Very true ❤️
Quote
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.~Mark Twain
Flashback (revisited)
This short story is a great tribute to people who have suffered. I thought the demonstration of how to help a person regain safety was encouraging. One step at a time from a person who has been there. I’m very lucky to have found my Vic, he has encouraged me to grow beyond the dark times with loving kindness.
This prose piece could be triggering for readers with a history of trauma and flashbacks.
It is the flood of emotion that always makes me flee. I am scared, angry, unsafe, fighting panic and the need to flee like a wounded gazelle being chased by a lion. The triggers are unpredictable but the reaction is not. It is like someone is ripping my chest open, using a rib spreader, exposing the fragile membranes around my heart to the glare of light. I clutch my hand to my chest, as though I can hold the gaping edges of my body closed the way one would the sides of an unbuttoned shirt.
Gratefully, I make it to the sanctuary of the bedroom before the tears start to escape. I do not turn on the light. The key is to make myself small. I sit on the floor, back against the bed, feet…
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Sources of a No Growth Economy
Politicians don’t want the truth, they only their job security and the under the table compensations from the mega corporations that really control our country.
Younger people are putting off marriage, children and buying homes because they lack financial security — unstable jobs and too much student loan debt.
That’s one of the interpretations of a new report from the Census Bureau on Millenials. (1)
In looking at generational change, the report compares 18 to 34-year-olds in 2016 versus 1975. In looking at just the older portion of this group, 25 to 34-year-olds, there are striking differences:
- 1975: 45% lived on their own, were working, had married and had a child.
- 2016: 24% live on their own, are working, have married and have a child.
From the point of view of the economy, the difference is huge. Buying a home drives spending on furniture and appliances, as well as painters and a range of other services. Having children drives demand for larger cars and clothing. Doing neither reduces spending in all of these categories.
The…
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The Rising Need for Poetry
As a poet I cannot go gently, I must write. We are living in a new literary era which I feel is now the poetry of social connections. There has always been a long tradition of political activism in poetry. But with the internet, it has become the new Avante Garde.
“I see protest poetry as a genuine means of encouraging someone to feel the inconsistencies, the horror of the lives we are living. Social protest is saying that we do not have to live this way. If we feel deeply, and we encourage ourselves and others to feel deeply, we will find the germ of our answers to bring about change. Because once we recognize what it is, we are feeling, once we recognize we can feel deeply, love deeply, can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy. And when they do not, we will ask, ‘Why don’t they?’ And it is the asking that will lead us inevitably toward change.” —Audre Lorde
Shelley, Longfellow, Whitman, Eliot, Plath, Sexton, Lennon, Thomas, Angelou, Nelson, Davis, Lorde, just to name a few poets who chose poetry as a means to give social injustices a voice. Much of what these writers vocalized in their poems gave a voice to people of similar experiences. However, their words are also a charge to me, to us all…. to not continue feeling comfortable with the privileges enjoyed because they often came at a cost to others.
Jane Hirshfield said in a recent NY Times article that poems are more visible right now because of the difficult times we are facing. It is ironic for a poet because when there is not abundant poetry it means times are okay, and their craft is overlooked. When times are dire poetry becomes prominent because it provides comfort in difficult times to the masses. As poets, we must learn to ride the waves.
The recent resurgence of protest poems reflect the strains of our communities and our very existence. The New York Times says the flood of protest poems recently stands apart from earlier eras in both quantity and intensity. I wonder if it is because the poems that appear today in social media speak with urgency and social responsibility in a time that it is so desperately needed.
History has shown people turn to poetry in times of crisis, and unfortunately, we are definitely facing dark times on this planet we all call home. Every day, around the world change, is happening and those changes are not promising.
Imperfectly Perfect By Lyn Crain
People Saw It at The Time
Mismatched Yet Perfectly Paired
Idealism
And
Horrific Brutality
Up-close and Unsettled
Inspired by What Lies Beneath
Purposely
Seduced and Betrayed
We See
Belief is Potent
Every Angle
Mismatched Yet Perfectly Paired
We Understand
The World
Doesn’t
Change
For Better
Or Worse
Live
********************************************
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night~ Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
************************************************************
American Dream by Lyn Crain
To understand
The world
Fight For
Injustice…
Fight
Old Boy Mentality
And
Small Talk
See it from
Every angle
Where
Rage
Intersects
Our own
Chaos and Bliss…
Fear #299
I remember being so impatient to become an adult and my grandmother saying to me be careful what you wish for. Adulthood is not what’s it’s cracked up to be at all.
Adversity Quote
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” ~ Neil Gaiman |
Mandala Madness Day 9
In both eastern and western cultures, the mandala has come to symbolize harmony, unity, wholeness, and healing. When I consider the mandala’s ancient roots and its use in indigenous practices around the globe, I understand why it’s such a part of our planetary culture.
In part 5 of this project, I introduced blue which promotes peace and emotional health. I was inspired by my lovely blue hyacinths. I added green because of the new green leaves on the maple tree. Green promotes love and respect for nature. I introduced pink a milder influence of energy than its counterpart red. I returned to orange and it’s creativity and red for its high energy.
It’s raining here in New Jersey again, so I curled up in my recliner with the mandala across my lap and played some Willie Nelson and Ronnie Dunn on the stereo. Before I knew it part 5 was completed. It was a lovely peaceful afternoon for me crocheting.
I am very pleased with how the red and orange worked together in the half moons.
There was only one minor glitch this time and it was with the shells in row 40, I had the first two repeats completed when a message box appeared on the video. The instructor had asked us to do double crochets when in fact she meant for us to do treble crochets. Phew, good thing I hadn’t gone any further than that.
Macavity as soon as I laid it on the table immediately tested the comfort level out. I am happy to say it has his paw approval. 🙂
Tomorrow, I must focus on getting several of my poems ready for the contest deadline so I am going to have to let my mandala rest. 😦
Quote
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” —Ernest Hemingway
Mandala Journey
I’m on day 8 of this Mandala spiritual awareness journey. I have just completed Round 34. Phew, those popcorns were frustrating. I had to take this apart 3 times to get it to work. At the beginning of my third attempt, I paused the video and counted the popcorns in the picture. That is where I discovered the popcorns were in clusters of 13 not 12, then 2 half double crochets, 5 single crochets on each side. Once I did it that way everything came together. Thank goodness for the picture. 🙂
Since we last discussed colors I’ve added black, pink, bright spring green and royal blue. I chose black to invite mystery into my spiritual arena because things in my world were feeling very mundane. I was looking at my pink hyacinths in the front flower bed and the new green leaves on the trees so I added those to my Mandala. I noticed how dark my buds were on my other hyacinths so I decided to add royal blue. I decided to measure my progress at this point and on Round 34 it is 36 inches.
This is when I introduced the black, it really added a pop to the sunbursts.
Round 34
This is where I added the pink, spring green and blue.
I’m looking forward to Part 5 with the interesting half moons and shell shapes. I’m thinking I am going to do the red again though I am not a huge fan of red just to keep the colors balanced in my Mandala.
Thank you for following me. I was so excited to see I’ve reached 101 followers. Godspeed!
It’s All in a Nutshell Crochet Mandala Madness
lyncrain 