Keeping Cool

KEEPING COOL

Laughing, I ran at the water,
letting the cold shock my feet and legs
till bravely I ducked below the water,
screaming my joy and discomfort.
As I lay back, floating,
my nose barely above the waves,
I felt this beach and this place
enter my body, softening my muscles
and bringing me to a moment
of weightless wonder.  The sky
was an endless blue, the breeze
lulled me and the floating
seaweed tickled my nose
with its salty sharpness.
I could have stayed like this forever.
I was home and happy.

Carole Bollini

This poem is based on my memories
of visiting Ettalong Beach, Australia,
as a girl.

Linked with "The Sunday Muse - Wednesday Muse #14 Keepin' Cool"

       
       


             IMAGE:

A mild spring evening in Australia, November 6, 1954.

A huge crackling bonfire, for the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day,

known usually in Oz as simply Bonfire Night.

HAIBUN

The bonfire gathering was held in a local park, with an effigy of Guy Fawkes

on the top.  Folks gathered around the fire and the several barbecues that had been set up.  The delicious smells of roasting hot dogs and toasted

crumpets dripping with butter and honey.  The sounds of chatter and spitting fat amid a whirl of smoking air, dancing woodchips and smoldering logs.

I felt excited and comforted, being around this  blazing fire but also with my family and friends, all of us looking forward to the wonderful feast to come

and the spectacular firework display which would follow.

crackling fire burns bright

no thoughts of the man who died

just fireworks and food.

   

    Remember, remember!
    The fifth of November,
    The Gunpowder treason and plot;
    I know of no reason
    Why the Gunpowder treason
    Should ever be forgot!
    Guy Fawkes and his companions
    Did the scheme contrive,
    To blow the King and Parliament
    All up alive.

                                                  

 Perhaps most widely known in America from its use in the movie V for  Vendetta, versions of the above poem have been wide spread in England for centuries. They celebrate the foiling of a plot by a group of Catholics, among them Guy Fawkes, who attempted to blow up Protestant controlled England's House of Parliament on November 5th, 1605.  Known variously as Guy

Fawkes Day, Gunpowder Treason Day, and Fireworks Night, the November 5th

celebrations in some time periods included the burning of the Pope or Guy Fawkes in effigy.  Guy Fawkes Night is still celebrated in many former British Colonies, quite often called, simply, Bonfire Night.

Philosophizing

 Some Thoughts from Strong Pearl

A Story about Us.

In the beginning we were all cosily surrounded by Light, part of the Eternal Presence,

the Source of All.  But then the Presence, on a whim, decided to experience feelings and

events.  So we were born, flying out from the light in our thousands and millions.  We were

pure little baby souls, ready to provide back to the Presence vicarious experiences as we

journeyed through this world (and others?) during life after life.

When we look at someone who is cruel, selfish, harmful, unloved by many, we say

"look at that bad person."  However, that person has, inside him or her, a soul beloved of 

the Presence, but covered over now by layers of negative energy caused by all the bad 

choices made in various lives and the unpleasant experiences that resulted.  This is one way 

to understand a toxic individual in our society. We could recognize and, if possible,

empathize with the floundering soul within, while understandably deciding to hate the 

actions and opinions of that individual and to avoid that toxicity wherever possible.

A good person is an individual who has taken all the adverse experiences of life on this 

planet as lessons to be learned so that wise choices can be made to move more freely and

quickly forward, back to the Light.

A HAIBUN

(Prose piece followed by a poem)

A DAY IN MY LIFE

I wake up in the morning as the first light creeps through the window blinds.

After some stretching, I haul myself from my warm cocoon and stagger into

the bathroom for the first tasks of the day. 

Next a quick shower, then out to greet the cats and stroke them both.  Cat food

for them, juice for me. 

While they are eating and washing up afterwards I go down to my room in the

basement, for my spiritual ritual and physical exercise afterwards, dancing to

Daft Punk and hanging upside down on the inversion table.

Finally, after cleaning up after the cats, it’s time for breakfast, for me always 3 pieces

of toast with cheese and almond butter, marmite and jam (not all together!) with

a cup of herbal tea.  While I eat I read the latest story on my Kindle.  Best part of

the day!  Finally I can’t drag breakfast out any longer.  After cleaning away the

breakfast things, I feel compelled to start on the rest of the chores my better self 

has dictated for that day.

Depending on what day it is, I will have to go downstairs and get the acupuncture

clinic ready for patients, or start sitting at the computer for a marathon session of

online scrabble with my sisters, one in Denmark, one in Australia, followed by

checking emails, signing petitions, paying bills and/or reading and writing poetry. 

Oh, yes, also playing with the cats.

Somewhere in between all these things I make my one and only delicious cup of

coffee – my second best part of the day.

If clinic is in session, my computer time is squashed into fifteen minute segments,

since I have to attend to patients, set up rooms in between sessions and make

appointments.  I get plenty more exercise on those days, walking up and down

eighteen steps, from the clinic to upstairs and back again.

Lunch around 1 pm. then more of the same till around 5 p.m., time for the cats’

dinner, followed by the humans’ dinner a couple of hours later after the clinic has

closed, or, on free days, all the “designated chores” are done.

Around 6:30 or 7 p.m. it’s change clothes now, off with the day clothes and on

with the pajamas.  Nowadays we very rarely go out in the evening.

We look forward to quiet evenings watching streamed political satire or travel

documentaries till weariness overtakes us both and we toddle off to bed.

Somehow the days fly by, filled with variety, meeting patients on clinic days

and friends through our various outside occupations and hobbies.

If there’s nothing much happening that day, I create an interesting challenge for

myself, so I very rarely feel bored.

 A DAY IN MY LIFE

Light streams through blinds

bleary face in mirror

sinuous felines flow past

to munch food contentedly.

Yellow lotus is meditation focus,

toast to crunch while

reading Kindle story.

Type answers to 

online scrabble game

with delicious hot coffee,

then down carpeted stairs

to receive patients,

endless changing of

sheets in rooms.

Quiet end of day brings

pajamas and relaxation,

Househunters International,

dozing cats and

sleeping humans.