Category Archives: Social Issues

September 17, 2017

Fallen

By Kat Myrman

For MindLoveMiserysMenagerie’s Sunday Writing Prompt: to write a piece launched by this quote from Sherlock Holmes (the series):

Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don’t think for one second that I am one of them …..

Seventy times seven, blah, blah, blah. Have you ever done the math? I have. 490. That’s it. At this point I have more than fulfilled my quota of this mandate to forgive. Besides, I don’t see anyone standing in line to forgive me for existing. In fact, the hits keep coming, if you know what I mean. Here are a few gems from that hit list…

“Love the sinner, hate the sin…You know we love you. We just don’t agree with your lifestyle choices….You could change if you wanted to…You have an agenda…Stop flaunting your sexuality…It’s just a phase…You don’t deserve special rights…It’s because of you we have earthquakes, hurricanes, floods…the plague (I wish I was that powerful)…You’re an abomination…God hates you…You’re going to hell (kinda thought I was already there)…and my personal favorite; the one that rips through me like a hot poker through butter…I’m praying for you.”

Please don’t. I’m trying to forgive you. I’m trying to not judge you. I’m trying to love you, but you make it so difficult.

Because there’s this too. “Love your enemies… If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.” I fall short everyday. But that doesn’t mean I don’t keep trying; 490 times 490 times and counting.

One day I’ll get it right. In the meantime I am well aware of my flaws and weaknesses. I’m no angel…but neither are you.

And there I go again. Judging you for judging me. I guess that’s why we need practice at this forgiveness thing. I should have just said, “I’m no angel” and left it at that.

~kat

16 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Flash Fiction, Life Lessons, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality, Under 300 Words

September 17, 2017

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 17 September 2017

By Kat Myrman

How do I love thee, life? I count the ways as if naming each thing might offer me a line to grasp; to anchor me in place when the recognizable signs start to slip away.

Those moments when darkness descends, there is you, tiny candle, sucking up air, consuming the wick, calling me home. When people are unkind, there is a smile and a gentle touch to remind me all is not lost. When there is suffering, and unimaginable loss in the wake of the storm, there is you, sweet, audacious nature, showing me that life goes on again and again with each passing season. Life goes on.

How do I love thee, life? With every breath I take of the air that I share with all things living. Though I am but a speck of dust, I have not surrendered myself to ash. I am an ember still, capable of warmth; a flicker of amber. Like autumn’s fading rose clings to the vine in sweetness, I cling to you, life. How precious each moment is. How precious you are.

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 17 September 2017

she is not broken
the last few years had been hell
if you can call this living
when terror descended / when hatred triumphed
in a world so divided
the muse plays her heart
shades of gray
offering but a glimpse inside
It was true.
No one tells you it’s the little things that rip through your heart
impress anonymously
become self-serving
But it was revenge
between dusk and dawn
they can save us…if
like ice melting
it is all madness

~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.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Haibun, Life Lessons, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Spirituality

September 12, 2017

remembering

By Kat Myrman

we will never forget 9/11 / how can we forget 11/9

when terror descended / when hatred triumphed

that terrible morning / in the wee hour of three

as we watched in horror / it rendered us speechless

the towers collapsing / our worst fears were confirmed

but we were not broken / the truth was revealed

on that fateful day / we were us versus them

we banded together / now a nation divided

held hands with strangers / forced to look in the mirror

we sang kumbaya / to face our dark demons

we talked about love / emboldened, enraged

promising to remember / reliving past battles

but how soon we forgot / to the winners the spoils

what makes us great, America / First, they declared

our founding principles / we’ll build a great wall

our common ideals / shutter our borders

of life and liberty, / to keep them all out

the pursuit of happiness  / the foreigners, the hungry, the poor

for all who call this nation home / if you are the other

that’s why we gather to remember their names / we don’t want you here

so we will never forget them and / how can we forget

who we were when calamity struck / the day a madman of privilege declared

One America, Red, White and Blue / let’s make America Great

~kat

A cleave poem (three poems in one. Read the first Column in standard print as one poem, read the second column in bold print as another and finally read across the entire line for the third.)

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Cleave Poem, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues

September 10, 2017

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 10 September 2017

By Kat Myrman

My fortune cookie this past Saturday… 

Life does not go on…not just yet. We were burdened this past week with aftermaths of destruction: hurricanes, earthquakes, raging wildfires, crushing inhumanity by so-called leaders, while the best of humanity hangs in the balance, at the ready to take make things right. But life is not going on…not just yet as we face even more catastrophe on our southern shores. We remind ourselves of our incredible resilience in the wake of all of life’s storms, be they nature-driven or human fabricated. Life goes on…sometimes, and sometimes it does not…

I feel helpless in the eye of the storms that rage around me. There is nowhere to run…nowhere to hide. We can try to prepare. We can hope for the best. But ultimately we must wait.

I’m tempted to wrap myself in my woobie and sleep long and hard until it’s over…until it’s time to gather what is left; until it’s time to make something of the rubble. What if nothing remains? It’s useless to worry about it. What do we do with time when it’s not time to move on, not just yet?

Moments count most right now. I light a candle for us all as I embrace the frail excruciating weight of this single moment. I breathe in deeply, exhale slowly. I gaze at my surroundings; the people, pets and things that give me comfort, that I love, and last but certainly not least, I eat the damn cake, savoring its sweetness. As moments go it is enough. I’ll leave the moving on until it’s time.

Be safe, be kind, love one another…peace.

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 10 September 2017

soft the gloaming hush descends
breath of withering blossoms dying
there’s a cool snap in the air
a coffee, please
excruciating, the wait,
oh…I had a secret invisibility cloak once
pretending to be impressed with his strip shuffle
sinful indulgence
falsehoods fade slowly
dusty nooks, cluttered,
for nuggets of gold
treasure ‘midst rubble
so easily crushed
late summer storms swell
sleep in if you like
whisper me lies
they never rest
they know my heart best
eat the damn cake…do it

~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.

11 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Spirituality, Week in Review

September 6, 2017

Waiting to Soar

By Kat Myrman

Waiting to Soar

I’m waiting…for tomorrow’s sun…for the rainbow’s somewhere…for truth’s consequences…for the stars to grant my wishes…for my turn to cross troubled water’s bridge…for a glimmer…for a sign…for a hero…for angels…for the best, yet to come…for the impossible dream…for a snowball’s chance…for justice…for peace…for the other shoe to drop…for people to wake up…for someone to give a f- …I’m waiting…feet planted firmly, rooted in fear, dogma, culture, tradition…a girl can dream.

excruciating, the wait,
baited shallow breath, fading
cruel, fickle mistress, Hope,
eternal spring seductress,
fluent in vain sweet nothings

settling for dross
soaring wingless on what if’s
nothing ventured gained

~kat

A Haibun/Tanka/Haiku trio for Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, prompt works “Soar” and “Wait”.

img_8616

12 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Haibun, Haiku, Life Lessons, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Tanka