All Posts Tagged ‘poems

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The Rich Bureaucrats

16 comments

The rich bureaucrats hurriedly
and nervously walked along the
populated metropolitan sidewalks
on their way to important (to them)
meetings

They carried their attache cases
swinging them almost in syncrony
as they anxiously raced along
with faces that were not smiling
but instead sadly frowning

Meanwhile in a nearby classroom for
people in wheelchairs
(who happened to have multiple handicaps
and limited intellectual capacity)
a lot of happy smiles and joyful laughter
were taking place

It was quite the contrast
the bureaucrats with their
perpetual sullen looks
and the worry-free students in wheelchairs
with their pristine laughter and genuine joy

For Christ’s sake
please realize that the bureaucrats
were not rich whatsoever

Immersed in Yellow … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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The Salesman

11 comments

)”We have many featured products,”

said the salesman,

“that you may be interested in.”

“Do you have any,”

said the wise man,

“that can give back to nature what the manufacturing process took away?”

“I don’t understand what you are talking about,”

said the salesman,

as an involuntary, nervous tic evidenced itself spontaneously.

“None of the vacuums that you sell can clean up the mental and smelly environmental rubbish,”

said the wise man,

“that we humans caused and now are in.”

“What does that mean?”

asked the salesman,

as he coughed and wiped a bit of sweat from what was considered ‘his’ forehead.

“It means,” said the wise man,

“that (there is no ‘I’ that is interested in

buying what a ‘you’ allegedly have.”

Priceless … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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To Look Beyond Words…

18 comments

To look beyond words… To perceive the eternal beauty of things forever encircling and forming our lives…
To jump from the stale, restricted, ordinary labels and concepts…
To trash the limited (false) psychological space between here and there…
To leap high beyond dullness, boredom, and indifference…
To see immortality everywhere in every thing, animal, and person…
To go far beyond the books, creeds, so-called superiors, ringleaders, and experts…
To put limitation in its place, and go far beyond it…
To — despite manmade chaos and all the monkey-business — live joyfully, wisely, ecstatically, and free…

Dragon of the Skies … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Mine

8 comments

“Mine,” upon looking as a distance,
fed the content of recognition to
an “I” that was another concoction of thought/thinking. Possession
was what it was all about.
Then, looking out the window… was a perception of a curb and
some oncoming cars which were a human who
was standing outdoors and getting ready to cross the street…
(only the indoor dweller did not really see it in that particular way).
After a bit, the brushing of teeth took place, as if something separate from
the teeth possessed the teeth (as “its” teeth).
Steps were taken towards the door,
which was subsequently opened,
while the mind remained closed.
Outdoors, the “looking at a bird,” of course, consisted of
distance and separation,
which helped to reinforce the assumption
of a separate “I,” a separate “me.” And a label, which
existed in (and “as”) the brain, automatically said “a dove,”
without really fully perceiving without fragmentation whatsoever.
Steps along the sidewalk consisted of “my shoes” and “my
stride.” And these steps were steps very much apart from
the bird, at a distinct, separative distance.
Joyous and carefree was the avian creature,
and “flying” beats “walking” any old day.

Labeled … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Kind of a Koan, Here and There (Then and Now)…

17 comments

After that there, there is a here
and that there isn’t here
And this here isn’t there
But that there is still here
Although we don’t see it so

After that then, there is a now
and that then isn’t now
And this now isn’t then
But that then is still now
Although we don’t see it so

Then … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Flowers, Halloween, and One of your real Fears…

14 comments

To fill an empty rectangle for a hateful, freedom-killing madman/con man… is that also death?

*************************************************************************

A poem by E.E. Cummings:

suppose
Life is an old man carrying flowers on his head.

young death sits in a café
smiling,a piece of money held between
his thumb and first finger

(i say “will he buy flowers” to you
and “Death is young
life wears velour trousers
life totters,life has a beard” i

say to you who are silent.—”Do you see
Life?he is there and here,
or that, or this
or nothing or an old man 3 thirds
asleep,on his head
flowers,always crying
to nobody something about les
roses les bluets
                    yes,
                              will He buy?
Les belles bottes—oh hear
,pas chères”)

and my love slowly answered I think so.  But
I think I see someone else

there is a lady,whose name is Afterwards
she is sitting beside young death,is slender;
likes flowers.

Afterwards … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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The Perceiver is the Perceived

18 comments

 

 

Let’s dive deep
into shadowless realms of unsleep
far from the web of callous indifference

Let’s be whole
no fragmented pieces taking the toll
and streets driving as congested arteries

Let’s tread ages
leaving these words still on the pages
as a bored television tries to turn itself on

Let’s take time
as stolen money runs from the crime
while handcuffs are frowning with remorse

Let’s look down
while a missing wallet looks to be found
and credit cards fret with anxiety

Let’s be joy
while the white crib rattles her toy
as a happy nest with gray friends is singing

The Edge of the Nest … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Joyous in Early Spring

16 comments

.

you can localize your self

confine yourself to a learned, limited area

you can circumscribe around a restricted little point

you can hate, and steal, and rob

and fall into an insane cult hysteria

or

one can transcend demarcation

see oneself in all living things

one can expand as what is vast

can feel, and heal, and ease the pain

and be what the joyous bird in early spring sings

.

Early Spring … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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We,in the restaurant,staring … (a Halloween poem)

14 comments

(Happy Halloween, everyone!)
********************************************************************************

We, in the restaurant,staring
We at them and they at us
They,thinking that we are not them
(and we,perceiving that they are a part of us)

And,inevitably(as was always the case)the waitress
sprang up like a new(damp)fall mushroom,smiling
as she approached us with the typical,vacant separation
while(as far as we’re concerned)her features became what we were

Menus were gently handed to us in the appropriate fashion
and we graciously accepted them in the befitting,civilized manner
“Yes,”soon was uttered about “some cream with decaf coffee”
and then,Eliot-style,we measured out our lives with coffee spoons

Rubbing against the eatery’s window panes,
the yellow fog licked its web into the corners of the evening,
and,seeing that it was a soft October night,
peered in at unsuspecting,engulfing diners who seemed alive(although very much asleep)

And those bourgeois diners’ eyes that stare with superficial,learned separation,
that pigeonhole you as being quite far from what they are (i.e.,it’s all about distance,you see)
while they consume the “having-suffered” ragged claws decomposing upon their plates,
do you feel sorry for them,for whom it all(unfortunately)is very much too late?

Arach-no-phobia … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023



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These Halloween Days… (2 pics)…

12 comments

These people walk(although they’re dead)
These people talk(although they’re dead)
These people cadaverously go through the appearances of
being alive(although they’re dead)
These patterns fight(although they’re dead)
These machines bury their dead(even as they themselves are dead)

These machines function(with cause-and-effect robotic mechanicalness)
These machines move(with cause-and-effect robotic mechanicalness)
These machines calculate and measure(with cause-and-effect mechanicalness)
These marionettes agree(with cause-and-effect mechanicalness)
These machines salute,march,bow,dance,and kill(with cause-and-effect mechanicalness)

These numerous fears function(through and “as” time)
These habitual mental labels function(through and “as” time)
These endless desires function(through and “as” time)
These absorbed ideas function(through and “as” time)
These cognitive symbols function(through and “as” time)

These few people of heartfelt caring(make an infinite difference over,in,and above time)
These short moments beyond fragmentation(may hint at something beyond the limitations of time)
These suggestive movements beyond the norm(might break through the prison bars of time)
These movements outside of instilled beliefs(might break out of the cocoon of time)
These final fortunate endings of words(point to something superior to time)
These Halloween Days are full of manmade global horrors

Please don’t look at Pumpkin Plumber’s Hind End.
(Shame on you. You looked!) … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
A Deep Look into Bathing Time … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023

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Let’s

13 comments

Let’s throw a smile —
quickly into sky —
higher than having —
swifter than to cry

Let’s bask in nothingness —
larger than a joy —
clearer than not helping —
wiser than destroy

Let’s move sideways —
faster than to know —
changing into backwards —
waltzing like a pro

Let’s read left to right —
in sequence it must be —
and let us ponder meanings —
stir some with our tea

Let’s dive into Fairytales —
rake Fall’s golden leaves —
as we climb a beanstalk —
taller than the trees

Let’s finish seeing —
poetry must end —
with a double meaning —
Living is Dying’s friend

Spreading … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023

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The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality…

22 comments

While lingering in the very curious dark
a quaint two-horse somber carriage happened by
and, as it almost paused adjacent to me,
Miss Dickinson peering out, smiling, said,
“Won’t you hop in to savor some pie?”

We (much later passed) the School, where Children strove
Happily at Recess—in the Ring
And Staring, (we passed) the Fields of Gazing Grain
We (without fail) passed the Setting Sun
We passed those Dusky Creatures that were on the Wing

Well, the atmosphere tasted scrumptious, but the Coachman
suddenly brought the whole sweet thing to a blinding halt
However, Timelessness has that radiant aroma of infinity
oozing out from all around it
where ending simply began again with just a pinch of salt

Night Flyer … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
Post

Crawling upon me…

16 comments

🐜
While
reading
a
certain
poem,
Suddenly
an
itchy
feeling
occurred
there
upon
my
head

(I could feel the irritating itchiness as i continued to read)
(Or maybe it was that i read to continue)
(There was intensified itchiness that persisted)

And
Suddenly
one
realized
the
power
of
suggestion
and(anyway it wasn’t “my head” like someone or something inside it owned it or anything)

Hairy … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2022
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There is here

18 comments

There is here
We are them
“I” is not
When is where
Past is future
Future is past
We are water
Up is down
Uncurled is curled
Tears are joy
Hate is mindless
Poem is reading
Awake not dreaming
See not knowing
Pour was spill
Clean was dirty
Little is big
Born was dead
Left to right
Wings are resting
Desert was thirsty
Jungle was noise
War is sorrow
Flowers are calling
She is he
Silence is golden
Once is always
Time is ticking

little is Big … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2022
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Prose-Poem of Each Wish

10 comments

Each wish came upon an intangible dream.
All dreams are intangible, being the virtual aspirations or speculations that they are. In a world past dreamers, he or she who sees things as they are (beyond distortion), ironically, does not merely see things… because things are of thought’s plurality that is largely illusory and superficial (though important to respond to accordingly at times).

Life, despite what most people think, isn’t a series of things. Life is beyond the plurality of appearances that are tricks upon the mind. Life is not wholeness either, for such wholeness, for most, is just another thing, just another abstraction to dream about.

While in the garden, the handsome blue Hostas and the attractive, purple Columbine flowers were not separate from the mind; then they were beyond mere labeling and definition; spontaneously, they transformed into what cannot be described or dreamed about. Then beauty was the “observing” and was beyond mere “observing.”

In that garden,
there was careful “observing”
and there was “beyond observing.”
The two danced
in harmony
beyond fabricated plurality and
wholeness.
Curious, the ants, as to what moved
past them in a vastness.

A World Past Dreamers … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2021
Within the Crack of the Tree ... Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2021
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Within the Crack of the Tree

30 comments

here is what was then is now
pictures wish from image seen
thoughts could shovel laughs of dream
here is now what then was would

fish will fly and birds can swim
windows swallow rocks of round
finding always lost was found
death can end and time can die

stomach growling dogs malign
sweet love flowers grow entwined
mediocrity thinks itself refined
ladders lean past fear must fall

warring noise to peaceful hug
key to lock then moss to cloud
quiet tranquil not too loud
rectify what woke up wrong

waters boil tempers rise
placid insight formless cool
wolf in disguise needs some wool
wisdom not just empty schemes

Within the Crack of the Tree ... Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2021
Within the Crack of the Tree … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2021

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From: March from a Clockwork Orange

46 comments

 

 

Build a shape of love to him
and truth will come stay with you
Build a way to follow him 
and wind will surely find you

Find in cycle
Wind in air
Cast in our lures
Stand with truth

Love adventure
Follow air
And our lives are to feel
the love

 

 

Red Tailed Ichneumon … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Wordless Wednesday… Not… Vegetarian Mosquito

10 comments

When the vegetarian cameraman
took aim at the vegetarian mosquito
no one there was
(really)
out for blood

Vegetarian Saltmarsh Mosquito … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Barney the Bullheaded Bullfrog

14 comments

When Barney, the bulky, bullheaded Bullfrog
decided to take up residence under my car tire,
i told him politely, “Barney, that is quite a perilous spot
at which you can — most definitely — easily expire.”

Barney just sat there without a trembling twitch
and said, “You sure are a very worrisome bloke;
i can assure you, most greenheartedly,
that we brave Bullfrogs are, indubitably, not afraid to croak.”

Then i realized that all of my careful cautions and
pale-lectures would not cause Barney to fearfully quiver,
so i grabbed his humongous, bullheaded, brown-old butt
and — despite his slimy objections — threw him into the river.

Barney the Bullheaded Bullfrog by my car tire. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Can Couldn’t

8 comments

can couldn’t
and did didn’t
but nice knew
quaintness quickened

“be”s beckoned
while “wouldn’t”s were
“me”s mingled
“haven’t”s heard

steps stood
and said sermoned
cruel counted
must might

having had
tried thought
cricket chirped
but will won’t

_______________________________________________________________

[Note: Tree Crickets are very elusive; if they see (or hear) you coming, they hide on the opposite side of the bush or foliage that they are on. Please note the tympanal membrane on the front leg of this specimen; it is used as a hearing mechanism… an ear.]

Tree Cricket with Tympanal Membrane on front leg … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Third Time’s a Charm… (i.e., further adventures of our very diligent Ant friend)

9 comments

With this third time of me bringing fresh meat to
the Colony,
i am sure to finally get the recognition that
i deserve.
Hopefully, i will be promoted up the ranks
and will be remembered as “The Great Provider” by
the Colony.
(All of this voluminous Beetle Meat is tough to
move, by the way!)
I will persevere and
will get this wonderful bounty to
the Colony.

Goodness! I keep hearing the huge, bipedal ape up above,
with his camera, singing the following song to me:

“Getting to know you
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you
Getting to hope you like me…”





Hauling Beetle Meat to the Colony. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Humanity

6 comments

They scramble and they gamble
and they weep and they run
They wiggle and giggle
and they tan toast in sun

They piddle and paddle… 
pull dandelions from fresh grass
and waddle and dawdle 
and fish for striped bass

They fumble and they tumble
and they struggle in time
They chisel and they grizzle
and they wrote this short rhyme

Emerging Cone-flower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Halloween Praying Mantis

11 comments

She prayed,
and when she prayed,
the whole world prayed with her.

Her eyes, those large bulbous eyes,
saw everything worth praying for,
and everything needed preying.

She preyed on butterflies, bees, moths,
and on a number of other things.  It was what she preyed
that mattered, and it was the way she preyed.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Note:   This is a very unusual (very rare) Praying Mantis for our north-central Illinois area.  It is probably a Carolina Mantis.  These are southern mantids but, due to global warming, are moving more north. This one has wonderful chameleonic abilities.  Note how it amazingly blends in with the different color tones of the park bench.  It is a female and seems to be loaded with fertile eggs.  It may not have mated with a male at any time whatsoever.  Female mantises can lay many completely fertile eggs without a male.   When this happens, the offspring are perfect clones of the mother.]

Chameleonic Praying Mantis. … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2019
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Wordless Wednesday… Not! Halloween Theme

11 comments

To disturb others with words
on a Wordless Wednesday
is a grave mistake
in a dark cemetery of verbal spiders

Wordless Webbing … Not! Photo by Thomas Peace c.2019
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Halloween Time

20 comments

Houses running to adjacent houses
bags opening smiles rustling
spooky sounds from darkness growling

Halloween Time
comes laughinglyscreaming down the giggling sidewalks
of candydropping thankyous

Don’t look behind you
Something’s there twistinglyclutching
Shadowysoon under your midnight bed

Something’s staring from that web. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019


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Wordless Wednesday … Not! … (pre-Halloween hors d’oeuvres)

28 comments

 

We see you clearly
and we have a wonderful treat coming for you
on Halloween

coming for you!

__________________________________________________________________________

And here is an excerpt from the Monster in the Mirror song sung by Grover… (not that i ever watch Sesame Street with my big bird friends).

 

If your mirror has a monster in it, do not shout
This kind of situation does not call for freaking out
And do nothing that you would not like to see him do
‘Cause that monster in the mirror he just might be you
 
Singing “Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo”
Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly do
Wubba wubba wubba you can join in too

 

Halloween Delight … Note the series of long, fine hairs on this spider’s hind legs; they are likely used for web construction. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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one budding diminutive why

17 comments

 

one budding diminutive why
staring at the sky
in that beautiful youthful wonderment of innocence
beyond piggish power
and far from cultivated fear
so beyond the grip of authority
beyond stuffy temples
and stale priests and gurus
beyond tests
and drunken parties

sweet sky staring
further than thought’s weary boredom
and so far away from cold shoulds and musts

alive
whole
and unprogrammed

also looking down
of course
at tiny grasshoppers and katydids

 

Sweet little Katydid … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Post

Fourteen Steps Climbed to the Top

26 comments

Fourteen steps climbed to the top
from the bottom
An hour and fifteen minutes moved a short hand
and a long hand
One fishing line ignorantly reeled in
what it thought it wasn’t
Three opinions typed what
was surely right
Seven sayings scanned the screen
in a zigzag fashion
Thirty-seven pieces of candy
looked forward to Halloween
Twenty-five Black-Eyed Susans were arrested
for trespassing

A breach on humanity. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Carnivorous Capers… (i.e., our Ant friend is still at it!)

22 comments

 

It takes a lot of hard work to keep the colony healthy and thriving but i
realize that the colony and i are one.  We are each other.  What each of us does is done for all.  (Unlike those ruthless, competitive, bipedal apes, we are 100% cooperative and act for all.)

So here i am,
hauling another large bounty of meat for the colony to feast upon.
Maybe now i will finally get the recognition that i deserve.
Maybe now i will be the great worker-ant that all of the
other ants will aspire to be like.

But first, i must get this great bounty to the anthill.
While they are feasting, they will be thinking of me.
Oh lucky me for finding this treasure of voluminous, wonderful meat!

P.S. —  Don’t cringe!  (I know that you bipedal apes are watching… and judging.)  You bipedal apes eat hairy cattle and pigs and unquestioningly think and feel that it isn’t gross in the least. 
So don’t judge! 

 

Wonderful Meat-find #2 … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Post

Clock of Prejudice and Non-

30 comments

There was a clock
      with many hands

And the space between a certain hand
      at a specific area of the face
      (i.e., that limited space between the hand and the face)
      constituted a certain consciousness

Now each of the hands had different lengths and colors
      and different numerals and experiences upon the face
      to go through

There were black hands with long lengths
      there were white hands with short lengths
      there were wide little yellow hands
      there were thin long red hands

For one space of a hand to hate another space of a distant hand
      was insanity
      since each hand was a part of the same one clock

For one space of a hand 
      at four
      to want to eventually be wiser at eight
      was foolish
      since the space at four 
      could never really be the space at eight

Unless the space at four
      could fully realize that
      it was the space of all of the other hands

There is the limited little dull space of the segregated self
      and there is the not-so-limited timeless space of vast intelligence
      vast compassion

Which would you rather be?

One takes no time whatsoever to get to

Timely Droplets within Spiderweb … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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An Ant’s Perspective of Bigness

28 comments

It was such tremendous luck finding this big green meal for the colony

It is very difficult to move all of this fine meat toward our anthill but
when I get it to the colony I will become a 
great heroine

I will be known as the one who courageously 
brought a lot of protein for the many larvae
all the while risking being stepped on by
those giant frightening bipedal apes

I will be revered and may even be promoted to

the job of attending to the Queen

Oh I am so very excited and happy

On the way to the colony … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Winged and Ready

18 comments

Winged and ready
         to softly swirl
a long way off from
         man’s sad sordid fabrications and smoggy surgings

Bright eyes see
         beyond miserable madness(musts and can’ts)
and will fly
         beyond stale circumscriptions

Will we succumb to whirlwinds of hard
         indifference?
Will they plant their deadness into
         our innocent minds?

That is up to you

Winged and Ready (Painted Lady) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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We were Educated Wrongly

36 comments

We
             (too many of us)
have treated nature as
             a thing to be used
to be exploited

and not as a living beautiful delicate
             extension of ourselves

to be guarded cherished protected
            respected
loved

           and cared for

 

Cardinal Wildflower — Lobelia cardinalis … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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His inquietude made him what he was…

18 comments

 

 

His inquietude made him what he was…
     a repetitive jumble of endlessly clamoring
     mental symbols that were not realities
     (i.e., they were the typical unreal, fabricated images of the mind).

Her quietude was the immense beauty that she was…
     a comprehensive wholeness of undivided reality,
     actualities of timeless life movement beyond the known
     (i.e., beyond mere superficial symbols of thought).

 

 

Neural Networks Personified … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

 

 

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A Story-Poem (or Two)…

31 comments

 

Marla, my wife, said that my poems occasionally need to be more uplifting, so the first poem (here) is meant to fulfill that end.  The second poem is what was written before her comment.

Poem #1

 

Here in his hands
is a flowery treasure
with sweet petals and leaves
much joy beyond measure

He is of hopes and images where
as he ascends up in the elevator
flowing fields of smiling imaginary angels
open doors that were dreamt of later 

Can we lift a luminous whole
and bring new minds out of below
rise to the top ever so mindfully
in a towering highrise deep in the heart of Chicago?

 

(Well, elevators are uplifting, aren’t they?)

Poem # 2

 

There was a pond
and every time a frog jumped into the pond
the pond became a little froggier 
a little splashier

There was a grasshopper
and every time he landed upon a weed
the weed became a little leggier
a little jumpier

There was a propagandizing political news-channel
and every time a person watched it
the television became a little duller
and a lot more dim-witted

 

 

Leopard Frog, a species that will not survive long in a world filled with crass people who do not act diligently to prevent global warming and who think that “Windmills cause cancer.”. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

They called her Little Icky Vicky(and she

17 comments

 

(Based on a true story…)

 

 

They called her Little Icky Vicky(and she
cried a lot in pain)today
because of her distorted facial features
many people stared then quickly looked away

I called her Victoria & amiably sat next to her in grade school(&
always with her was very very kind)
There’s a lot of cold(cruel kids who name-call
with dark dead hearts)and blind

 

 


[Side Note:  We saw the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon over the weekend.  It is highly recommended.  It contains scenes involving both bullying and compassion.]

 

Not Mere Facial Beauty but Beauty Deep Within … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Wordless Wednesday… Not!

27 comments

 

 

Resting on a leaf
                                   this Wordful Wednesday
and
                         being wordless doesn’t matter one damn bit if

           you don’t do very compassionate things

                                                                                           for people and for animals and plants

 

 

 

Damselfly Resting ..,. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Where when doesn’t matter…

9 comments

 

 

Here is a place
           where everything is not
           so everything is never here
           where delusive selfishness reigns in its spot

And timelessness an eternally sweet wholeness
           where when doesn’t matter
           while “getting to heaven” is foolish
           like tissue paper in busy rainfall clatter

 

 

Diminutive Leafhopper Nymph (just 2 or 3mm long) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Wishy-Washy

18 comments

 

 

Wishy and Washy were fun-loving gals
     and many folks knew that both were loyal (trueblue) pals

Washy (without Wishy) went to the laundromat (with a basket that she had her clothes in);
     later, the clothes were all swishy and went into full-spin

Wishy, however, was sitting in her comfortable, convenient chair
     pining for great nature photos at which she could stare

So, instead of viewing blog photos of nature (which you often appreciate)
     get over to the clothes-washer and put your laundry in (because it’s getting late)

 

 

Purple Wildflowers … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Trying to Get to the Top

25 comments

 

 

                                                                 O
                                                                 h $

                                                               that
                                                           top that
                                                       so many are
                                                   struggling to get to

                               Is it worth all of the time & competition?
      Is surpassing and suppressing those below and impressing those above worth it?
When you finally get to the top, is there really genuine happiness there or is it an empty lie?!

 

 

Getting to the Top … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Global Dragonfly

30 comments

 

 

 

at the apex of this world’s littleness
perched in a carnivorous bigness
king of his airy domain
making a mockery of mere helicopters and planes

alert rascal of the skies
resting razing beyond gross separative nationality
and manmade stale flags of fabric
ation

 

 

Whitetail Dragonfly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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So here we are, Master FourEyes

17 comments

 

 

So here we are, Master FourEyes,
and i don’t think that what i write
will change things enough

and i don’t think that what you
nibble on will change things enough
… and that’s OK; it’s OK

And when we look at each other
each other we are
And when each other
we together look at oneself

Our unbelievable now is more timeless 
than any dead(stone-cold temple that replaced the prairies)
while Mr. Death — whom so many fear — has nothing on us

because we livingly understand him(and smile with and beyond him)
more than teardrops grow upwards
and flowers flow down

 

 

Master FourEyes… who happens to be a Milkweed Beetle on, of all places, a Milkweed Plant … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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There is the isn’t

25 comments

 

 

There is the isn’t 
which every couldn’t lost for                   
Its unquietness is what we were
and its non-absence steals our wonder

This is the joy(quite possible
that)every sorrow would ignore
Its murmuring is beyond our getting
and its thunder beyond your clapping

 

 

Tiny White-Striped Katydid on a Clover Leaf … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Finally meeting your Long Lost Auntie

5 comments

 

 

Yes, dears, I am your long lost auntie.
We finally get to meet, my sweet loved ones!
Life’s been tough, as you can see by all of the 
many timeworn scratches on my aged back.  
Come, come, I have some sweet, fresh salad for you to enjoy!
You had better eat it while it’s fresh…
that way, you will get all of the best vitamins that will help you grow.
Eat plenty, eat!

After we eat, that is when
your loving auntie will hug you dearly.
We’ll hug and hug to make up for all of the lost time that
has befallen us.
Now, let’s eat, dearies, let’s eat!  

 

 

Photo of Your Long Lost Auntie … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

 

 

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I Had a Pet Frog (named Infinitum) but He Croaked… This Poem is Dedicated to Him…

24 comments

 

AD INFINITUM                                                        😦

 

My wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent 
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.  
But then, my wonderful, magnificent 
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.  
But then, my wonderful, magnificent 
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.  
But then, my wonderful, magnificent 
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.  

Ad Infinitum…                                                                🙂 

 

 

My Eastern Gray Tree Frog named Infinitum … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

 

 

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Pseudo-alive

23 comments

 

 

A kind of postmortem examination
was done on him
long before his actual physical death

because unfortunately,
his brain became quite un-alive
after the innocent age of childhood.

Miseducation, brainwashing commercials,
propaganda-oriented news networks,
and being satisfied with remaining
in one dull routine after another

all contributed to his cadaverous pseudo-existence.
He often watches television and, of course, likes sports.
However, the little birds who nest in his yard
have far more compassion and life than he ever did.

 

 

Red House Finch Eggs … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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On the Precocious Mantis and the Ominous, Hideous Creature…

30 comments

 

 

Walking just walking along 
gingerly and slowly swaying 
waltzing alien-like from leaf to leaf

Stalking just stalking along
stick-like & Oh so lean
happily wondering whom next i can eat

Suddenly out of nowhere
a huge ominous creature appears
thrusting a blackish lens-thing right up to me

In a flash, I quickly leap away
and am so very glad
that the huge hideous creature didn’t eat me

 

 


[Note:  This photo was taken about a month ago.   This was the first  Praying Mantis that i’ve seen this summer; it was young, just around 3cm long.  And, yes — with blackish lens-thing macro camera in hand —  i am the ominous, hideous creature.  (You must admit, we ominous, hideous creatures are pretty huge.)]

 

 

Young Praying Mantis (praying that I don’t eat him) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

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The Ecstasy in the Green Luscious Garden

18 comments

 

 

The ecstasy in the green luscious garden
flaps its wings in harmony
pert antennae sensing all the smells
in the rapture beyond the kitchen window

Lovely colors moving all around
flower to flower endlessly
cares not a bit about the past
or what the future might just be

Rubbing stamen amongst the stigma
in a style Oh so clean
purity in every blossom
here between the trees and golden honeybees

Collecting nectar sweet and no antiques
living fresh in every moment
time’s illusion not for me
beyond the world’s vast confusion

 

 

Ecstasy in the Green Luscious Garden … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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May I Understand Why People Don’t Understand

17 comments

 

 

May i understand why people don’t understand.
And why is there such a disconnect in people’s minds
betweenthings,
between them and all other things?
They look with (and “as”) sep
             ar
    ­A
tion,
each from a center that never was a true center
and that never will be a true center…
like bubbles floating in a glass of milk
each thinking that they are separate from
the milkiness.  

 

 

Beyond Separation … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

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The Sunset Stared

9 comments

 

Part 1

The sunset stared at separate birds
as he pendulously walked into what he thought he wasn’t.
His disconnection with everything  — like the day — was ironically complete:
A separate “me” scratching an arm that was “his” and
there to use from a “distance.”

Part 2

She was the blossoms that she helped grow.
Their colors were colors that were of purplish her.
She was that towering Oak Tree
but to her, it wasn’t an Oak Tree;
it simply was what it was (beyond labels)
and was not separate from any “me” within her,
for she was beyond all “me”s.
She was the beautiful blossoming of wholeness.

 

 

a little bit of her … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019