Friday 28 December 2012

Two people, one song



Couple with a Lyre of Ur (British Museum)


Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food. Genesis 3.


She is a woman, brown as a berry

who strolls in the garden,

plucks fruit from the tree.


He is a man, ebony black

who stands by the woman

and plucks at the lyre.

                *

Two people, one song

alone in the garden,

with music and dreams.


She plucks the apples

and he plucks the lyre

- it is not a new song.

               *

Having taste of the fruit

the woman has peeled

he lays down the music,


- they walk to the fields.

                *


gw2012 revised/previously published at Red Room


Thursday 27 December 2012

ON GOD, THE UNIVERSES, AND EVERYTHING

In the beginning the Creator created the tree.

Whatever I think, or may not think about it, I must consider the possibility that it's all going according to His plan.

I currently find myself, that is to say I find that part of me that is my supraconsciousness (or whatever the word for the opposite of subconsciousness is)  existing as an idea, to put it loosely, in a universe which appears to be one of many universes, perhaps an infinite number of universes existing in an unlimited multiverse. I may even be existing in all the universes of the multiverse at the same time for all I know; like a radio or a TV my metaphorical receiver merely tuned-in to this particular time and place in the space-time continuum at the moment.

Certainly, as far as my physical body including my nerves and brain material is concerned I am not the same person who existed 7 years ago. All that material has vanished and been replaced bit by bit. The part of me which is an eternal constant is my supraconsciousness which is to be found in a separate dimension, or you may say a parallel universe, to my physical body; a physical body which doesn't even exist physically in what we understand as reality, other than as an electromagnetic field.

Since I am (on one level) living in the physical (on Earth) my supraconsciousness can only be glimpsed from here as through a glass darkly. For technical and other reasons the Creator keeps my supraconsciousness well away from my 5% consciousness plus 95% subconsciousness mode of existence. I imagine that those other reasons include protecting the integrity of the higher or out of body levels of consciousness.

To me it is conceivable that there is beyond my supraconsciousness another level of consciousness which I will call the extrasupraconsciousness level; it may be the direct line to the Source.

In an unlimited multiverse the possibilities are unlimited.

Use them all wisely.


Sunday 23 December 2012

My Christmas presents

A lighted candle 
for peace 


 A tree 
dressed for winter

And one rose for the season 
of goodwill 

Saturday 22 December 2012

small talk



pond ice melts   

more ducks drop-in  

. .  quark quark 






Thursday 20 December 2012

THE 21/12 THING: FOREST FIRE, NOT VOLCANO ERUPTION IN HIMALAYAS


Smoke and an explosion have been observed in the Bagmati Zone at the site of the Langtang Lirung submarine volcano in the Nepalese Himalayas.

The volcano last erupted 2,000 years ago (+/-50yrs).

RSOE-EDIS reports that the eruption was observed by Nepalese army personnel at 11:47am UTC today, 20th December 2012.

The site of the explosion is in Rasuwa National Park and is 4 kms to the north-east of Mt. Langtang, the world's 99th highest peak. The nearest settlement is one day's walk from the area.

A Nepalese army helicopter has been despatched to the scene.


UPDATE: The volcano appears not to have erupted! There is a forest fire in the location. No reason for given for the explosion at this time.

A ZEN SPEUG HAIKU

ECHOING THROUGH THE COSMOS GUNFIRE SHAMING US


I have used the haiku echoing / through the cosmos / gunfire shaming us with John McDonald's kind permission. You can link to 'zen speug' by clicking on the text of the picture. I added a comment on his website to the effect that the echoes carried through the cosmos were from the electronic barrage of 'breaking news' reports; and in the case of incidents such as the recent one at Sandy Hook School with heart-'breaking news' broadcasts. Another layer of shame we carry is the sudden rush, following those primary school killings, to purchase guns for Christmas. In the US last weekend gun sales topped 120,000 according to one of the usual sources whose electronic information rushes into the cosmos with light-speed of 300,000 kms per second through the universe like the light from those billions of faraway galaxies in the telescope's eye ... going on for ever and ever without any end.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

CHRISTMAS CARD




Having been told
that the world will end
tomorrow

or the next day
- or the day after
I post your

Christmas card
early. It comes with
suitable song

Carol  

What is Christmas without
snow? We need it 
as bread of a cold
climate, ermine to trim

our sins with, a brief 
sleeve for charity's
scarecrow to wear its heart
on, bold as a robin. 

 - R S Thomas

and winter scene


Monday 17 December 2012

ONE MUSKET AND TWENTY BALLS




The sad events of 14th December 2012 at Newtown in Connecticut give us all pause to think. Maybe from the tragedy some good can come.

Whenever there is a massacre of Sandy Hook Elementary School proportions in the USA the Second Amendment adopted by Congress on 15th December 1791 is cited as grounds for it being okay and reasonable to have an estimated 300,000,000 guns and several billion rounds of ammunition in circulation.

But what does the 221 year old Second Amendment actually say? It says:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep Arms shall not be infringed."

The 2nd Amendment, as I read it, relates only to members of a Militia*. And this interpretation of mine is, I would say, supported by the fact that 5 months later, in May 1792, the same Congress passed an Act establishing such a Militia. 

What does the Act say? It says:

"Each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age 18 years and under the age of 45 years (. . .) shall be severally and respectively enrolled in the Militia and every citizen so enrolled, shall, within 6 months thereafter provide himself with a good musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball: or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch and powder horn, 20 balls suited to the bore of his rifle . . ."

So there we have it. The intention of Congress, as I read and understand it, was that there should be:

Militia 

comprising of Enrolled Men 


of Good Health 


between the ages of 18 and 45 


each man having ONE gun 


and 20 rounds of ammunition. 



In plain English I believe what the Congress was saying in the 2nd Amendment was this: 

The nation requires a well regulated militia for its security and protection and therefore the people (who will be shortly called upon to form this militia) must have the right to keep and carry weapons (i.e. one gun and 20 rounds per man) for use in the course of their duties in connection with the proposed militia.  

The Congress could not have have foreseen the type and calibre of weaponry and ammunition available in America today. 



*Militia: a body of men enrolled and drilled as soldiers: the National Guard and its reserve (U.S.): a territorial force: troops of the second line.

Sunday 16 December 2012

haiku


I apologize for not knowing the name/s of the artist/s from whose large paintings I took detail.
Should the artist/s contact me I will immediately rectify the omission. I believe he/she/they is/are from the region formerly known as Yugoslavia.

another loving Father  
presents the only Son 
with his first gun this Christmas


Saturday 15 December 2012

THIS YEAR IN AMERICA CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED


"He rode over Connecticut in a glass coach." Wallace Stevens

MURANO GLASS 

THIS YEAR IN AMERICA CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED 

Innocent children 
in pre-Christmas class 

Cheerfully making 
glittery cards

When the door opens 
and a big shot walks in 

They are there for the taking
- they are fragile as glass

They are there for the taking 
- they are fragile as glass.


Friday 14 December 2012

R S Thomas - Priest and Poet

WELSH COASTLINE


R S Thomas


It was a priest

in a seaside church

enclosed

within his restless verse

an echo

slowly

to return  





as ECHO.


___________________
R S Thomas (1913-2000) was a Welsh poet (writing in English) as well as being a priest in Aberdaron and other locations in Wales. His works (published by Bloodaxe) include: No Truce with the Furies, Mass for Hard Times, Counterpoint. The blog searchbox will reveal more about this interesting man.


Tuesday 11 December 2012

haiku




The old man can sprint

if the will power kicks-in

- just grit those dentures!


Saturday 8 December 2012

THE MAN IN THE TOP FLOOR FLAT


closed
the twenty-fourth door

for it was
the twenty-fourth

and now
he'd finally closed them all

closed one for each day
of the advent calendar

fixed to the door
of his fridge

inside of
which the light

had given up the ghost
long ago

and now
it was

the right time to think
of the future

to think
how different

things might be
but . . .

something moved
within his breast

the caged bird
flying . . .

and he looked again
at the doors

all of them
closed

identical rows
and stories
high


_____________________
There's another, much better poem, The Door by Miroslav Holub (or rather it's my translation of his poem) but you can find it in the blog searchbox if you so wish.

In my poem the fact that the man was closing the doors on the calendar instead of opening them as is customary is extremely important as is the fact that the next day will be Christmas Day. We may consider what might happen on the 25th day if the man is going to continue in the opposite direction to holy legend and modern tradition. And think what has brought him to this pass. It may be that he has too often faced closed doors. There is a lot more in the poem besides. But that is enough to be going on with.


Tuesday 4 December 2012

We, of the Machine




are unaware.

A subtle manipulation

 moves our chains

moves our change.

The 24 days

are ticked off and the 24 windows are opened

one by one.

 It is NOW

logically magnified.

It cannot STOP!

It cannot say NO.