Category Archives: Shi Sai

June 22, 2025

day 171 – drama in the foothills

I need a ReVerse…can we have a do-over?!

in the deep, I am forever
(as) the dust settles 
a gentle prodding
you cannot wish our souls away
wrapped in grace and trust…
insanity reigns

~kat

The natural world is not always rainbows and butterflies. But it is a just and fair cycle of life. Sometimes I get a front row seat like today.

The day started like it usually does. A perfect summer morning. A bit of a breeze, which is always fragrant this time of year. This morning I detected a hint of honeysuckle. One of my deer friends came by to say good morning, so a tossed her a bit of corn to munch on. I had some errands to run…before settling in for a little cat nap.

And that’s when I saw him, a magnificent red shouldered hawk perched a few yards away from the bird feeders. It was clear that the finches, cardinals, wrens, tits, cowbirds, and mourning doves had sent out the alarm…best to take shelter…danger from above. (Ironic, isn’t it, that humans in various locations are exercising a similar practice these very days…but for much more selfish, malevolent reasons…power, greed, and hate…but I digress…)

The hawk, though his shadow from above scattered the smaller critters here in the woods, he was not being hateful or vindictive, or even monstrous. He just had an empty belly to fill, and the felled tree trunk beneath him just happened to be home to several smaller rodent-types. Field mice and chipmunks, snakes and lizards. I know he has harvested birds on occasion…the splattering of feathers is a dead giveaway.

But today poultry was not on the menu. He was looking for a snack (I suspect this because there were 1/2 a dozen squirrels collecting seeds under the feeders, and he was not interested in the least.) I stepped away from my window seat for a few minutes and when I returned, he was gone, either bored from the blight of fresh options or he had found what he came for. To my delight all the birds had returned to the feeders, the squirrels were beneath catching the seeds that dropped to the ground. And I thought, what a lovely glimmer…life goes on.

But that was not the end of mother nature’s glimmer show today. Soon a turkey hen made her way to the feeders to pluck seeds from the ground…and to my surprise and delight she had a young chick I tow, showing it the ropes on this little acre in the foothills.

She even introduced it to the red clay hill nearby and showed it how to take a dust bath. Life does indeed go on!

One more…a video of the hen-chick spa day!

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

2 Comments | tags: digital art., digital photography, Glimmers, Poem a Day, Poetry, ReVerse, video, week in Reverse | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Spirituality, Videography, Week in Review

June 1, 2025

day 151

By Kat Myrman

A Reverse Poem - a look back at May

trust is a powerful thing
to extinguish the darkness
destruction in its wake | survival of the richest
secrets haunt their keepers
reality has swung the sickle
chaotic
precisely because it scares me
some gave their all
flower petals and shallow roots…
roses in the air
sadly, out of tune
morning in the foothills…full of grace
and the trees…

~kat

As we start a new month it is fitting to glean the previous month’s offerings and select a line from each to develop today’s ReVerse Poem. May was a whirlwind! Things on the world stage are out of sorts with norms. Dealing with it requires more and more of us.

Much love, peace and glimmers to you.

~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 here as a review of the past several weeks.

2 Comments | tags: digital photography, Glimmers, Poem a Day, Poetry, ReVerse, Week in Review | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Week in Review

April 30, 2025

NaGloPoWriMo – 30 April 2025 – The ReVerse…and glimmer day 119

By Kat Myrman

NoGloPoWriMo April 2025~The ReVerse

mother of my mother
may the fates grant me a few more years
the pillars on the hill are toppling, tumbling to the ground
you ask what…and I ask why
i wake up to the sun at dawn
underneath the juniper trees
a splash of summer
I don’t need pennies for my thoughts… 
death himself leaned in, posthaste…
this moment will be over soon
i hear it was here
cold and dreary…it’s grey
there is no middle ground on which to stand
it’s raining helicopters and jets
It’s exactly as we planned
may she rest in pieces 
it’s not normal how normal things seem, 
a day lost, never to be
recovered 
they know where I live
I saw kids playing ball, people
I smiled intentionally 
it’s not junk
if love were a tree
until the truth is impossible to know
it’s not as bad as you say it is
people who say they love us, choose them
we don’t miss what we don’t know
destroying democracy is not enough
celebrate love and the dead
what you see is what you get
instead, join me in the bliss
come to fetch me…
as our souls begin to spill out,
just in time to watch the sun rise…

~kat

Wow! What a grand poetry month is was! And what glimmers to boot! And here we are at the end 100 days of madness…1,361 days to go. It may as well be forever…it may just be forever. But for the glimmers, and community, and spring’s greening embracing us, the constancy of the seasons and kindness. There is kindness.

I will continue my 365 day journey of glimmers and poetry. These 30 days were a nice detour, forcing me to focus my usual random thoughts and musing to align with prompts. It’s been a good moth of words. May we always finds the words to say what needs to be said.

Much love, peace and glimmers to you…and speaking of…the blackberry bushes are blooming! Enjoy!

5 Comments | tags: Challenge, digital art., digital photography, Glimmers, NaGloPoWriMo2025, Poem a Day, Poetry, ReVerse, week in Reverse, Week in Review | posted in 2025, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, napowrimo, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Week in Review

March 30, 2025

day 88 ~ a ReVerse Poem

By Kat Myrman

a ReVerse Poem ~ Sunday, March 30, 2025

we see the smoke billowing, blotting out the sky
liberty mourns for her children
death moans lazily
it was great for a while
there once was an old gal who rarely got sick
forced me to choose, I chose | to speak truth to power
overwhelming to bear
in my little world
call her what you will
winter is lingering
a dawn visitation
nature sings her song of spring
you cannot break us, not today

~kat

Interesting, challenging times we’re living in. It’s a time when writing this blog, and especially chronicling the truth of what is happening in my country feels like a bold act of resistance. These days other, more vulnerable people (due to their citizenship status) are randomly singled out by masked vigilantes (I don’t believe for a minute that these people are actual legally deputized law enforcement) and disappeared from sight to god knows where with no due process or recourse. It gives me pause. It should give all of us pause. In a matter of roughly 2 months the America I knew has been given over to criminals armed with the power to dismantle checks and balances, safety nets and systems, as they set the stage to coronate as dictator king, a felonious, serial predator, and liar who seeks to colonize and rule the western continents alongside his comrade with like motivations in the east.

I keep asking myself if I’m overreacting as ignorant, maga lemmings chide me that it’s not that bad, certainly not as bad as when “other” democratic leaders flanked the helm. It’s madness…or maybe I’m just mad, as in insane, but also as in angry as hell and incensed by it all.

So…I’m still here, and will continue use my voice, chronicling what it feels like to experience the end of a democracy. When this year began I determined, for my own sanity that I needed to deal with the fear and angst I was feeling. I found a life-changing article about glimmers. As a refresh…

Glimmers are small moments of joy or peace that arise from appreciating simple things like the colors of a rainbow, the scent of a flower, or the sound of the rain.
Glimmers and triggers are opposites in that glimmers spark positive feelings while triggers spark negative ones.
The practice of noticing and appreciating glimmers can cue your nervous system to relax and have a positive effect on your mental health.
To increase the odds of noticing glimmers, spend time in places that nourish you, connect with people you enjoy, limit screen time, and practice mindfulness.

Read more about glimmers and how they came to be here. Apparently the concept has taken off everywhere. I had no idea at the time I was joining a movement by focusing my little blog on sharing my glimmers with you. (Glimmers in the air…or the water perhaps? 😉) But here we are, and so it is…and most importantly, so it will continue. I have found that I cannot live without them.

Tomorrow we head into national/global poetry month. My daily focus will remain “glimmers” with the added inspiration from daily prompts. Rest assured I plan to keep the glimmers coming. And I hope you too to take up this practice. We need glimmers now more than ever.

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨💚✨✨

5 Comments | tags: digital art., digital photography, Glimmers, Poem a Day, Poetry, ReVerse, Shi Sai, week in Reverse, Week in Review | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Week in Review

March 2, 2025

day 61 – a ReVerse…well that was a week!

By Kat Myrman

A bright crescent Moon dancing with Venus
~ kat 2025

a ReVerse…well that was a week!

history repeats itself
though nuanced variations can shift 
it’s a quandary I’ve wrestled with
dreams of youth pending
deep breath…deep breath
as chaos churns
the birds are singing | people will perish
an attempted murder, two crows in a tree
it’s a murder now, two crows are three

~kat

It was the art of the steal…oops I meant deal…(wink) on display for the world to see this week. A mafioso-styled set-up meant to obliterate a genuine, humble leader, an ally, complete with a bad-cop hillbilly goon to rough up the mark, appeasing the Don, to cry foul when the truth was revealed. We all saw it clear as day. A shifting of alliances exposed, and the deal that never was meant for peace tossed aside, lauded as good TV for a delighted audience of one leering from his tower in the S.U., while his puppet danced awkwardly, the strings we all suspected finally exposed. The grand hall rats were waiting in the wings of course, ready to spread the toxic prepared talking points. “The nerve! The ungratefulness! Disrespectful! What was he wearing? No suit to meet with the greatest president in the history of presidents in his hallowed Oval Office! The audacity! No deal!??! No peace!” though it is becoming increasingly clear that peace was never, nor will be, part of this or any deal.

I feel the need to apologize to the world for this terrible mess even though I didn’t vote for it. I fought for the truth…and continue to fight. The truth is that truth died a long time ago. We are no longer the United States of America. We’re anything but united. Relegated to red bleeding into and obliterating blue. But over half of us are blue…we know at least that to be true. Sharpie scribbled maps…gulf of ‘merica, red, white, and blue land, gaza riviera, u.s. canal…please don’t trust us. The deals our leaders propose are laced with poison, self interest and malevolence. I stand with you…I stand with Ukraine…with Canada…with the Palestinian people of Gaza…with Mexico…with Panama …with Greenland and Denmark, and all other people’s and nations who find themselves the object of, and in the cross-hairs of our horrible leader’s lust for power, self aggrandizement, bigotry, hate, and cruelty. History repeats itself, obvious to those of us who know history. This is what ignorance breeds. This is democracy dying.

The only glimmer I can muster these dark days is this…this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine…

Peace, love, and glimmers to you.

~kat

10 Comments | tags: digital photography, Glimmers, Poem a Day, Poetry, ReVerse, week in Reverse, Week in Review | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Week in Review