About the Simply Words essay post: Adding my drop, the ocean driving on

This post was written in response to an unexpectedly strong personal reaction, to a government letter stating the end of a saga in my life.
Like so many 'able-bodied' young men locally, I was required, while still in so-called best years, to show military commitment to our fledgling nation, however ridiculously useless I'd felt about my worth over 2 decades.

And yet, that not-always-pleasant mundane wisdom of years kicked in after the letter.
Rather than the feeling of "I'm free! Free!" I was supposed to celebrate, I felt profound "What if"?
What if I could give of my own free will, of the best of what I am, not the best of what was determined of me?
Probably none will ever know the answer, save what remaining years can witness of my efforts.

And then there is the open secret of parents fearing for their sons, when their 2 to 3-and-half years of enlistment arrive.
But these days of wisdom also birth a strange spirit of courage in adventure, from bleak dread; again, a really uncomfortable clash of feelings.
Fear national service, and one might as well fear death from unexpected disaster or crime, especially after unbroken years of ease & fortune.
In the end, no one is ever really safe & secure for all time. (Except perhaps the truly dead.)

For the sake of all I care for, I must continue to be strong. And cheerful. And productive.

About the Simply Words poetry post: Ever the teach

This post was meant to be written as an essay, but I found it would be too presumptuous doing so.
Couching it as brief free verse might better reach out, to those who understand, less blatantly, while being no less honest.

At the heart of those who feel the power over others, through knowledge & authority, should be a continuing, powerful humility, that they have but so much to receive in return.
It still embarrasses me somewhat, to be remembered & addressed to by a former title, much like a childhood name of 'Fatty' which sticks on and on, or a former president of a country who insists in still being acknowledged so.

And oh, if you're wondering about the first 2 peculiar lines before the actual poem starts, which look neither like a subtitle, nor makes any sequential sense, they are:
* a commemorative nod to an important day recognised by me, and
* the first mark of a little gift within the family, hence the fraternal mention.

photo post: Verdant yields bright

We were walking again, along a surprisingly gardened walkway, banking the side road beside the busier main road which led into the northwestern heart of the city area.
As usual, the vegetation felt so beautiful on our sides, yet strangely & notoriously, good photos were hard to capture of this brief little paradise.
Until this shot came forth.

Not so much glare until the colours were drowned.
Not so dark until we might have been taking charcoal.
Not so cliche in look that it could not be posted here.
The reluctance of this pretty feels almost fey.

About the Simply Words poetry post: Co-option

It amazes me, as it can many people, that our genetic sameness as humanity, can generate so much difference, even perceived alien-ness, merely by contrasting race, language, religion, nationality.
This acute realisation should form the heart for this little poem.

Yet the inexorable, inevitable hybridisation that eventually takes place, fills me, and I hope goodness knows how many more amongst everyone, with excitement & wonder.
I feel all too well the futility of denying the future, and painfully fading away, as the narrow & limited.
Returning the gratitude that we, the seemingly original combinations ourselves of earlier 'pures', have come to now thrive, we in turn welcome the ever renewing.

About the Simply Words post: Interim evaluation

As usual, this poem was written with typical speed, but be not deceived into thinking it was easy.
It can be difficult writing about something close to heart, but for which one needs distance, for getting too close would be like the moth to candle flame.
The memories are singeing enough, and I would seek to protect those still around.

And why such a cold, technical, irrelevant title to the post?
I guess I was trying to point out how false a visage we present in public to the world at large: the law-abiding citizen, the model worker, the devoted family person, the enviable lucky ones.
The truth is -- (no, not "I'm Iron Man", but) we keep hiding our true passions, our honest drives & needs, which in this maturing time & age, should be let out with the trust & belief, that it would only provide catharsis, and enriching of life experience.

About the Simply Words photo post: Mountain inside water, silhouettes in liquid glass

There I was, just over 3 years ago to this date, overwhelmed by the vastness, and undermined by the masses of people, in the middle of the ground-breaking, record-shattering new life of yet another shopping mall.

And then I was surprised by tranquil beauty at a really unexpected side exit, and how the thinner crowd there were leisurely taking the peace for granted.

Only to be surprised over being so taken in by the water behaviour of an manmade pond without even a fountain.
Amidst strange parents, this photo was born.

About the Simply Words Fiction post: Our products in every home

It struck me rather gently, more like a pat on the back of my head, the inspiration for this post.
I was enjoying so much of what the giants provided me, in that much time I spent online, and even carried their offspring with me, wherever I went.

What if their wettest dreams came true, and only one BFG (big, friendly giant... -- what else were you thinking of?) benevolently attended to everything we ever wanted, and never thought of?
A utopia-like dystopia, for sure.
So by writing this little piece, perhaps I can initiate a glimpse?

About the Simply Words photo post: Rich red for a green tropic

Continuing the trek backward in time, with these shots we're over 2 and a half years in the past, where in my infant days of taking post-worthy photos, I salute this beautiful item of nature, amidst the drabness of concrete-overlaid grounds.

Was I attracted to its lone splendour, which resounded to something in me which I sought?
Perhaps the one, who knows me like I do not yet, can tell.

About the Simply Words essay post: Lonely post watch

This little essay is the 2nd post which takes advantage of this year's Halloween nightfall to complete.
Perhaps it too sounds melancholic like the earlier post, but my intention was to take a somewhat comfortable position of being hidden in plain sight.
After all, it's very hard to stand out in a land and a world filled with so many capable, successful folk, but again, the whole intent was just to continue being oneself, in such a crowded landscape.

And the words that follow which reveal such feeling, can be cathartic for the writer.

About the Simply Words poetry post: Cosm: micro, macro

It just happened that the last day of a month, on which the anticipation of celebrating the supernatural finally culminated between sunset to midnight, happened to be a good chance to put in 2 more posts under the October 2009 banner, before the chance was lost forever.

This poem is the first of 2 posts, which must complete, within this +08:00 time zone, before the middle of night passes in procession.

Hmm... does it read rather gloomily?
But honestly, I was not referring to anything specific in mind, as I completed it.
Rather, it was a general vision, a broad feeling, of our small place in the expanses around us, across this planet, into endless space.
It is also therefore a thought about the fleeting, fragile nature of human so-called fame, status and immortality.

Perhaps these words do not fit well into the stereotypical Halloween spirit, which is not even openly or officially celebrated here (we have a similar Chinese lunar 7th month for that).
But we're heading in the same direction, no?
There is more out there beyond us, than just our cultures, works & cities.

Have an easy night.