Category Archives: Social Issues

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse ~ 10 July 2016


I look forward to Sundays. I truly do try to pause, reflect and recharge. Especially on weeks like this when the world felt chaotic and nightmarish. I remember thinking to myself, as I wrote lines of poetry and prose throughout the week, that today’s ReVerse would likely evolve into a chaotic, incohesive jumble of randomness. Living through this past week was a chaotic mess with raging summer storms that sent us all seeking shelter and raging civil unrest against a backdrop of political firestorms that sent us seeking answers.

In retrospect, I wonder why I had a hard time imagining that this week’s Shi Sai would somehow make sense, because surprisingly it does. I don’t know how or why it does. But it does.

I could say, likevi always do, that I’m hoping we all have a great week, but that would be rude considering the elephant in my peripheral view. They say elephants never forget. Not forgetting for me means acknowledging the elephant. It’s not that I’m not hoping that you have a great week. I hope you have a spectacular week. I hope we all do. Including the elephant. Once he catches your attention he’s hard to ignore.

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse ~ 10 July 2016

Forgive me for not giving you a proper goodbye
I am feeling slightly grounded right now and not in a good way
steamy sapphire sky
So…what do you think about all this rain we’ve been having?
tender waves, exquisite bliss
dreams flood the gray void
from endless nights of terror’s rage
What are you thinking Lady Blue?
they are afraid
desire growls in their belly like poison
hoping for love’s bliss!

~ kat

The Shi Sai, (formerly known as a ReVerse) is a form created by Kat Myrman in April 2016. 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”)


Afraid


they are afraid
truth cannot penetrate their hearts
they are afraid
placing their faith in barricades
setting themselves above, apart
consumed by hate, lost in the dark…
they are afraid.

kat ~ 9 July 2016

(A Rondelet- AbAabbA)


Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 3 July 2016

Its Independence Day’s Eve here in the US. When we are young being independent is our ultimate goal. Some of us start very early on our path to independence with our first words, “me do it!” How satisfying it is to accomplish things all by ourselves…when we are young.

But a lifetime has taught me that even though I am quite capable of doing for myself, thank you very much, there is something to be said for having a bit of company on the journey. It’s ironic I think. We are born with a fierce instinct for independence only to realize after a lifetime of surviving that we are inescapably bound to one another. For better or for worse. 

How freeing it is to admit that I need you…collectively, globally, individually. Independence is not all it was cracked up to be. But I suppose I had to live it to realize it. And realizing it is like coming home. 🙂

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This week’s Shi Sai is a bit odd. I suppose there are times when things are simply not meant to make sense. Like this past week actually…so much if it didn’t make sense. 

At any rate, happy Independence Day and all that jazz. As for me? I still have a few of those cookies left from last weekend. Care to join me?

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 3 July 2016

I don’t have sweets around…
Hope’s gleaming promise…

Prayers for Instanbul

In the summer heat
when you can’t hear the music
It wasn’t enough…is it ever?
They’ll journey from the safety of the shore
Oft’ forgetting why

Earth bleeds crimson

Embodying all I am
It was just a stupid accident…or was it?
~ kat

The Shi Sai, (formerly known as a ReVerse) is a form created by Kat Myrman in April 2016. 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”)


A Prayer for Humanity

I found this map online. It reveals the places that have been affected by hatred, terror and violence in our world. There is barely a spot that is not blotted red, but more importantly, the lines and boundaries that one usually sees on a map dividing us country from country are no longer visible. In the face of new tragedies, the slaughter if innocents in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and other places that may not be covered by world news, I am struck by the imagery of this map. We are one.

And so I offer a prayer for us all…for healing and peace. Blessings to all…
Earth bleeds crimson
droplets, blotting
boundaries, revealing
our fragility and utter
dependency on
mercy’s tender
grace…

May we
embrace the
common cord
that binds our
hearts in one
accord where Love
prevails victorious
and hatred has
no place.

May it be so…Amen

kat ~ 2 July 2016


For Instanbul