a cooking pot and twisted tales
Thoughts and Tales…A Lifestyle Blog with a Zing.
I got to squeeze in two haikus for the price of one 🙂 Great prompt Ronovan.
They say less is more
My chance of getting slim and less
is becoming a fat chance
Opportunities are slim these days
Grab every chance you’ve got
Hold onto them real tight
©
Jacqueline
Haiku challenge – Slim & Chance
So far have I sojourned on this side of existence, yet most days I feel that I’m yet to begin. I feel as if the path before me is longer than the routes I have walked. As if the mountains to climb are higher with many more rivers to wade through.
So far have I come from the long-limbed, tall, awkward, bookwormish, scared, young unassuming ‘yes’ girl who internalized the pain and confusion of abuse, to the feisty, outspoken and confident mature woman that I’m today.
It’s two days to my birthday and I find that I’m always in an introspective mood several days to my birthday. I find myself reviewing things in my head and asking myself some cliched questions like ‘does life truly begin at 40?’
Well, my life’s calendar has hit 40 and heading way into the middle and these are my thoughts so far; it’s taken me 40+ years to decipher ‘who I am’ and I certainly like this human that I’m evolving into. It so happens that I didn’t find my true passion earlier than my 40’s and I oscillated from one career pursuit to the other. Now that I know what I know, I don’t have time to waste in the pursuit of things that steal my peace and waste my time.
With these years of experience, harsh reality has taught me that it’s possible to be viewed as overqualified and too old for certain job opportunities – my personal experience was a rude shock that took days to assimilate.
So far, I’ve discovered a sense of belonging to myself, to a God within me and to let go of what the world thinks and meeting its ever-changing barometers.
So far, I understand that I’m halfway to the finish line, that life and death begin together and that each day the more we are alive, the closer we are to death, thus each day has to count and my best life is now – not yesterday, not tomorrow.
For me, 40+ is just a precursor to better years of adventures to begin. So far, so good. How are you holding up so far?
Noisy attempt to sneak in
was foiled by his missus
in her nightgown and bonnet
Written for Ronovan Writes Weekly haiku prompt – “Sneak” and “Night”
Fine. What does it really mean to be fine? Can I truly from the depth of my spirit say that I’m fine? Or is it just a superficial response to ‘how are you,’ so that I don’t make anyone feel discomfited by my true response which I suppose would be ‘heck no, I feel all raggedy and angry a lot lately.’
I wouldn’t even know where to start with my venting but here goes ‘ I’m not fine with the fact that my body does not want to age like fine wine.’ I have deep aches and pains from Fibromyalgia that not only causes discomfort but makes me grumpy a lot of times when the pain flares up.
I’m not fine with the fact that at this juncture in life I’m still struggling hard to get my dream of being an accomplished writer and blogger kick-started.
I’m not fine that the basic needs of life are still a huge hustle and that if I don’t work as hard as I do, I would probably be one pay cheque to destitution.
I’m not fine with the fact that I want to go back to school to obtain a degree in Writing & Publishing but that aspiration is still a pipe dream due to lack of finance.
I’m not fine that I’m grumbly and I feel ashamed at the deep-seated feeling of dissatisfaction that has found its way to wedge in my soul in recent times.
I’m not fine with the status quo and not prepared to keep quiet about it. I believe that to find a solution to a situation, you’ve got to be willing to bring it out into the open air and look at it candidly. Phew! I feel better just letting some of these thoughts out.
La di la, in all honesty, life is a struggle and not fine and dandy for many of us but it’s up to us to take a good look at our issues and to make extra efforts to live a fine life.
Her sharp retort was tart;
it utterly belied her gentle, sweet demeanour
and took him by surprise.
♦
Beneath her tart looking appearance
lies a sweet, confused and misunderstood soul
all she seeks is love.
Written for Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge – prompt words “Sweet and Tart”
HIS excuses are simply weak and empty. Using mental ill-health of the shooter as a crutch to hide behind getting the right Bills passed and doing the absolutely needful to see that the tragedy of mass murder is not a recurring decimal is the most important thing.
Mass killing should never become a norm. We should never become apathetic to such occurrences. With every incident and every loss, we lose a bit of our soul. One should never say ‘oh well‘ and shrug it off because it hasn’t happened to their loved one. At the rate these situation is degenerating you have to wonder, ‘who’s next?
When a person has been identified as a mentally ill patient, what is done to ensure that they receive the medical attention and help that they need? Is it now the right time to talk about the Elephant in the room or do we continue expressing ‘thoughts and prayers’ whilst waiting for the next barrage of killing from a sick him or her?
Words don’t mean much without action and if other Nations are able to keep these kinds of tragedies at bay then America and Her Congress owe her citizens a duty of safety and freedom of life.
Jacqueline
Ronovan writes weekly haiku challenge – Sing & Peace
I am resolved to stop having any highfalutin new year resolutions but to simply slam the door to an ending year, to open the cover of life each day in the new year and immerse myself fully in its pages.
Of course, I always set goals for myself and I have a backlog of goals that I would love to achieve and working out in my head which new projects to focus on. I’m not ashamed to say that most of those goals are following me from 2017 to 2018. I used to go on a guilt-trip and whip myself hard when I set resolutions and failed to achieve them till I realized that I was doing myself more harm than good. Ever since I started my journey to a better me, my perspective shifted and I’m happier for it.
2017 has been an eventful year for most of us and I am glad that we survived it. ‘Survived’ is the key word here. Life is beautiful, but also unpredictable. I started 2017 on a high note and ended somewhat on ‘meh and bleh’ note, however, it doesn’t take away my enthusiasm that 2018 will be filled with an abundance of grace, blessings and mercy for us.
Here’s to better life (re)solutions and a joy-filled 2018.
On another note, I’ve totally missed writing my SoCS posts, time kept running away with me, but I hope that changes soon enough.
#SoCS Resolutions
People crave for a revolution
‘cos they’ve been let down by malevolence
and forsaken by the benevolence
of convoluted governance
The journey through a revolution
most times leaves a devolved nation
riddled with woes and horrifying history
yet evolution is a must, ‘cos life is forever in a flux.
So, we march onto tomorrows evolution
leaving the frivolous tendencies of the past
hoping that in a nonvolatile manner
we guarantee a better future for our progeny.
I write this poem above for many Nations going through the pains of bad leadership and especially my home country Nigeria, which has been a boiling pot.
I am Nigerian by birth. From the Igbo tribe and I am Biafran. Over decades, the Igbo’s have been marginalized in the convoluted tribes of a Nation married by the Colonial Masters. This led to the Civil war that left millions dead – Chimamanda’s award-winning book, Half of The Yellow Sun is centered on this.
The Igbo’s have constantly sought a referendum and a chance to be heard. Constantly, the ruling government feels that deploying soldiers to the South-East to kill and maim civilians is the only way they can quell any agitations, meanwhile, the marauding Fulani/Boko Haram terrorists are left undefeated.
Yet again, last week, they killed unarmed Igbo men for demonstrating and singing for their freedom. Right now, it seems as if my country is on the brink of another Civil war.
An excerpt from BBC explaining The Biafra Civil War
Once I saw the prompt word ‘vol’ from Linda for today’s Stream of Consciousness, my mind got stuck on revolution.
This week’s haiku prompt ‘Pleasure & Excite’ gave me several options and pleasure to write 🙂
Life offers opportunities that excite,
sometimes it’s pleasure and sometimes it’s pain,
we simply roll with it.
Her heart went ba-dah-bum,
his warm touch and engaging smile excite her,
loving him her secret pleasure.
Thoughts of the baby excite them
they think of names for their bundle
conceived in love and pleasure.
a cooking pot and twisted tales 