tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24247510382941277432024-03-19T00:59:41.158-04:00Rodak Riffs......on readings, writings, rants, and random reflectionsRodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comBlogger1040125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-4919708326407819652022-04-22T07:06:00.003-04:002022-04-22T07:06:38.822-04:00Readings: Three Essential Quotes<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">What<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>follows are
three quotes from recent readings, all of which struck to the very core of my
being:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For people of my age, the places that they truly loved and
to which they once belonged are no longer there. The places of their childhood
and youth have ceased to exist, the villages where they went on holiday, the
parks with uncomfortable benches where their first loves blossomed, the cities,
caf<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>s
and houses of their past. And if their outer form has been preserved, it’s all the
more painful, like a shell with nothing inside it anymore. I have nowhere to
return to. It’s like a state of imprisonment. The walls of the cell are the
horizon of what I can see. Beyond them exists a world that’s alien to me and
doesn’t belong to me. So for people like me the only thing possible is here and
now, for every future is doubtful, everything yet to come is barely sketched
and uncertain, like a mirage that can be destroyed by the slightest twitch of
the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>~<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Olga Tokarczuk, <i>Drive Your Plow Over the
Bones of the Dead</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">****<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>****<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Lad of Athens, faithful be<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">To Thyself,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">And Mystery --<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">All the rest is Perjury --<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>~ Emily Dickinson<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">****<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>****<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[A book] is the voice of a person that needs me. I am there
to help him speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>~ Martin Buber, <i>I
and Thou<o:p></o:p></i></p>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-90936195264854927142021-09-06T11:33:00.005-04:002021-09-06T11:33:40.318-04:00Rodak's Writings: Curtain Call - a poem<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Curtain Call<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Revealed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">at the end<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">as a piece of shit –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">worthless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Buked and scorned<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">by a succession of three<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">lovely wives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I would not be<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">lying now<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">if I told you –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">it’s tough<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">to make a poem<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">out of that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-1917052662265185092021-08-09T08:24:00.001-04:002021-08-09T08:24:24.872-04:00Wuhan Flu? Who Knew?<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Covid? It seems probable that the world's corporate oligarchs, via their conservative political minions, want to eliminate excess human population as more economically-efficient robots come on line to do the profitable work. Thus the anti-vax, anti-mask propaganda and the ever-recurring waves of new viral variants. </span></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As we use to say on the playground back in the day: "Kill 'em before they multiply!"</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There is nothing new about genocide-for-profit, other than the means of perpetrating it.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"Wuhan Flu?" Who knew?</div></div>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-66561146798255971242020-08-11T08:24:00.000-04:002020-08-11T08:24:10.201-04:00Reflections: Yearning for the Tao<p> </p><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _q7o" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; padding: 12px 12px 0px;"><div><div class="_5pbx userContent _3ds9 _3576" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-testid="post_message" id="js_o" style="border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 6px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><p style="display: inline; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clock time is not soul time. Clock time measures and chops. Soul time nourishes and awakens. Clock time makes lists of mandatory facts. Soul time allows for forgetfulness of all that has been imposed by rote, so that the Inner and the Outer may recognize their Unity and finally approach the Wisdom of Eternal Truth.</span></p></div><div class="_3x-2" data-ft="{"tn":"H"}" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px;"><div data-ft="{"tn":"H"}" style="font-family: inherit;"></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px;"></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><form action="https://www.facebook.com/ajax/ufi/modify.php" class="commentable_item" data-ft="{"tn":"]"}" id="u_fetchstream_1_5" method="post" rel="async" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="_4299" style="border-radius: 0px 0px 3px 3px; color: #1c1e21; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; width: 500px;"><div class="_5vsi" style="font-family: inherit; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div class="_78bu" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="_68wo" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="_3vum" style="align-items: center; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(218, 221, 225); color: #606770; display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: -2px 12px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><div class="_66lg" style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-grow: 1; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><span aria-label="See who reacted to this" class="_1n9r _66lh" role="toolbar" style="align-items: center; display: flex; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: -2px;"><span class="_1n9k" data-hover="tooltip" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-radius: 12px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 0px -2px; outline: none; padding: 2px; position: relative; z-index: 3;" tabindex="-1"><a ajaxify="/ufi/reaction/profile/dialog/?ft_ent_identifier=ZmVlZGJhY2s6MTAxNTg1OTY3MTA4ODM4MDg%3D&reaction_type=1&av=696393807" aria-label="1 Like" class="_1n9l" href="https://www.facebook.com/ufi/reaction/profile/browser/?ft_ent_identifier=ZmVlZGJhY2s6MTAxNTg1OTY3MTA4ODM4MDg%3D&av=696393807" rel="dialog" role="button" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0"><i class="sp_ElTWZn6BPSq_1_5x sx_b49a88" role="img" style="background-image: url("/rsrc.php/v3/y6/r/9fW0wpG6VTb.png"); background-position: -20px -1490px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 98px 1758px; display: inline-block; height: 18px; width: 18px;"></i></a></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></form></div>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-74555094716610037762020-07-29T07:39:00.001-04:002020-07-29T07:39:28.663-04:00Readings: The Second Shoe Falls<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"There is no second such example of inevitability as that offered by a gifted young man narrowing himself down into an ordinary young man, not as a result of any blow of fate but through a kind of preordained shrinkage."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ Robert Musil, <i>The Man Without Qualities</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-76141336631472810322020-07-27T08:43:00.000-04:002020-07-27T08:43:57.423-04:00Readings: The Shoe Fits<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"One has only to consider how cold and desolate the fairest face of nature can seem to a man left utterly alone, willing to exchange the whole sum of natural beauty for a single human face."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ Alan W. Watts, <i>Nature, Man and Woman</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-50592934348711953372020-07-22T04:24:00.002-04:002020-07-22T04:24:59.696-04:00Rodak's Writings: The Interview: the Conclusion - a Flash Fiction<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">INTERVIEW: the Conclusion -- a flash fiction</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interviewer: Ivanka, I want to thank you for your candor in submitting to this interview and close by asking the question that's on the minds of people the world over: It is clear that your father has spun out of control. That being so obviously the case, why are not his wife, his sons, or you--his cherished daughter--doing some kind of intervention to save your father from himself, and our nation from further humiliation on the g<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">lobal stage in the process?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Ivanka: That's easy. Because he would have us all killed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Interviewer: Oh my God! You can't mean that! Melania and Eric, sure. Don Jr. maybe. But surely not you, Ivanka!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Ivanka: [long pause] You don't get it. Especially me.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-14898626790240017072020-06-13T12:45:00.001-04:002020-06-13T12:54:05.795-04:00Readings: Still Here by Ram Dass<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The notes below were made during a second reading of the excellent book,<i> Still Here</i>, by Ram Dass. I was still working at Alden Library when I read the book for the first time. I had purchased it to see if it would help me to cope better with aging. It did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But, after I retired on April 1, 2020, I found that I was again having problems dealing with feeling old and useless, so I decided to give the book a second read and this time take some notes for future reference. The results of that second reading and note-taking can be seen below:</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ram Dass Notes<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Be
conscious. Do not allow myself to be unconsciously influenced by cultural
attitudes toward aging, e.g. seniors are: silly, stubborn, vindictive,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cute, invisible;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t
fight nature. Aging is not a type of failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t
unconsciously view yourself as “other” or as a burden to society and the young;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stop
processing information and strive instead for wisdom, which alone increases
with age, up until death;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rather
than striving to stay up-to-date, see enlightenment through the wisdom of
directed consciousness;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We are
materialists – the real is perceived through the senses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Consciousness
+ Matter + Energy = the Universe;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Life
is a journey toward Awareness = Atman = God;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Old
age as a release from materialism (body). Liberation, not loss. Ask: Is more
really better? Is enough enough?;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Meaning
of life seen through: jobs, possessions, health only = constant suffering,
anxiety;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Reincarnation:
learning to be a Buddha;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Awareness
= Ground of Being = Atman;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You
have the power to age as you choose: from ego’s fear of death to soul
awareness;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Practice
mindfulness: meditation: a) be comfortable; b) relax jaw, tongue touching front
teeth; c) look down at 45 degree angle, forearms on thighs, concentrate on
breathing through the nostrils;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Face
Your Fears: Senility; loneliness; embarrassment; powerlessness; loss of
role/meaning; depression;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Accept
your aging body; don’t bemoan it;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Practice
walking meditation – awareness of body’s motions;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Old
age is<i> being</i>, not role playing; freedom to do nothing at all;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Ego collects information the Soul needs to learn Wisdom;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Ego is an actor that has forgotten it is playing a role;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Elders
now suffer isolation, removal from family role;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
tendency to isolate is dangerous;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">From a
soul perspective, dependency can be liberating;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Do not
allow loss of power to cause fear and suffering;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stillness
is required to awaken wisdom. No need for busyness;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dharma
is Karma;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Slow
down and open the door to Mystery;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Anicca</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – the
impermanence of all phenomena;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Observe
change from the present moment: Awareness;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the
moment we are free of Ego’s desires and open to Soul;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Future:
fear thrives on the unknown;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Time
and change are interrelated: we measure each by the other;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Curiosity
rather than dread;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There
is no “way things ought to be” – only the way things <i>are</i>;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
desire to control change is the greatest obstacle to Wisdom;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mystery is the Soul’s element;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Attention:
Eternity is Now;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Attention
is the transforming agent;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Death
is the final stage of our healing;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Death
is like taking off a tight shoe;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t
allow your death to be guided by Ego: be Aware;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Change is the mantra of aging;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Gita:
use the battles of life to become God;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Greater
suffering elicits higher consciousness;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Suffering
is caused by attachment, so it prompts us to let go;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To let
go is to heal – not to cure – what ails us;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Faith
and Love (Soul Awareness) are stronger than aging and death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<br />Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-72245795610197316602020-05-26T05:50:00.004-04:002020-05-30T08:20:47.678-04:00Rodak's Writings: Simile - another poem<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
SIMILE</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I am pinned like a bug<br />
by existence:<br />
forgotten display<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />in a dark, locked room.<br />A trace of light seeps<br />around the edges<br />of black shades by day.<br />I sometimes hear footsteps,<br />distant voices down the hall.<br />But these things do not affect me.<br />Once a mobile being,<br />my stiffened wings are now<br />crisp as the flaking pages<br />of an ancient tome.<br />I am but a metaphor.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-84175439414221043422020-05-14T07:44:00.001-04:002020-05-14T07:46:04.588-04:00Rodak's Writings: An Ode to the Pandemic<br />
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<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What This
Fresh Hell Is <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>All things must happen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>left to right,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">as
your sight<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">now
guides your mind,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">finally
to fall off <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">the
dexterous edge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thus
the scorching sun<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">is
Satan’s wand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
prevailing breeze<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">is the
Word of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Ground of Being<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">smiles
down on the virus:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Left
to right<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">the
‘Rona rules.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-10805422758763115912020-04-11T06:09:00.003-04:002020-05-14T07:51:58.181-04:00Rodak's Writings: a Poem for Easter<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">HOLY WEEK, 2020</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Drones hum above,<br />peer into baby buggies,<br />searching for clues.<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />Far below, the bug rages,<br />millions cringe in dark corners,<br />masked and abandoned,<br />watch as men truck the bodies,<br />gouge the parks for mass graves:<br />it’s just like the Nazis,<br />but without the bad press.<br />Still, tomorrow is Easter--<br />eat some chocolate and listen:<br />the sun also rises;<br />He is Trending;<br />chill out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div>
Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-64751888176209516792020-04-10T07:35:00.003-04:002020-04-10T07:35:38.524-04:00Remembrances: Robert Ford Dakin<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Today would have been my father's 100th birthday. He has been gone three years, and I still feel frequent urges to call him for comfort and advice. I will miss him always. I love you, Daddy.</span><br />
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Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-52379502656946824542020-04-02T08:26:00.001-04:002020-04-02T08:36:49.010-04:00Rodak's Writings: Ruminations<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The following three paragraphs were jotted down, perhaps at different times, on an old spiral-bound notepad that was lying around on a card table that I have in my home office. The second of the three was later used in a poem which I will include at the end of this post. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These jottings are presented here without revision:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">____________________</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The essential thing about me, he said, is that I never gave a flying fuck about nature. Living on a cold, dead rock suits me just fine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">___________________</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I dress in rags because I don't have to. If I had to, I would go far out of my way not to.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">____________________</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nobody seems to realize how old I am. I've always looked young. Since I've gotten old, this has resulted in my receiving comments that I have allowed myself to take as flattering. When I was a young man, however, I usually felt my youthful appearance allowed my elders and/or superiors, to take me less seriously. But now, here I am: closer to 80 than to 65 --</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">well within an age group where many are dying, or already dead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">______________________</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Last
Gasp<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
soul is tried,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">the
jury still out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">On the
empty street<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">a
windblown Times<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">pursues
the man<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">as if
to bite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Later,
at home,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">the
poisoned air<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">lounges
on his plate,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">dares
him to dine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I am
not hungry, he lies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I wear
these rags precisely<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">because
I don’t need to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So throw
the key away, he cries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Just,
please, let me breathe. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-62746727584492145222020-04-01T08:25:00.000-04:002020-04-02T08:41:38.048-04:00Reflections: The First Day of the Rest of My Life<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Today is the first day of my retirement from Ohio University, where I have been working for the last 23 years. I don't know if I should be celebrating--even though there is a pandemic raging--but I'm not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I find the loss of the <i>illusion</i> that holding down a job put me in control of my life and destiny is disquieting. There is fear that the pandemic, which has shut down most businesses, thrown millions out of their jobs, and caused the stock market to tank, will permanently cripple the economy, so that my pension money disappears even before it ever started. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And, since Laura graduated in December and went back to NYC, I am now completely alone all day, every day. I have no one but my cat, Mona. She is a blessing, but not much of a conversationalist. I am too radically introverted to go out into the world and interact with strangers, just for the sake of some social intercourse. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So here I sit, silently worried.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because of the pandemic, should I need help, my family would not be able to come to my aid. Never have I felt so alone. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And it has only just begun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-56494009058594650992020-04-01T05:11:00.000-04:002020-04-01T05:12:52.184-04:00Rodak's Writings: Flash Fiction<br />
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
SAM AGAIN</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
Beckett just called. Godot's flight's been cancelled. Just kidding. Beckett's dead. Yeah, I googled it. 1989. What? You've got fingers. Do your own math.</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-43380358523621039182019-12-31T09:00:00.000-05:002019-12-31T09:01:11.667-05:00Reflections: Senility's Revelations<br />
<br />
FINALLY<br />
<br />
Observation outlives<br />
comprehension;<br />
<br />
Desire endures beyond<br />
function;<br />
<br />
Existence outlasts<br />
credulousness.<br />
<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
<br />Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-82069250099070463982019-12-27T10:11:00.002-05:002019-12-27T10:12:56.726-05:00Rodak's Writings: Last Rites - a poem<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last
Rites<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The slim,
laughing girls, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">the
elegant, agate-eyed women<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">whom I
loved and desired<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">but
never was permitted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">to
know, much less touch, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">come
to me now, each alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She
straddles the stare<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of my
ancient, fallen head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bare
feet seductively frame<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">bone-caged
memories,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">incarcerated
dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The maddening
fragrance<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of her
undeodorized, ‘sixties sex<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">sifts
down like spices sprinkled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">on
roasting flesh in the Creator’s kitchen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I thirst,
I cry. Wet me, please!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally
now, at least bless me with that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-36682978681261950082019-12-18T09:26:00.000-05:002019-12-18T09:26:00.074-05:00Rodak's Writings: A Poem (after Leonard Cohen)<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I am still saddened by the passing of Leonard Cohen, whom I consider to have been the consummate lyricist of our times. I recently borrowed from the library his posthumously published book of poems, notebooks, lyrics and drawings, The Flame. I have been leafing through it, trying to decide if I want to buy it.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
The first section of the book is titled "Poems." It features pieces of varying length, almost all of which feature short lines and the use of rhyme. This is not a styl<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">e that I have used much in composing my own poetry; but, in honor of Saint Leonard the Cohen, I though I'd try one:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<b>HERE AND NOW</b></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Life has provided<br />no answers.<br />And death does not<br />promise a cure.<br />Sleep brings the danger<br />of dreaming.<br />But I wake to a pain<br />that is sure.<br />I still carry my phone<br />with me always,<br />though there’s no one<br />now here that will call.<br />With “always” and “never”<br />coequal,<br />I hope what I’ve seen<br />is “it all.”</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-56874427604062370982019-12-15T13:36:00.000-05:002020-04-02T08:41:53.446-04:00Reflections: The Beginning of an Ending<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yesterday, I attend the graduation from Ohio University of my younger daughter. Her older sister, and their mother, my estranged wife, were in from New York City to attend. They did not stay with me, but at the house where the graduating daughter is renting a room from an old high school friend, now a nurse.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This visit and these events have somehow caused me to finally give up all hope of ever having what I need to have in order for my continued existence to have any meaning. What I would need to believe can happen for me to have any purpose in life is a reconciliation with my wife, and our purchase of a family home where I can live the remainder of my days surrounded by those things that I have gathered and valued during my 70+ years, and where the family could get together for holidays and special family occasions such as birthdays. I know that this will never be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A couple of days ago, I was straightening up the little scraps of scribbled-on note paper residing on the desk that houses my computer and printer. Among those scraps of paper I found one, dated 1/8/18, on which I had penciled, among other things, a poem titled,</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> "My Final Poem?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is a sorry confession and I make it again, here, now:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am smart</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I used to look pretty good.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I am afraid,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so I always fail.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is fear of death</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that keeps me alive,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and fear of life</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that urges me to die.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I fail. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And, again, I fail.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have spoken.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Basta.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-44537308165587031272019-10-23T07:38:00.000-04:002019-10-23T07:40:04.073-04:00Rodak's Writings: a Pi-Ku<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: white;">x</span></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">x<span style="background-color: white;"> x</span></span><br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
all hope gone<br />
i<br />
abide alone<br />
<br />
<br />Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-9860871208877889742019-04-30T06:55:00.001-04:002019-04-30T06:55:24.612-04:00Reflections: A Random Note<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following was found on my computer table at home, scribbled in pencil on a note card, undated other than by my given age:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am 72 years old and have reached a place where I know I am going to die. This expectation of death is no longer just an intellectual concession -- it is a gut certainty. It is also a visible and sensual physical perception; somatic, emotional, and on a </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>persistent</i></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, conscious, mental loop.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nice place to be, huh?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-9645654485746609182019-02-16T10:16:00.002-05:002019-02-16T10:18:03.407-05:00Reflections: An Excerpt<br />
I find this to be exactly right:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"I do not think of suicide as the act, the death, the fall from a height or the trigger pulled. I see it as a long illness, an illness with origins in trauma and isolation, in deprivation of touch, in violence and neglect, in the loss of home and belonging. It is a disease of the body and the brain, if you make that disti</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nction, a disease that kills over time."</span><br />
<br />
~ <span style="font-size: x-small;">Donald Antrim, "Everywhere and Nowhere, A journey through suicide"; The New Yorker; Feb. 18 & 25, 2019</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-75691510181822714472019-02-04T11:56:00.000-05:002019-02-04T11:58:03.667-05:00Reflections: I'm Still Alive<br />
<br />
Just a quick note here to remind myself -- and the void into which these few words are hurled -- <br />
that I've survived another year, another birthday, and another long period of yearning for an end to it all.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-16778198404521351742018-12-30T12:45:00.002-05:002018-12-30T12:45:46.501-05:00Rodak's Writings: A Flash Fiction<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Flash Fiction</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As Miss Kitty squatted to pee in the dust by the side of <st1:street>Main
Street</st1:street>, her modesty protected by her long black hooped
skirts, gimpy <st1:city>Chester</st1:city> struggled
hurriedly past her shouting, “Mister Dylan! Mister Dylan! A cowpoke’s been shot
over to Fern Hill!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hitching up his gun belt with a pout, the Sheriff peered
over the double doors of the saloon to see what all the commotion was about.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Miss Kitty having moved on, a stray mongrel hurried over to
sniff at the intriguing new muddy spot, still damp despite the heat of the sun
at high noon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The sheriff now shrugged and turned back to the bar,
awarding priority to his still-foaming beer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Resigned to being ignored, <st1:city>Chester</st1:city>
stood asymmetrically without, thumbing through the pages of a dog-eared
paperback.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On a hilltop half a mile out of town, a nameless cowboy
quietly bled out unmourned, never having drawn his trusty Colt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424751038294127743.post-717828957225867842018-12-02T20:26:00.001-05:002018-12-02T20:26:34.112-05:00Reflections: This<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I realize it was love that turned into this, I'm quite certain that "this" is hell.</span><br />
<br />
<br />Rodakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077919085157653816noreply@blogger.com