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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write.
Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground.
 
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Everyday Canvas
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.
David Whyte
This is my supplementary blog in which I will post entries written for prompts.
February 28, 2018 at 6:38pm February 28, 2018 at 6:38pm
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Prompt: "A woman can be beautiful as well as intellectual." Audrey Hepburn. Do you agree? Write anything you want about this.
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Sure! I agree. It is a given. The same goes for a handsome man being an intellectual. It is the use of one’s brain and social and educational skills that makes the person, a person; man or woman, I don’t see the difference in that.
Possibly, in Audrey Hepburn’s time and social circles, basically in Hollywood, only a female’s beauty made the sales. In real life, a beautiful woman or a handsome man is good to look at, but for how long can one keep watching the good looks if that beauty has no substance as a person? After all, we are people and we like to communicate with each other in a meaningful way.
Prompt: Anatole France said, “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.” What do you take from this quote and what do you think of people who don’t like animals?
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Some people think having animals around helps the children to develop a healthier social life, but is that all? I think animals help our existence no matter what age we are. On the physical side, animals can reduce our cardiac reactivity to stress and they help us recover from illnesses more quickly. Some psychologists claim having a healthy relationship with an animal companion raises the oxytocin (the feel-happy hormone) levels in the brain.
Animals are really sincere in their feelings and in their show of love to people they connect with. Animals try to communicate with us although we are too thickheaded to understand them sometimes. Look at an animal’s eyes and see the emotion and the innocence in them. Most of them value their independence and they don’t whine about someone ignoring them. When their basic needs are met, they live in greater contentment that we ever can. They do not philosophize and sermonize in a condescending manner; they do not look down on us for our beliefs; they do not try to inject us with their religious or political views. They do not criticize, pass judgment, or ask too many questions. Above all, they are loyal to the bone and make great friends for they accept us as we are.
It hurts me greatly to see animals abandoned, put down, abused and lonely. I don’t like people declawing their cats, either. It also hurts me when an animal I love dies. When I was thirteen, my tabby cat passed away. I was so stricken that I got sick for three days and couldn’t go to school, and I was a nerd. I loved school. Those three days were possibly the only absences during my jr. high years.
In my life, all through my childhood and teens, I had cats. My cats were free to roam around in the yard or in the neighbors’ yards. This was because the three streets of residences formed a triangle in the back, making our backyards safe for everyone’s cats.
As much as I like animals, I don’t like to see them restrained too much. I think it is because of the leash laws that dogs I see in my neighborhood sometimes act nervous, aggressive, or unhappy. Still, I approve of the leash laws in neighborhoods where houses are too close together and the animals present a danger to people or to themselves because of the traffic. When I had my Newfoundland, similar to the place I grew up in, every neighbor had a dog and a large yard, and we had an understanding among us that we let our dogs roam on their own. My dog sometimes accepted visitors and went to visit his friends, although he knew to stick around in our property most of the time.
I love not only the domesticated animals but also the wild animals; although I would respect them and not bother them in their natural habitats. That’s where they belong and we shouldn’t trespass. It annoys me, in the state that I live in, instead of selling and using the existing residences and now emptied shopping centers, builders are taking over preserves and woods. Almost every year or so, we get a wild animal infestation just because somebody razed down the trees and stole the habitats from animals. Someday, the human race will be very sorry when our planet will be barren, dull, and without its animals, due to our greed.
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February 26, 2018 at 3:02pm February 26, 2018 at 3:02pm
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Prompt: How do you suppose misogyny did and does originate?
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I think misogyny originated, a long time ago, from the false conceptions about women but not from a specific kind of hatred toward all the women who existed or are in existence, as some people believe. The pure hatred, itself, seems to be overly simplistic. If some hatred exists, it is the result of learned behavior. If pure hatred of women really existed, the misogynists would hate their mothers, Mother Mary, Mother Theresa, or Madame Curie, too.
Thus, the false perception or believing in the fairytale of women being subordinate or inferior seems to be the underlying cause. In the old times, since women had the child-bearer-nurturer job in society, they became the property of home alone, and in time, they ended up giving in to the coercive regulations of society, which in the long run, accepted all kinds of attacks, even physical ones like rape or beating of women, as suitable or tolerable.
Unfortunately, women themselves have bought into and intensified this fallacy of patriarchal superiority. Only, some of us old-timers may remember our young years when some of the old-timer ladies of the day told us to behave like a woman and please and serve the man who is the big shot and the provider. I recall such remarks had angered me much more when the misogyny was promoted and accelerated by other older women who should know better. Although not all of the women in the olden times were misogynists. In fact, I know my mother-in-law was quite furious with the idea of the superiority of men.
In our time, one would think misogyny would be erased totally, but this is not so. Some of the old beliefs still give offshoots from their roots in cahoots with tomcatting and macho rubbish. Then, there are the personal-vendetta misogynists who have been wronged-or thought they were wronged-by one woman who project their anger on all women. Yet, what I think is not enough. To figure out all the root causes, actions, and feelings resulting in misogyny would take a serious investigation by the psychologists and social scientists.
The bottom line is, women are human beings, and misogyny dehumanizes not only the women but those who practice it.
PROMPT: Live television, on-demand viewing, or do you just not care?
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I am not a big TV watcher. In fact, although the TV is on non-stop, due to my husband’s dependence on it, I only watch from the sidelines while either doing some chore or when I can’t read or listen to a book. In my entire lifetime, I have enjoyed very few TV shows.
READING
I need to note this here for my own self in case I might need to refer to it later.
I read more than I do anything else. Now that I am retired, more or less, I have more time to read. When Goodreads began bugging me to pledge a number of books to read in a year, I first ignored them; then, this year I gave in. I gave a number off the top of my head for 2018, which was way too low. Then I raised it to 75. Yet, only in January, I read 18 books. At the end of January, I discovered "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge"  for making monthly pledges. Few days past the middle of February, my pledge was fulfilled, and I am still continuing on with reading.
Thinking further on the subject, I realized I picked up my reading material on the impulse of the moment. True, my reading is still quite eclectic, with poetry books, novels, and non-fiction, but I realized I could widen my vistas by adding choices other than what is in my immediate reach. Thus, I am looking into much older writing like that of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially to the works of good writers who never reached a lot of fame and the works of little-known writers from other nations. This idea made me get more excited about reading.
Thus, while doing a Gutenberg search I came across Émile Verhaeren a Belgian Poet I hadn’t heard of at all. Google has his poetry. I also found it in the Internet Archives. So, it is on my to-read list now.
Another thing, with the yearly pledge thing Goodreads runs, wouldn’t it be better if they kept the record of how many books we read as well as the pledges or maybe instead of the pledges?
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February 24, 2018 at 7:24pm February 24, 2018 at 7:24pm
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Prompt: Mark Twain said, "To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence." Do you agree or disagree? What do you think is the key to success?
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If I could change the words “to succeed in life” to “to succeed in our faulty world,” the saying could have some merit. One may take up a challenge or a hobby not knowing what it entails. If the encounter with the subject is something he enjoys and finds out he wants to work with it, he may continue on with that journey, and to continue, his confidence may help him along the way. Anyone who takes up serious photography discovers that it is a difficult prospect and a costly one, for example.
Otherwise, this is another glib saying, since “life” has a larger meaning and people relate to the word in a different and personal way. The same goes for success and the degree of it.
If the saying means literally “to succeed in life,” I don’t agree with it for I was never a fan of the ignorance-is-bliss idea. The only positive side of ignorance is its disregarding of the inward doubts a person may cultivate within himself. As inward doubts hold most people hostage and prolong or hinder their success, I guess some ignorance may help. I, however, like to go into something knowing what I am getting into.
The key to success, for me, is neither ignorance nor confidence; I favor perseverance. If you keep at something and learn from your mistakes along the way without giving credence to self-defeating doubts, you’re bound to gather some degree of success.
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February 23, 2018 at 8:43pm February 23, 2018 at 8:43pm
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Prompt: Please use these words in your blog entry--- ankh paralyzed, blackout, buzz, messenger, bark. Have fun.
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the temple has
a wide entrance
where the goddess
holds the ankh in her hand
casting magic
with her cyclopean eye
who knows what relief
her messenger will bring
when words are broken open
tongue paralyzed
and this imperfect buzz
then a sardonic bark
so much debris in living
blackout with pizzazz?
who crossed the circle
rather
who circled the cross?
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February 22, 2018 at 12:48pm February 22, 2018 at 12:48pm
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Prompt: "There is one difference between a long life and a great dinner, in the dinner, the sweet things come last." Audrey Hepburn Do you agree with this?
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Do I agree with the quote? Not really. Whether the sweet part comes first or last depends on the life and the person. Some people have rotten beginnings and very successful and happy adulthoods. That is why generalizations are usually iffy.
Also, after a great dinner, I usually have no space in my stomach for anything else, sweet or sour. Plus, great dinners have more to do with the company than the food.
I think whether the beginning of life is sweet or not, we can try to put some sweetness in the rest of the way, so there is still something sweet left for the end.
When it comes to the food, I like a small sweet bit of something as treat on its own like a pick-me-up after being overworked. Then, it is possible that I don’t have a very powerful sweet tooth. 
Prompt: Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring? Write anything you want about this.
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a breath of spring
and…achoo!
fancy colors and scents
still a mourning
as counterpoint
this, my nose detects
and rejects
like an activist
with insight
-stronger than sight-
warning
what is so pretty
is also deadly
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February 20, 2018 at 1:43pm February 20, 2018 at 1:43pm
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Prompt: What are the qualities that make a president or any leader great?
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Some leaders and presidents are known for their greatness; others not so much. I think character is important, the right character. But what is the right character? The right character is what can answer the requirements of the circumstances of that leader’s time and the kind of people that leader is asked to lead.
This brings to mind the feisty President Truman. He wasn’t much loved in his time. He had a few deficiencies, and the Americans and the news media made fun of him to no limit. A favorite widespread and not-too-terrible saying of the time is, “I’m mild about Harry!” Yet, Truman rose to the demands of the day and made great contributions to the nation. His entire life, especially what he did during wartime, makes good reading, btw.
Yet, as people we want our presidents and leaders to be flawless, but there is no flawless person, and most of the time our flaws make us who we are.
The way I see it, conscientiousness is a good trait, but a good sense of selectivity about things a leader is conscientious about is more important than blind conscientiousness. For example, fighting for animal welfare is a good stance, but if pythons in an area are reproducing at a rapid pace and are seriously threatening the citizens’ lives, then transplanting or destroying those animals must take precedence.
A leader also should be open to change but in a conservative way. By the conservative way, I mean without messing up more what is in function even if it isn’t perfect. If the change one brings upsets something that is working, be it to a degree, that change is useless.
A president or a leader should know how to be agreeable without being meek and he should also be daring enough to take action when action is needed. A good balance among strict guidance, tenderness, and decisiveness does help, too. As to openness and secretiveness, another good balance is needed. Plus, I have to say, I always worry about people who act impulsively, all the time.
Then, instead of praising religion-based morality in its strictest sense, although I appreciate good morals in anyone, I am going to favor good psychological adjustment that gives people high self-esteem but without becoming braggarts. Those who are not in good terms with themselves rarely, if ever, make good leaders. Subjective well-being is just as important as social and political effectiveness.
To wrap it up, I believe a person who is comfortable in his own skin, can adapt to change in a socially acceptable way, can bring about change without hurt, and is considerate of the welfare of all people has the makings of a good leader.
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February 19, 2018 at 5:03pm February 19, 2018 at 5:03pm
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Prompt: What do you think objectivity is, and as humans, can we really experience anything objectively?
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I don’t think absolute objectivity can exist. We can only be relatively objective. The simplest reason is we can only know and experience what our conditions let us know and experience.
Speculating further on the subject, objectivity, in its loosest form, means making decisions based on the facts rather than personal feelings or beliefs. Yet, can we really be objective when what is given to us to experience the world with is a brain and five senses, all different from the other species on this planet?
In other words, no completely objective structure exists, and I suspect not only differences among the species but even the human beings must be in place. For example, something that tastes too sweet for me is usually not sweet enough for my husband.
Still, when we are able to have some choice in how we act and we are free to choose our behavior, we can do so. Still, our actions and choices depend on our background and how it has affected us. This means we can be objective, but only partially so. What holds us back from being totally objective is our brain, our physical and mental makeup, our background, and our education.
Thus, what purports to be a fact is not an absolute fact but what is perceived by the perceiver as to be true to his understanding.
Using the same measure, we can apply this idea to groups. Group A constantly spies on Group B and Group B does the same thing to Group A. When one of the groups catches the other’s spies, its adherents are outraged even though their group has been doing the same thing to the other group. Isn’t this reaction the result of the background and upbringing of that outraged group? Is that group's indignation reasonable and objective?
With all this chewing the fat, I still believe we can still try to be objective, unbiased, just, and not much influenced by our emotions and personal or group prejudices. At least, within our given capabilities.
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February 18, 2018 at 2:52pm February 18, 2018 at 2:52pm
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PROMPT: How do you know when you've met your match?
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Honestly speaking, you don’t. Only time does tell. To begin with, at least some of the time, people change or grow in different directions as they mature. That alone erases or alters the word match.
Speaking from my mind’s BS, meeting one’s match--as an idiom--has several connotations. It may mean the other person is just as strong and capable as you if you are fighting him/her in a rink or in business or in life in general. It may also mean someone who is like you and you can work well with. Mostly the word match brings the idea of a couple’s relationships.
I can say—somewhat with hesitation as people are different—that there possibly are a few things that should line up for a match to be made. As to couples’ relationships, what comes to mind are:
• You feel at ease, happy, and alive when this person is near you.
• The other person feels just right, intuitively.
• Your sense of right and wrong or, in a nutshell, what you consider morality is similar or the same.
• Your enjoyment of life and having a good time means the same or similar thing to each of you.
• Your backgrounds, families, country, language etc. are somewhat compatible.
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February 17, 2018 at 2:03pm February 17, 2018 at 2:03pm
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Prompt: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. - Old Saying.
Write a story or poem about something you think is beautiful but no one else agrees with you. Write and have fun.
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The Leaf that Withered on the Tree
the mystery is in
its impossible ruin
but picked for a lesser life
the leaf that withered
on the branch
with emaciated cells
and dark rusty color
fated to kiss the ground
yet, it is less a leaf
but more of the sun
like a prayer
remaining crisp
on a candle’s flame
rising to look down
to give solace with a kiss
to the insignificant
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February 16, 2018 at 6:40pm February 16, 2018 at 6:40pm
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Prompt: I was reading a writing prompt on Writing.Com when suddenly...
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I was reading a writing prompt on Writing.Com when suddenly I found myself inside the novel, Armageddon by Leon Uris, that I had pledged to read in "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge" .
“Between friends,” the Russian said with his thick accent, “this whole squabble is becoming costly. I hate that you Americans made us impose a Blockade, but you can’t continue on with the Airlift during the winter.”
“What?” I was flabbergasted. “Where am I? What do you mean by blockade and airlift? And who are you?”
“Hey, are you putting me on, Sean? I am Igor Karlovy, your Russian pal.” Igor Karlovy laughed, “This must be one of those doomed American jokes. Okay, I’ll go along with it. You are in Berlin of 1948, and you perfectly know what’s happening with the Blockade and your hopeless Airlift.”
“That’s what you think. The Airlift was successful and your side gave up. I remember from my history lessons. Just why did you call me Sean?”
“Because that’s what your name is.”
“But I am a she!”
“Okay…I knew Americans were fruitcakes,” Igor stiffened. “If you’re not Sean who do you want to be? You have to be somebody.”
I had a choice? “Hilde,” I said. “Because she is so beautiful.” Then, I changed my mind. “No, I want to be Ernestine because she’s serious and a reader…”
Igor tipped his fingers to his cap and he looked like he thought it was time for him to go. “Aufwiedersehen, Sean, Hilde, or Ernestine! Well, whoever you are!”
Shocked by his abruptness, “Joy!” I yelled, “I am Joy.”
“Yeah, sure!” he said as he was exiting. “And I am Cleopatra! Wait till I recount this conversation to Marshal Popov!” I was still hearing him talk to himself outside the door. “Crazy Americans! Bats in the belfry! With lopsided brains! Nuts! They’re all nuts!’
“And we won the Cold War, too,” I yelled after him.
“What did you say? What happened with the cold war?” My husband said. “Are you talking to yourself, again?”
And suddenly I found myself in our living room, looking at my laptop’s screen, at WdC’s prompts.
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February 15, 2018 at 2:56pm February 15, 2018 at 2:56pm
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Prompt: “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning”
Louis L'Amour
Write anything you want about this.
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It is in human nature not to take endings well, especially if everything has been good to acceptable earlier. When something we cherish ends, we think it is the end of the world and we’ll never be happy again. That feeling usually dulls away in time.
It is, therefore, a good idea to take a pause and look around when something ends to give ourselves time to grieve and to handle the shock. This may act like the time-out adults give to children who have succumbed to temper tantrums. If we miss the past and feel uncomfortable with the change, it may help to pour out those emotions, possibly through arts or by talking to friends.
This is because endings and second beginnings aren’t clear-cut as they move by some effort and small shifts at a time. Then, a better way is letting go of that ending with an open mind, since when something ends, it ends, and it probably wasn’t in our hands.
The next thing is to look forward and start something new. Starting anything new means feeling a renewed hope, instead of lamenting the hopeless ending.
The idea of endings signaling beginnings first is noted by Lao Tzu, and as translated by Wayne Dyer, it says, “Amidst the rush of worldly comings and goings, observe how endings become beginnings.” This means it is the way of the world for things to end, only to signal another beginning, as change is the only thing constant in life.
Prompt: What is the most romantic thing you have done or someone has done for you?
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In the most loving way,
he rises like the sun
to chase dark clouds
away, with a hug
or a kind word
telling me not to worry
for luck will smile again
to make possible
the smooth sailing
of my tiny ketch
as if it were a fancy
cruise ship.
No need for sappy things
flowers and rings
true romance is found
in his being around.
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February 13, 2018 at 2:10pm February 13, 2018 at 2:10pm
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Prompt: Do you think people can change as to how they view love as years go by? And how do you think they perceive love and romance in different stages of their lives?
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Yes, people’s assessment of relationships and love and romance can change as they age. In the earliest stages, humans are usually influenced by hormones, but is that love? I doubt it. I think true love happens regardless of the body’s needs.
Later on, the quality of the love-relationship becomes the issue. For the lucky few, it is a give-and-take situation. When it is only give or only take, the relationship loses its power and dies. Midlife is the most stressful time with all the offspring, work and money problems, and commitments outside the relationship.
Luckily, in old age, people settle down and value their feelings and hold an appreciation for one another, despite the changes in health and other problems. At this time, their views of love have matured just like the ways they look at life.
Love has these components in general: obsessive thinking of the loved one, craving for his/her nearness, euphoria or romantic sadness, increased or decreased energy, and the feeling that life is just that. People in love, at times or always, feel as if they have uncovered the meaning of life completely, and nothing else matters all that much.
I think everyone’s view of love is different. I see it as being comfortable with each other’s company, feeling respect for and trusting the other person. This may be because I am in my seventies, although I can still recall the earliest feelings of love, the heartbeat, the excitement, and my dwelling over every action, incident, and word, when my beloved showed up at my door.
Prompt: What impressed you the most in your earliest years that you believe may have had an effect on your writing? I mean things like the neighborhood you grew up in or the fairy tales and stories you came upon before you were in your teens.
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My earliest memories are of newspapers, writings hung on the walls, and books in the house. All these things might have urged me to pester my grandmother to tell me the sounds of letters that were all around. So, it is no wonder that I learned to read at age 3.5 practically on my own.
Another major effect on me was my mother’s spirituality. She kept telling me parables and fairy tales that changed according to her moods, and I loved the changes she made in her storytelling. Who’d think that Cinderella not only had her stepsisters to deal with but a scary person huge in size, living in the attic, who then mellowed and helped her with her prince? My mother would tell me her stories with all the theatrics she could muster, which impressed me even more.
She also read to me, not only the fairytales but Rumi’s stories, too. Rumi’s stories are not linear; he looks at situations from all sides and sometimes the stories do not have a clear ending, which is usually on purpose. This did bother me, and I recall arguing with my mother over those stories. One of them involved a rabbit, and although the story had a great moral, the ending was left open. I kept insisting, almost in tears, “But what happened to the rabbit?” No matter which explanation my mother gave me, I didn’t grasp. Then, she said, “What do you think should happen?” So, those stories and her reading to me took on a different route. After she’d finish the reading, we’d make up our own ending, according to my whims.
There were other things in my life that had an effect on my love of reading, writing, people, and all living things. We had lots of people coming and going into the house, and not only guests but the people who came to work for different things, gardener, cleaners, street vendors etc.
I was very much interested in other people’s lives and in the lives of the animals. My aunt--who lived with us before she married--was a cat person. She’d take care of the street cats, and if they had kittens, we’d keep the mother and the newborn kittens in a spare room. She also had three cats as her pets. Then, we went to visit the many farms in the area since my grandfather was the only doctor within several miles and everyone loved him because he’d take care of the sick on a credit basis and sometimes he’d forgo their debts altogether. Those farm owners let me roam in their farms among the animals. I also loved the beach since the town we lived in was by the water. All these things and others that are too many to tell were happening before I had turned seven.
So, when I turned eight, I began to write; however, later on, when my road gained many forks, I went many other ways. 
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February 11, 2018 at 8:24pm February 11, 2018 at 8:24pm
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Prompt: The 2018 Winter Olympics are here! Are you watching? Do you have any favorite events? Do you think the Olympics still have any cultural relevancy in this day and age?
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Well, if I say I’m watching it will be a lie, and if I say I am not watching, that, too, will be a lie. The situation, as it stands, is this. My husband is watching them and the TV is on all the time. I am not a TV fan at all, although there are four TVs in the house. They all serve dear hubby, and the internet, Kindles, and books serve me.
Since hubby and I want to sit together in the same room, I brought my laptop and a couple of bookshelves to a corner, as he brought his laptop to another place in the den. Diagonally across, I have the full view of the TV, which necessitates earplugs sometimes, so I can read and write.
I guess all events are good, but I don’t have a favorite. Still, I stopped to watch some of the couples’ ice-dancing and I screamed my head off when the Japanese girl fell. Then, today, I caught some of the ski race, which the Norwegians won all three places.
As to the cultural relevancy of Olympics, I think yes. That I semi-watch in my haphazard fashion doesn’t mean that I don’t approve of the Olympics. Any event--excluding world wars--that can bring people of this crazy planet together is great and helpful to world peace.
When I think about it, some of the countries competing in the Olympics may have disputes ideologically, militarily, socially, and economically. Yet, they stand on the same stage and compete. The numbers of athletes competing can be in the thousands, in addition to the numbers of people training and taking care of them, plus the people in the audience and those who are watching. It means, at least, for this reason, the countries and people of the world agree to watch the same thing and learn about one another, instead of arguing their differences.
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February 10, 2018 at 9:21pm February 10, 2018 at 9:21pm
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Prompt: It's creation Saturday, I love this phrase # . Have fun with this phrase: He raised his goblet: "Cheers! Here's to Love!" She answered: "Define Love."
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He says, “Cheers!
Here’s to love!” finding
a lovely inevitability
in the evening, but she,
with moonbeams
frolicking in her hair,
demands, “Define Love,”
exercising her virtue
but killing the moment and
his tender spirit
so into her.
And, her words, irrevocable,
shakes him, digging his heart
a grave.
What a mandate!
Does love need defining?
And aren’t all definitions valid?
Prompt: "Where have you been?"----- Make up a creative reason for being late to an important function.
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I am late because I was uploading photos to Facebook, and it seems Facebook has restricted the size of whatever one can upload. So I had to do it in pieces which took three hours extra.
I didn’t procrastinate
but did all
that was needed to be done
to spill the magical pixels
from the camera
onto the screen
that told the crazy story
and the epiphanies of my day…
but FB could not grasp
what it was missing
and it told me
“four megabytes only”
this is the reality of agony
with social networks
and I admit to my lateness
but through no fault of mine
Prompt: Does your family have heirlooms that are handed down from generation to generation?
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Yes, but some of them were stolen by the woman who was my mother’s caretaker. Then, I gave away everything to the younger members of my family. That is passing the buck, I know, but now they are the ones to fear what will happen to those heirlooms. 
all the stitches
laced in perfection
on the family linen
and porcelain cups,
gifts from
the Chinese emperor
to great-great-grandfather
grandma’s pearls and antique ring
crystal chalices and old paintings,
but the only heirloom
is in my genes
holding
my ancestors’ love
everlasting
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February 6, 2018 at 11:50pm February 6, 2018 at 11:50pm
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Prompt: What's your “back in the day, we...” story? Write about whatever.
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I don’t have grandchildren, except for those really nice ones in WdC who adopted me, and I am not going to bore them with any “back in the day,” story. But then, maybe I’ll relate an earliest memory or two, since while writing this, an incident or two came to me, incidents that may be suggestive of emotional blackmail. 
1. If I didn’t want to eat something or other my mother used to tell me, “You have to eat that. Children in…. are starving. (fill in the blanks. In my time, first, it was China; then Korea won the lottery) They can’t even find a bite of what you’re rejecting.” That always made me sad enough to eat whatever I was served.
2. One of my mother’s uncles had a fancy garden that he was crazy over. Once, when I was three years old, we went to visit him. Before we went, my mother told me not to ever pick a flower or a leaf or anything because those plants in that garden were a family and anything I’d pick would be separating a child from his mother and I would be hurting the plants’ children who'd feel much pain.
When we arrived there, the aunt told me to go out in the garden and enjoy the outdoors. I shook my head and said no and stood frozen. Then the uncle took me by the hand and led me out.
His was truly a beautiful garden, probably one of the best privately owned that I have seen in all my life. I was very careful only to walk on the walkways and not to step on the flowerbeds. The uncle picked a flower and handed it to me. I think it might be a pansy, but no matter, I immediately began bawling and crying my eyes out.
You can imagine what a surprised man he was because he himself was a lit teacher and knew a bit about child psychology. Yet, he couldn’t understand what got into me. By this time, the aunt had decided maybe the whole family should have tea in the gazebo since it was such a nice day. They were in the process of settling around the table in the gazebo. Hearing my loud wailing and lamentation, they ran to us to find out why I was sobbing and crying my eyes out.
I can’t recall what happened after that, but her uncle must have told my mother how to handle me better or something because I recall that he took her inside to talk privately. That uncle was such a gentle, beautiful soul whom I grew to love and admire deeply over the years. He was only a few years younger than my grandmother, and he passed away before he turned sixty-four when I was in my teens.
So, if anyone is wondering how and where my gullibility first took its roots, here is its possible starting line in the race of my life.
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February 6, 2018 at 3:49pm February 6, 2018 at 3:49pm
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Prompt: Is there such a thing as good and evil? What determines an action as good or evil? Who gets to decide who’s good or who’s evil? Your thoughts.
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First, I need to define evil. Evil may be considered as the antonym of good, but the real antonym of good is bad, but not all bad is evil. Even in the justice system, there are degrees of crimes. Knowledgeable people and circumstances can help or even bad people through their own work can turn around to be better and reach to acceptability despite the dual nature of humans. This is bad turning to some degree of good.
Evil is different. Evil cannot be fixed. To me, evil is irretrievable, irreparable, and permanently bad. It is harmful, inexplicable, and obscure. And you-know-who in religious terms, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as in Harry Potter, personifies evil. (As an aside, come to think of it, Lord Voldemort wasn’t really evil but really bad.)
The dictionary defines the noun form of evil as “profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, especially when regarded as a supernatural force.” The adjective form of evil is defined as profoundly immoral and malevolent.
Can we know evil when we see it? I doubt that. Evil is cunning, crafty, and sly. It approaches us in many forms, mostly in the forms of things or people we have been yearning for, and that is why we give in to it.
From where I stand, mass-killers and murderers have done acts of evil but are they evil themselves? That, only their creator knows. We might call them sociopaths or psychopaths who commit terrible crimes, if only to explain their horrific acts. This may be acceptable only when the crimes committed are involuntary, which means these people believed in the wrong ideals or chose wrongly while they themselves were quite ordinary or even good people before those acts.
In our time, the word evil has become what we call wrongdoers who cannot be injected with any form of morality and for whom all devices of justice are inadequate, and the word itself describes the limits of what badness we’re able to put up with. For such irreparable criminals, evil may be the appropriate adjective.
As to good, it means all desirable virtues like morality, charity, peace, love, and friendship that benefit someone or something. Good is easy to see and to identify. As the opposite of bad, it forms the bright side of humanity whereas its opposite is our shadowed side. These two sides make up our dual nature.
On the other hand, evil in its perfect meaning is difficult to pinpoint. In any case, I am not the one to decide who is evil as I don’t have the knowledge, insight, or the authority for it.
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February 5, 2018 at 4:10pm February 5, 2018 at 4:10pm
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Prompt: What is betrayal to you? How many faces does it have? Who is to blame, the betrayed or the betrayer?
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A betrayal is a violation. It means the betrayer has violated a written, oral, or presumed confidence, contract, or trust. Its worst result is the psychological conflict, distrust, and cooling of relationships or negative retaliation.
Betrayal takes many forms. At times, it means supporting a rival or a rival group. It may also mean breaking a social contract, airing a secret, wrongful accusation, etc.
It is not only the people who betray one another but also the institutions. When a government does secret illegitimate acts behind its people, it is the worst form of betrayal.
There is a kind of betrayal, which may be innocent. It is the kind when a person unknowingly or forgetfully discloses a secret without any intention of wrongdoing. Sometimes, we even do this to ourselves. For example, we may decide not to show anger and hold our tongues in certain situations, but then, when such a situation arises, we cannot help ourselves. Not trusting oneself has to be the most hurtful result of such a betrayal.
More often than not, the betrayed learns of the betrayal much later than the action of it or, because it feels too painful, he decides to ignore the situation or acts as if it didn’t happen.
As to the question of blame, I guess it goes both ways. If someone is betraying our confidence many times over and we go on spilling our secrets to them, then we are to blame for placing our trust in the wrong person. If we’ve betrayed someone’s confidence due to forgetting what they told us was a secret, we can be gentle and compassionate to ourselves for such an unintentional mistake, and save ourselves extra stress and inner alienation.
To wrap it up, our examination of a betrayal depends on its size. For lesser betrayals, nobody is perfect. Maybe the betrayer is just desperate, looking for understanding, and wants to seem knowledgeable by throwing other people’s secrets into the open. Surely, we can loosen up more because things will go wrong sometimes. After all, it is the big picture and the long view of our relationships that matter the most.
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February 4, 2018 at 7:38pm February 4, 2018 at 7:38pm
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Prompt: If there were an Olympics for writing, what are some of the events you'd participate in? Be as creative as you'd like...remember, this is a made-up thing, so feel free to make up any events you'd like.
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Nothing all that clever here, but I’d participate in two events that would focus on free-flow.
Event no:1 Carrying the Olympics Torch- Round Robin
7 people
The event starts with three random words from dictionary
The clock is set to five minutes. Everyone writes something with those three words during the five minutes.
Then the first person comes up with three words, and during the given five minutes, everyone has to use those words in whatever they are writing, but the trick is their work has to be the continuation of what they started with the first three words.
Then, the second person has his turn and everyone else takes turns. After the seventh person’s words are given and written for, everyone reads what they came up with to the group.
Event no: 2 Solo performance
Any number of people
An idea is given to the group, for example, the word road or a sentence from a book
Everyone is given five minutes to brainstorm and make a list of what they’ll write. There is no talking or sharing the ideas.
Then the group is given a short amount of time, say half an hour or fifteen minutes. Using their brainstorming lists, they write something that includes every item on their lists.
When the time is up, every piece is given a prize because all writers have to be given a prize.
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February 3, 2018 at 8:44pm February 3, 2018 at 8:44pm
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Prompt: Create something with these words dictionary, have fun.
freighter shoot sock cut hammer estimate psychology
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Within me, a freighter carrying
hammers for knocking out idols
to sock or shoot them out
with quixotic likelihood.
In psychology’s estimate,
this is a guise of self-esteem
or the self taking off on its own.
Which way you cut it,
I get the short end of the stick
not knowing
everyone I love will be safe
from my freighter or my hammers
for knocking out idols
or from the hole in my head.
Prompt: You just stepped in the movie Groundhog Day, and everything in your life keeps repeating over and over. Is having do-overs a good thing or a bad thing? What will it take for the spell to break?
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I would so hate that! I don’t read the same book twice. I hate rewrites. Edits I’ll take, but rewrites drive me up the wall. It is a miracle I lived with my husband for 52 years, to his credit, not mine.
My life repeating over and over would just about kill me if I am conscious of it. Better, if someone hit me on the head and knocked me out.
I don’t know what would make the spell to break. Imagining, I am in such a situation while I am aware of it, I would probably do something extraordinary or drastic to get out of it or else, it would have to be an interference from the higher power.
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