shamash says...

"Alone is..."

Day 19 of 30:  Our GloPoWriMo 2019 prompt for today is to write an abecedarian poem – a poem in which the word choice follows the words/order of the alphabet.

"Alone Is....."

broken-hearted in the school
cafeteria, feeling so
different from
every other kid with the mansion on the hill or

feverish on the
gurney, wheeled to the surgeon- or
hopping on a bus, solo, a walking stick
in hand or

jumping with parachute from the plane
knees scraped in the
landing, that single leap so worth the
mid-flight scream or

never jumping
on the bandwagon nor
pulling the same rope, just
quietly serving a dinner for one or

reeling at the sight of ink drying on divorce papers, or the
stand-alone witness, the whistle-blower, or
the only musician playing on stage, the spotlight dimming
until dark. At the

very least,
we come to earth as solitary creatures, not
xerox copies looking to congregate. Some of us are scouts,
yearning to see life beyond the company of others, outside the

zoo.

 

~by Kat Shamash ©2019 Kat Shamash

Image "Sea Lantern, Candlelight at Dusk" ©2019 Kat Shamash

"Home"

Day 11 of 30:  Our GloPoWriMo 2019 prompt for today is to write a poem of origin. Where am I from?

 

Home

Born in human suits,
Earthlings
on a blue
marble spinning in
black space
around the
nearest sun

before this:
an extreme location

we remember, sometimes--
we children, we dreamers ---
drawing before-time
with our crayons and
on the walls
of caves
going somewhere else
in our sleep
floating somewhere, sometimes,
in our sleep
glowing lights, sometimes,
in our sleep
knowing, sometimes,
in our sleep
that we won't remember
when we wake that
that the event horizon
is somewhere
far, far way
and closer
to home

 

 

~by Kat Shamash ©2019 Kat Shamash

Image: NASA Apollow8 Dec24 Earthrise

The Way of Tea

"Water can quench your thirst and wine can drown your sorrows, but only tea can refresh your spirit."

- Lu Yu, Tang Dynasty, "The Classic of Tea", 760 CE - 780 CE

While contemporary cosmopolitan coffee shops are known for 24-hour wifi/caffeine and jolts of espresso for high-energy boosts for a better and faster life, tea houses celebrate the slowing down of things: a stepping away from sidewalk traffic into a ritual that honors that which is timeless.

 

Steps of Broken Stones and Temples

Here in Rome, tsunamis and earthquakes seem as distant as the dated letters of the 18th century Grand  Tourists- the young British noblemen who came to Rome to study Italian art and to carry marble busts and statues back home to England. 

Here in Rome's historical district there are no skyscrapers, no billboards, and no high-speed expressways.  Instead, we walk over streets and sidewalks of cobblestone polished smooth by centuries of moving carriage wheels and the shuffle of pedestrians’ feet. One, red geranium peaks over a windowsill high above the street. There is more marble here than tarmac, and more cafes and patisseries than fast food. Our hotel has ornate, brass handrails and well-worn, marble steps leading all the way up to the 6th floor. In this neighborhood, there is no evidence, thank Artemis, of America: no McDonald's, no Starbucks, no strip malls, no Hummers. Instead: family-run ristourantes, cafes, small specialty shops, and Vespas.

As I walk on the very stones on which Julius Caesar walked on his way to the Forum, 

Steel and Air and a Mottled Presence

 

"It is so much like a beach after all
Where you stand and think of going no further."

Reflections on a poem bolted to a steel bridge: a photo journey.

Why Do People STILL Go to Museums?

"Art offers something else--depth, involvement, a new way of looking at the world that we live in, a fresh approach to what we take for granted, a chance to experience freedom of the imagination."
-Meredith Monk, composer, singer, director, choreographer

(image by René Magritte via artchive)

I regularly visit online museums all over the world. I take virtual tours of The Louvre.  (click here.)  The Metropolitan Museum of Art (click here) The Art Institute of Chicago. (click here.)

But the computer screen cannot replace the experience of visiting an art gallery or museum. Here’s why.

Life on the Lake: an Inle Photo Journal

“What makes a place special is the way it buries itself inside the heart, not whether it’s flat or rugged, rich or austere, wet or arid, gentle or harsh, warm or cold, wild or tame. – Richard Nelson (as qtd in Beyond the Last Village by Alan Rabinowitz)

original image by shamash

A few days at Inle Lake is good for the soul. Read on for a photo journal.

The Year of the Pig

Try buying a piglet and then finding a red dress to fit.

Try burning paper money and trying NOT to free the caged sparrows.

Here in this country “Somewhere in Asia”, this Chinese New Year was celebrated in grand style:

Dragon-chasing, litchi martinis, Chinese dumplings, and the robe of an emperor.

-----photo by shamash

Two Worlds

Back where my Pennsylvania family lives, this is what I might see if I walked down the road.

(image via tony)

While strolling the other morning in this city “Somewhere in Asia” I snapped this shot of a novice monk with his begging bowl.

By the grace of God and the Buddha, I live in both worlds.

Despite appearances, these worlds are not that different.

Really.

In the Mirror

"Darth Vader Helmet Reflection" by shamash, Devon,

England

, 2005

Click to enlarge this funky photograph, which was accepted into the collection of The Mirror Project.

In my first posting of this New Year, I thought I'd share a few of my experiments on reflective surfaces. Though a few of my photographer friends who are purists beg to disagree, digital photography and the zoom lense and are, IMHO, the best inventions since sliced bread.