Tag Archives: truth

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 8 October 2017

It befuddles and confounds us; the senseless rage rising up like fire, raining down like acid. Friendly fire that no walls, travel bans or profiling can protect us from. Why are we confused by the realization that our worst enemy is not some other?

And yet we refuse to own it once again. Those with the power to address tragedy turn their eyes away. Their pale lips drip with platitudes and empty prayers, while their pockets moan to be filled with alms for their loyal cowardice.

It is no longer when, how or if this madness will ever end. We are trapped in this house of mirrors. But the terrible monster is not hiding behind the looking glass. No. The monster stands tall and center, glaring at us; a million eyes, burning holes through our souls.

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 8 October 2017

okay universe…you have my attention
in the wake of hate’s fire
it was the perfect disguise
misty shapeshifting fay
soul deep pools of ebon wonder
here’s the order in black and white
luna’s face glows flush
gently letting go
swirling into syllables
truth’s reflection burning bright
of course we never let on
crave its sweetness
by lingering sadness
rooted in stone
every sinister force
untouched by seasons

~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.


Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 1 October 2017

Being an optimist is exhausting, especially now. I’m not going to rattle off another list of what is wrong with the world. You already know it…if you’re paying attention. And I’m guessing you’re exhausted like me.

I’ve stopped saying “I can’t believe it! How is this happening?!” I’ve stopped believing that I can count on people, even those I love, to do the right thing. I’ve started to believe that voting doesn’t matter because politicians are not in it for the people, but to line their pockets and ensure comfortable retirements for themselves.

I’m seriously considering the fact that I may not be an optimist after all. I’m clearly not up to the task. But I can’t bring myself to admit that I’m a pessimist either. Luckily for me, and you too if you’re exhausted, there is another option. Being a realist.

I looked up realist and found the perfect definition in the Urban Dictionary:

Realists have a firm grip on reality and can see things for what they are, not what they are told they are. Realists have their own views and do not fall victim to propaganda, misconception, or titles!

1. There is the Pessimist who believes the glass is half empty!

2. There is the Optimist who believes the glass is half full!

3. Then there is the Realist who knows it is just half a fucking glass!

No more exhausting “rah rah la-la-la, everything is unicorns and rainbows” optimism from me! No more “kiss your ass goodbye, the sky is falling” pessimism either. They’re both exhausting and in a word, delusional. Realism is where it’s at. My self-talk needs a do-over…

“So yeah, things suck…a lot…right now. And it’s probably gonna get worse before it gets better. Fortunately for you, for everyone, it won’t last forever. It never does. Get a grip! In the meantime, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. Or maybe it’s raining. Deal with it. We need rain sometimes. It helps plants…and people grow. But the sky is definitely not falling, so get over yourself. And for god’s sake, get out of bed. Today is 24 hours of whatever you choose to make it. Clock is ticking sweetheart. Get out there. Kick some ass!”

I’m definitely pessimistically, optimistic that being a realist is the way to go. I am so over being an extremist. At the end of the day I might still be exhausted, but it will be well earned exhaustion from keeping it real!

Have a great week everyone! Here’s to keeping it real and kicking it!

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 1 October 2017

conformation be damned

it drives us mad if we ignore it

and then some

the twister spared the trees 

air dense with death’s balm

chaos rages, earth in flux

tossed and forgotten

a tiny dot on a page

back in the day

pipe-dreams on inked pages

until the lights went out

ending suddenly into dead, black silence

tracks through the wild

even if it is hard to see…

I am not dazzled

death whispers to her

~kat


Magnetic Poetry Saturday

my garden heaves her

last bit of sweetness

as the cool beauty of

death whispers to her

urging her to sleep…

to dream of spring

I am not dazzled by

broken gods and

fool-hearty men who

must be surrounded by

all-embracing prisoners

of fear to feel whole

keep trusting in

the goodness of

others even if it is

hard to see….I

believe it’s always

there, waiting to care

every path is thick

with followers but

wanderers leave fresh

tracks through the wild

~kat

Magnetic Poetry


Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse –

Oh how we conform to the reality that presents itself day in and day out. We strive to be good…the good child, the good friend, the good spouse, good parents, good neighbors, good citizens, good humans. With all this goodness surrounding us and legions of do-gooders doing their goodly best, it’s hard to envision a world that is tainted by bad. And yet there are bad things happening everyday. There is obviously a broken link in the chain that binds us.

It’s easy to be good when all is right in our world. It is when adversity, suffering and darkness come that the true test of our commitment to being good is challenged. Do I repay meanness with kindness, hatred with love, injustice with justice, judgement with grace? If I don’t, I can’t claim to be good after all.

I try as I might to be good, I’m not always. Is there a broken link in the chain? Decidedly so, but the break isn’t always the doing of the obvious bombastic “bad” person in our midst. Sometimes that broken link is me.

But that won’t stop me from trying. If being good was easy, it wouldn’t be quite as good. Peace to you on beautiful day! Keep trying…❤️

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 24 September 2017

one day i’ll get it right

beneath the brown

we’ve been here before…

these days i just hum

things jes’ aint the same.

i promise to stay in touch

hoping to land a big fish

we tend to forget

yeah, i was the weird kid.

clinging is futile

how it was to be wild,

in the light of day

little things in life

murmur feeling

~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.


Life Music

kat

Kat Myrman – Late 1990’s – South Central Virginia

Life Music

Before fiction, flash and poetry, before this blog, I wrote songs. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say, I heard songs in my head and had the good sense to write them down.

Pages and pages of rhyming words set to melodies filled my head; a gift from the universe, I had supposed, that sustained me during some of the hardest times of my life: poverty, domestic abuse, isolation. I was a troubadour then, performing for my supper, more often than not, in living rooms, nursing homes, hospital rooms and meeting halls.

I never truly considered them “my songs” because they seemed to come from somewhere outside of myself. In retrospect I realize that they were every bit me. My hopes, my dreams, my longings, wrapped mellifluously in simplicity to help me express what I was feeling, how things were and how they could be.

I still make music, but somewhere along the way I stopped singing the words. These days I hum, and that suits me just fine. The earth, the trees, the wind, the sea; they all hum. I’m content in knowing that I am in good company.

sometimes the words come
like an old friend, familiar,
they meant something once
more than a sweet melody
desire set to music

what a gift they were
those streams of consciousness
these days I just hum

~kat

A Haibun/Tanka/Haiku combo for Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, prompt words, song and gift.