Do you love poetry? Do you read it regularly? It’s easy to do if you get a collection of poems from someone you like. William Wordsworth and Robert Frost are two of my favorites, and you can get a complete collection of either on Kindle for a dollar or two.
I started reading a poem or two every morning, first thing, while making coffee. This puts my mind in a creative state, and makes a perfect transition from sleep and dreaming to awake in this world.
The alternative that I was attempting to avoid when I started doing this was picking up my phone as the first thing in the morning. We all need to look at emails, and the weather, and a site or two… but do we need to do this first thing in the morning? Remember that how we start our day, the first thing we do, sets the tone for the rest of the day. If it’s crucial to check emails or the weather right away - or the surf report, I understand, but I would recommend avoiding social media in the morning, as well as the news. Neither are necessary and both will put your mind in a state not conducive to having a good day. Poetry will.
Below are two of my most recent poems. The first would be something to read in the morning. I wrote some of the lines in my head while hiking in the jungle, then recorded them on my phone so I wouldn’t forget. The second poem is about a short story I wrote this week. It’s not necessarily meant to inspire you into a joyful state of mind, but is more a reflection of the story, in which a sailor finds a log written by a dead sailor whose boat has been struck by lightning. I’ll post the story in my next newsletter. Until then, enjoy these two poems.
Jungle Stroll 6/10/2024 Strolling through the glorious jungle Joyous morning flowers purple Lost in time without a care Reveling in the morning air Asymmetric towering trees Traveling flowers in the breeze Brazen black hack hunting crabs Carefully keeping crustacean tabs Loud metallic call of parrots Parading green aerial sherifs Lording over canopy terrace Voice of which they're not embarrassed Stealthy sloth as slow as stone Hanging in her high tree home Hunted by the harpy eagle Eating leaves avoiding people Levels an eye at mono congo Cavorting on a branch below Lecherous howler monkey’s call Letting it be known to all Lest one think there might be none No, I’m here and having fun Howling like a leering lion Letting loose mangos flying Floating on the magic breeze Erratic flying flickering tease Electric blue winged being Is that a blue morpho I’m seeing Strolling I on forest floor Forever here seeking more Moving slowly without stealth Basking in the jungle’s wealth I the traveler see it new and fresh Forests are good but the jungle’s the best Oracle of Creation 6/14/2024 Glorious oracle of creation Realizing simulation Never evolving loving grace Gracious in your living space Specific social structure dream Benevolent burning laser beam Boasting us beneath salvation Several myths of your gradation Radiating light inside the moon Monolithic devastating doom Down the heathen in the mist Mystifying your godly bliss Bloated loathing ogres grow Stronger round the rings below Eleven levels ever more Orange light behind the door Do not open it so they say Salvation is coming any way But now I know the secret scent We are but their experiment The door awaits our realization Living here is no vacation Never ending survival struggle Falling in and out of trouble Trapsing round the world to find The same thing on the other side Like looking back from in the mirror Manifesting our escape from furor For now I know I need not sit Serving in this comic bit Nor necessary to stay a minute more Realization opens the door
Loved the photo, by the way. Incredible green
“Like looking back from in the mirror”…neat concept