Fishing boats in Hua Hin

Problems

Every problem for which "don't care" is the solution shall remain a problem.

Magic

Magic is not cause, it's effect.

On life & death

Life is hard, but doable;
death is easy but unthinkable.

Poetry (Deming)

Poetry is very helpful to people for whom superstition is not enough.

John Deming

Gulf of Thailand at Bangpoo

Poem accepted!

Blue Fifth Review has accepted my poem "100 Minutes of Solitude." They will publish it sometime during the second half of the year.

Phase Next

And so it begins...

Marching

My mind marches on its axis of tendency.

Waste of time

It is never a waste of time to observe a beautiful thing, to think something for the first time, or to perform a kindness.

New poems

+3

Courtesies

Uncommon courtesies, freed from propriety, are often more meaningful than the common variety.

Monsters

There are monsters, and then there are those called monsters by those with imaginations inadequate to account for them.

Guilt

To a mind determined to find guilt, the earthworms under your feet are sufficient indictment.

Change & death

If there's one thing the natural order, this longstanding arrangement on Earth, tells us, it's that change is more important than death. (Of course, all death is change, but only some change is death.) Change is a constant; death, an instant.

The first

The first suffer their followers.

New poems

+8

From novelty

We will accept from novelty much that, familiar, repels us.

On perception

Our perception is set for survival, not comprehension.

The narratives

We are sequel to the narratives of our past.

A stained altar stone (Dillard)

Just think: in all the clean beautiful reaches of the solar system, our planet alone is a blot; our planet alone has death. I have to acknowledge that the sea is a cup of death, and the land is a stained altar stone. We the living are survivors huddled on flotsam, living on jetsam. We are escapees. We wake in terror, eat in hunger, sleep with a mouthful of blood.

Annie Dillard, from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

A spell

Simply asking is a spell that conjures what is desired surprisingly often.

New poems

+8

Web Memes

Effective today, I'm putting the Web Memes link blog (which I've maintained for 10 years) on indefinite hiatus. There may be no room for it in my future. We shall see.

Quick 2012 Summation

Books Read:  124
Poems Written:  357

New records for both stats. 2012 was a very productive year! 2013 is going to be very different, and I don't expect to get close to matching either number as I move my attention to new areas.