching for a break
From these monotonous duties
That make little sense.

Having grumped about it,
Now that’s out of the way,
I can get back to it
And into something else to say,

Looking forward to
A good night’s rest,
Can’t wait to get home
And put my feet up at last!

Exuberantly: Change

Isn’t life strange?
All of a sudden
My nose runs
And then it rains!

Pigeons come
And pigeons go,
Seagulls fly,
Swooping high, then low,

Good news
And bad news,
Travels far
Across the airwaves;

The sky
Clears again,
Just in time
For the sun to set;

I can’t get it
Together yet,
How all the bits
And pieces fit;

And yet, they do,
No matter what,
The words and the spaces,
The honours and the disgraces,

Fame and ignominy,
War and peace,
Sleep and waking,
Turmoil and ease,

Onward and upward
And down again,
Sinking through the floor
And bouncing skyward once more.

Exuberance: As Far as We Can Go

‘When finally I get
What I need,
It’s always a case of,
Too little, too late!’
I complained.

But then,
As I considered further,
I concluded,
‘Tis always thus!’

No matter
How far
We travel,
We always have further to go,

Too far
Is never
Far enough
For us;

Even the Buddha,
When he came to
The end
Of his long life,

Hesitated
On the threshold
Of final release,
Reflecting that
There was
So much more
That he could do,
If only, he but dallied
A while longer

But, “no,” he decided, at last,
He had to go,
To move on,
As do all of us.

Extroverted: Succinctly

What a mess!
Why all this work?
Where does it lead?
Nowhere, as far as I can see;

So much frustration and effort
For nothing,
Just to make
A handful of dollars,

Would it not
Be better
To work for nothing
For myself?

And yet,
Would it be
Any less frustrating
Or any more profitable?

Alas, I fear not,
Going out on one’s own
Is such a risk
And requires many resources,

No one is independent
Of circumstances
And they need to be just right
In order to succeed;

And where will this end?
When will this project cease?
With my end, I suppose
Whatever that is. . .

Put succinctly: Everything and everyone
Is bound
By circumstances
And yet,
Everything and everyone is free.

Extroversion: Looking Outward

What’s on tonight?
The same old thing
Going into work
And coming home again,

Listening to some news
About war and injustice,
Efforts to bring peace
And reduce the general unrest, without success,

Major swings in the world’s
Economic fortunes,
Money changing hands
Through the electronic counters,

People crying for justice,
While powerful nations
Sit it out and wait
Watching the course of fate,

The hand wringing never ceases
But no action takes place
As the violence picks up the pace
And refugees race to escape the devastation,

It’s a puzzle to me,
How anyone can be free
When nobody does anything
To ensure it comes to be,

My compassion grows
For all those
Who’ve gotten in the way
Of the bombs falling every day,

May they all find refuge
From this terrible situation,
May we all find a method
To put an end to the carnage
Before it’s too late for all of us.

Extrinsic: Pressed

Feeling just
A little bit tense,
Due to recent events
Set in motion,

Not sure
How it started
Or who
Is ultimately responsible,

But, in any case,
I’m jittery
And my back is sore
From holding tension there,

The muscles contract,
As if preparing
For some sneak attack,
From behind my back,

Which coincidentally
Is how it feels,
When one gets caught
In between the hub and the tires;

I feel as if
I’m getting squeezed
Between the wants of others
And my needs;

Difficult to please,
That’s how people are
But that includes me
I suppose,

How people ever manage
To get along
Is a mystery sometimes,
The answer to which
Nobody knows.

Extricated: On the Way Home

Busy day:
Shooing pigeons
Off the balcony,
With the old, red-handled string mop,

Now, making breakfast
And out to the market
And back again,
To put the groceries away;

On and off
The phone
And then,
Made a list for the pharmacy,

Off I go again,
Enjoying the mild weather,
A pleasant spring day;
Don’t get many as comfortable as this!

Walking about with ease,
Watching the grass green
And new shoots
Of vegetation gleam;

Everybody’s energetic,
The sky shouts, “come and get it!”
This beautiful blue
And the sun shining too!

But instead I get stuck
In the store,
As I cannot locate two items
And only find one after a long while

And then the store
Has some peculiar accounting,
Which takes time to figure out before,
I’m finally out the door and heading home.

Extremity: Looking On

Probing the edge
Of what I can do,
Listening to the news
And wondering who’s who,

How do we tell,
What are the right causes
And which players
Are speaking the truth?

From so far away
It’s difficult to see,
What is really happening
So remotely,

Looking on from here
It’s so easy to do so
So passively,
Tapping into the audio-visual stream,

Wondering where we are really going
As opposed to the official version,
Wars and conflicts and politics,
It’s enough to make one sick!

And yet, it’s peaceful here
At least for now
And in this locality
But for how long will this be the reality?

Does this make for
A complacent mentality
Leading to
Even more fatalities?

What can we
Really prevent?
Or can we only look backwards
After the events?

Extremely: Pigeon Pie?

It’s pigeon mayhem
Around here,
Someone has fed them
And they just keep coming

And so, out I go
With my string mop
To the balcony
Waving it like a lance,

These irritating, messy birds flee;
Thus, every time I see
One of these filthy creatures,
Out I go,

Perhaps this is a hint
That I don’t get out enough
Or have not been exercising much of late
But I sure am now!

It’s not difficult
To remain mindful and alert
And get a good work out
When these villains come to call,

In addition, however,
I’ve been contemplating
Pigeon pie
And pigeon stew

But could I really do that?
Perhaps not
But if this keeps up
Who knows,

Maybe I would acquire a taste
For such and set some traps out there
But hopefully they will soon move on
And we won’t have to find out.

Extreme: Working Uphill

Getting late
And I’ve still
So much to do
But I need to sleep too,

The minutes
Tick by
So fast
And don’t last

But this
Is hardly news,
I’m just so absorbed
In my woes,

Angry thoughts
Split the darkness
Inside the mind
Like shards of glass,

Have to calm down
And get it together
But keep going over
The central matter

Like spokes
On the wheel
Or bats
Flocking,

All the problems
Go around
Or cluster,
As if mocking

My efforts to
Get them under control
Seems about as futile
As attempting to halt a snowfall,
Still, I try anyway, tackling all.

Extraordinary: Keep Going

Sometimes
The words
Tumble out swiftly
Like water from a tap,

Other times
They drip
Very slowly,
Like tree sap,

And after all that
Barely meet
My standards
For what’s appropriate,

Nevertheless
I stumble on,
Keeping up
The pace,

Growing with every poem,
Whether easily,
Or only after searching diligently
For every word and rhyme,

Whether greatly disturbed
Or with peace
And ease,
Well pleased,

Through ups and downs,
Zooming forward
Or falling backward,
Experiencing painful reversals,

Struggling along,
Requiring many rehearsals
Before finally deciding
What to say,
Before revising it again another way.

Extrapolating: Application

Weather change,
Gave me another migraine,
Happens almost every time
We get a big shift like this.

Experimenting with
A new way,
Devised after
Listening to a talk on supernatural powers,

These allegedly demonstrated
By
Certain Theravadan,
Forest monks;

When asked how he
Was able to ‘walk through’
Solid objects,
One monk supposedly replied,

That he merely
Concentrated on
The air element
And passed through,

And so, I reasoned thusly:
The disturbance in the atmosphere
That causes my difficulties
Could be construed as

A disturbance in the air element;
So, what if I concentrate on that?
And so, I imagined becoming one
With the air element.

A mist seemed to descend,
All appeared transparent,
And I began to relax
And the headache melted away.

Extrapolate: Preparation

Here we are
In April again,
Round and round
And back again,

Nothing much
Is happening here,
Same old chores,
Same old fare,

Preparing for work
And performing
Same old
Necessary duties

But all things considered,
Grateful even
For the monotony,
As have seen much worse;

Pain management strategies
Continuing to work,
Nevertheless, from the effort
I can never shirk,

As what's around the corner
Remains unknown,
Must remain vigilant
For whatever may go down,

Wondering how much longer
I will be around
And what will remain
When I am gone,

Will the old world
Still be here,
Or will it finally
Disappear?

Extraction: Pain Management Smörgåsbord

Experimentation
With food remedies,
To ease my pain
Has produced results,

Vitamin D:
Positive effects seen
On arthritis foot pain
Within six months;

Jalepino peppers:
Less foot pain again
Three months
And counting;

Raw fresh ginger,
In foods and drinks
And even straight up
Three times a day,

This oddly-shaped root
That grows
In exotic places
Produces amazing results:

Less pain in the joints,
Less achiness
Over time
And only after six weeks;

But yet still
The best remedy of all
Seems to be regular exercise
And a regular schedule with regular rest,

A tall order sometimes
But helpful
When possible
Nevertheless.