When words spoken, often alter,
Unspoken, they are left to wonder.
Thoughts are better off to ponder,
Than feelings they produce, to harbor.
Why can’t we discuss without a faulter?
Listen, converse and be much broader?
If love is truly greater than the marauder,
Being right doesn’t have to be the deriver.
Better left alone than a survivor,
Of a battle fought for vain cadaver.
Feeling with intended desire,
Allows thought to quickly transpire.
The eyes reflect what the heart tries to hide,
Your thoughts won’t contain, although you fight,
Your concern for how I should fly my kite,
Is eating up the moments before your eyes.
Life is but a moment depleted,
So why focus on someone else’s misses?
Time is only moving forward,
Why not focus on your journey?
There are no secrets in life. A sincere smile shows a sincere heart. It reflects that a person has no qualms about what someone did or ought to do.
The words spoken behind someone’s back, a negative thought or dislikes cannot be hidden with a smile or a gesture.
It all shows.
There’s no magic about it. What you think of someone will show with your smile. What you told of someone will show through the one that you told it to.
Call it energy, vibes, juju … These are all ways that someone’s perception of another manifests and how the receptor experiences it.
Perhaps one solution is to not concern so much about other people’s lived experiences. Curiosity has a place. When curiosity becomes an obsession over what someone else is doing, you forget to live the very short life you have. Now you are not only meddling with the limited moments another has to experience life, but also wasting your own, on futile analysis’.
Ever wonder why faith causes so many problems in the world? It’s not so much the teachings of a faith but the application and interpretation of that faith that cause issues. Often times the application of faith is blatantly hypocritical when compared to the teachings.
Devotees are so concerned of how someone else is living their life that they feel the need to take on the role of a deity. Or, do they feel as if everyone must agree with exactly what they perceive to be correct in their minds? I don’t see an issue with someone’s firm belief that what they believe is right. However, when you impose that onto people and derive moral authority, it becomes a problem. Spiritual practices do not have measurements or evaluation procedures. For better or for worse, that leaves room for all sorts of things. If you can’t accept another human being based on their merits, I don’t mean the standards that you uphold to be worthy, but simply for who they are, perhaps you need to reevaluate your faith.
Is it a spiritual practice at that point? Or is it a crutch that you need to define who you are in terms of who someone else is?
Part of the issue lies in hierarchical view points that dominate our society. Whether we like to admit or not, modern society in general, still operates under the pretense of importance that people attach to professions, qualifications and achievements. So instead of seeing the most obvious oneness, we are programmed to compare, dissect and position ourselves in relation to those we meet.
Ever thought what a human would look like to an alien? At a glance, an extra terrestrial would categorize animals based on their common characteristics. And all humans, regardless of color, race, gender or qualifications will be categorized under one generic umbrella.
If we need faith to feel good about ourselves in relation to another, to me there’s little value in that belief. A spiritual practice, first and foremost should nourish and sustain the individual practitioner. Next, it should create harmony and unity with everything around them. It should dissolve and dismantle illogical untruths that one accumulate as they grow up in a world with conflicting opinions and ideas.
At the end, truth shouldn’t require any justification. If it requires persuasion, think twice. If something is so true, wouldn’t it be undeniable obvious? Wouldn’t it be inescapably comprehensible? Is it fair for some individuals to understand it and not others, if something is true? Or is truth like mathematics? If so, wouldn’t it be math and not the truth? Can truth be relative? If that’s the case, what’s the point of enforcing laws?
I wrote you poems,
Thought you’d notice.
I showed up,
Thought you’d speak.
I sent you thoughts,
Hoping you’ll catch them.
Then I got over you —
Just like that!
Nothing drastic,
No mind altering tactics.
I’m not a waiter.
My heart’s not a restaurant.
I waited long enough.
There’s only one moon,
In this galaxy, that is.
I’m not a fighter,
I’m only a writer.
There are other galaxies,
Different possibilities.
I let my mind wander,
To the distant galaxies yonder,
Maybe they too have bumble and tinder?
New moons are new, when found.
But they existed, all bright and round.
Rain drops in the sky,
Slowly pouring while,
Early morning smiles;
Everything worth while.
Through the gentle tides,
You whisper gentle plights,
There’s a warmth deep inside,
No ladder left to climb.
As the flowers bud in time,
So the grass holds its right.
Just to lay down and ride,
The waves of this light!
And it’s raining down,
So deep inside,
Not a worry left in sight,
Dreams revived, with light.
And the sun will shine,
For the wandering heart,
With the rain in sight,
It’s blooming time!
Frolicking through gore,
While bleed turns to pour.
Hoping there’s something more,
You bear it right to your core.
Daring you enter through the door,
Staring to figure what you came for.
Tearing is what makes you score,
Blaring insides will take you ashore.
Glances, numerous you’ll store,
Whispers, spurious just ignore.
Splinters, with oil, will surely floor,
Tricksters, fade, with time, poorly wore.
Trajectory favors worn out decor,
Contradictory, yet prevails the sore.
Rudimentary, yet withstanding for more,
Multi-sensory, will not hide anymore.
The devil met me dressed in Blue,
Guess I was next in line, in his cue.
Must be fate, he hates my dark hue,
So he pressed me down pretending to subdue.
Breath was gone, my words were true,
So now I lay in plain view.
Videos repeated, the talk of a few,
Even a painting that someone drew.
But the devil will keep hunting in blue,
Because the people … well there’s not much they will do,
Than say a prayer in some church pew! 😡🤬
Love beyond compare,
Where the lilies bloom and birds nest,
Liberated stars lay in adoration.
Every moment has en eternity,
Encapsulated with majestic splendor.
For the eyes to see and the ears to hear,
For sorrow has long passed,
Left behind the remnants of a life of bewilderment.
Distance shores call me now,
Yet the mind is still, to ponder.
Nothing to add or subtract,
Yet time passes by with this addition and subtraction.
The greater the mountain, nicer the view,
Yet, to get there one needs strength and valor,
Good friends, courage and a bit of hope.
Once conquered, spend each day gazing,
At wondrous sunsets over glorious horizons.
Hearing is involuntary but listening is a choice. You don’t have to listen to all the voices that you hear. Exercise control when it comes to who and what you authorize to influence your mind.
The senses are mere receptacles. Your mind has the power to decide whether to push play or pause. What about the involuntary noises? Exercise control and selectivity. In order to do this effectively and consistently, one must come to the realization that the soul itself is the controller of your life.
The soul is not a control freak, it’s there for a purpose but it won’t execute that purpose without willingness. If the purpose of the soul is to create, it will wait till the vessel (you) are ready both in your mind and body. You hold the key to your soul, mind and body.
Perhaps we forget that we are not our body, we are not our mind, we are not our soul … we are but one and all. What you can comprehend is what you will perceive. From what you perceive you will derive your filtered version of comprehension and from that comprehension you will execute actions that will create your experiences. Not a single piece of the universe is out of place. If it was, life will not be sustainable. So, be selective. Life is infinite. Possibilities are endless.
“Make your dreams out of rubber balls, they won’t drown.
If you throw it away, it will bounce back!
Rubber balls are fun, not just for you but for others too.”
We live in a world full of connotations. The way you comb your hair to a metaphor you use when you write, will be interpreted by someone according to the lenses they wear when they view the world.
I enjoy poetry for this very reason!
Writing a poem gives you the freedom to express freely. How someone will interpret what you write is not really of concern, at least for me. As I mentioned above, we live in a world of connotations. So, it is expected that readers will interpret a line of poetry depending on what each word and image represent (to them) according to their worldview.
The poems come from my personal experiences. Some, are reactions to situations that I never expressed while others capture the feelings of fleeting moments. As readers flip through the pages, I hope they will be able to relate to certain feelings and appreciate varying perspectives.
When I started my backpacking trip to Nepal, I had no plan whatsoever. I decided to goto Nepal on the same day I took the flight. It was a decision I made on the spur of the moment. I was definitely not prepared to trek the Annapurna circuit when I packed my bags. If anything, I wanted to have spontaneous experiences.
And that’s exactly what I found for the next year!
The decision to collect various pieces of writing I had produced over the years came to mind when I was in Munnar, India. Even then, I wanted to stay true to my motto: “I have no agenda”. So I simply collected poems that were stacked away and put together a collection. Initially, I wanted the book to be a photo / poetry book. I thought it would be fitting to find images that compliment my writing. It was delightful to find a picture that resonated with a poem. Especially, since the images were taken at random without the intention of including in the book!
The digital version, which can be found here, has accompanying images that I captured from an iPhone 6s during my travels in South East Asia.
The paperback version is a poetry only version. You can get it here.
I hope you enjoy the poems and the accompanying images. Originally, I envisioned the book as something that will compliment one’s living room by taking the place of a coffee table book.
I recently published my first poetry book: Table Nomad: A Wanderer’s Collection on Amazon. Writing poetry is something very personal. Self-publishing, designing and creating the layout myself, made it a bit more intimate.
I learnt a lot of new skills and polished up on existing ones during this process. Adobe InDesign was completely new to me when I first started to layout my book. I was in Munnar, India at that time, taking a break from extensive traveling. While taking a few days to relax, I suddenly felt the urge to finally put together this book. I had most of the content written already. I also had over 10,000 images from my travels. So, it was a matter of putting it all together.
“It’s not about doing everything alone. It’s more about learning something new and applying that knowledge in the practical world.”
I’ve thought about it. Talked about it. Dreamed about it. One day I finally realized that what’s left is, to simply do it. The hardest part of an extensive project is getting things going. Over the years, I’ve found that whenever I get myself to start something, I tend to follow through. There’s something in me that doesn’t want to back down once I start something. So, I started by subscribing to InDesign. Now it was serious, I have made an investment in a tool that I had no clue how to operate! My brain figured out what needed to happen next and soon I had gathered my pieces of writing that were stored on websites, Instagram and my notes.
When I started arranging the poems and images, I asked a couple of friends for their opinions. It was good to know what others were seeing and understand whether your creation is communicating the right message. However, the ultimate decision to decide on which font to use and how to format an image was up to me. There were times that I doubted myself. It can be frustrating when you can’t decide on something. But, in order to make progress, we must make a decision and stick with it. Yes, sometimes it’s risky. Yes, we must live with the consequences of our decisions. But, it’s also all about your outlook. We can always learn from a mistake. The good thing in the digital age is that we can change things easily. Which leads to my next lesson …
I first got a taste for making corrections and revisions during my master’s thesis. I am thankful for my thesis chair for pushing me to revise, re-write and redo. It can be extremely frustrating to find an error right when you think it’s ready to go live. But finding errors and having the ability to correct them is a blessing in disguise. Yes, it can take a toll on you after the 10th time, but it teaches you to become more careful and pay attention to detail. In the beginning, I wanted to publish around 50 poems and sayings with images. When I realized that the cost was too high to do color images, I was disappointed. I felt as if all my efforts had come to a standstill.
Determination is a fascinating quality. Couple that with the ability to make compromises, it’s not too hard to find win-wins. I had to change my book to meet the practical aspects of publishing. So, I made the photography and poetry (color) version available digitally and created a poetry only paperback version. I didn’t get everything I wanted. But then again, I did.
Ever wan·der 