Category Archives: Essays

June 7, 2020

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 7 June 2020

Sculpture: Melancolie in Bronze by Artist, Albert György located in Geneva, Switzerland, photographed by Mary Friona-Celani of Buffalo, NY.

This week has been a bit exhausting. Emotionally. So I only have a few lines of reverse today. I wrote a few other pieces that never saw this blog, full of angst and snark. But nobody needs that. Not this week. Not ever. Black lives matter. And please don’t tell me all lives matter, because I don’t believe you. As long as we live in a society that judges people by the color of their skin, it’s clear we need to be specific. Black lives matter.

Keep safe. There’s still a pandemic out there. Be courteous. Wear a mask. And please be kind to one another. Peace and love all.

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 7 June 2020

on the wind
I am a glimpse, a breath
I can’t begin to understand
they gathered in peace
there can be no peace
healing from trauma / a population asleep

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary 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 ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.

7 Comments | tags: digital art., Poetry, ReVerse, Shi Sai, week in Reverse, Week in Review | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Week in Review

May 31, 2020

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 31 May 2020

By Kat Myrman

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” ~Mr. Rogers

I used to think this was a lovely sentiment for the late Fred Rogers, meant to calm our fears when the world grew dark and scary. “Look for the helpers…” These days the “helpers” are harder to find in the midst of a pandemic when we cannot trust the words and actions of those in the highest ranks of our government, when those charged with serving and protecting us are fatally flawed human beings who act on the vile depths of hate and prejudice toward people of color, when the greatest nation who once welcomed the refugee now separates babies from their mothers caging them, causing lifelong harm, when our children are expected to bear the burden of our spineless inaction by enacting active shooter drills in schools, when our commerce-driven government believes the bottom line is worth allowing the vulnerable, the sick, the old among us die so that others may get a haircut, gather at rallies and throw back a few brews at the local bar. Who and where are the helpers in a time like this? What good does peaceful protests, what good even does burning our cities to the ground do, when the helpers are dwindling among us, because we all need help right now. We are all broken.

I don’t have any answers and it makes me feel helpless and sad. It has been a bad week. Now over 100,000 people have died, many of them alone, from the virus in the U.S. 100,000 that we know of. It’s impossible to know the true cost because we have no idea how many of us have the virus. And no less significant, the world watched in horror as one black man was murdered in broad daylight by a policeman, while three others stood by…helpers but not the good kind. This has been happening for too long. Too long. I don’t have any answers. All I do know is this. Enough. Enough. Enough.

Stay safe, be kind, keep each other safe. It’s all I know to do right now. I wish it were more. Maybe it could be if enough of us do it. Maybe it’s time for each of us to stop looking for the helpers and be the helpers that we seek. Peace!

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 31 May 2020

evil comes in phases
I don’t venture far from home
it was too much
I don’t miss normal
the nest abandoned, no time to mourn…

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) 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 ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.

5 Comments | tags: digital art., Poetry, Shi Sai, week in Reverse, Week in Review | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Week in Review

May 24, 2020

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 24 May 2020

By Kat Myrman

It’s Memorial Day weekend in America. A time when we remember the sacrifice of those who gave their life in service to our country, specifically those who wore a uniform in military service. It is right and good that we do. That we set aside a day to remember, in gratefulness and awe, their sacrifice to protect the liberty and freedom, the right to pursue life and happiness, that we hold dear.

But I wonder, what is liberty and freedom in the days of Covid 19? What are our rights in this life of new normal? It’s not so much about rights, my rights, but rather what is right and good. I have been inspired these many weeks of sheltering in by a new army of selfless servants. The healthcare workers, the restauranteurs who cooked takeout, the grocery store workers, the mail carriers, delivery drivers, trash collectors, power company employees, the supply chain employees that kept essentials flowing and us, rolling in things like toilet paper…who knew that would be a thing? I wonder if the powers that be will designate a day in memory of these tireless heroes. Some gave their all…it is right that we do.

In the meantime, even as I remember our military heroes, I pause to honor these new heroes. I do it in small ways everyday…by thanking them, by being kind, and by wearing a mask when I am out to let them and others know that I care about keeping them safe. It’s the least I can do because freedom and liberty are not about my rights to pursue my own happiness to the exclusion of others. Freedom and liberty is not about my right to get a haircut, to have my nails done, to pack into corner pubs to have a drink, or to get in the face of others mask-less, spewing hatred and disdain, indignant that anyone would dare try to fence us in, to tell us what we can and cannot do. This is not freedom. Freedom and liberty only work when everyone is safe and well. Freedom is exemplified by those who gave their all, whether on distant shores in combat or on a very different battlefield in selfless care and concern for others. We’re not there yet. Sometimes I wonder if we will ever get there. But I know each of us can do our part. It’s what I choose to do. It’s the least I can do. I embrace my power to be kind, considerate, grateful, and in awe of the selfless heroes around me. What freedom! What liberty! What happiness!

Be safe and well my friends. Have a wonderful week!

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 24 May 2020

morning will be here before we know

air, cool misty, damp

into the empty

bare limbs brushing the clay

finding joy in quiet moments,

in the eye of the storm

~kat

4 Comments | tags: digital art., digital photography, freedom, happiness, liberty, Poetry, ReVerse, Shi Sai, week in Reverse, Week in Review | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Week in Review

May 10, 2020

Another Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 10 May 2020

By Kat Myrman

It is week…oh I don’t know. Pick a number, 1 to 100, it doesn’t matter, any number will do, because the weeks run together now. No Monday morning angst when a day is like the one before, or the next. No hump day celebrations, anticipations of TGIF, no weekends, no Sunday day of rest. There is only sunrise and sunset, sunrise…sunset…sunrise…sunset.

If ever there was a time to learn to breathe, it is now. If ever a time to cherish the moment, to fall into the abyss of mindfulness, it is this. Sunlight streaming, a cool breeze tossing emerald treetops, the sparkle of dawn’s first light.

They call it the new normal, but I don’t want to be normal anymore. I’ve had a taste of the life I once left behind working overtime week after week after week, forgetting that I had a life once, or could have if only I had made room for it.

They are a gift, these blurry days that never seem to end but for the relentless cadence of day into night into day into night and again. I breathed just now, slow, deep, inhaling, exhaling. Truth. I am learning, with nowhere to be, that here is all I need and now is all that matters.

Have a lovely now my friends…look! There goes a butterfly.

Another Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 10 May 2020

when we reflect on how it was
dawn emerging through the trees
it took a tragedy for our broken hearts to mend
i can’t help myself, it’s an obsession, yes, i know
but I’m not sure they’re who they claim
there’s no sleeping in, no lingering
day after day, and instinct

~kat

5 Comments | tags: digital art., Poetry, ReVerse, Shi Sai, week in Reverse, Week in Review | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Week in Review

April 26, 2020

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 26 April 2020

By Kat Myrman

Another Sunday, another week ahead, work from my home office/bedroom. I am grateful to be working. I am grateful for this shelter to shelter in, I am grateful that those whom I hold dearest on this earth have remained thus far untouched from the virus and are safe.

But oh, it is wearying to live with danger lurking just beyond the door. I wonder what will become of us if we break quarantine too soon. I wonder if it’s just a matter of time before we all get the virus. I wonder what life will be like on the other side, because the truth is, we’re just biding our time, doing the best we can, until this is over.

This has been a crash course in living in the moment, because that is all any of us truly have. I’m grateful for this moment. I’ve taken up a new practice. When I cannot sleep, I don’t count sheep; I count my blessings one by one. They offer me a glimmer of hope even on the darkest of nights.

Peace all! Keep safe. Stay well.

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 26 April 2020

sometimes I see it flash as I pass by
the changing tide, the ceiling cracking
a veritable lament
the wind sighs
normal’s not normal anymore
unless you’ve been living underneath a rock
there beneath the juniper tree
the night looms black

~kat