September 2017 – Simon's still stanza

In the Line, Marking Time

It is touching, sad, even inspiring, to see people bouncing back after natural disasters such as Hurricane Maria. ABC News footage triggered a response in me.

Image: ABC News Australia

In the Line, Marking Time

In the line

Marking time

For family, friends and

Food,

Fuel,

To keep

Going.

The new routine,

not what had been,

before.

Who’d have thought

there would be more

Standing,

In the queue,

For hours and hours,

Nothing to do

But wait.

Wait!

Is that smile

Upon a face?

Chatter and banter

Pass the moments

That pass to hours

And days.

In the line

For another time,

Time again

On the feet,

On a hard, old street,

Weather beating in,

Still there is a grin

In the grit

Of the human spirit.

Simon C.J. Falk 29 September 2017

For some good news, check out We Are The World

Missing, Lost and Found #WATWB September

Welcome to We Are the World #WATWB for September. Our dedicated co-hosts for this month are: Michelle Wallace, Peter Nena, Emerald Barnes, Andrea Michaels and Shilpa Garg. We are grateful for their generosity. Please visit their blogs too!

Missing

We witness days where acts of terror occur. We view reports of extreme natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. In some of these, people are missing and loved ones long to know where they are.

Australian current affairs program, Insight, recently featured the stories of some people, such as Sevak Simonian, on an episode covering the tragedy of missing persons. It is wrenching to lose a loved one. When new evidence surfaces, glimmers of hope shed light on the darkness of unknowing and grief.

Burst Daily has posted on people who have been found.

Many bloggers connected to our pages are interested in literature that weaves around a narrative. Some of those narratives tell of mysteries to be unlocked. I found this story about a writer whose writing opened a closed case and begun to solve a mystery.

Melissa Pouliot’s cousin, Ursula Barwick, was found after a 30 year search. She was buried under another name! Melissa wrote her novel, Write About Me, to honour Ursula’s memory, the Canberra Times reports. There are still facts to sifted, but at least the family now know that she has a place of rest and could celebrate a memorial service. This gives them the impetus to resume their search with renewed vigour. It is heartening to hear of people getting some answers to the struggles of their lives.

Missing… Lost… So Long

You were there

Now

You are gone.

Gone

For so long

And

We had said

“So long”

to you.

But

Were we through?

The searching

For a trace

In the hope of

An embrace

With you.

We search

And wait

Anticipate

Reunion

Too.

Simon C.J. Falk 27 September 2017

Looking for some stories of hope!
Why not SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST in the linky list below:
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~~~GUIDELINES~~~
Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.

All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Something like this news, about a man who only fosters terminally ill children.

Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.

We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.

Where Do Misplaced Words Go?

Where Do Misplaced Words Go?

Where do misplaced words go?

Into the ether?

Under the tongue?

Who can know.

Do they adhere to feet

Placed in the mouth?

What happens to words,

As their trajectory

Goes South?

Do they miss the mark?

Like a stab in the dark?

Might they lodge like a dart

Into the heart?

When we thoughtlessly expound

What we seek to impart.

I’ve misplaced them in a crowd,

And certainly, out loud.

I’ve misplaced them in my mind,

If only I can find

Them again.

Have you misplaced words at all?

What faux pas have been your befall?

Simon C.J. Falk 25 September 2017

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Looking for some stories of hope!
Please SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST in the linky list below:
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~~~GUIDELINES~~~
Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.

Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.

Bonsai Verse

Image: Wikipedia

Bonsai Verse

Bonsai verse

Sprouting forth

From buds and shoots of words

Of course!

Following an image out on a limb, chasing it as if upon a whim

Looking for wire to support

This metaphor of great import.

At once its clipped

Tight and

Spare

Occupying little air

Space, upon the whitened page

Or sounds within our audio range.

Bonsai verse

Rigid and contrived

How will the tree live?

Will it thrive?

If cut and prune and bend and chop

Upon its expression we do lop.

Bonsai verse

Your shoots renew

Let us leave a space for few

To assert the inner plant

Not just our structure, but permit nature grant.

Simon C.J. Falk 21 September 2017

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Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.

Ginger Beer

Ginger Beer

Ginger beer.

Sweet-sour tang, sliding

Along tongue and teeth.

Refreshing relief

To a parched palate.

Simon C.J. Falk 10 September 2017

Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.

They All Have Names

Picture: SBS News.

They All Have Names

For Myanmar, Mexico and so many more

They all have names:

The toll call on the news.

A mother’s son

A father’s daughter

A schoolmate who

Sat by the window

There.

Now

Lost, missing or

Just gone.

All of them part

Of the great narrative

Of the human story,

And precious

Before loving eyes.

We hear the cries

And the silence.

May a blanket of comfort

Warm suffering hearts.

May the fallen

Rest

In peaceful remembrance.

Simon C.J. Falk 10 September 2017

Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.

Blossoms in Sight

Blossoms in Sight

Blossoms in sight

Covered by cloud

With a tinge of light

Inviting you to come

From winter

To spring

Where the birds will

Sing a song

As we long

For a moment of peace

Today.

Blossoms are a way

For us to hope.

Simon C.J. Falk 2 September 2017
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Looking for some stories of hope!
Please SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST in the linky list below:
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~~~GUIDELINES~~~
Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.

Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.

To Surrender

To Surrender

For those experiencing physical and mental illness and their loved ones

On and on and on and

On, it goes.

That little bit

Than before.

Another smidgen

Of freedom

And movement

And memory

Goes.

Where?

Nobody knows.

But

It has gone.

As loved ones

Watch on

Attendant and expectant,

Ever poised.

But now

Becoming

Spent

From the ever-flowing demands

And adrenalin.

All

Surrender

In resignation

In sadness

In exhaustion.

And we,

Looking on,

And lingering

On the periphery,

Surrender too,

As the empathic

Frustration

And disappointment

Gives way

Surrender.

A new way forward

Has begun.

Simon C.J. Falk 2 September 2017

================

Looking for some stories of hope!

Please SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST in the linky list below:

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

~~~GUIDELINES~~~

Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.
All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Something like this news, about a man who only fosters terminally ill children.
Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.
Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.
We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.
To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.