Tag Archives: poetry

History is simply

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the life my mother lived
A vintage, ornate black sewing machine on a wooden table with a classic iron treadle base. The image of this bygone domestic 'timepiece' serves as a visual element for a poem exploring history and nostalgia during a trip to Penang

and the life she did not
A classic, red, and chrome-plated jukebox with an illuminated bubble-top, a visual reference to a bygone era of music. The image captures the nostalgia of 'old melodies' and serves as a visual element in a poem about history and memory in Penang.

crunched close by curation
into sequence not choice
as if that taste 
nostalgia on my tongue
wasn’t paid by her
whom i sometimes glimpse
on Sunday visits
behind faded eyes

rushing into the rain

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this is the part of the walk I mark
when the sky grumpy all afternoon
could just as easily clear

that instant when
it could still be fine or storm
familiar as your up or down
daily attending that turn
from balmy to squall 

that instant when 
it growls and downs its load upon 
the families scurrying for shelter

that instant when
i go the other way
rush into the rain
as I have always 
fallen into your pain
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Sunday at the Manulife Nets

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grandpa and ma
will bring them to the Jewel
this weekend

at the entrance they will display
4 tickets to the nets
booked hastily for some time
when promises were forever
because parents are free
and children good at bouncing back

A photograph of adult and child on a suspended, bouncy rope net high above the ground at the Manulife Nets attraction in Changi Airport.

What money cannot buy

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losing your partner after 60 years
loving your partner for only 30
    but so finely you can no longer
    tell which days were which
    and must mourn as if
    for every one

yap

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he was a awfully small dog
with an awfully large voice
we were already riding 
President Salazar's train
from Porto to Vesuvius
within earshot of
an Australian entrepreneur
so we hardly noticed
A small, scruffy terrier mix dog with its mouth open in mid-bark, paws on the window sill, looking out of a moving train. The window frames a lush, green valley in Portugal, with a river winding through rolling hills, capturing the dog's enthusiastic reaction to the scenery.

 

potocari rain

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A's eyes seemed filled with tears
    that do not fall
at Dutchbat he escaped the chaffing
    by bare weeks
13 is an unlucky number here too
when the March for Peace is mentioned
    they light up for a moment
the other time this happens
    I think I had asked a stupid question
and then they twinkled 
    part pity part indulgence
i’m sure it’s not because he’d seen
    anything new under the sun
A stylized, high-contrast, vertical photograph of the dark, pitted wall of the battery factory at Potocari, which bears the scars of the Srebrenica Massacre. The image serves as a powerful backdrop for a poem that tells the story of a survivor, a poignant detail that adds a layer of personal history to the post.

                                       @the battery factory, srebrenica-potocari memorial centre

Botswana Beauties: Baby

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too young yet to savage his own feed
before puberty promotes him to 
that other list of african fives
with the vulture the warthog 
the gnu and the marabou
perhaps it's not a face
that only a mother would love
A photograph of a young hyena pup partially obscured by tall, dry grass in Botswana. The pup is looking directly at the camera with a cautious yet curious expression. The image challenges the common perception of hyenas as ugly, visually representing the post's title, 'Botswana Beauties: Baby'.

Botswana Beauties: Gwyneth

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red-billed oxpeckers love their
gwyneths long-legged and graceful
she gets the daily exfoliation at five
they get some nesting overnight
but not before she slides in
a sundowner at the corner watering hole

A beautiful photograph of a tall giraffe standing gracefully in a sunlit field in Botswana. A small oxpecker is perched on its neck, a detail that visually represents the theme of 'daily exfoliation' mentioned in the post. The symbiotic relationship between giraffes and oxpeckers is a classic example of mutualism. Oxpeckers, small birds, feed on ticks and parasites found on the giraffe's skin, providing the giraffe with pest control. In return, the oxpeckers get a readily available food source. This relationship benefits both species.

A humorous and intimate photograph of a giraffe with its front legs splayed and neck bent low to drink from a waterhole. The giraffe's reflection is perfectly captured in the water, creating a symmetrical image that contrasts its usual graceful posture with a moment of comical awkwardness.

Bhutan Series: Karma/Paro

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A photograph of a multi-story Bhutanese temple built into the side of a steep, wooded cliff in Paro, Bhutan.

 

Karma is deprived the driver’s seat
when the engine stalls in the morning chill
we take a substitute car to faux Eagles Nest
where we must wait too long for a meal
he’s glimpsed only once more that day roadside
at cordyceps store where we do get a good deal

Bhutan Series: Ugyen/Gangtey

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Ugyen brings the blessings
in the monastery 
where a couple of hundred
bucks buys lunch for each monk 
I make a faux pas serving meat
to the proto vegetarian

Ugyen brings the blessings
in the morning
we wear travel braids 
for three days fortune
just past the pass we toss old apples
to a lucky langur family

A photograph of three young Buddhist novices in red robes, sitting on a wooden floor and eating from metal bowls inside Gangtey Gonpa monastery in Bhutan.