In my youth I did my time
Doing strict religious discipline
A whole decade dedicated to mindfulness
And right livelihood.
And in the several decades since I’ve done
All that on and off again, from time to time.
But now my discipline is different
It’s the discipline of do-nothing
The wu wei of effortless action
More like mindlessness
Than effortful mindfulness.
What does it involve? Nothing!
Too simple you say,
And that’s the point exactly!
Like a cloud drifting through an open sky
Neither born nor dying
Simply manifesting
Into something
From nothing.
(9/16/26)
It sounds pretentious if I claim
The title of a poet.
Though people know I write in rhyme,
A whole lot more don’t know it.
If I am asked what job I do,
I say that I’m retired,
For teaching was my livelihood;
No details are required.
My poetry takes precedence
In my post-teaching years.
A poem a day is what I write,
Yet I’ve not changed careers.
If I had, I’d be a poet
And would say so if you asked.
Maybe in the recognition
Of my prowess, I’d have basked.
I’ll acknowledge it’s a hobby
Which takes up a lot of time
And within my soul, I’m proud
Of what I get to say in rhyme.
Yet, unlike the average doctor
Who must be addressed as such,
I’m uneasy using titles
Which don’t matter very much.
It's waking up to a chaotic morning
not expecting the end of everything
built with passion to last for generations,
it's facing a challenge harder than others,
whispering to ourselves
this frightening and changeless reality,
" All empires crumble and fall,
no writing on the faded wall,
no place was safer than home's tranquility;
there we were protected by our parents. "
A family trusting in God
will know no fear, it stands
in unity; it's bond is made of iron,
the stronger the fortress,
the happier is its livelihood:
how lovely is to watch the logs burn!
All empires crumble and fall,
it took layers upon layers,
to build them and seconds
to destroy them in violent rage;
envy for someone's achievement is cruel,
he has worked hard for his good image!
This nation is being ruined by violence,
no law is obeyed, thugs stick to defiance;
a fearless leader must put an end to all,
although all empires crumble and fall!
I spent the early part of my life
Giving little to no thought of my
Father and what he meant to me.
I later discovered by self analysis
That I'd subconsciously shut him out,
Thinking of nothing positive about him.
But there came a day when I was 54,
At a family reunion, a younger sister
Shed some light on our dad. On that
Summer day in Oklahoma, my entire
Attitude toward my father was forever
Changed.
He was no longer just an angry man
Who smoked and drank heavily; who
Verbally abused any who stood aversed
To him; who seldom smiled and was hard
To please.
He died when I was 13, and I reconsidered
That had he lived longer than 58 years, we
Would have gotten to know each other better
In spite of there being 11 minor children.
I tell you, I rethought a host of things and
Began to write about him and the treasure
of his brief life.
Today, please allow me to say in a few words
One item from daddy's treasure chest. Daddy
Provided a modest livelihood for mother and
Us, NEVER LEAVING US UNTIL THE DAY OF
HIS DEMISE.
497.
Our Golden Times During PNoy – Part 7
1P – Pangarap, the country's first president
In Bahay Pangarap (House of Dreams) to be resident
2Ps – Presidential Website that's Official created
Pilipino Music that's original hourly broadcasted
3 Ps – Public-Private-Partnership for businesses in country
Work hand-in-hand in building Tiger Economy
4 Ps – Pantawid-Kabuhayan Para sa Pamilyang Pilipino
Uplifting in education, health & livelihood the poor Filipino
5 Ps – Public Works & 4 Periods of K+12 implementation
Widening roads & enhancing basic education
6 Ps – Peace & Prosperity times three
For those who cooperated with his advocacy
To fight the corrupt and work hard for progress
And help fellow countrymen in times of distress
And we have opened the Book of Our Golden Age
PNoy's “Straight Path” is just the first page!
-12/27/2015
(Dumarao)
*Our Golden Times During PNoy
The strap on my leather bag broke,
Its usefulness gone up in smoke.
My old shoe repair,
Like most others, not there,
So on Google my fingers did poke.
I found a small old-fashioned place;
Good reviews from the neighborhood base.
So I brought in my bag,
A short walk, not a drag,
And the owner stitched it up apace.
Eighteen bucks, which I gratefully paid;
The repair looks like it was well-made.
I asked, “Why did it break?”
He said, “There’s no mistake.
Nothing lasts for all time, I’m afraid.”
For that reason, his business exists,
But since life has ironic-type twists,
In these sneaker-clad days,
Tradesmen’s work hardly pays,
Though his livelihood somehow persists.
#Mme
Wells of my heart are ever flooding, ignite in me never cease to lit, greatness and gratitudes forever apprehend my reactions, to cloud 9, expressions in me, trigger rockets in my heart, feel ruptures in me, cracking and leaking self control, running loose, uncontrollable.
I am talking about a WOMAN, Statue of my soul, this hope in my breath, reason I live. Please don't cut my wings nor control my adrenalin, here I'm absorbed, by gratitude and overwhelm. I'm drowning in tender, motherley abstract sooth
I'm talking about a MOTHER, my MOTHER, blade holder, asegai of my amour, my survival, piercing through my thick and thin, casting stones of my better livelihood, like creation, remaining absolute to my being. PLEASE! GOD, keep her for us, we, her son's and daughter's, flesh of her flesh and bones of her bones, the pulse in her heart, that echoes in our strength, humans we are, reflections we are, her body that nurished us, forever in us, she lives, in dreams we share, common bond of our birth, we are commended, by God and heaven. OUR MOTHER! Mme.
#Poetic_Ink
There was a sweet beloved great-grandma.
She had a rambunctious granddaughter.
The young woman had found her dharma,
To find the one her soul knew since forever.
Though her grandchild was now fully grown,
She always would worry for her and pray.
The young woman found a love she's known
From eons ago, then met on an autumn day.
The grandmother's livelihood began to burn.
The grandchild realized soon she'll be gone.
After leaves fell, she invited her to return
To her homeland buried in snow that shone.
The prodigal granddaughter was returned
Into one more visit before God takes her.
She had a sweet life the grandchild yearned.
She's in her all of her memories forever.
Dear Modina Odetunde
A new day for you
A new chapter of your life
Beginning anew
My heart touches on
Fabulous prayer for peace
To strive in fun
Everywhere you are
Even at your home as wife
Be a shinning star!
That always do smile
Giving delight to sky, lease
Sparkling weaves in style
And take the pleasure
To heart with warmest regards
Beyond eyes measure
Reaching out for hue
That suffuse light it presents
To which wonder glue
Admiring nature
Is twice admiring courtyards
Likely adventure
Life is truly good
To live twice young off ailments
Costly livelihood
Full of happiness
In true love and excitement
That please coziness
Through sunrise-sunset
Flowering graceful indictment
Cum birthday asset
Ten thousand years, to where she'd stood
rich men conveyed their livelihood
In lieu of gifts, they brought cashiers
to where she'd stood ten thousand years
The sand around the desert shifts,
they brought cashiers, in lieu of gifts
Where Ra once dwelt on sacred ground,
the desert shifts the sand around
Before the Sphinx, the Pharoah's knelt
on sacred ground, where Ra once dwelt
then, chained by Temu's hammered links,
the Pharoah's knelt before the Sphinx
Did we meet when stars aligned?
Or when fate dragged our paths,
to coincide, to bump together,
sidled up, side by side,
by coincidence, in time and space?
Or did we slide into the same path by accident?
Enchanted to dance by chance,
with happenstance and serendipity,
on a path less traveled?
We met in a deserted park,
in a deserted ghost town,
on a path way off the beaten track
Both coming to see how rising salinity
in the district's groundwater,
through excessive water use,
had ruined the crops,
ruined the town's livelihood.
Everyone had left.
One of us came here,
to yen its cause,
the other with pen,
to write a report.
In the park was a swing
with a rusty chain and black rubber seat.
The wind made the swing,
swing to and fro, to and fro,
emitting a haunting creak.
Which drew us to share the
pathos of the scene.
Which to us, thus met,
made all the difference.
This path, this town, this park,
this swing, this wind, this creak,
by accident,
made all the difference!
His gleaming eyes are blue, like oceans vast;
They study me with love and tender care;
They tell a tale of trials long since passed,
And dream of going where most wouldn’t dare.
His heart makes music, like the beating drum;
It gently beckons me to his embrace;
It reassures me that we’ll overcome,
And makes me feel at home in any place.
His gentle hands still wield compelling strength;
They labor for our livelihood and life;
They hold my heart through the night’s dreaded length,
And guide my way through sorrow, storm, and strife.
I see that I’m his most treasured prize
When I look into his gleaming eyes.
Development should be inclusive:
From far flung to the urban
From countryside to cityside
From the least to the greatest
From local to international arena
It's like a road, a railway
A blueprint, an organizational chart
A system or a scheme that everyone passed
Together hand in hand will improve, no one is left behind
A leader has short and long term solution
Crafting ideas and laws that benefit people up
Up in livelihood development consumption
Up in financial status development
Up in educational system development
Up in science and technology development
Up in research and development initiative
Up in marine and agricultural sustenance
Up in natural disaster mitigation and prevention
Up in government infrastructures and good governance
Up in digitalization process and innovation
Up in job placement and poverty reduction
Up in communication and in frequency
Excellent leaders think One Hundred Years ahead of his time.
The morning of January never run like that,
The surprise shown is again by the God.
The winter day is spraying with rain white,
Like the girls dressed in niqab.
People is carrying to his house,
In a rush, in a job, without notice.
They not spend money for a books,
They throw the money for fireworks.
Otherwise, who to gather fireworks,
May be you happy when fire fly to the sky.
Too much green Christmas trees, fireworks,
People throw it to garbage after one day.
I don't know is it dogged livelihood this,
The village of spiritual revival is far away.
It seems to me in the deep crisis,
Society, government, the people may.
Like military would want
to keep part of the Kam-kam
house for a reason I can't
tell at the moment.
But, I asked did the glee
world knows the implications
or somehow the ethical something
that may be there is in?.
Or let take for instance the
mysterious mermaid or fantasy of
spider.
It seems like each an everyday
the world is busy bugging
or behold watching to make a
better living or livelihood.
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