Saturday, March 13, 2010
Dead man walking
you know it's there
just a-stalking every person
who's a-walking
but we'll just pretend alright?
hush ...
just a-stalking every person
who's a-walking
but we'll just pretend alright?
hush ...
Friday, March 12, 2010
staccato
A disjointed post to re-activate my blog brain and to stop my mind from going down a path of pure empiricism. What does writing do for me? It pushes thoughts out in a format that isn't lazy. Seeing thoughts in concrete lettering makes me scoff at the gaping holes in them.Now poetry (or my version of it) is easy. It's not meant to have structure. It can be as fleeting and tangential as I sometimes feel. Prose, prose... the nemesis ...
Current philosophical dilemma:
The elusive nature of time and life has been firmly established.Where is the balance between maximising the present and being prudent about 'securing' for the future. In a time when the present life is seen as the end in itself, securing security at every point seems to be the overwhelming pressurising thrust. This tends to make one insecure (oh great irony) and selfish in a way. Gathering enough so that you may always have enough. But is enough ever enough? Planning , building, securing ... for a later that may never come.
While 'peer pressure' was once written off as a challenge of teenagers, I wonder about the pressure to 'succeed'- to have tangible accolades as a medallion for efforts put in.
I realised that you can't run away from 'pressures', they will follow you or you will return to them. The solution, i know (with my mind, not heart) lies in creating a space around yourself. An impenetrable fortress of determination (the magnitude of that statement is enough to put me off striving for this).
If these thoughts seem staccato,then it's a perfect manifestation of me right now. I know that cohesion is a process. Patience,patience... the nemesis.
Current philosophical dilemma:
The elusive nature of time and life has been firmly established.Where is the balance between maximising the present and being prudent about 'securing' for the future. In a time when the present life is seen as the end in itself, securing security at every point seems to be the overwhelming pressurising thrust. This tends to make one insecure (oh great irony) and selfish in a way. Gathering enough so that you may always have enough. But is enough ever enough? Planning , building, securing ... for a later that may never come.
While 'peer pressure' was once written off as a challenge of teenagers, I wonder about the pressure to 'succeed'- to have tangible accolades as a medallion for efforts put in.
I realised that you can't run away from 'pressures', they will follow you or you will return to them. The solution, i know (with my mind, not heart) lies in creating a space around yourself. An impenetrable fortress of determination (the magnitude of that statement is enough to put me off striving for this).
If these thoughts seem staccato,then it's a perfect manifestation of me right now. I know that cohesion is a process. Patience,patience... the nemesis.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
shutting out the noise
when thoughts suffocate in exhaust fumes
and time can't keep up with itself
as though the hour hand is chasing the minute
hand's tail
when emotions spell
fatigue
in neon lights
and Originality is a name brand perfume
when spontaneity needs to be scheduled in
then it's time to take myself to the mountains
while this body may be pummeled
into shape
by the city and all it contains,
my heart lies buried on the river bed,
dancing in the directed current
it rides the tide of the ocean's breath
as it heaves and sighs to the shore
my heart edges on the mountain's cliff
to greet every sunrise with a prayer
and it knows that there will always be
a disconnect unless
this stubborn trunk
decides to uproot
and time can't keep up with itself
as though the hour hand is chasing the minute
hand's tail
when emotions spell
fatigue
in neon lights
and Originality is a name brand perfume
when spontaneity needs to be scheduled in
then it's time to take myself to the mountains
while this body may be pummeled
into shape
by the city and all it contains,
my heart lies buried on the river bed,
dancing in the directed current
it rides the tide of the ocean's breath
as it heaves and sighs to the shore
my heart edges on the mountain's cliff
to greet every sunrise with a prayer
and it knows that there will always be
a disconnect unless
this stubborn trunk
decides to uproot
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Romance off the coast of Africa
Whoever wrote that previous blog post about Africa lacking authenticity obviously hadn't been to Zanzibar yet.
Zanzibar was the romance and character that I was hoping to extract from Africa.
The place is authentic, unique - stuck somewhre in the 17th century, yet the faces of the people tell the story of present day Africa.
While the streets are saturated with an 'old-world' type charm , the delapidated infrastructure is very evident. Zanzibar is dependant on income from tourism and spice trade and the recent econimic slump has seen the Island take strain.
There is a palpable fusion of cultures and a background that is difficult to pin down. The Arab influence is noted and this is whispered in the architecture. I always associate those arabic arches with a great time in Islamic History without wondering about the cultural imperialism that comes along with conquests of great nations. But that's just the way of the world perhaps.
Zanzibar was the romance and character that I was hoping to extract from Africa.
The place is authentic, unique - stuck somewhre in the 17th century, yet the faces of the people tell the story of present day Africa.
While the streets are saturated with an 'old-world' type charm , the delapidated infrastructure is very evident. Zanzibar is dependant on income from tourism and spice trade and the recent econimic slump has seen the Island take strain.
There is a palpable fusion of cultures and a background that is difficult to pin down. The Arab influence is noted and this is whispered in the architecture. I always associate those arabic arches with a great time in Islamic History without wondering about the cultural imperialism that comes along with conquests of great nations. But that's just the way of the world perhaps.
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