Tag Archives: essay

May 27, 2018

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 27 May 2018

By Kat Myrman

We press on. Through setbacks, calamity, disappointment, opposition, we press on, at hope’s urging, glimmers of light, so bright they have power to dispel the darkness. They cannot exist without each other; the darkness and the light. Neither can we live without life’s extremes; the good, the bad, the highs and lows. If things were perfect, happy all the time, would we grow weary of happiness? Would we even realize how happy, how blessed we are?

We were not meant for Eden. Utopia is an illusion. And I happen to believe that is a good thing. An utterly messy existence is good for the soul. It keeps things real and multiplies our joy when we are fortunate enough to embrace it.

Don’t curse the bumps in the road my friend…be glad that they are only bumps. Smooth roads are boring.

Have a speculator week!

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 27 May 2018

what were you thinking
neath darkening skies, as storm clouds swell, glooming,
give voice to the flowers
they never did
there are always signs, something amiss,
leafy underbellies, sparkling
swept up in worry, forgetting
clearly not fragile
nose to stone, grinding
questions, unanswered
the monsters here are real
dreams to keep us
peace never comes easily
follow your bliss

~kat

A 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 ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Week in Review

May 20, 2018

Sunday’s Week in Reverse – 20 May 2018

By Kat Myrman

Sunday…another week spent. It was a bit of a roller coaster for me. It happens. All that to say, I was a bit distracted and on occasion, out of sorts. This is not a usually how I am, but I suppose like a boiling tea kettle life became a bit overwhelming.

A change in routine, even an uncomfortable shift, can be a good thing. It gives one a new perspective. So many of the things that seem important at the time can end up looking silly in retrospect. And then there are those little things that make all the difference. Like I said, a rollercoaster, distracted.

As a result, there are fewer poems this week, fewer lines in this ReVerse, but it’s perfect. The icing on my lopsided cake.

When all is said and done, I really want to be the best me I can be. Silly, isn’t it? This, from someone who has lived more than a few decades. I’m still reaching for goodness you know, still trying to figure it out. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, but if and when tomorrow comes, there is this…a clean slate to scribble on. And with this reverse, a week summed up; tomorrow is another day.

Scribble away my fiends! There are moments to savor and memories to make. Roller coasters, good, bad, distracted…it’s life. It’s a gift. It’s all good.

Sunday’s Week in Reverse – 20 May 2018

remember me when the wind
whispers you away
…….that’s enough
have you heard
we were brilliant, dazzling souls
so bright
muted dawn and this
i could lose myself
so to feel the sun’s kisses
breathe…
cold sweat
it would be winter soon
you must love the rain…
shedding the burden of flesh

~kat

A 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 ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Cinquain, Shi Sai, Week in Review

April 29, 2018

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 29 April 2018

By Kat Myrman

Today’s ReVerse is loaded. In just 25 random lines (yes, I counted) acid streams of my subconsciousness have spilled out on a screen and are now glaring at me. If I didn’t do this little looking back exercise every week, I’d be tempted to scrap this one, declaring that it just didn’t make sense this week. It would be true, of course, to the innocent bystander, but not to me. You know how when you are young, with the whole world and life’s possibilities ahead of you, and hopeful? And then at some point you realize that life has no interest in bolstering your best laid plans because life is a crapshoot and the dealer is on the take to the highest bidder, and you’re not it, not by a long shot? So you settle into your unlucky self, count your losses, and call it a night, not realizing that the whole thing was rigged against you from the start? Don’t ask me why. Hell if I know. But it comes down to this. Life is disappointing sometimes. Of course it has its spectacular moments, but sometimes it doesn’t, and we find ourselves settling because we’re tired of fighting. And we grow accustomed to things being just okay and realize that okay is okay. Today’s ReVerse is all that, for me at least. I guess you had to be there.

On a side note…Happy Full Pink Moon! It sounds innocuous…full…pink. But the astrological facts surrounding this month’s lunation shed more light on this past week’s regurgitations perfectly. As one seer explained, “this full moon is all about bringing toxic emotions to the surface and releasing them.” Yup, I tasted the sour ick and felt the burn as this collection of lines spewed out. That explains it. I am as powerless against Luna’s wiles as the tides. But I shall surrender each grain of sand to that sea of oblivion, if you will. At next week’s ReVerse I hope resume my light, line by line banter about spring flowers and the weather, with occasional jabs at political fools. Until then, go gently in your corner of the world. If you wondered why all the sludge you’d thought you’d buried long ago, rose to the surface this week, you can blame it on the moon. Today is the day to let it all go. Tomorrow is a new day.

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 29 April 2018

a sign spring’s coming soon, on the brink
when stars realigned and…
can you hear the rose petals laughing, leaves trembling?
i’m warming to the gray
it is a party
but not love
songbirds at dawn, mourning doves
they always knew.
let’s stop this lunacy
like tiny worlds within worlds,
in the cool misty brume
where most anything flies, pigs and crime
little things…like details, lies, and small talk…they make me crazy.
c’est le sweet spot d’une fleur, ooh-la-la!
none of us could have saved you.
beautiful flowers cling
watching, that black-eyed stare
innocence intact, not jaded
a forgotten craft
but already tides swoon
Forgive me for not saying goodbye this time.
breathe deeply the dawn
open to life’s hope
it is not out there
sweetness aching red

~kat

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

April 20, 2018

Neatnik – Friday’s Word of the Day

By Kat Myrman

Today’s word of the day at dictionary.com is neatnik. Neatnik is a slang word that means a person  who  is extremely  neat about surroundings,  appearance, etc. It originated, according to dictionary.com, in opposition to the word beatnik,defined as a scruffy,  unshaven member of the “beat” generation (coined in 1958). The common element in both words is the suffix -nik. -Nik is a Yiddish term Slavic in origin. Its meaning is similar to the English suffix -er as in doer, thinker, dancer, etc. Its use denotes a person associated with a specified thing or quality.

Words with the suffix -nik gained popularity in the mid to late 1960’s when the Soviet Sputnik, the worlds first man-made satellite, came on the scene. By definition, a sputnik is a person (or thing) who travels with you on a path (put)* – in other words, a traveling companion. During this time there seemed to be no end to the new words (often derogatory in nature) that were coined using this suffix.

Of course there is our word of the day, NEATNIK, and its cousin, BEATNIK. And there were these iterations that you might recognize:

KAPUTNIK/FLOPNIK (1957), failed U.S. satellite attempt;
MUTTNIK (1957), Soviet satellite with dog aboard;
PEACENIK (1963), originally, opponent of the war in Vietnam;
PROTESTNIK (1965), protester against the war in Vietnam;
REFUSENIK (1975), Soviet Jews denied emigration, and also (1983), one who refused to obey orders as a form of protest;
NOSHNIK, one who likes to nosh (Yiddish for ‘eat snacks’);  STRAIGHTNIK, a heterosexual;  FILMNIK; JAZZNIK; FOLKNIK; BACHNIK; FREUDNIK; (definitions self explanatory)
BUSHNIK, admirerers of George Bush;
NOGOODNIK, a no-good person;
KIBBUTZNIK, a person who lives on a kibbutz;
BEARDNIK, a person with a beard;
SICKNIK, a sicko; a person who is perverse or mentally disturbed;
NUDNIK, a person who is very annoying; a persistent nag.

And of things political in Russia:
RASKOLNIK (1723), a dissenter from the national Church in Russia;
CHINOVNIK/TCHINOVNIK (1877), in Tsarist Russia, a government official, a civil servant, especially a minor functionary, a clerk;
NARODNIK (1885), ‘member of the (common) people,’ a supporter of a type of socialism originating amongst the Russian intelligentsia in the late 19th century and which looked on the peasants and intellectuals as revolutionary forces; a Russian populist. In extended use: a person who tries to politicize a community of rural or urban poor while sharing their living conditions; the name by which pre-Marxist Russian socialists are now generally known;
KOLKHOZNIK (1955), a member of a collective farm (a kolkhoz – 1921) in the U.S.S.R.

Here’s a a link to Wikipedia and an exhaustive list of all things -nik. Oh yes, there are more!

Just in the nick of time, 😉 here is a short three line verse (that is not a proper haiku, though it follows the 5-7-5 syllable rule) to put today’s word of the day to rest. What word would you coin using the suffix -nik? It would be a shame to let such a versatile suffix go to waste! 😊

when a neatnik is
the roommate of a beatnik
it’s an odd coupling

~kat

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

April 6, 2018

Mushyheaded – Friday’s Word of the Day

By Kat Myrman

mushyheaded

Today’s word of the day at dictionary.com is “mushyheaded”. You can probably guess it’s meaning: inadequately thought out: mushyheaded ideas; having vague, unsubstantiated, or unrealistic ideas or opinions. Mushyheaded (easily duped, stupid) is an Americanism dating back to the mid 19th century. It’s a portmandeau as well (a combination of two or more words to make one word) mushy-headed. The term mush-headed (a stupid person) was also used in the mid 19th century. For reference, “mush”, another Americanism from the late 17th century, is the name of a dish where cornmeal is boiled in water or milk until thick, eaten as a hot cereal, or molded and fried.

As you know, I like to google these words of the day to see what else I can find. One of the first things that came up was the German translation for the word mushy-headed: schwachköpfig. I love German. Their words are colorful and often so descriptive of the thing they are describing. Schwachköpfig sounds like a word one would say with disdain. The English translation for Schwachköpfig is: dunderheaded, soft-headed, weak-headed, dull-headed, crack-brained, feeble brained, lamebrained. But what I found even more entertaining was the list of German synonyms for the word, schwachköpf: Affe, Armleuchter, Armloch, Blödarsch, Blödian, Blödling, Blödmann, Blödmännchen, Blödsack, Brausebirne, Brot, Brummochse, Butterbirne, Bähschaf, Depp, Doofkopp, Doofmann, Dorfdepp, Dorfhupe, Dorftrottel, Dubbel, Dummbart, Dummbartel, Dummdübel, Dummerchen, Dummerjan, Dummian, Dummkopf, Dummlack, Dummschwätzer, Dumpfbacke, Dussel, Dusseltier, Döskopp, Dümmling, Eimer, Einfaltspinsel, Esel, Feldweg, Flachkopf, Flachpfeiffe, Flitschbirne, Gaskopf, Gehirnakrobat, Gehirnamputierter, Geistesgestörter, Geisteskranker, Grützkopf, Hampel, Hansnarr, Hanswurst, Heckenpenner, Hirnamputierter, Hirni, Hohlkopf, Holzkopf, Honk, Hornochse, Hornvieh, Idiot (Substantiv), Idiotenkind, Irrer, Kalb, Kalbskopf, Kamel, Kamuffel, Kauz, Kindskopf, Kirchenlicht, Kohlkopf, Kretin, Licht, Narr, Nichtskönner, Nichtswisser, Nulpe, Ochse, Pampel, Pfeife, Pfeifenkopf, Pflaume, Pfosten, Pinsel, Psycho, Psychopath, Pörre, Quadratesel, Rindvieh, Ross, Schaf, Schafskopf, Schafsnase, Schmalhirn, Schwachkopf, Schwachmat, Schwachsinniger, Schöps, Simpel, Spacken, Spacko, Spast, Spasti, Spaten, Spatzengehirn, Spatzenhirn, Stiesel, Strohkopf, Stümper, Tolpatsch, Tor, Torfkopp, Trantute, Trantüte, Tropf, Trottel, Tölpel, Verrückter, Vollhonk, Vollidiot, Vollpfosten, Vollspast, Volltrottel, Wahnsinniger, Blödi, Blödian, Blödlackl, Blödmann, Depp (Substantiv), Dummbeutel, Dummerchen, Dummerle, Dummkopf, Dödel, Hirni, Hohlkopf, Idiot, Monk, Pfosten, Schwachkopf, Spaten, Trottel,Depp, Dummkopf, Hohlkopf, Holzkopf, Schwachkopf, Torfkopf (Substantiv), Blödian, Blödmann, Dummerjan, Dummkopf, Dummrian, Dämel, Idiot. Aren’t they positively scrumptious?!

The other reference that floated to the top of Google’s list of things mushyheaded was a link to a site called Mushyhead Comics, an online comic book store developed by two self-described nerdy comic freaks whose aim is to “show other comic nerds the love and appreciation they deserve”. I didn’t realize that comic book nerds were so maligned. The things one can learn by practicing the habit of researching just one word a week! Of course I’m happy to have you along for the ride.

And there may have been a few memes and t-shirt vendors using the term mushyheaded in reference to a certain orange wanna-be dictator…but I’m in too good a mood to go there! 🙂

Have a great weekend! Here’s a haiku for you…:)

sometimes my mind drifts
but i’m not mushyheaded…
they’re calling for snow

~kat

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku