All Posts Tagged ‘poetry’

Post

Eyes of Starry Nights

October 15, 2019
26 comments
 
 
 
Prepare the later afternoon of me myself—prepare my lengthen-
ing shadows,
Prepare my starry nights.   — Walt Whitman
 
 
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
­
 
 
­
­
Being that
the perceiver is the perceived,
these soon to be starry nights
find themselves in your foreseeing eyes.
 
My long shadow and yours will coincide.
May we blend in a timeless wholeness
so very much vaster than mere ending
and so very truer than mere fragments.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Grasshopper Shadow & Eyes … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

one budding diminutive why

October 14, 2019
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

October 8, 2019
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
Post

Carnivorous Capers… (i.e., our Ant friend is still at it!)

October 7, 2019
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-

October 1, 2019
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
Post

An Ant’s Perspective of Bigness

September 30, 2019
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
Post

Wordless Wednesday… Not!

September 25, 2019
25 comments

Are you a word, an image
     that you cling to,
     that is claimed to have “control of all the other words”? 

Bumble in the Jungle … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Post

Winged and Ready

September 24, 2019
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
Post

We were Educated Wrongly

September 23, 2019
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
Post

His inquietude made him what he was…

September 17, 2019
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

 

 

 

Post

The Very Wise ToadMaster

September 16, 2019
35 comments

 

 

The very wise ToadMaster perched near the toadstool,
and with his croaky voice, he summoned all of the little tadpoles to swim up to the riverbank
to hear another lesson.

He, in his sagely way, bellowed, “Unfortunately, many of the upright, large apes — that we have mentioned in the past — foolishly refuse to judiciously see that they too evolved from swimming fish, even as you here, as swimming tadpoles (through a long passage of time), will soon be leaving your aquatic existence to join our terrestrial lot.  What is even more unfortunate is that the upright apes continue to mindlessly throw toxic debris into our water habitats and also
onto the beautiful terrestrial domain that you will all soon be graduating to.   
The upright, large apes continue to make things that destroy things.  The upright apes can be downright
destructive and dangerous, though some of them are very kind and considerate.  Overall, the whole world’s
life forms are all rapidly disappearing due to what these, large bipedal creatures are mindlessly doing.  Even as they claim that one of their kind is a God, they endlessly continue to pour cement and plastic over living things and spew out much toxic debris, killing our planet.  They often do what is called “mowing their lawn,” which they think is very beautiful (though such activity callously cuts and kills many precious creatures, including us amphibians.)  When you hop on land — which you all will be doing soon — do so with extreme caution, and avoid these large, bipedal creatures at all costs… and please
do your best to survive in the excessive heat (due to the climate rapidly changing).”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

If you have time, please watch the following 60 Minutes video on ocean plastic and pollution…

The Very Wise ToadMaster … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-cleaning-up-the-plastic-in-the-ocean-60-minutes-2019-08-18/

Post

A Story-Poem (or Two)…

September 10, 2019
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

September 9, 2019
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

Post

Wordless Wednesday… Not!

September 4, 2019
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

Post

Where when doesn’t matter…

September 3, 2019
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

Post

Wishy-Washy

September 2, 2019
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

Post

Wordless Wednesday … Not!

August 28, 2019
20 comments

 

 

?what kind of heathen sacrilegiously writes
on a consecrated,wordless day,
asking us to transcend all of our mindless traditions 

 

 

[Note:  Today’s posting was inspired by a comment by a wonderful blogger that i follow who, last Wednesday, in a “Wordless Wednesday” that i posted, graciously commented that my words were missed.  Thank you much, A Curious Introvert !  … and hugs to Cutie Fuzzy Doggy.]

Let’s follow Daddy-Long-Legs … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Trying to Get to the Top

August 27, 2019
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

Post

Global Dragonfly

August 26, 2019
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

Post

So here we are, Master FourEyes

August 20, 2019
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

Post

There is the isn’t

August 19, 2019
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

Post

Finally meeting your Long Lost Auntie

August 13, 2019
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

 

 

 

Post

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

August 12, 2019
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

 

 

 

Post

Monarch Caterpillar

August 8, 2019
24 comments

 

 

In my beginning is my end.  — T.S. Eliot

 

 

[Note:   While photographing this Monarch caterpillar, it noticed the camera and suddenly went from high activity and movement to total stillness.  More of us would be better off by letting total stillness — of the mind — occur more often (even though it is not merely an occurrence and has nothing to do with time or effort).] 

 

 

Monarch Caterpillar … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

Post

Pseudo-alive

August 5, 2019
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

Post

On the Precocious Mantis and the Ominous, Hideous Creature…

July 30, 2019
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

 

Post

The Ecstasy in the Green Luscious Garden

July 29, 2019
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

Post

May I Understand Why People Don’t Understand

July 23, 2019
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

 

Post

The Flower at a Distance

July 22, 2019
20 comments

 

 

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.
The flower at a distance always looks better than the one you are standing on.
Separation is a definite illusion.

 

 

Young Katydid pining for a distant flower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Sleeping White Tail Dragonfly

July 16, 2019
35 comments

 

 

What prey are you dreaming about
tonight, my adroit, winged friend?
What shifting air currents
are floating through your
fulfilled, slumbering mind?

 

[Note:  I was in the woods taking nature pictures and stayed quite awhile.  It started getting dark and as i was leaving i saw a White Tail Skimmer Dragonfly landing low in some wild plants on the forest floor, fortunately.  I knew that that meant it was preparing for sleep (there).  I waited a bit — for it to really dose off —  and then i slowly moved in to photograph it.  Poison ivy was all around me!  Please note how they wrap their legs around plants while in sleep; this stance affords stability for possible upcoming windy conditions.]

 

 

Sleeping White Tail Skimmer Dragonfly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

The Sunset Stared

July 15, 2019
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

 

Post

So while looking into the mirror…

July 9, 2019
38 comments

 

 

So while looking into the mir-
ror at one
self,
one asks, “Did
I re-
member
to brush my
teeth this morning?”

Well then, “Oh, that’s 
right!  I don’t have any
teeth; I have a proboscis.”
Proboscises suck,
and it’s not that you “have them”;
they are merely part of what you are…

as are butterflies
and things to reflect on.

 

 

[Note: Butterflies use their long tube-like proboscises to suck nutritious nectar out of flowers.  They have a symbiotic relationship with flowers in that they help pollinate them by going from one flower to another.  Note the yellow pollen sticking to the “face” of this Painted Lady Butterfly.]

In the Mirror … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Not too many tears, dear

July 8, 2019
20 comments

 

 

Not too many tears
dear
be ever shed for Nature
that dies

Not too many tears
dear
trickle down from faces
not sky

Not too many tears
ever flood away
from smiling faces
in stores shopping

Not too many dry eyes see
there be fewer bees and
honey
in the ending of the begin

They say not enough concrete
to cover all da prairie fields
but Mr.
Progress be working on it

 

 

Prairie Trillium Wildflower, Illinois. These low-ground plants grow very slowly and they take around 10 years to mature enough to flower. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Short Story about the Best Wooden Thing

July 2, 2019
36 comments

 

 

Once, there was a burly man who carved things out of wood.
Many people in his village would each ask him to carve something special for them, and he usually would, with great pride.
The man would often boast about what he could expertly carve.
Then, one day, a little girl — who had never asked the man to carve anything whatsoever — asked him what the best wooden thing is.
“I am not sure,” said the man, perplexedly, “Maybe it is the large horse that I once carved for Mr. Hayes.”
“No,” said the girl, confidently, “It is that large, beautiful, living Oak tree that grows in our yard.”

 

 

Very young Oak tree sapling just beginning to get there. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

The Stuffy Politicians…

July 1, 2019
21 comments

 

 

Many stuffy politicians can pull many
into their stupefaction
pull many into their (paid-for-by-
the-fossil-fuel-industries)
raisons d’etre
(which include bona fide lies)
but as for a rogue like me,
well, the cheese in their trap 
is made of distorted
­(though expensive and smelly)
­cardboard

 

 

Apolitical photo … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

There is no thinker without the thought.

June 25, 2019
30 comments

 

 

There is no thinker without the thought.
There is no observer without the observed.
There is no experiencer without the experience.

And if you think that the world and its creatures
are separate from what you are…
think again.

 

Far beyond separation … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Winged Purity

June 24, 2019
14 comments

 

 

Makes a living by searching for nectar
Sleeps where it eats
Doesn’t have to pay taxes
Doesn’t have to worship at stone temples that replaced nature 
Doesn’t need to propound fancy opinions
Doesn’t ruin the environment by traveling in fossil fuel vehicles
Is a pacifist and has no crazy leaders

 

 

Common Blue / Spring Azure Butterfly and a scrawny caterpillar … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

We need to change our ways but many won’t… and the weather is getting more and more erratic…

June 18, 2019
17 comments

 

 

It’s a shame that 
others species also
have to suffer
the dire consequences
of global warming and man’s pollution.

When i was a kid,
i realized that, in the future,
we would — in ignorance — 
be fueling our own hell.

 

Tiny Jewelweed Wildflower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

In the Stark Contrast of Things

June 17, 2019
21 comments

 

 

In the stark contrast of things
beyond the darkness and light
beyond the good and bad
see something whole glowing beyond mere conflict
beyond the world of the opposites

 

 

Mayfly in June … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Three Beautiful Blue Wishes

June 11, 2019
24 comments

 

 

Three beautiful blue wishes,
circumscribed by a rigid limitation.
Soon they will emerge beyond
weakness and constraint
and will fly free enchantingly.

Do you think that you are beyond your
enclosing limitation?
Most are circumscribed by more
rigidity than these three ever were.
Most will never break free
but
because of blind beliefs
darkly will remain
bound in rigidity forever.

 

 

Three Beautiful Eggs from Mother Robin … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

 

 

Post

Most People Are Afraid…

June 7, 2019
19 comments

 

 

Most people are deeply afraid of intrinsically being nothing.  They, deep within, have enormous fear about existing as emptiness.  They’ll “try” various meditative techniques to “attain some kind of emptiness that they can control,” but these techniques all depend on time (which is merely a postponement and — really — a duplicitous psychological excuse to use a so-called psychological center to continue to be manipulating and “getting there”).   They may conjure up a fabricated emptiness (under their control) and continue to pretend that it is something special (that “they” have); this further reinforces internal possession and, with it, the “I” of domination/possession.  Profound emptiness is not merely brought about by any psychological cause, by any psychological effort.  However, the exclusive cause-effect mentality has been deeply ingrained within us.  That is how most of us operate and that is the only way most of us know how to operate.   Psychological — not physical — ending to the known neither requires effort, technique, nor time; really, it is timeless living.  Regarding psychological emptiness, it is foolish to run away from it (and it is foolish to fabricate it).  (Accurate thinking has its place, but it is only a tool; one part of a conditioned “network of tools” identifying itself as “the controller” is a form of crudity and ignorance.)

The nothingness that most conjure up, unfortunately, is a fabrication.  The beauty of true nothingness/emptiness is that… when it actually occurs, the magnificence of wholeness and profound eternity exists.  To be deeply afraid of that, then, is delusive and fallacious.  

There was a man
who was afraid of the emptiness of a flower
He ran from that emptiness
Ignorance fled from what was the door to immeasurably immense beauty

 

 

Flower Power (Emptiness) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

It Is Only In That Emptiness That Fullness Is…

June 4, 2019
20 comments

 

 

My favorite walk
is when I am not there

but is when everything around
is what one is not separate from

Then there is no I
but only the wonderment of eternity

and everything about
is magical splendid mysterious
whole

 

 

 

Open and Alive … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

Post

Miss Snakey

May 28, 2019
31 comments

 

 

Slithering in this oscillating domain
Feeling it
Breathing it
Loving it
Being an important part of it

 

 

[Note:  This is an innocent, non-poisonous Garter Snake.  I am delighted that she has emerged from our sandy soil to spend time around our house!  Such snakes eat mice, rats, and other such vermin.  Too many people foolishly kill snakes whenever snakes are seen.  Snakes are an important part of the beautiful balance of nature.]

 

Emergent Spring visitor; she must have just come out of the sands after winter dormancy. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Two Buttons

May 21, 2019
22 comments

 

 

Two buttons, at the beginning of life,
to select from:
One, if pressed, makes you (for the rest of your life) an
extremely rich person (monetarily) with not much
wisdom and compassion.
The other, if pressed, makes you
a not so rich person with
much wisdom and compassion.
Which would you press?
Which would you be?
You can’t press both;
you can never press both.

 

Button Mushrooms with Dew … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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When Truly One with Nature…

May 14, 2019
44 comments

 

 

When you reach out to others
you are reaching out to yourself

When you help beautiful nature
you are healthfully curing yourself

When you reach out to the lost
you are finding you’re found

When truly one with nature
you are color and sound

 

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[Note:  My wonderful wife, Marla, will soon again be having major shoulder surgery — for the fourth time on her problematic shoulder — and i may not be able to reply to my blog (or visit other people’s blogs for a while when that happens); my postings are all prescheduled, so they will continue to appear, only i will not be available to comment on them;please keep this in mind.  Thank you!!!]

 

Reaching Out to Yourself … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

Post

The Emergence of Sweet Spring

May 7, 2019
16 comments

 

 

 

The emergence of Sweet Spring
one purplish thing
beyond all of the sorrow and sting
that sullen contrived fear must bring

 

 

The Emergence of Spring … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

 

 

Post

Spring Beauty

April 30, 2019
34 comments

 

 

Spring Beauty
you are always
(timelessly there)
and so amazingly new
in your selfless sharing

You help make the woodlands
simply magical
Your fragility
transcends transience
with joyous eternity

 

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[Note:   The common name for this Illinois woodland wildflower is Spring Beauty.  The entire width of the flower is less than 1/2 inch (around one centimeter wide).  This wildflower is still rather common throughout Illinois.  It, fortunately, can survive more environmental disruption than most wildflowers.  Its eternal essence has nothing to do with its persistence in Illinois or elsewhere.]

 

Spring Beauty … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

Magic and Earth Day

April 22, 2019
24 comments

 

Today is Earth Day and i will undoubtedly shed a few tears today.  (Today, with the following, I’m telling you like it is, and not merely singing about daisies and butterflies.)  The ability to have very accurate premonitions runs in our family; my mother had it and i seem to have a strong dose of it too.  When i was in high school (in around 1966) i had a premonition that humans would quickly ruin the earth with excessive manmade pollutants. Yesterday, the very intelligent Fareed Zakaria had the famous environmentalist Bill McKibben on, as part of his show.  Bill, 30 years ago, wrote a book — the first book about global warming — warning about the threats of manmade pollution; since then, he says that little has been done to change things for the better.  Arctic ice is 50% gone and the oceans are 30% more acidic.   We all need to change and do more to change things.  Additionally, it is far more prudent/globally-compassionate to stay local and not go long distances for vacations and entertainment.

 

(Down below is a link to the conversation between Fareed and Bill.)

 

If i had a magic wand
that would
when waved
make people
care
understand
look without separation
clean up the environment (that they are)
and look without a false center…
i’d use it

No such
magic wand
from any mystical magic shop
exists
but that doesn’t mean
that real magic can’t happen

Real magic can happen
Profound mysteries of life assure you
real magic can happen

 

 

Ants Caring for the Aphids that they herd and that they milk like cows … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2019/04/21/exp-gps-0421-mckibben-full.cnn

 

 

 

Post

One Multiple Now

April 15, 2019
25 comments

 

 

One multiple now at the opening of all why
blossomed out because
beyond reasons

Echoing spritely
time and time again
outside when’s known seasons

 

 

 

Mushroom Time … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

Post

A this and that must wear its hat

April 8, 2019
22 comments

 

 

A this and that must wear its hat
while hoping for balmy weather
The meaning of life is to give life meaning
 us on this ship together

This hole of fate in a piece of cake
in a jumble of rhyme and reason
A warm cup of Joe for Larry and Moe
while Curley’s out of doors just freezin’

A sitting duck amongst the muck
as the hunter takes keenly careful aim
It’s like shooting fish in a barrel for him
he’s happy as a clam but it’s himself he’ll maim

We all run the tough gauntlet in this crazy rat race world
many down in the dumps without a clue
The smoke and mirrors gunshots and tears
must do an about turn and fathom out what is true

 

 

Upcloseandpersonal … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019