Poetry Thursday 29 - Why Read?

 In Roald Dahl's Matilda the crusty Dad played by Danny Devito in the film, states 'Why read when you can get everything you need from TV?' My reaction is below. 

Reading

 

Why read?

when you can get everything faster from TV,

when a computer has more options,

when it takes time to finish a book,

when you do it all alone,

when it is a pastime too quiet.

 

Why not read?

when you can apply imagination,

when you can live several lives,

when you have countless experiences,

when you never need to leave your chair,

when you’re surrounded by fascinating folk,

when time is no longer a barrier to travel.

© David L Atkinson March 2015

 

Travel the world from a chair

 

A book holds a story that will never die,

it is there to entertain forever.

The story is your transport to times gone by,

or a rocket hurtling towards the future.

 

The people inside are fallible like you,

but with help may foil the danger,

or follow a path taken by few,

and perhaps find a babe in a manger!

 

You may travel the wide world from your chair,

or never leave this wonderful land.

Change your colour or perm your hair,

without the risk of wearing a new brand.

 

The sky's the limit every time you try

the same story read a dozen times.

Let your imagination be free and fly,

in the words of stories and of rhymes.

© David L Atkinson March 2015 

God Bless 

Writing - Attitudes and Trends

 Do you remember watching movies or have you seen the same made in the 50s and 60s? One of the common sights was people smoking. Similarly, one of the spoilers for me these days is the technology on display in movies say from the 90s. They look so dated and yet period dramas transcend those limitations. 

When we create stories, even if we are writing in the present, it is important to correctly represent the attitudes and trends of the day. What you include or omit from your stories may cause an inconsistency that jars with the reader. 

Just to add some context, telephones in the home weren't common until the mid-1970s, in 1993 my father died and he never saw home computers or mobile phones of any description. There seems to be a misconception that we have had the internet and smartphones forever! 

So, in enriching your work, including snippets to develop the context of your stories is important. The pool of resources is endless and your own experience is an important aspect. Research will supply a plethora of useful information. 

The creation of futuristic stories allows the writer to get out the crystal ball and have fun creating something original and that is something we've been doing for centuries. 

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 28 - Local Super Hero

 Another dose of imagination at 3am this morning. In a sense a hope that people could be more human and less adversarial. 

Local Super Hero

 

The secret is not in the name,

or where you chose to play the game,

but in random opportunities thrown into the frame.

 

Not all deadly serious often a bit of a lark,

sometimes during the day but often after dark,

anonymously a better way to make an heroic mark.

 

Not really necessary to save a person’s life,

or to defeat warring armies in ending great strife,

even disarming a local bully wielding a kitchen  knife.

 

But helping a little one with a mathematics rule,

leaving a bowl of water for passing dogs to cool,

lending to a neighbour a needed garden tool. 

Everyday little things making life less chaotic,

demonstrating behaviours truly humanistic,

everyone can be really locally heroic.

© David L Atkinson February 2024 

God Bless 

Writing - No Empty Heads

 Occasionally, I feel that there is nothing in my head. I'm thinking from a writing point of view. Some may say that, for me, this is a normal state of affairs. However, just consider your dreams and you will realise that this is never the case. Even if you're a person who rarely remembers dreams they occur every night maybe weakly and fleetingly, but there nevertheless. As I mentioned a few weeks back quite often these wanderings through your unconscious psyche create situations that you never actually experienced with people who may not exist or whom you have never met. These facts are the reason why I don't believe in writers' block. 

The most innocuous of situations can generate a wealth of ideas and it is part of the writer's process to filter the ideas and use those examples that feel useful. 

Recently, I saw an interview of a well-known sportsman who is supporting mental health charities but throughout that interview there was something that jarred with me. The sportsman could not say the word 'health' instead we were offered mental 'elf' repeatedly. 

FYI the failure to enunciate 'th' correctly on its own is not a speech impediment. All children fail to make this sound correctly early in speech development but eventually learn the correct way. 

This idea of 'mental elf' triggered my imagination and, eventhough I have no plans for using the term currently, I wanted to see a mental elf. I turned to AI which you can see one version above. The idea is developing and the following was produced. 

It may be that a poem is the result of these mental games that I've played or perhaps nothing at all but you can see that it isn't unusual in stories. Pinnochio had his Jiminy Cricket and Philip Pullman's Dark Materials used a similar idea but more fully developed in his trilogy. 

So give your imagination free rein and use the tools that are available, such as AI, to add muscle to your writing. 

God Bless 

 

Poetry Thursday 27 - Love without limits

Apparently, over 80% of UK people feel that Valentine's Day is yet another purely commercial enterprise. I can concur with that view as well but in a world that is seemingly driven by greed a little extra love won't go amiss. 

Love Without Limits

 

It is not under the purview of anyone,

the experiences provided are legion,

it has no bounds or favourites,

and is almost universally of benefit.  

 

Bus drivers are available to date,

as is the fireman and the ship’s first mate,

the brain surgeon and the window cleaner,

also qualify for love’s cherubic archer.

 

It is the same for kings and queens,

as it is for octogenarians and teens,

the euphoria of the coursing adrenalin,

and joy of physical connection.

 

So treasure the magical moment,

cry in the instant of abandonment,

but never wallow in pointless regret,

for something wonderful, over … but yet!

© David L Atkinson February 2024

 

Woke Valentine

 

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet,

and providing it doesn’t offend in some way

so are you.

© David L Atkinson February 2024

Egotistical Valentine

 

Snowdrops are white,

Daffodils are yellow,

fancy a date with this handsome fellow?

© David L Atkinson February 2024

 

Realistic Valentine

 

Cornflowers are blue,

Sunflowers are tall,

Valentine’s just another day after all.

© David L Atkinson February 2024 

God Bless 

Writing - Japanese Valentines

 In Japan, Valentine's is a celebration more fully celebrated to be inclusive for all people. To that end there are two days involved in the celebration.

February 14th 

Valentine's Day is more than just a celebration of romantic love; it's a chance to express appreciation and affection in various forms. The tradition of women giving chocolates to men, known as 'honmei choco' for loved ones and 'tomo choco' for friends, is a central aspect of this celebration. 

Men are usually expected to do very little on February 14th and it is the women who are expected to be the principal gift-giver. Not just to their partner, but also to men with who they share any kind of significant relationship.

Another big difference is the kind of gift given: while cards, flowers, jewelry or expensive dinners are all considered fair game for Valentine’s Day in many countries, there is only one acceptable option in Japan: lots and lots of chocolate.

However, just because men don’t have to spend money on Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean they get away with not reciprocating for the rest of the year. 

March 14th 

White Day was not actually established until the 1980s, when the Japanese National Confectionery Industry Association successfully campaigned to implement a ‘reply day’ for men to reciprocate the presents they received from women on St. Valentine’s.

The day was so named because the color white is considered a symbol of purity and is closely associated with an innocent kind of teen love in Japanese culture.

On White Day, men are expected to present girls with gifts roughly two or three times the value of what they received a month earlier.

If the man does not return any gifts at all, it is considered a disdainful spurn, while simply giving the equivalent amount of chocolate they received is perceived as a sign that they wish to cut the relationship.

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 26 - Time Before

I read a nostalgic article this week where the author was thinking back to a personal time before the internet. It struck a chord about the time before other innovations that I have experienced. 

The Time Before

 

In the time before television, 

we would gather round the wireless,

and share our views

on events in the news,

then listen to comedy’s,

Navy Lark, Goon Show and Round the Horne,

then altogether on Christmas morn,

singing carols while preparing lunch.

 

And in the time before mobile phones,

with on the street red boxes and press button B,

in an emergency a sprint to the phone box,

when rapid contact was by first class post,

cursive text no one else could see,

no Google search or asking Alexa,

but off to the family encyclopaedia or the library.

 

And in the time before family cars,

 and no one could afford a taxi,

the bus ruled with reliability,

taking folk to school, work and on holiday,

whether a jaunt for the day,

or a fortnight trip,

timetables operating with nary a slip.

Always a conductor to sell a ticket,

to help those less active,

controlling behaviours on every trip.

© David L Atkinson February 2024 

God Bless 

Writing - Eve of Spring

 The Japanese have a penchant for colourful celebration. They are artistic and quite gentle often accompanied with a plethora of gentle sounds. The weekend gone saw Setsubun. 

Setsubun falls on about the 3rd of February, the day before spring is considered to begin. On the evening of this day, people scatter soy beans both inside and outside their homes while yelling, “Out with the devil! In with happiness!”. To pray for good health for the year, there is also the custom of eating the same number of soy beans as one’s age. 

Mamemaki

On Setsubun, when evil spirits roam the streets and knock on your door, this is not a time to hand out Halloween candy. Fill a Japanese wooden cup called a masu with fortune beans (roasted soybeans). With the cup in your strong arm, bend your knees into a ready position. Ask the bravest family member to open the door on your count.  1, 2, 3, go!

The moment that door rushes open, pushed by the force of a winter gale, with an evil spirit riding on that invisible wave, that’s when you give it a mouthful of beans. Toss that cup of roasted soybeans out through the door while screaming, “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi” (“Demons Out! Good Fortunes In! 鬼は外! 福は内!). As you lunge forward into that demon-tainted wind, the beans clearing your path to safety, catch the side of the door and slam it shut! Fall to the floor, with your back securing the door, and whisper under an exhausted and exhilarated breath, “Oni wa soto.  Fuku wa uchi.”

God Bless