Category Archives: Social Issues

January 6, 2026

day 360

By Kat Myrman

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

a billboard
.
THIS! 
whatever the
HELL
this IS…NOT NORMAL!
(hoping for an intervention…please)
thank you

~kat
(using pi digits 3.141592 to help me with this prompt response)

Humor often helps in the most serious of times. Today we remember a day most Americans will never forget. Five years ago DT called his band of thugs to Washington and after stirring them into a frenzy sent them to the capital to interrupt the peaceful validation of the election of Biden as the next president. We all saw it. We watched in horror as an angry mob desecrated the grounds, and called for the execution of the vice president and madam speaker of the house. They went so far as to erect gallows and mow down law enforcement officers who tried to stop them with flagpoles, and other makeshift weapons.

Over the years the republicans would like us to believe that this was a peaceful demonstration…their constituents merely touring the capital. But no amount of doctored, rewritten history will change what we all witnessed. Five years later Trump is back in office, angry, vengeful, unstoppable in his determination to amass as much power and riches for himself…that is, as much as the congress and the courts will let him steal. At this point they’ve invited him into the vault and told him to clean it out. The people of this country be damned. The presidency is a means to an end for him and his ilk. It appears we are heading into another year of chaos worst than the first.

On another note…one of our mystery snails crossed over to the other side…but not before leaving a cluster of eggs to help keep our aquarium clean. I found it on the bottom of the tank the other morning, quickly intervened and set up a make-shift hatchery following instructions from YouTube. Whatever did we do before the internet?! Fingers crossed a few of them survive. Our tank like the White House is full of shit that needs cleaning up! What a timely glimmer. Nature truly does take care of its own!

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you! And baby snails. Lots of them we hope!

~kat

Isn’t it amazing!!!

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in 2026, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Fib, Life Lessons, nature, Pi-Archimedes, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality

January 5, 2026

day 359

By Kat Myrman
This evening’s Glimmer!
delight

horizons
glowing red at dusk
cast fair dawns

~kat
(Lune poem - syllable count: 3/5/3)

As I was wrapping up my day job I noticed that the trees outside my eastern-facing window were a lovely warm color. This usually means another spectacular sunset! Needless to say, as soon as I shut down my computer I grabbed my phone and headed outside to capture a photo of the western horizon. In that moment nothing mattered but the sky, how beautiful it was, and breathing. I realized that I did not do a good job of breathing through the day, sidelined by this stressor or that.

Skies like this are fleeting. It only takes a few minutes for the sun to slip lower on the horizon and the peak sunset display to fade. Tonight was a good night. I didn’t miss it. I needed to lose myself in its splendor. And to remember that silly rhyme…”red sky at night, sailor’s delight…” It was like the universe was saying to me, though the dark night is coming, so is the dawn, clear and bright!” I needed that.

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in 2026, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Lune, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality

January 4, 2026

day 358 ~ a ReVerse Poem

By Kat Myrman 
A ReVerse Poem ~ 4 January 2026

high wind advisory 

to dazzle the gullible…look here
look there
tomorrow we’ll assess the damage
through one year’s portal into the next
not forgetting the past, but hoping for redress
to help me forget the world
before insanity invaded

~kat

Welp…so much for the brief reprieve from the madness of 2025. A new year. A clean slate. The full wolf supermoon shone bright on Saturday night and then all hell broke loose over Venezuela hours before dawn. Not because of drugs (DT has recently pardoned a convicted drug lord), and not for regime change (since our government saw fit to leave a corrupt government in place, only ousting its top leader).

In our country our president cannot be held accountable by our courts…but the president of Venezuela sure as hell can. Especially when there is a stockpile of oil involved. Ah yes. There it is. Oil. And a weakened corrupt government kept in place that DT believes he can manipulate. “Comply or pay an even higher price than your president,” he warned. It’s incomprehensible and a clear sign that the nightmare continues. Not to mention, his previous targets are now battening down the hatches. Who will be next? Cuba, Panama, Mexico, Canada, or Greenland? 

Meanwhile, DT continues to swell and bruise, have regular MRI’s, all perfect of course…and cognitive tests…his staff simply ignoring him when he dozes off mid-meeting with national leaders on camera as if no one will notice. Oh…and remember Epstein and his gazillion files that keep falling out of the nooks and crannies of our “justice department”. There’s that. So sorry world! While I did not vote for this madness, I am at a loss as to how to stop it. 

Despite all this “news”, nothing is really new. It’s more of the same. People are figuring it out though, as they struggle to make ends meet and scramble to figure out if they can afford healthcare, while the rich get richer. 

I refuse to give up. I refuse to lose hope. I have a voice and a heart that knows how to express kindness and compassion. We need kindness more than ever. We knew it was going to be a bumpy ride a year ago. It has been and is. 

The sun was a beautiful sight this morning. Bright and warm and proof that the night only lasts for a short time before dawn breaks through the darkness. Let each dawn warm your heart to overflowing and remind you to be kind. We made it through year one. We can do this again…together. 

Much love, peace, and glimmers of hope to you!

~kat

✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

Morning on the Bramlett Mountain Foothills

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 week.

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in 2026, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Week in Review

January 3, 2026

day 357 ~ first full moon of 2026

By Kat Myrman

What makes you feel nostalgic?

nostalgia
.
should 
not be looking
back
on this first full moon, 
scent of winter in the air
calling
me home to simpler times
potatoes boiling
bread baking
mom singing softly
her hands elbow deep in the sink
soapy bubbles popping, dishes cleaned
when life felt normal
before insanity invaded
our safe place
taking her
o’er the edge 

~kat

Sheesh! Where did that come from. This is not the nostalgic offering that one expects in answer to today’s prompt. Ask me about my parents and I will jokingly say that they were both crazy. Each ended their life in their own special way. My father chose a quick and untidy end, my mother, a slower, miserable succumbing to addiction.

It’s a legacy I have spent years, and hours of therapy, working to overcome. My family’s propensity for mental illness is something that has terrified me and driven me my entire life. I am not ashamed to admit that I am medicated. My daily dose of “happy pills” (antidepressants) keeps me from the abyss. I suppose I am grateful to have been born a generation later than my parents when things like depression and other mental ills were unspeakable weaknesses. Fortunately for me they are recognized treatable chemical imbalances. I’m sad my parents did not have access treatment once upon a time that is so commonplace and acceptable today. 

Nevertheless, today’s prompt stirred a sweet memory for me. Remembering when things felt normal. There were glimmers amidst the darkness. There are always glimmers. 

Today’s glimmer on this first full moon of 2026…a steaming cup of espresso with frothy sweet cream (brewed in a new espresso machine recently gifted to us from my oldest daughter). The perfect accompaniment to an overcast gray day. A chance to reflect on how blessed I am and consider this new year and the potential it brings. 

much love, peace, and glimmers to you! 

~kat

✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in 2026, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, Pi-Archimedes, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality

December 29, 2025

day 352

By Kat Myrman 
promises
.
they
tell colorful
lies
using sleight of hand 
to dazzle the gullible…look here
look there
where the gaslight flashes
dulling blind eyes who 
fear darkness
looming from others
of diminished humanity…
follow us, they say, you’re not like them
we promise to protect you
it’s going to be great…the greatest
they followed,
poor fools,
to their death

~kat

(Syllable count based on this pi sequence: 3.14159265358979323)

I don’t know any other way to deal with the erosion of the freedom and liberty, but to write about it. Sometimes in cryptic poetry, sometimes here where I spill my thoughts, the stories behind the poems. And finally to share a glimmer or two to help us hold on to the light. It often feels futile. But I also know that writing and celebrating glimmers has sustained me this far. As I prepare for year two of this nightmare…I have to believe it is enough to do what I can do. If we all contributed our little efforts, imagine what we could accomplish! 

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you! Remember to be kind. 

~kat

✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

And now for today’s glimmer…it’s a good one. I was cleaning out the garage and discovered a pot of dry crusty soil with these determined vibrant hyacinth clusters bursting through the cracks in the dirt. Dry as a bone I was astonished to see that they were so vibrant and green, and oh so fragrant! If that doesn’t inspire you to keep going, to reach for the light, then I don’t k ow what will. Of course I intervened…resettled the dust soil around them, nestled them in and gave them a good watering. They are now in a wonderful spot under our inside grow lamp. I can’t wait to see what they become with a little TLC! So I’ll just leave this here for you.

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, nature, Pi-Archimedes, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality