although it can be corrupted for destructive uses too. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, if you have interest and capacity.
I'm here as a beginner poet. Also a wife, teen boy-mom, non-practicing physician, rare chronic illness patient, philosophical thinker. ENFJ/INTP Canadian living in Treaty 6 territory and hikes/runs/scrambles the Rocky Mountains in Treaty 7 whenever I can.
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although it can be corrupted for destructive uses too. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, if you have interest and capacity.
So that's my answer to why it is prescribed. By who is more complicated. We can prescribe it to ourselves or each other, but...how did we come by this existential/spiritual healing ability? Currently, I believe in a good supreme being who created us and gave us humour for this purpose,
opposition, and conflict deepens meaning. The more we care, the more individual and collective setbacks hurt. Humour is a way we can accept this painful growth process, especially when we have the security and humility to laugh at ourselves.
Sorry to leave you hanging for 3 weeks...my spirit was willing but my body is intermittently weak. I'm going to ground this in my current conception of the meaning of life: the opportunity for individual and collective growth into better existential beings. Love is the energy that drives us,
That's thoughtful of you to ask! I don't mind being tagged; I think it's super fun!
(And if you do fall, I'll catch you for a soft landing, as I collapsed a while ago!)
You call that falling behind? Insightful representation of the progression of mob mentality. Easy to spot in history; harder to see happening in our time, hardest in ourselves.
Small bits of happy collect at the corners of my mouth slowly pulling my lips upward until I am smiling, then the sadness falls off my cheeks for the moment #poetry
All caught up... I think... And ready for today! #blueskyrelay #blueskypoet #poem #petry
#vss #poetry #Stickman What just happened?? My arms! How? Oh. Rearmament. I get it now.
Nah, Quill, you aced Chatterian right out of the gate. You can do anything. You transform weirdly good into phenomenal!
I adore final couplets...
No. You are so much better than a hipster. I checked with my kids, and you cooked. (Although, they technically aren't on the street. But they are cool kids.)
You guys are hilarious! But stealing America's orange man, dead or alive, will only fuel the conspirator theorists. Come invade here! My in-laws are downsizing and they have literally TONNES of antiquities. You can pillage yourself to whatever level of toughness you want!
Ooo, like RBFs? Or...normal, normal...um, what might that look like? Because I suspect I'll need a mirror and a lot of practice for THAT mask! 🤪
2 Gud because it's 2 Tru, bro! Seriously, Dave, such a good message for your primary audience, poets, to hear.
Thanks for the reminder, Dark Edgelord, I usually forget to mask up! But. What masks are the locals wearing? 😬
Your mask may deflect repel those who don't see the real you Just the paper armour. the soft apparel of naked emotion raw, vulnerable, loving. A person whole, Not the fighter, the jester, or the lover. Just you without the mask. #poem #freeverse
Thanks, Quill! It was an apt metaphor for yesterday.
#midlifefeels #womanhood I feel like baking! But before I start, I feel like soda! He asks a question, I answer, then… What was I doing? I feel like vinegar! Sour and acidic over my lost task completion. Somebody, please present me at a kids’ science fair so I can at least fit in.
I was even going to phrase it: Dave, I mean Dark Edgelord, you're the best!
Being a dog with you Would be enough... Except life without rhymes, That seems kinda ruff! 😜
If you were a dog, I'd want to be one too. My whole backside would wag when I saw you! We'd find a bone to happily worry, until there's a squirrel! Then I, at least, would gleefully chase it and lose track of the bone, the metre and rhyming scheme. But you're there each day So I'm OK.
Dave, you make me smile and you're the best! Thanks for the form - it really helped inspire this one.
@sonnetsmith.bsky.social @queerwyrd.bsky.social @jinxyminxy.bsky.social @soaringsoul23.bsky.social @ht4ecosocialism.bsky.social @shar76.bsky.social @beesinmybrain.bsky.social and faithful @jangoeswriting.bsky.social Thank you all so much for the reposts. 🫶
#poetry #cascade #vss365 #jovial #malignant #emoetry #keen
Realism is not doomerism. Doomerism is: “We’re all gonna die, Earth will die, nothing matters” etc. Realism is: “Even given maximum mitigation measures, we’re in for very rapid social, political, and ecological change, and we need to mentally prepare for it.” They are not the same.
I do find choosing to love at cost existentially meaningful, although there's a limit to that, especially without much power.
Thank you Alice; that is very insightful. It's mostly indirect, especially on my individual level. But collectively, it is advancing medical and human knowledge. I'm fortunate to be at a time where I have a physiological diagnosis and am not blamed with moral failure!
Your compassion to me personally has meant so much and engaging me to write this out has given me a map I didn't know I had AND renewed appreciation for my caregivers. So you must be a natural caregiver because you are already making a huge difference for me. I'm crying verklempt tears right now.❤️🥲❤️
Whatever their feelings, try to validate them, and see if you can together come up with a better plan. They won't always know what they need though, in which case you try something else! This is a good general approach to any human suffering that can't realistically be remedied...yet!
When they are better, follow up. Say how you saw it, and how it made you feel, what you tried to help and ask them to honestly say how it made them feel. Be prepared to possibly be attacked, and remind yourself it's their suffering talking, not them.
Thank you, you wonderful human being! Honestly, caring for someone in a shitty situation is really hard, so the first thing to do is check your capacity to cope. Then, try something. Remember it's not as much what you say, but how you say it. The most important part is next, and often missed.
Any prosecutor who uses his power of rhetoric to indict a ham sandwich is not good. But that's a totally different issue. And really just an expression of my grumpiness at sophists, the adversarial justice system, and at aspects of reality in general! 😤
You are brilliant! I worked that out with my MIL but I should remember that for others too. Most people recommend audio books, but eventually, the relational aspect is needed. The extra tricky part is we never know when I might get there, so most people are busy.
You are most welcome. They are sincerely meant.
"Best leave it be" is less stressful to the observer. Usually, they think that is best for me too, because it is too threatening to admit they have no idea what is best. And I've been on both sides of the sick bed, so I do get it. Thank you for asking!
Oops! Missed #BSPP #prompt37
@blueskypoetry.bsky.social I'm enraged by the sky on this warm summer night, it's beautiful indifference to my own tragic plight.
#vss365 #sentient #chronicillness #hypersomnia Locked In Syndrome At times it looks like I’m dead. I’m fully sentient. I can hear, feel, think alone. I understand. It’s hard to carry on a conversation even bear witness to an unresponsive body. Best leave it be.
I just discovered this and am delighted by the way you have structured the online group and presented August's theme. Encouraging poets to connect with a universally shared inspiration and reminding us that change is hopeful is brilliant. I feel blessed by the opportunity to be part of this.
I could not take the pantaloon crown, but you definitely deserve it!
And therein lies our struggle with the impossible choice
It's my SIL's exact story, and I don't know when I'll be able to get out to their cabin. True story for you too?
Naked, the surrounding water matched my body temperature. No hot or cold or itchy clothes. Complete darkness and silence. There was no sense of time or place. I drifted in nothingness. Focusing, I could feel the bass of my heartbeat reverberating. It was all that held me together. #vss365 #bass
A few Ive been sitting on for a while. Would be wicked to see someone else's interpretation of them.
#sundayswap #nightmare #poem #ptsd #blueskyrelay #humanoid
And here, #vss365, is what happened next: (Probably breaking all kinds of social rules by posting it this way, without even a prompt to its name! Sorry. 😬) I can’t help you with rearmament, But I won’t report you, I guess. They act like they have the right to arms That we live in the US!
Hi #vss365, I felt bad abandoning my stickmen, but was too sick to carry on their story. Here's where I left them 3 weeks ago with #charm
guarded by your inner minister of darkness himself! 🧝♂️ (There was no leprechaun emoji. See. DARKNESS!)
with a pot of gold.... 🟡🟡🟡
Sir Dave Edgelord, rainbows meet their end in your darkness... 🖤
Well it's posted, so you can start singing any time now! 😉
Sorry, @daveashleypoet.bsky.social I couldn't resist. Your invitation was so inspirational. #cascade
This is awesome. And she did a fantastic job of the make-over. I can maybe send you pictures! 🤣
I'm in!
Love it! My youngest tried fishing for the first time this past spring. He only caught me by accident!
I hate that I have to miss out on this! And now I really want to make you a crown out of pantaloons... (And she laughed and laughed to herself!)
Sorry it's bad for you now too. That sucks.
You are my favourite superhero then!
Well someone else brilliantly identified that flying would make mundane tasks fun, so it was a false dichotomy anyway. 😝
😂 False dichotomy. Brilliant.
@wzrdprang.bsky.social @mother-poet.bsky.social @suefitzbrad74.bsky.social @txdede.bsky.social @heikkikells.bsky.social @ps9714.bsky.social @ocgirl.bsky.social Thank you all so much for reposting even this long form poem! You make this virtual place a community. 🫶
#vss365 #mundane #wouldyourather Would you rather Have the superpower of: FLYING Or MAKING MUNDANE TASKS FUN ? (Hint: There is a correct answer, and it's NOT number one!)
Bahahahaha! That is a great summary of a difficult and horrible feeling endeavour with a comic twist.
You are funny, and relatable! But what is a query letter?
Thank you for responding, and I'm sad to hear you have similar challenges. My biggest fear is upending my children's lives, that sounds so hard. I hope you have been able to be there for many events too. I trust this comes across right.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment Chris. It means so much that you did.
Thank you Quill! And oh man, I do hope to be back...we'll see. ❤️
Hi #blueskywritingcommunity, I’ve missed you all. Sorry to have ghosted you. I wrote this poem a few years ago about my lived experience of being ill and shut in at times. #blueskyrelay #ghost
Oh, I thought you deliberately misspelt haiku.
Ooo, this is a fantastic question!! I LOVE these kinds of existential, philosophic queries! And I have the start of an answer! Plus your quote is awesome, AGAIN. Ooo, me, pick me!! 🙋♀️
Ah, yes. And "both" is the answer I was thinking of as well - dare I say, the correct answer for almost all humans. But I do dream of a fundamental change to all of Nature to something like Isaac Asimov's idea of the planet Gaia.
I want to take this opportunity to say how enjoyable your prompts have been. Thank you for encouraging the spread of laughter - we certainly need it in these times!
Thank you for taking the time to reply, but I don't quite follow. Would you mind unpacking this for me?
Love it! How about this idea too: If the world is a web can we change it yet? To a connected, beautiful safety net?
Thank you! And for taking the time to comment. ☺️
If only we could identify that pesky "predatory" gene...😉
You don't have to fake it - you are an all round wonderful egg! (As I'm going: Oooo, what new, fun poetry form is a haibun?? Oh. I get it.😅)
😂
And one that I could not easily find a good description of, except that it should probably be accompanied by a dance. So... would you mind clarifying the form? And I think you should also post an accompanying dance. I vote for you performing an interpretive dance! 😜
Bahahaha! "Failed lonely lupine vegan" 🤣 I do so enjoy your narrative poems Dave!
That is a very good write with a strict structure! Which means yes I will have to take the time to go back and click on what a dansa is...
Wow. That was more intense context than I expected. I am even more appreciative of your sharing his work.
Again, a great quote and a great poem.
#vss365 #spider #poetry #skywriter #blueskypoet It appears to me that almost any man may like the spider spin from his own inwards his own airy citadel -John Keats
#vss365 #spider If the world is a web, then what am I? Am I the spider? Or perhaps the fly? And is it too much to hope for a day without such roles as predator, prey?
This is so good Peter (and Andrea), thank you for translating and sharing. When was it written, in what context and who is the original author?
Those who sexually assault underage youth are mostly cis-straight men without any abnormal sexual arousal. So I would not call them pedophiles, but that doesn't lessen my abhorrence. I hope this all makes sense.
Also, current understanding is being sexually aroused by pre-adolescent children - pedophilia - affects 1% of men but not women. So many never act on their urges.(Source: My apologies, this is vague, but it was a reputable academic journal.)
Hey, because I agree that words matter, I think it's valuable to keep in mind that technically pedophile refers to someone who sexual assaults (a) pre-adolescent child(ren). So while sexual violation of adolescent and post-pubescent youth is also reprehensible, it's a different kind of 🤮.
I'll check with the gang leader.
Checking cards I think about you royal flush #poetry #haiku #senryu
Because you are awesome, and because you gave me a laughing emoji, I'll let you in on a little secret. The three fingers I'm holding up is my gang sign. It means "W" for "Weird".
#vss365 #prank Your house was egged on the Holy Day of Easter? No! I don’t know who that was! Such a delightf- I mean, horrid prank doesn’t sound like me.. Well, OK. I admit, it does. 👇 😜
😅
#vss365 #brownie
😂
