Category Archives: Essays

April 30, 2017

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 30 April 2017

By Kat Myrman


It’s been another interesting week. They’re all interesting in their own way, don’t you think? That’s what is so great about living and life. Stuff happens. We get distracted and busy and sidelined but the clock keeps ticking. Each moment gone in a moment never to return and we barely notice their passing. How sad is that?

Moments. What does one make of them if one even notices them at all? What makes them so special? You don’t have to answer. I’m just thinking out loud. (Or writing it out, as it were).

What I do know about moments is that when I am able to notice one, I breathe a little deeper, I often smile to myself, and I am overcome with a sense of wonder. It’s like the feeling you get when you witness a magic trick and all you can say (or think) is “Wow”. And then it’s gone. Just like that. Oh, there is another moment in the wings ready to be; ready to dazzle you, but it is not the same. Nothing compares to the moment you just had a moment with.

I’ve had a few of those kinds of moments this week. I’m having one right now, now that I think about it. Like fireflies in a jar, they pulse pale yellow-green and eventually fade. Fireflies aren’t meant to live in jars any more than moments are meant to be saved from dying. But that’s the beauty of it…and the wonder.

So savor the moment when you can. Let it warm you, inspire you, then set it free. There will be new moments to have a moment with, in the blink of an eye, in fact. I promise.

Peace, love and moments to you!

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 30 April 2017

each moment is a gift
If there is a message, what could it be?
Only once
fill jelly jars with fireflies
greyscale just won’t do
I think it’s time we got reacquainted.
what wonders do you behold?
slow, smoldering burn
…ultimately undone
what are you whispering for?
wispy pastel clouds of sweet fluff
demand to be
honey and tobacco tinged
in a loopy sort of way
include peaches and cherries
the fish are dying
my heart…it is ferocious
there is no stronger force than an empowered “miss”

~kat

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A shi sai or ReVerse poem is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the shi sai features the words of one writer,providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Shi Sai

April 28, 2017

Drupe – Friday’s Word Of The Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman


Happy Friday! Spring is in the air and I have a hankering for some drupe cobbler…or maybe even some drupelet pie! Yum!

But, drupe doesn’t sound very appetizing, does it?! Well, in botany terms one might say drupe. Most of us though, mere lay people, prefer our cobblers to be made with peaches or cherries and our pies made with their cousins (another lay term) blackberries or raspberries.

Dud you know there are also a few other drupes that are not fruity. Avocados, olives and coconuts. Yep coconuts! They are considered a dry fibrous variety of drupe.

But don’t take my word for it. You can learn all about drupes if you are botanically inclined. Here’s a LINK to Wikipedia.

Officially, according to dictionary.com a drupe is any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent middle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed.

The origin of the term comes from Latin for drūpa, druppa “olive, overripe olive” and was a term used only by technical writers, e.g., Pliny the Elder (a.d. 23-79). The Latin noun, a direct borrowing from Greek drýppa, was adopted by Carl Linné (in Latin Carolus Linnaeus) 1707-78, the Swedish botanist and naturalist, in his own scientific writings, written in Latin. Drupe entered English as a technical botanical term in the 18th century.

Oh…one more interesting note. I also found an application called Drupe developed for Android phones that allows users to access all of their contacts from their address book and social media with one swipe. I’m not sure what that has to do with drupes of the plant variety, except that the common feature of those drupes is a single pit or seed…and Drupe the app connects one to their circle of friends with a single swipe. Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but that’s all I got folks! 😊

I guess I owe you a Haiku. I apologize. It’s pretty lame. But then, what does one do with a drupe?! Have a great weekend!

juicy pitted fruits
include peaches and cherries
also known as drupes

I felt bad about that one…here’s another go…

Those who are fruity
in a loopy sort of way
might just be a drupe!

…I know, I know…still a bit of a drupe of a haiku…I believe Mercury shifts out of retrograde soon…thank goodness!

Okay…one more…

Soft red lips like drupes
honey and tobacco tinged
kisses, bittersweet.
~kat

6 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

April 25, 2017

Secret Place – NaPoWriMo 2017 #25

By Kat Myrman

sunbeam

i remember sunbeams streaming
through a hedgerow of cedar pine
my special hiding place to pass the time

lying on the cool earth dreaming
i’d converse with toads and faeries
fill jelly jars with fireflies

here I learned the world is teeming
with mysteries to be explored
a step outside an old screen door

a time of sweet imagining
just a girl with big ideas
oh, what a lovely time it was

those carefree days spent daydreaming
behind the cedars on the ground
where I could hide and not be found

~kat
For NaPoWriMo 2017 #25 – A Constanza Poem about my favorite small space when I was a girl of about 4 or 5. It was a corner cedar shrub garden in my Grandmother’s yard with just enough space for me to squeeze behind. Once underneath it was like a little cave of cool damp earth, green and sunbeams. It was my favorite place. Even after all these many years, if ever I join you on a nature walk, you might still find me having wandered off the beaten path, lounging in the hollow of a grove of low trees or shrubs. I never forgot my first taste of nature. It has defined who I am and how I view the world.

18 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Constanza, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

April 23, 2017

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 23 April 2017

By Kat Myrman


Happy Sunday! It’s been a soggy week here in the mountains. I love the rain, but in small doses…I need sunshine. Oh and did I mention Mercury’s in retrograde? Given that I’m a Gemini, mercurial to begin with, it’s a wonder I have been able to come up with anything coherent this week!

What that has meant is that things have been a bit wacky. This week’s ReVerse is reflective of that retrograde lunacy. It’s a bit nonsensical…which I suppose makes sense.

Mercury gets back on track on May 3rd. Until then, expect more spinning, sleepless nights and scrambled words. But I am not daunted. Writers write and I am determined to keep the words flowing, even if right now it is an annoying drip!

Have a great week! Keep moving forward…keep writing! 😜

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 23 April 2017

I wonder where you spend your nights
withering
rock-a-bye hush, the children sing
do you see them
booger butt, slobbery schmush
I couldn’t sleep
and truth was just an inconvenient blur
‘neath shallow skin-deep façades,
cursed are your fragrant blossoms
endless drops of rain
ultimately, “do no harm”
I thought, ‘how ironic is that!’
we should all be so jammy
it’s what lies beneath
she murmurs gently

~kat 🤔

A shi sai or ReVerse poem is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the shi sai features the words of one writer,providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Shi Sai

April 21, 2017

Jammy – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

jammy

Happy Friday! Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day is Jammy. Now, if you are living in the US you might be thinking that this word is a short version or slang for the word pajamas. And you’d be right.

Then there are our neighbors across the pond who define Jammy altogether differently. To be “jammy” is an enviable place to be indeed. It means to be “very lucky”.

Unless of course your referring to something that has jam, is covered in jam, or filled with jam…then saying jammy would mean something entirely different, like a jammy doughnut.

 

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Jammie Biscuits

I also discovered that there is a delicious British biscuit made of shortbread and a layer of raspberry jam called a Jammie Dodger. Note to self…if I ever happen to find my way across the Atlantic, must try these yummy “cookies”.

The word originated in the 1800’s in its English form. It is associated with several idioms that all relate to having an easy go of things…or luck: to have  jam on it “to have something easy,”  real jam or pure jam, “something  easy or pleasant.

As I consider the various uses we have for this word I am imagining how jammy I would be if I could spend the day in my jammies eating Jammy Dodgers. (with a cuppa tea of course!) Ah…bliss!

Here’s a haiku too. Now back to my daydreaming about being so jammy!

Jam, Jammy, Jammies

perfect job and life
we should all be so jammy
not stuck in a jam

~kat

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku