Month: Feb 2023

We drove across the Pennines

O

We drove across the Pennines East to West
Hoping to extend our holiday
Snow fell down till once black crags were dressed

Imagination should foresee such tests
Fierce as polar storms ,as mad as prayer
we drove across the Pennines East to West

We passed through Bakewell did not stop to rest
Buxton was far worse with snow like may
Snow fell strongly ,oh wild crags were dressed

See these visions, travel if you must
See the sea freeze .see ice in Lyme Bay
We drove across Great Britain East to West

Now it’s North to South as Brexit asked
Hear the people swear and curse and bray
Snow fell till the people lost all zest

Now my love has gone, the car’s not here
Crushed to a flat metal I can’t steer
We drove across the Pennines and we laughed
The sheep stared out, the crows cawed at half mast

Let lips meet gently

Let your lips meet gently,

the top one resting against the lower,

touching with tenderness

your own skin to skin.

Forefinger propped on chin,

I let the others dangle,

like leaves on a branch;

how softly gravity tugs them downwards.

Let heart beat quietly,slowly

as the blood circulates

carrying its music,

a river,

following the path of least resistance.

How the blood vessels receive willingly this flow,

touching it kindly as with tiny open fingers,

helping and being helped.

How the hair on the head

floats

on the breeze,

like tentacles of an octopus

waving goodbye.

Top eyelid loves the lower one;

as we blink they touch

like lovers kissing swiftly

behind a tree.

and how the light comes in

we see a world.

[mine may not be yours,]

but the blink of my eyelid

sends waves through the air,

so we’re all touching and being touched,

lips kissing each other,

kiss all living creatures.

skin to skin.

air to air.

And inside us,the rich darkness

of creative night

transforms,in turn,

these touches

into dreams.

Happiness- is it usual?

www915578_677494075723807_1586045350618218828_n

Why are there so many books on happiness and yet less actual happiness?
I like this piece  by Amy Bloom in the  NYT. I find reading reviews makes me happy.Men make me happy of they are humorous.Women do because they converse well.And peace and quiet make me happy.

I’m so happy

Not to be a baby in a nappy.

I feel so blue

When I miss you

I don’t want a lover.

Too much bother.

I like to be alone

Just me and my comb.

Shakespeare was a poet

I know it

And I am not

I quite forgot

As I felt gay

All  of today

I’ll be sad

Or maybe mad

as rotation

is the human situation

OMG!

Related articles

 

No mirror, no reflection


No mirror for reflection in his mind
He says whatever suits that moment’s wish
Thus he is to truth disabled, blind

Pride and power make all of us unkind.
But reflecting deeply shows us what’s amiss.
There’s no mirror for reflection in his mind

In phantasy, we get what we design.
But fancied love won’t give a fleshly kiss.
We are to truth and justice surreal,blind

To find the truth we cannot be malign
Must view with horror what we once dismissed
Who can use those mirrors in their minds?

Judging of our leaders is no crime;
For we judge our selves and that is less than bliss
When leaders lie, the world is undermined

He has no self at all, if all’s his wish.
Inevitable,catasrophic, the abyss
He has no space for mirrors in his mind
Now he is to wisdom doubly blind.

Hold them gently

I put the broken pieces of my heart
Into a dish of diamonds and gold charred.
But metal is no match for flesh
And hearts don’t need a fancy dish
So now I hold them gently though I smart.

The pain’s familiar yet it seems more raw.
A tiger scratching me with sharpened claw.
Oh.god give me grace today
For I cannot pray.
And death hangs with its huge open maw

Enough with finding ‘the one’. Let’s become better at loving the people we already have

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/13/enough-with-finding-the-one-lets-become-better-at-loving-the-people-we-already-have?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Because love is something we do not something we find

Enough with finding ‘the one’. Let’s become better at loving the people we already have

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/13/enough-with-finding-the-one-lets-become-better-at-loving-the-people-we-already-have?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

In between two raindrops

Some evenings, the sky turned pink

We were happy, lying in the grass

watching the sun set,

arms around each other.

Seemed like everlasting life had come

Earlier than forecast
.
Those weathermen are often wrong!

They need new training.

I shall remember you

in that timeless moment

in between two raindrops,

in between two tears

No words existed in its welcome hold

Struggling in the black of sinking sands
As I heard of when a little child
I gave up hope and let myself descend

My garments as a mourner I did rend
Death itself was shown me and beguiled
Struggling in the black of sinking sand

Far away from loved ones ,with no friend
The suffering of the past seemed almost mild
I gave up hope and let myself descend

I felt from every heaven I had been banned
With demons  of the Nazis  in exile
Struggling in the black of sinking sand

I am not inclined to make demands
Yet then  a mystic light caressed my soul
I  had lost my hope and feared  the end

This  golden light  enwrapped me like a stole
No words existed in its welcome hold
Struggling in the black of sinking sands
I was lifted out by  unknown hands

 

The Old Latin Mass

Tantrum ergo,rhodedendrons…..

We used to have Latin at Mass.

And later we learned it in class

Tantrum ergo

We must forego

As the Church built a new and bright bypass.

We used to sing, Credo in unum.

But some of us sang, Cried in your one.

Our soles were all healed

Partitions were sealed.

Et qua nostalgia nos animadvertum

Hum

Emotional responses to interpersonal rejection

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734881/

A great deal of human emotion arises in response to real, anticipated, remembered, or imagined rejection by other people. Because acceptance by other people improved evolutionary fitness, human beings developed biopsychological mechanisms to apprise them of threats to acceptance and belonging, along with emotional systems to deal with threats to acceptance. This article examines seven emotions that often arise when people perceive that their relational value to other people is low or in potential jeopardy, including hurt feelings, jealousy, loneliness, shame, guilt, social anxiety, and embarrassment. Other emotions, such as sadness and anger, may occur during rejection episodes, but are reactions to features of the situation other than low relational value. The article discusses the evolutionary functions of rejection-related emotions.

Seven Great Novels Written By Poets ‹ Literary Hub

https://lithub.com/seven-great-novels-written-by-poets/

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This is a very interesting article and one reason why I like it is because of poets who write novels are probably well acquainted with the literature and their skills of observation, notice small things that we don’t always see ourselves and and the command of the written language is probably sophisticated.

The one area where poets may not the best writers of novels is that they may find dialogue hard to create.

We all have limitations in what we can observe because we grew up in a certain culture a certain social class if British.

I had a religious upbringing and although I no longer believe in the way that I did because I don’t think you can prove the existence of God logically find my unconscious mind is still very much affected by that and I’m not sorry about that.

I don’t live it what we call sacred to the about load as defined by the Catholic church there are many things that we can call sacred. Love or friendship can be sacred.

It’s always useful to read somebody else’s opinion about a writer of novels because there’s a lot published and we can’t we all them and we don’t want to waste our time or money

My grandfather was quick with advice, but it’s a poem about self belief that stayed with me

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/10/my-grandfather-was-quick-with-advice-but-its-a-poem-about-self-belief-that-stayed-with-me?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

What causes cognitive decline: it’s not all dementia

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/cognitive-decline-predictors-besides-dementia#Identifying-predictors-of-cognitive-decline

Since dementia only accounts for 41% of cognitive decline then the rest of it is caused by factors which you can improve by for example exercise going for a walk also you can can you use your brain more by trying to learn a new language or like chess learn how to do arithmetic faster. That’s useful in the supermarket to estimate how much money spending as you walk around, learn to cook something different don’t always eat the same things go to the same places use the same routes to get somewhere try to do some of these differently at least once a week because otherwise your mind seems to get into a rut.

Even if you have got dementia you can still improve your brain because 60% of the cognitive decline is not due to dementia.

I have observed that someone with dementia will have worse symptoms if they are very anxious. I promised to see somebody and then I had to go to the hospital. When I contacted her later she was much worse than usual. She accused me of having a letter which said I was not going to see her. But as soon as I said I am here I’ve been to the hospital and I couldn’t phone you.

Immediately to return to her normal condition and we were able to have a talk and

I read her my poems that she liked about Essex and burning the stubble

She flattered me where’s her comments and tell me I should not keep my poetry for my own secret joy I should publish it.

And then she use the phrase my own secret joy which seems to be is definitely not a cliché but something original which she had this sort of most of her mind was fine