Died at thirty, buried at sixty
I feel it in my bones, The coldness that the weatherman, Predicted for a week from now! I feel it on my messed-up knee, That I shattered years ago, On a hiking accident. When did I become so weak, so fragile? To feel pains that haven’t happen yet, To let people’s opinions, Become my reality? When did they break!? And, I’m not talking about my knee, Or my bones, I’m talking about my mind, My spirit. What happened to the calcium of my soul? What Sun can give me, The much needed, Vitamin D? I’m in my thirties, But I already carry a lot of dead weight, The trees of my dreams, Have become dead log, They block the view, Of long-lost hopes and dreams, And I can’t keep drinking from broken glass, And smoke past cigarettes. My poetry is bad, ...
Read MoreDon’t waste a prayer on me…
If you have to pray, Pray for the little girls and boys, Pray that they keep their dreams, That they stay young at heart, And walk the path of life, with a gentle touch. If you have to pray, Pray for my old neighbour, Who every night puts on loud Buddhist melodies, In hope of finding salvation. Don’t waste a prayer on me, darling, Don’t. I’m like a dead tree, That doesn’t feel the sour rain falling on it, Or the autumn leaves dancing around. Like Elijah I have to see death, To feel alive, Like dreaming of a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, Or being awakened by a Japanese earthquake, And 20 floor buildings shaking like a kitchen set. It takes a lot of talent to be happy, And I have none. I put my wrist on my ear, To listen to the whispers...
Read MoreLecture 1: From camels to stars
I have to admit that I knew I would enjoy Professor Gearson’s lessons as soon as I saw him quote parts of a poem (I Keep Six Honest Serving Men) by R. Kipling. In that beautiful poem, Kipling talks about the importance of the question words: what, why, when, how, where, and who. Professor Gearson then proceeds to structure his first lesson in this series around these questions. Below, I will post the questions and summarize the professor’s answers. What is a “golden age”? What is the Islamic Golden Age? The Ancient Greeks were the first to use the term “golden age” to mark a period in time. In their case, this term was used in a mythological aspect, to mark a period of the mythological past, when, according to them, humans were in complete peace with gods. In...
Read More