Category Archives: Life Lessons

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 2 October 2016

It has been quite a week! Friday’s word of the day pretty much sums it up for me. It is Testudinal, meaning tortoise-like. It gave me an opportunity to introduce you to my tortoise Flash. He’s an interesting fellow. And it also got me thinking about the way tortoises deal with danger or stressful situations. 

Whenever Flash senses danger, he pulls his legs and head deep inside his shell becoming like an anchor-less disk that can be spun around and slid across the floor. He might think this is a good alternative to getting hurt, but by trying to take control of his own safety, he actually loses all control, making himself more vulnerable. 

Hiding from our problems doesn’t make them go away. They’ll be there waiting for us when we come out. They might even be bigger than we left them. 

This week presented itself, as all weeks do, with highs and lows. It is my choice, always my choice to face each moment as it comes, right there in the moment, or to push it into an “I’ll deal with it later” place. But that’s not living life to the fullest. 

Each moment is sufficient in resources that will allow me to respond, clearing the way for me to move forward to the next moment, and the next. If I am presented with sadness, I should grieve; injustice? I should channel my anger for good; love? of course I should accept love and love in return; happiness? I should let myself be happy. It’s a choice. Every moment we get to choose whether to embrace life or retreat. Don’t let fear take you for a spin.

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 2 October 2016

it’s times like this that I want soup
with an icy smile
and a broken heart
she lets you believe
yes you can
when home’s your anchor
carrying other’s burdens
tell me, where were we when lightning struck
guided by twin stars in the night sky
never count him out
let’s not run from
this storm

~kat

The Shi Sai, (formerly known as a ReVerse) is a new form I came up with during Poetry Month in April 2016. I’ve actually been writing shu sai for years but was inspired to give it a prooer name. It is a poem created by taking one line of verse from several poems of an author’s own collection. The shi sai is done as a review of a series or collection of poems and therefore, each line should flow in chronological order of the dates the poems were written (from oldest to new). The lines chosen should be the author’s favorite from each poem. This form works best if the author resists the temptation to read the full new poem before all the verses have been added. (It helps one to resist the impulse to change a line to make it “fit”.


Selfless

gracious but unwise
carrying other’s burdens
forsaking one’s own.

kat ~ 28 September 2016

This haiku in response to Haiku Horizon’s Weekly Challenge, prompt word: Carry.


Leaving Home

 

image

There is strength to leave
to pursue one’s wildest dreams
when home’s your anchor.

kat ~ 28 September 2016

This Haiku in response to Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge, prompt words: Home/Leaves.


Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 25 September 2016


Happy Sunday to you! Today’s Shi Sai hit me between the eyes the moment I read it back to myself. Not literally of course…words don’t jump off pages or computer screens smacking us literally, right? Except, I am feeling smacked just the same.

I followed the rules this morning when lifting the verses, choosing a favorite line from each post from the previous week, listing them sequentially in the order written. My rules. But sometimes I don’t like a particular line once it’s merged with the others. I am tempted to revise it to make it “feel better”, to make it fit. But I don’t, and I didn’t today, even though I absolutely hated the last line:

there can be no peace

This is not what I believe! It’s not what I hope for at all. Today’s Shi Sai does not work at all as so many of them do, I thought. But I was wrong.

I read each line again, knowing that each one would lead me back to that parting unsettling line. It just didn’t feel right, but I decided to surrender to the process. This time as I read the verse back to myself I reflected on where I was and what I was doing the previous week.

The truth is, these lines are just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is, I spent the week, as I do most, caring deeply and being involved in trying to make the world a better place. It’s not immediately evident in these lines (that iceberg thing) but I was particularly “vocal” in my activism (not here necessarily, more so in other social media forums) and the distress I feel over the hate, violence and ignorance that I perceive in our world.

I struggled with this. I struggled because I started to think my words didn’t matter. That maybe I should just stop speaking my mind and do what is expected: silently comply, don’t rock the boat, don’t point out the truth, because in doing so you’re disrespecting someone else’s right to their own version (aka opinion) of it, because nobody really cares what you have to say anyway…you’re just wasting your words and your breath…just post selfies and thumbs up, smiley faces and throw in a few inspiring memes for good measure. If you really get stuck, a cute cat video will bring you back to…reality?!! Smack! Right between the eyes!

I finally scanned this week’s Shi Sai one more time, but I couldn’t wait to get to that last line. “There can be no peace.”

Of course there can’t! As long as there is injustice, pain and suffering in the world, there can be no peace for those of us willing to call it what it is; willing to care enough to want to do something about it. There can be no peace for those of us who seek and see the truth. It’s important for us to say, “the emperor has no clothes” or “this is wrong” or “that is a lie” if those things are true because some of us are asleep and some of us sadly don’t care, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.

The final line in this week’s Shi Sai is not about shattering or denying my hope for peace. It is a personal charge and an answer to the question I’ve been asking myself all week. “Does it matter?”

The answer is, of course, a resounding “Yes! It matters!” We need positive change in our world and I am more encouraged now than ever to keep fighting that good fight because “there can be no peace” in my own heart, conscience and soul until I’ve done everything I can to make things better.

I give you then this week’s perfect Shi Sai. Yes, it’s perfect. Be sure to read it all the way to the end. 😉

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 25 September 2016

be off out, ’tis extra nightfall, follow th’ stars ‘n find th’ gold
to brighten the earth
clouds are just vapor
of love’s undoing
some frogs are just toads
we are so much more alike in our hopes for peace than we are different
as thunder shook the house, neither of them moved, sitting there silently in the dark
of course I knew that there’d be pain
so anyhow, I jest been sitting here waitin’
but only by pure,
yes, I still hope…
there can be no peace.

~kat ❤️


Birth Story 

Of course I knew that there’d be pain
from others who had gone before,
nightmarish tales of blood and gore,

but never did one soul refrain
from telling me that I’d forget
the horror of it all and yet,

as each unpleasant milestone came…
the morning ick, the evening swell,
the doubt that I’d survive this hell,

the wondering if I’d regain
my waist, as my expanding girth
prepared my body for your birth.

I swore never, never again
should I in fact from this survive,
my predecessors surely lied

and you may think that I’m insane
but I can tell you it is true,
I did forget, when I met you.

kat- 21 September 2016

For Jane Dougherty’s Poetry Challenge: to write a poem about pain using words to channel it into something beautiful, with this rhyme pattern: abb acc add aee … I chose one of my own photos rather than the one provided – dedicating this one to my daughters. 🙂