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Entre Nous ;)

Just Chillin'...

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Just chillin'... time for some hot cocoa and a fudge brownie!!

Another memorial/funeral service yesterday for a dear friend; was invited to give a 5 minute talk where I shared 2-poems I thought might be appropriate:

God's Garden

(Unsure who the author is and I added 4-more lines of my own at the end)

God looked around His garden
And found an empty place.
He then looked down upon the earth,
And saw your tired face.

He put His arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God's garden must be beautiful,
He always takes the best.

He knew that you were suffering,
He knew that you were in pain.
He knew that you would never
Get well on earth again.

He saw the road was getting rough
And the hills were hard to climb.
So He closed your weary eyelids
And whispered "Peace be thine."

It broke our hearts to lose you
But you did not go alone…
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.

---------------------

One more step upon the covenant path
Crossing beyond this earthly veil with grace
Re-united with those who've passed before
Your eternal companion rushed to behold your face

---------------------

“On Marriage” by Kahlil Gibran:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

---------------------

I say another memorial/funeral because there have been so many... not all due to the pandemic... Another service next week (sigh).

Starting to get caught up on what turned out to be a year's absence from all y'all. Missed you. Missing a few more voices from what I can glean quickly. Hope to contribute a little here and thar.

I've been enjoying our local poetry group, such creative souls they are! We're lead by a local poet laureate who has come up with some fun projects and challenges.

So, yeah, been busy with church and poetry and such.

We had another fire nearby in 2021 that grew into a monster nibbling at Lake Tahoe's heels. The Caldor fire. We were 12-15 miles away as the magpie flies at its closest and prevailing winds were in our favor. We have been warned that our area is now at risk for major fires year round.

Snowmagedon began Christmas day 2021. Many in our community lost main power for 1-2 weeks. We were fortunate to be out only 3 days and got by with a 5500 watt generator... most everyone has generators up here but many roads became unpassable due to the millions of downed trees (from the unusually heavy wet snow) which are still being cleaned up, and there was only 1-gas station for fuel... and it ran out at least once. Getting propane for many was a nightmare too.

My wife has serious pain issues still. While Snowmaggedon raged she stayed at my daughter's home for a week and fell. Latest is she has 2-bulging discs in her neck and a stenosis which is a sort of narrowing I believe of her nerves... that adds to an array of maladies she already had that keeps us both from sleep.

My friend, whom I was trying to help keep independent, had another stroke during Snowmaggedon, survived, but is no longer independent and now in a long term care facility under his family's direction - which is for the best. I try to visit once a week... 24 hr Covid negative test - check; Covid shot - check; Booster shot - check.

Cut the cord on TV a while back. Maybe too prematurely as our internet here where I live in the Gold Country is terrible. DISH network wanted to raise our bill $50/month after having been a customer for 2-years. Since I already had NETFLIX and Amazon Prime I dumped DISH and added Disney+. So, we are streaming on smart TV's and it only takes 2-3 times as long to watch a movie (due to buffering)... when we have internet... which I think is a fine tradeoff. Maybe getting worse internet (satellite service) due to the sun's activity.

My health is ok, but I've gained back most of the weight I had lost prior to the COVID age... which is considerable.

Just a lark, if you will, of another of my poems recently:

New assignment: My *ekphrastic expression of a piece of Art on the Divide... a hen

* (”Description” in Greek. An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning. )
____________________________________

"it is impossible to imagine eggsistence void of any intelligence." - Kedar Joshi-Magpie


the eggsistential hen



"eggsistence was not only absurd, it was plain hard work." - Charles Bukowski-Magpie


; provided a roost and nesting box lined with daily fresh hay
I lay my eggs day by day by day by day...



"any eggsistence deprived of freedom is a kind of death." - Michael Aoun-Magpie


; an open coop by day to range free if I desire
yet I come gratefully in by dusk latched in to keep the beasts away lest I expire



"In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans; in one aspect of you are found all the aspects of eggsistence." - Kahlil Gibran-Magpie


; precious is the water daily provided
supplemented by rain and snow wholly not unrequited



"eggsistence must be asserted in the present if one does not want all life to be defined as an escape toward nothingness." - Simone De Beauvoir-Magpie


; with scratch and feed ever at my beak and claw
I seem to want... want for nothing at all


"eggsistence for eternity could get a little boring... especially towards the end."
- Woody Allen-Magpie


; for exercise there's a rooster who struts about the yard
whose cockscrow reminds us daily to henpeck him without regard



"eggsistence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece."
- Vladimir Nabokov-Magpie


; 'tis said my eggs are highly prized - much above the rest
sold at market to families whose victuals are daily blest



"eggsistence would be intolerable if we were never to dream." - Anatole France-Magpie


; and yet I dream, just once for a brood of chicks to nurture beneath my wings -
just like the good book says of Him for whom the angels sing



"eggsistence always helps those who live in tune with their nature!" - Ramana Pemmaraju-Magpie
[b]

; still I know I must produce the eggs our keeper has in need,
else end up in the pot myself... Godspeed!


"eggsistence itself is nothing if not an amazement. Good poems restore amazement."
- Jane Hirshfield-Magpie



; this poem was lovingly crafted and inspired from a piece of Divide art
praying these *tidings have given voice and done their merry part!

*tidings (rare) a group of magpies (lol)

2/17/2022

Hoping you've found the peace you so desire...

Entre Nous,

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor


Comments

  1. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    Silly... trying to edit so I copied my post in case it blew up and I get:

    You Are Banned
    You have been banned from our site for one of two reasons:

    You use an offline browser to download our site in mass. (NOPE)
    You use an ad blocking program. (NOPE)
    We do not allow offline browsers on our site. People use them to download the entire site which really puts a load on our server. Additionally they can be used to effectively steal all the work we put into placing these works online. If you're interesting in buying PDF files of the works on this site please visit http://www.online-literature.com/cd/

    We do not allow ad blocking programs for obvious reasons. Nothing in life is free, you pay for your access to our site by viewing the advertisements, if you choose not to view the advertisements then you're stealing from us. You will need to deactivate your ad blocking software in order to access this site.
    Your IP address is: 10x.16x.23x.7x

    (the x's put in to mask my IP
    address.... so now I can't edit the format error I made... so there ya go (sigh)
  2. Danik 2016's Avatar
    Hi, tailor!
    Welcome back (if you are back)!
    If you are having log in difficulties ( you know, no Litnet happiness without log in difficulties) try changing your browser. Changing from Firefox to Bravo( Google in disfraz) solved my log in problems. If that doesn´t work, try contacting Logos- which may still be around.
  3. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    Howdy ! Missed ya ! I've been using Opera browser and logging in has been no trouble since the spam wars (I remember having to use Safari for Windows at one point (lol)).

    I'm going to try to edit the post one more time to fix my format error after posting this. I think it was flagged because I wrote the post on the forum, not in an editor, then copied it just in case it glitched (like in the old days)... software prolly thought I was stealing content... even though it was my own (lol) and I wasn't stealing.

    Praying all is well... thought about you on your Birthday but didn't post (sigh). Anywho, I think I'm back. I've been known to take time off the forums before but this is prolly the longest. I used to look to this forum to jog my poetic creativity... but all but a few poets have left ... so I jumped at the opportunity when a local poetry group got started... and life just got in the way too (leave it at that). So, yeah, I think I'm back
  4. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    Nope...
    You Are Banned
    You have been banned from our site for one of two reasons:

    You use an offline browser to download our site in mass.
    You use an ad blocking program.
    We do not allow offline browsers on our site. People use them to download the entire site which really puts a load on our server. Additionally they can be used to effectively steal all the work we put into placing these works online. If you're interesting in buying PDF files of the works on this site please visit http://www.online-literature.com/cd/

    We do not allow ad blocking programs for obvious reasons. Nothing in life is free, you pay for your access to our site by viewing the advertisements, if you choose not to view the advertisements then you're stealing from us. You will need to deactivate your ad blocking software in order to access this site.
    Your IP address is: 16x.15x.18x.12x

    (sigh)
  5. Danik 2016's Avatar
    Sorry about your wife, I hope she will recover swiftly from her fall. As for your friend
    (Parker?) I think you did and still do what you can to improve his situation.

    About LitNet. Not only the poets but most of the regulars have become rare. I am on another forum too, but take an habitual look at LitNet. Am glad to learn that you enjoy good health and spirits in spite of hard times.

    Enjoyed the eggsixtencial poem!
  6. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    Thank you for your concern and for your feedback on my poem May try again to edit and get the format more appealing for the poem.

    Happily Parker is fine... she's had no recent inadvertent trips through the wash nor x-ray machines, though I've panicked a few times after misplacing her for a time... I sometimes think she's the real brains behind my poetry (I'll have to ask my imaginary psychiatrist about that )

    As jb said recently things go in cycles... perhaps there will an influx of new contributors over the years. I'd like to think that some of the old guard ghost us with their visits and secretly smile when they see a post they like or see that they've been missed. Happy to see you still drop by on occasion.
    Updated 03-08-2022 at 07:17 PM by tailor STATELY (jp>jb)
  7. Danik 2016's Avatar
    Oh, I thought Parker was your friend, whom you assisted and wheeled around on his wheelchair. Some confusion there!

    If you have difficulty in editing your poems there is always your own poetry page, which you have linked to one of your blog posts.

    Well, tailor, as you know I am no poet. I see you are on a frantic search after them. As you can see even the games and other old threads are soundly asleep. But If you want some friendly chat, you can always PM me. We are some sort of buddies after all. Birthday or no birthday, your visits will always be very welcome.
  8. Logos's Avatar
    Yes I'm still here
    Tailor, I'm sorry you got those banned messages, they are automatically generated for some reason(s) probably from other user's heavy spam activity in the past. Don't take it personally
    I've had a look in your registration info and there is nothing amiss there so please be patient and try again.
    cheers,
    /Logos
  9. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    Logos: De nada... Thanks for looking ! I knew it was a legacy issue Bug still there but I will keep trying on occasion. I'd rather have no spam and website protection than assuage my vanity.

    Danik 2016: Yes, Parker and Patrick, easy to see some confusion after all this time.

    Yes, I tried to catch up on all the poetry postings by others I'd missed... took less time than I had hoped... and was re-acquainted with other members' postings in the process through some older threads... miss them all. I think I'll dig deeper through time to read from my favorites, including some of the poetry "games" where I found my greatest challenges.

    Ah, my personal poem web pages... they need a general deep dusting off and updates. GAMMA is infrequently updated but still exists. Just started rounding up some of my old poetry on my laptops... they're in miscellaneous files. Putting them one by one in a Google doc called "A Gathering of Poems" which is separate from my ever procrastinated eBook "A Poet in Garden Valley". I hope to update my eBook .pdf from "A Gathering of Poems" and finally do something with it. (I owe my Sister a much belated copy which I print myself). Getting some ideas from our poetry group and associated library resources.

    One poem that I'm still tinkering with is in the form of a Pantoum that was suggested in our poetry group... started as a tribute to a dear friend who recently passed...

    An Eternal Perspective... a Pantoum

    Grief, such sorrow endured this vale of tears
    A small price to pay for our mortality
    Laboring between celestial spheres
    Choose to walk upon the covenant path

    A small price to pay for our mortality
    To be reunited with our Heavenly Parents
    Choose to walk upon the covenant path
    For death is conquered, Christ has paid the price

    To be reunited with our Heavenly Parents
    Let's look upon loss with spiritual eyes
    For death is conquered, Christ has paid the price
    Father, grant us revelation, that second sight

    Let's look upon loss with spiritual eyes
    May our tears turn to everlasting joy !
    Father, grant us revelation, that second sight
    Endow us with eternal progression

    3/3/2022 r. 3/3/2022 r. 3/8/2022

    An fb/church friend of mine stated "But we still miss their association", she having lost both parents within the last few years... so food for thought to flesh out the poem. I did run across a poem which was misattributed to Emily Dickinson, by Colleen Corah Hitchcock which starts "And if I go while you’re still here…" a beautiful sentiment that I want to explore.

    Be well, the two of you, and thank you for your kind words.

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
  10. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    duplicate
    Updated 03-09-2022 at 05:19 PM by tailor STATELY (duplicate)