The Road Taken: For Better Or Worse?

For Better or Worse
(for those poets who are less humorous and more philosophical)

he dips his mind
deep
deeper
deeps
into his home-made philosophical sauce

in the hell
o burning thoughts
the truth-seeker has his head inflamed
lips blistered
tongue scotched
eyes blurred

totally
lost
in sophisticated words
the disastrous poet turns
this joyful world
into
nightmares

2013-04-27

For Better or Worse
Road More Traveled By

on the path more traveled by
he has less danger
but
often
he has his toes soiled
by dog
poo

what else could he expect
for taking less risk
in life

2013-04-27

Screw Frost?
Ah ... no! I actually like the guy.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

~ Robert Frost, End of the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, June, 1922

I lov'im too. Robert Frost was an amazing/inspiring poet. His poem "The Road Not Taken" is a strong message for creative people who are scare of the concept of "thinking out of the box"

He truly was.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful poem..

Hello Poe...what a nice surprise...a new thread of art and poetry. Just followed the path less travelled.....a new route around the neighbourhood...6km! Found a lake, a golf course too! Obviously this path was only less travelled by me.

My Robert Frost Poem.

I have Acquainted with the Night
BY ROBERT FROST


I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night

I agree Philip...i've never seen it from one perspective...doesn't help that I'm a procrastinator more often than not.

Great thread POE to start with a Robert Frost poem!

Hope you like this addition I stumbled


Road wrongly traveled

For at the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,

and I have seen among the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man lacking sense,

passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house

in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness.

And behold, the woman meets him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

She is loud and wayward;
her feet do not stay at home;

now in the street, now in the market,
and at every corner she lies in wait.

She seizes him and kisses him,
and with bold face she says to him,

I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;

so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

Proverbs 7:6-15

Poe,

Thanks for posting my Feral Coot drawing....I now have it color:

Using my other page( R Allen Swezey) I posted a thread on another Robert Frost poem, namely "Mending Wall" with two opposite citations from the poem...along.with 2 photos I've taken.

1."Good fences make good neighbors"



2. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall"




Funny, how people differ on what Mr. Frost wanted to say

So - you got married - for better or worse?

Good day and night to Maria, Philip, James, Mr Swezey, and Roy. Thank you all for your thoughts

Maria. I like the poem. I love your straightforward style in communication. I appreciate your input
FYI: You might think that it is another “art and poetry thread”. It is NOT. This thread means for me to learn how creative people think out of the box. It is not ONLY for poets to post their poems –but for all artists, poets, writers to put some of their THOUGHTS in any form of writing. In addition, this thread is also for fun as I prefer to add some black humours whenever I can.

Sr. Swezey. I always love your humors both in drawings and in writings

"So - you got married - for better or worse?" Roy.

Your question is extremely tricky to answer. The married dares not answer it for fear of retaliation, the single has no glue for the right answer, the divorced is too tired and likely prefers to put the matter behind their backs.


For Better or Worse
Love and Marriage

deep in love
he fell
with her
easing his loneliness
he was desperate to secure his cozy relationship forever
looking for better
from her
the sweet companionship
delicious meals
warm bed
endless love
and exotic sex

but life could never be perfect as one would expect
he's ending up
doubling his workload
more loneliness
severe headache
in the so-called
marriage


2013-04-28

Description: This colorful abstract is based on a long dead 'live oak' tree. the wood is so strong and hard that the major limbs hold up longer after the smaller twigs and leaves are gone. "The 4th of July" because of the color, "the Happy Tree", well, don't you think it looks exuberant waving to the colorful clouds high in the sky?

The original is on a full sheet, 22 X 30 of Arches 300 lb watercolor paper. painted in 1996. By Roy Erickson


My sundry thought of your beautiful painting. I love your vibrant color and the smooth flow of brushwork. To me, the perception of happiness in a long dead 'live oak' tree was an out of the box thinking.



For Better or Worse
The Fourth of July

fireworks cheerfully lit the sky
bright
at night
eye-blinded
on the nation’s birthday

the artist celebrated in a different way
he painted
a dead ancient gary oak
from its dark and brown barks
into a colourful symbol of his country
on its rise
to the top of the world

it relates to my thought of
the decayed
Roman Empire
on those last days
of its downfall

2013-04-28

Marriage is always for Better & Worse. You just think you know the other person - even if you have lived with them for years - amazing what that piece of 'official paper' brings out and happens. Seldom is life "better" and very often before long it's worse. and it seldom matters which side of the bed you sleep on.

I'm on the same worn path of Roy's and Brian's

For Better or Worse
A Cozy Marriage

i
often
raise no point
take no stand
and go with the wind
in our conversation

for God’s sake
i
sleep
on neither side of our bed

for Her sex
it depends
whether she’s cold or hot
i am
either on the floor
or all over
her

2013-04-28

For Better or Worse
Caption for Swezey's cartoon

Who Is In Charge

- Ok! OK! I've got your message... Put me down. I swear to God that I'll get rid of that damned abusive cat for good.
- Nah! I won't until you tell me who is really in charge from now on, Master.

Marriage is always for Better & Worse. You just think you know the other person - even if you have lived with them for years - amazing what that piece of 'official paper' brings out and happens. Roy

Those words make me think, Roy.


For Better Or Worse
(Her Thought of Marriage)

he is
no longer
the ideal man
whom she first met and dated

blown away
by the wind of time
under his gentle mask
revealed
an ugly face

now
exposed
on her tranquil bed
foul smell of the brutal Satan snoring
night
by night

is marriage but a trap?

2013-04-28

For Better or Worse

When it takes will
To see the
Love you fell for.
When exotic sex
Falls way to the ease
Of carnal knowledge.
When treasures
Are taken for granted
But not unappreciated.
When buttons pushed
Are weighed before
Consequence thrown.
When silence is comfortable
And emotions are
Telecommunicated.
When sleeping on the sofa
Causes no anxiety.
When it isn't an embarrassment
To say
I have an issue.

Karen. Welcome to the land of better or worse. I like the clarity and simplicity in your writing style.

My thought by the end of the day: "To be optimistic by expecting for the better; but also be realistic by preparing for the worse. So nothing worst could strike the mind unexpectedly"

Dear Poe, I've been with Ben for twenty three years. We never married because we decided from the first day we met we'd simply allow things to take it's course. Last year I began referring to him as my husband, because I realized it was an honor to do so rather than something a certificate could dictate. Greatly, we were never meant to be stitched together by a piece of paper, only love and friendship. All you need is one person to make the world perfect...

Thanks for sharing the smart practice in your happy relationship, Kelley. A piece of worthless paper - called marriage certificate - sometimes becomes a nuisance on the legal battle field

:-)!!

...All you need is one person to make the world perfect...Kelley Lee McDonald


I am walking on the trail of your excellent experience in a lifetime relationship


For Better or Worse
In a Perfect Relationship

she never forgets
the tango
when they first met on a dancing floor
her breasts tied to his solid chest
melted
in her dry throat
the fragrance from his salty kiss
swaying the melody
she felt
as if
the time was frozen
the world became motionless

she could ever expect
their dance could last so long
they laugh
cry
fight
launch war
make peace

up and down
together
probably
‘til
her last breath

how lucky she is for finding the right man
who makes her world
perfect.

2013-04-28

Sounds like they are still doing the tango...their way. its such a beautiful poem Poe, I love the rhythmn but most of all that you have those solid memories that your senses have soaked up and never dissolved psychologically...that's what I love most about memories....not to let them drive you but that they can be reached so instantly when the moment calls for them. I think you are a romantic..on the quiet. I think Kelley may print the poem out and put it on the fridge.:))


FYI everytime i see that baby face I want to pinch ( softly) his chubby cheeks! :) He's so cute.

Good morning Maria. I've read many of your poems. I adore your descriptive poetry in which you've beautifully captured many fascinating details. As a reader, I could say that you are a gifted poet who can connect to your readers. I'm glad to see that you are able to keep the poetry thread running and inspire other poets to participate.

There was a collision...
The steering was out of control
She tripped on the look in his eyes
He fell into her smile, she swallowed him whole.
Laughing he lifted her out of her boots when they dug in deep
Elevated her right off the map
The routed map...the destined path.
And they both blew like washing winded on a line
Twirling, bright, clean, fresh, colourful, wide, hollow, full sail,
Now and again... she admits, ‘I can still hear the wail of delight
It wakes me in the night...or halts me in the middle of a good book'
Drops on her from a terrible height
Like the falling spark from the vanquished explosion of a firework
And shimmers across his eyes...sometimes
Always, sits in his shadowy bones
Like good marrow
Undisturbed
Until he remembers
the words
For Better or Worse...

Maria Disley 29/4/13

Perfecto! Love it, Maria! I have noticed that you reach your momentum whenever you go with your natural flow of emotion and thought.


For Better or Worse
Only One Wish

on the long list of my wishes
I thought of
love
long live
money
glory
'n
everything else
joyfully good
definitely better
and all
the
best
just for me
and my family

oh my
my God
how silly I could be
in such a selfish mode

I really do need
only
one wish
peace for all in this troublesome world

2013-04-28

For Better or Worse
Absolute Freedom (Caption for Swezey's cartoon)

for
absolute
freedom
they have given up everything
totally naked
no longer attached to the material world
no one
could hold them
back

absolutely free
even from their better half
they’re happy
as dogs
without
fleas

2013-04-28

My favorite poem of all time.. and not just because of the name.. ha!

Long time no see, Reb! Good to see you here. Are you a distant relative of Robert Frost?

Yes..long time no me.. Where the heck did i go? Hehe ... I am not sure about Robert Frost..I've always loved his work but have to check my family history .. My family are all Brits..( with the exception of me..the Canuck)so anything is possible :)

Good to see you again too.. :)

Reb. I am a Canuck too!



For Better or Worse
It’s a Matter of Choice

it’s absolutely his right
to believe in
what
written
in the holy book of his own religion

when
he’s blindly preaching his own belief
in the public
he
opens
a can of worms
for heated debates
cool heads may be inflamed
his almighty God could be drowned
deep down
in mud

what is the point to do it?

2013-04-29

For Better or Worse
The Generation Gap (Caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- Grandpa, why have you kept repeating those same words over and over again like a broken record?
- Because you have ever slightly listened to those simple words of mine, grandson
- Grandpa, you're right! You know that I haven't listened to. So what is your point of doing it over and over.
- Uh!

I believe that at some certain level there is a philosopher in each poet. Poets could reflect thoughts about their inner selves as well as their perceptions of the environment around them. I wonder whether man is the worst disastrous animal that creates huge impact on other species and on the beauty of nature.


For Better or Worse
Nature and Human

I
sat
idle
looking at
sparrows chasing grasshoppers
on green lawn
newly-cut

a hawk slowly circled in cloudless sky
folded its wings
quickly dropped
down
‘n disappeared
on the distant hill

all of a sudden
came the noisy hiccups
from the neighbour starting his damned old mower
my perfect day
ruined

which one
between nature and human
do I need
for my inner
peace


I wondered what negative impacts I did to the inner peace of my neighbour when I mowed my lawn a couple days ago.

Description: Asylum... where did I leave my mind... by Reb Frost


On the path of Reb Frost's provoking thought



For Better or Worse
The Asylum Seeker

her mind
wandered
and lost
somewhere
in deep space of her inner universe
without
self-awareness
she utterly confused

but
she gives up her knowledge
and gets into the foggy world of her subconscious
in exchange for
the Garden of Eden (*)
where
time’s ceased to subsist
no past
no presence
no future
she endures
no sufferings
no fear of death
only happiness

isn’t a mental asylum on earth
a paradise
without
god?

2013-04-30

(*) Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. They gained awareness of themselves and felt ashamed of their naked bodies. Consequently, God evicted them out of Garden of Eden. Because of this, human beings (gain the knowledge, but) have to inherit their ancestor's sin.

Not willing to eat other culture's food....For the better?? or for the worse??

Hi All... just dropping in for a moment and a peek at the wonderful poetry here... =>))


For Better or Worse...

Epitaph

HERE LIES ED MEREDITH
HE LIVED FOR BETTER OR WORSE
NOW HE'S DEAD FOR GOOD

Ed Meredith

Thanks for posting your color cartoon, Sr.swezey.

For Better or Worse
Food for Thoughts (Caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- It is very interesting that heavy meat eaters always bring sald or other veggie's dishes to potlucks. Do you find it very odd?
- Not really! It is purely a human's instinct. They often bring up what they don't have. Man often talks about love when his heart is full of hates, promotes peace when he is launching a war, becomes religious to God only when he no longer believes in himself (especially when he's sick or gets lost). In short, man does or talks to the opposite to what he lacks of.
- Haaa.... You're a devil - worse than any rotten man!

Welcome Ed! Now I know why it took you so long to show up, here! Welcome to the the land of Better or Worse! You're one of the many faa talented artists whose art I adore. Especially, I am admiring and inspired by your provoking thoughts as one of my most favorite poets in this site. Hold your breath and don't die or I'll pull you off your tomb for the hot sauce of your food of thoughts (LOL) .

Thank you Poe, i will hang around the buffet table as long as i can and enjoy the feast of ideas and thoughts about the Best and Worse (Worst) of it all...


The Best of the Worst Thinking

woe is me
proclaimed the pessimist
things never get better

whoa indeed
said the optimist
look on the bright side of it all
things could get worse

Ed Meredith

I generally don't care for poetry - but this is a very readable discussion.

@ Roy. I appreciate your nice feedback. Thanks for your thumb up,

@ Ed I'm happy to have you around, Ed. I hope you and I can tango and go with our flow of the day.

For Better or Worse
The Predator

a kingfisher perched
on a dread branch
patiently
waited for its catch

right
at the moment
it was about to strike
its eyes were swiftly blinded by bright reflection
from sunrays
dancing
on the water

so
frustrated
the bird threw its droppings
and took off

2013-05-02

I don't take the road
the road takes me
I'm outta control!
can't make a decision
I go with the flow
i don't take the road
the road takes me
What path?
don't make me laugh!
there's no path
Just a roundabout
the same roundabout that everyone's on when they're out
What path in the woods?
there's no path!
as soon as your foot
slips into the grass
the path is no more
there's only a path
when you make one
everywhere is less travelled
and somewhere's never been set foot on
I'm always looking for somewhere
My favourite word..
Somewhere
I'll have to one day make a path to somewhere...
For now...i don't take the road
The road takes me..


Maria Disley 2/5/13

The Road Taken

For the better:...To be more attractive

For the worse....To be more attractive

.

No matter how we try, to some, we're just a piece of meat

@ Maria. Two thumbs up for your provoking poem that did generate a lot of thoughts for me. I love this type of "thinking out of the box". It is amazing that many artists /poets are able to see and capture what lies in their eyes. They present in an artistic way that attracts their viewers' hearts or strikes their readers' minds.

@ Sr. Swezey. I love your carton and often laugh with your own sense of HUMOR (American spelling for you). However I have a different perception whenever I try to put my caption on your cartoon, I use my own sense of HUMOUR (with an extra U after O- Canadian spelling for me). I know that my sense humour often doesn't go on the same path of your sense of humor. I wonder whether it bothers you.

"No matter how we try, to some, we're just a piece of meat" Caption by Swezey for his today's cartoon.

For Better or Worse
Welcome to Reality (my caption for Swezey;s cartoon)

The conversation between Adam and Eve after eating a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge:

- Hu..hu...Oh my God. I was born stupid to eat your forbidden fruit. I really regret. I beg for your forgiveness. Take me back to your paradise, my Lord
- Honey, honey, calm down. It's too late. Let's move on.
- It's not my fault. It was likely an entrapment.
- I know. Don't worry, honey. It was totally my fault. I must take the blame for it.
- Look! Don't you see how ugly my naked body is.
- Honey! Don't feel ashamed of yourself. Our naked bodies look the same as they were before. Now I am able to recognize your beauty, I adore and love you more.
- I'm scared of the reality. I want my Garden of Eden back.
- Honey! What's good to live in the world of illusion in which we have no knowledge of anything, including our own existence.
- But..but...
- Forget it honey! Why care for another sin? Let's have some fun.
- For God's sake! Kiss me, my dear. Let's enjoy our exotic sex right here!

Here is an interesting poem of Ed' about sex from the poetry thread


Last night was so great, he's sucha mattress monkey"

come here my little mattress monkey
perform your act and amuse me
i'm tired of all your old tricks
i've seen them all but six
i want something new
something so taboo
my monkey boy
bedroom toy
lover man
you can
touch
me
here
arouse
me please
you may tease
when i tell you to
taste my honeydew
be my bedroom animal
'cause we are so compatible
we seem fit like a hand ln glove
the sex is great but then so is love

Ed Meredith



And here is my echo

For Better or Worse
Sex or Not Sex. It's the Question

he's running his fingers on her breasts
thinking that he could arouse her
by his new trick for exotic sex
he learned it from the girl
selling meat on street
he tries for hours
nothing works
disappointed
stubbornly
he ever
stops
his
mind's
in heat
well burnt
yet she's cold
like an ice cube
not any response
to his inflamed mood
all of a sudden she jiggles
as he's itching her funny bones
oh man! he don't know what he do
it's neither sex nor love, but a crude joke

Poe Ed
2013-050-02

My thought of the day. "men practically search for sex in love, yet women romantically look for love in sex".

Hahaaaha... excellent echo Mr Poe, however one line (lover man) has been corrupted in your copy and paste, it goes like this:

my monkey boy
bedroom toy
lover man
you can
touch
me
here

How could you see my tinny error from Florida -far away from here? You have the sharp eyes of a hawk.

Oh my... my God, how i could made such a silly mistake. Please forgive me for my innocent sin (LOL). For the clean record. I'll go to the poetry thread, copy, and past it again.

Thank you Poe, i have made many errors in my time but not to be a lover man is not one of them.... lol


Love and Sex...
The Best of Two Worlds

in my youth
i thought it was about sex
and was told it was about love
then i discovered
for me
it was all about the love of sex
until i fell in love...

Ed Meredith
May 2013

Ha...You're a lucky man, Ed. Have you checked your neck and legs?



For Better or Worse
Love and Sex (an echo of Ed's poem The Best of Two Worlds)

he
thought
he got the best of two worlds
by taking pleasure in sex
then falling in love

for
such an incredible joy
he must have both
a collar...
so
loosened
and a leash...
so
protracted
that
he could entirely forget his fatal fate
held
firmly
in a leg trap
the so-called
marriage

2013-05-02

The scent of sex
Lured you
Down the brambly path.

Caught in a bear trap.

Will you gnaw off
Your own leg
To lie
In the
Marriage bed?

.
RE: The Garden Of Eden

Poe you wrote...."For God's sake! Kiss me, my dear. Let's enjoy our exotic sex right here!"

My contribution:



I'm a man of few words

Edit:

This is an early draft in my new series, "SEMINAL EVENTS IN HISTORY"

Haa...Karen. It's a tough question. But the situation is likely worse than it would seem. Enjoy a good night with a sweet dream.


For Better or Worse
I Have No Choice (echoed Karen Newell's poem)

lured
by the scent of sex
and blinded
by your beauty

oh my dear
I have already gnawed my leg off
yet, my neck still gets caught
in your bear trap
I wish
if
I could chew it off
rather than
bleeding to death
at a mystical place
somewhere
in
between
the two creamy legs
forever

2013-05-02

What's a beautiful artwork!

Sr. Swezey - man of few words. Your cartoons often speak for themselves and they are worth more than thousands of words. Thanks for sharing for your new series. You have found my caption for the cartoon. So I am happy for not to squeeze my empty head for another one.

Yet, I'd like to voluntarily offer another caption for the humorous purpose.

- Unlike dogs, Adam had no choice but to chew his own rib. And the bone must be too tough as it took for him a lifetime to gnaw it.

Echoing Philips poem as it reminded me of memories that you just can't escape.


I strode into a new minute
Hourly familiarised myself
Surveyed the free reflection in shop windows
Smiled along the pavement,
Said hello to worried faces
Things look different
Walking on the opposite side of the road
Seconds, minutes, hours, days, years
Feeling more and more comfortable in my owness
But when I saw the shoes! Those snakeskin shoes!
I knew my memories were out walking
Somewhere..
Maybe..just maybe...they were trying to catch up with me..
For better or worse..

Maria Disley 3/5/13

Poe, Thank You for the Blessing. I DID have a Sweet Dream! Nice echo

Here is one written in 1995 during my divorce, seems so far away

Standing in the shards
Of a broken dream
Blood still pours
From every open wound

My ex died last month.

Today

I cannot wear
The Widows Weeds.
A choice made long ago.
A crossroad of change.
Still
Through the Dark Veil
I See Your Divine Light.

Karen Newell
5/3/13

Way back when we used stone tablets I had an English teacher who taught us about poetry. She would play "modern" records like Simon & Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones, and the Doors to explain poetry. She also brought in a record (one of those round spinning things that make sound) of Robert Frost reading his own work. He had a voice like acid running over rough stones. To this day I can hear it in my head. He growled the words and I loved it. In ones head his work is lyrical but when he read it it it sounded like an accusation. Ha!

After the Rain

You walk through the garden
with your arms full of orange

Flowers you planted with
your own hands

In the afternoon, after the rain
you are beautiful

(Kevin Callahan)

@ Ah Maria. My thought is still stuck in those lines of your former poem
"I don`t take the road
The road takes me
..............:
Now you threw at me some new food of thoughts.

Thanks for sharing Karen. Your emotional poem provides me with a mixed feeling. But most importantly it reminded me of millions of other women in the world, especially in the Middle East or India. Those women don`t have the luxury (nor the courage) of a breakup due to their cultural taboo. It is sad that the ancient culture still exists and holds many women in a prison (called marriage).

Welcome Kevin. Thanks for sharing your unique experience and the poem (PS: You sound very familiar. For better or worse, do I know you?) -LOL). I love the beauty of your simplicity in both your poetry and art

For Better or Worse
The Road She Took (an echo of Maria poem "I don't take the road. The road takes me"

she preferred not to take any road
she let
herself go with the flow
her mind run wild on green pastures
and sailed her life on an open sea
'twas her taken road
well-traveled
for many
years

one day
while she poised for a move at a crossroad
a bandit robbed her heart
and fled
away
she kept chasing him
on his own path

unluckily
she stripped over a tinny metal wire
fallen in love
and badly
hurt

isn't it her fate?

2013-05-03

For Better or Worse...
Five Senryu

The Road/Path

for better or worse
the road has been created
beginning and end


all roads come to end
depends on one's direction
may be beginning


beginning and end
events filled with mystery
living the journey


meeting fork in road
a choice must be made take it
or return to end


the obvious path
the one that all must travel
for better or worse


Ed Meredith
May 2013

P.S:
traveling the path
each step is a beginning
to end of journey

For Better or Worse
In the Garden of Eden ( another lengthy caption for Swezey's cartoon)

Eve: Sweetie! How is the taste of your own rib?
Adam: Oh fantastic! I am addicted to it, my dear. This full service might cost me more, but it is much better than my own self served station.

The Road most taken when I was young was "UTOPIA" ..

Utopia Parkway.....Crossed* it and re crossed it over and over again...and meandering up and down it , but never reached the headwaters, which is somebody's garage in Whitestone


This road even has it's own song



* Cross....Maybe you shouldn't cross a road...It will get ANGRY

There is no end to any path
better or worse
Colombus searched
and ended up
back where he began!
get off the path
now and again
roll down the hill
lay in a hammock
from tree to tree
canoe in the stream
dream
on the verge
of lost
there's little cost
afterall
the so called path
is
already worn
even
overgrown...

Maria Disley 4/5/13

Book Review For Better or Worse

Collage artist Viet Tran's newly published book "Shining Above The Rainbow" is a selection of 217 stunning artworks from 11 talented contemporary artists of traditional media around the world and 154 interactive poems by thought-provoking poet Thao Chuong.

Here is the list of FAA artists featured in the book: Alfred Ng, Angel Ortiz, Anna Dyunova, Ed Meredith, Carole Spandau, Chris Mackie, Richard Hubal, Tarak Mahadi, Thu Nguyen, Vivian Anderson, and Viet Tran



To preview the full book, please click on the following link:


Shining Above The Rainbow | Make Your Own Book





On the same path of cartoonist Swezey's The Garden of Eden, I took an extract from the book for you to taste





For Doris And Bob - Sex Without Love

Adam spoke neither English nor any other languages
when he first saw Eve standing
naked
beside him

extremely excited
he would probably exclaimed
"Ah!
Wow!"
or a couple of other vowels to attract her attention
before holding her tight in his arms
touching her fine skin
kissing her
and exploring
further to her
other lurin' secretes.

he was thrilled by amazing feelings
his mind was completely
numbed
while he kept having sex with her
nonstop
over and over
again and again
'til he was deadly tired
out of his breath

then
he would happily cry out to praise his God
"Oh My...o my...
G...o...d..!"
before fell asleep
collapsed on the ground
and snored
aloud

Thao Chuong
2012-11-08

Another Viet Tran book Wonderful as always! Thanks for posting Poe. :)) Now i will have to go and bake that cake that i was pleasantly distracted from.....

Poe, i see you choose the work friendly version of Doris and Bob… lol

And for those interested in the not so work friendly version that was in the book:… http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-doris-and-bob-ed-meredith.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Better and Worse of Dear Old Dad and the First Path


in the beginning
Paradise was fun while it lasted
everything we wanted or could need
was there for the taking
but like all good things i guess
it had to come to an end
we tried to hang on to it as long as we could
but God the Father was having none of that
we screwed up…

"SINNERS" he boomed
as the trees fell making a path
into the wilderness
Eve covered herself and shivered
from the first chill of the first coming
of the first winter
and as we crossed the drying riverbed
into the barren landscape
i looked back at GOD THE ANGRY
pointing his finger and spouting off
how badly our disobedient lives will be
i turned and in my most apologetic
voice i could muster and shouted
"F@CK YOU OLD MAN"

Ed Meredith
The Beginning of the End, AC (after creation)
****************************************************

@ Maria! Marketing is an art in the materialistic world (LOL).
@ Ed. I didn't use your forbidden version as Tran did in the book, because I am afraid that you could be charged of doing porno here (LOL). S.O.S for you, Ed. I am sure that you will be in the burning hell for your poem "The Better and Worse of Dear Old Dad and the First Path". But don't worry, I will share hottest spot with you for sure.

I got a bit of a shock when the character in ed's poem turned around to God and said what he said. But F... is just a word...said usually in anger..and adam would have been pretty angry with God at that time...anyway...the all forgiving God would have known that...wouldn't he? saying FY...would have been one of the many string of sins that would accompany him through life....and would it have been a sin....Adam was only new to the world...he knew nothing...poor sod!

Featured artist Thu Nguyen in the book "Shining Above The Rainbow"





Un Peu De Soleil Dans l'Eau Froide (1)

She's floated
back to the past
those romantic days
with him
in Paris

"Je t'aime"
he whispered
while holding her cold hands
she pressed her breasts tight to his firm chest
heard un-rhythmic beats
of his heart
trembled
and drowned in his gentle kiss
under light rain
on the river Seine

He murmured to her ears
the sweet melody
"Tous l'amour que j'ai pour toi"
she happily sobbed
feeling as if
her frozen heart
were melted
instantly

Thao Chuong
2012-08-27

(1) "A Tiny Bit of Sun in Cold Water" - the title of a melancholy romance by French novelist Francoise Sagan

One day a babe is born,you'r babe,and you love that child. You love that child like you love no other.
You relise you love that child more than u love your self.that's the day you u know love

@ Larry! Thanks for dropping by.
@ Maria. I was laughing at Ed's black humor conveyed in the poem. I wonder how cruel a father is by expecting his kids to blindly obey his orders unconditionally. The father -who wants the kids to be stupid by forbidding them to gain the knowledge - must be very insecure for the fear of his kids' revolts against him? Worse he puts a book of knowledge on the shelf in front of their eyes as an entrapment to test his kids' obedience. He tells them that they cannot read it or he will punish them. When his kids don't obey his words, he kicks them out of his cozy house and let them suffer on the streets. He also declares that his kids' offspring (his grand kids, great grand kids, and so on...) must bear the sin of his kids forever. Maria, don't you think he must be considered a monster and not a father? I think he is a Satan that shouldn't be worshiped. But hey! different people must have different thought about their dad!

Ignorant, with a lot of his own baggage and a huge ego! An ego as big as the universe. but why is it that some fathers have rough upbringings and come good, want to make up for his lack by encouraging his kids, is he really living his life through his kids? its a fine balance. the son of God was named Jesus....he did a lot of good!

Maria. Yes, Indeed, Jesus was one of the greatest men of mankind as he did an amazing job for many humans. His teachings for his followers are admirable and worth to practice.

I myself am not religious but I believe in a god who was NOT CREATED by those controlling men of those male-dominated, rotten, ancient societies. Those so-called holy, wise men of the far past (in most religions) created gods in an image of a MAN to serve the male interests only. I am wondering if there was any sacred book of any religion WRITTEN by a WOMAN. Don`t you recognize that women were (still are) nothing in many religions? In Christianity, the first woman was created just from a rib bone of the first man.

Yet, nowadays, many modern women are still believing in such a crappy thought that degrades the dignity of their existence. I think that it's really odd for them to continue following the abusive path that men want them to take.

Featured artist Richard Hubal in the book "Shining Above The Rainbow".
(Richard Hubal- one of Viet Tran's best friends - is a real practitioner of Jesus' teachings and a strong believer in God. He is an amazing artist)





Random Thought On Easter

Falsely
accused
and arrested
He was dressed in a purple robe
a crown of thorns
on His head
mockingly charged as the king of the Jews
clearly written
on a sign at the top of the cross

Jesus was crucified
officially confirmed dead
buried in a tomb
but raised to life
by God
on the third day

The cruel death and resurrection of Jesus were
psychologically
exposed
the dark side
of human's deceptive, selfish, and cowardice nature

Fear of being harshly punished
for their sins
human beings found a scapegoat
they put God in a vulnerable form
of their flesh and bone
then viciously murdered Him

Yet, they still shamelessly
prayed for their eternal lives
after death
in heaven.

Thao Chuong
2012-03-07

Featured artist Vivian Anderson in the book "Shining Above The Rainbow".
(Her account was closed and Vivian Anderson is no longer an FAA artist.)








Man And Wildlife Habitats

the leaping frog and the ancient pond
in a Japanese haiku
white cloud and the yellow crane
in Li Po's poetry
the drunken poet
himself
and his jade mountain
one by one
vanished
into
nothingness

but the prehistoric moon is still here
hanging around
above skyscrapers
the modern metropolis
built on a wildlife habitat
of an old-growth
rainforest

in a chilly night
nocturnal birds cried
somewhere
in mid air
for their lost
world

Thao Chuong
2012-04-27

For Better or Worse
(If God would grant you only one wish, what would you wish for?)

My Sundry Thought of Wishes

If
only
one wish
would come true
I truly believe
I could use it to save the precious live of one innocent child
or even
much better
I could save the whole mankind to be free from endless sufferings 'n deaths

But
then I ask myself
how silly I would be to eliminate my freedom of choices
and my wild imagination in a world of infinite possibilities
why should I give up the beauty of my dreams
as an artist
a poet
and most importantly as a human being

Why should I take your only wish granted to me
but have to give up my hope for other millions of wishes
that also could come true
for sure
sooner or later

Your offer is very tempting
but forget it
get lost
and leave me
alone
I'd rather keep all of my wishes
intact.

Thao Chuong
2013-05-04

For Better or Worse
Small Minds of Big Egos (my own caption for Swezey's cartoon)


-Donchasee those little dogs always bark at the bigger ones? It is the only reason why Jack always compensates his physically small size by inflating his ego. So he could show it off to whom he believes- doing much better than him.

@Poe, of course I recognize! I'd have to be blind not to. Its good to know that some men like yourself appreciate women, as equals, nothing more, nothing less. As much as I loved my father, he didn't see women in an equal light, strange that his mother was mother and father to his family, as his father died when my dad was 5. My dad became a protector of women, seeing them as the weaker sex, he thought he was doing good and couldn't see the damage that was being done. As he got older I think he realised and it benefitted his female grandchildren, who are very independant and strong, in a different way that myself and my sisters are. I had no daughters but if I had, wow! I admire the young women of today for their demand to be recognised as equal, that is an ambivalent word and doesn't express what i mean. But, also with two sons, i notice too that the young women are not happy to be equal, they want to domineer, as much as it is their turn, I don't think this will work either, when you begin to domineer you have already lost respect for the other, no matter what the sex.
It would have been my dad's 82 birthday today, I can just imagine him looking down and saying...I know! I know! I wish i had done it different, I'm sorry! of which my answer would be..'That's ok, you did what you thought best.'

Hello Poe, thank you for posting the information and the link to Viet Tran's beautiful Art Book 'Shining Above The Rainbow". I want Viet to know how very grateful and appreciative I was for the endless hours he devoted to creating this magnificent collection of art and poetry.. In an earlier discussion thread,back in 2012, I wrote the following words to thank Viet, don't know if he was online at that time to read my messages of thanks, so I will repost these heartfelt words again.

"There are really no words to properly thank Viet for honoring all of us in this Hugely important way, how and why he found and chose
this particular group of Fine Artists is one of life's many happy mysteries.
....Unique and dedicated people like Viet Tran, with his lifetime devoted to brilliantly artistic and selfless pursuits, seldom if ever come
into someone's life, if we are fortunate to ever meet such uncommon individuals who elevate and inspire us to greatness, we much
recognize,cherish and forever treasure them, they are the Anamoly, not the rule.
Like that glorious restorative "Shining Rainbow", which sometimes magically appears after the Hurricanes and Storms of Life attempt
to blow us off course, we are reminded that Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Kindness really do exist, if only we have the Courage, Faith
and Patience to endure.
Thank you Viet, I just received my copy of the book,"Shining Above The Rainbow". I ordered the Hard Cover Image Wrap
version, and it is truly beautiful,an obvious labor of love and dedication from you Viet.The book will certainly hold a place of High honor
and importance in my Art Library, and as a promotional resource tool as well.
The format is professional in every way, you Viet, Shone YOUR Rainbow of Love, Respect and Appreciation upon each and every
one of us and on FAA as well, you generously showered us each with many pages showcasing our art work,and provided pages for
links to our own FAA website as well. The combination of our art with your Poetry is remarkable...so classy in every way.
As someone who has weathered the storms of this unpredictable Artists life,having dedicated over 40 years to this crazy but beloved
Art Profession,as Art Teacher,Gallery owner and City Scene/ Portrait Painter,this book comes to me at exactly the right moment in
time.
...I will use it wisely,proudly and with great great respect to all involved.
Thank you for including me.
All of us within these pages, will be forever linked in such a wonderful way, a beautiful coffee table Art Book, truly a dream come true .
With all my heart and soul, thank you so much Viet...You have honored ALL who dream this Artists Dream" ..
Carole Spandau.

Dear Maria, I just read what you wrote about your father. So similar! My dad never paid much attention to his girls, but he sure has told me he's sorry for that. We're all human and in the dark...

Hi Kelley, my dad gave us lots of attention, just not always the attention we really needed. Like, ' you are as good as your brothers...' He was tougher on them for the right reasons..but he should have been as tough on us, not overlooked us when we reallly needed the communication. Sounds like I'm nit picking. There were three girls and three boys. We have all found our way to ourselves...our individual selves...but it takes a lot longer when someone you trust hasn't given you the information that you needed. Nowdays its not all left up to the parents, there's so much information available from different sources.

So true Maria...

@ Maria. Thanks for sharing your experience and perception of the way your dad did raise you and of the love he gave you. I think that because of the generation gap as well as the gender gap, it is tougher for a father than a mother to successfully communicate with his daughters in order to know what they are in need of. Many fathers treat their daughters with love and good intention but in their male mentality without any light awareness of possible impacts on the ones they adore and care for.

I think that your point of view about gender equality is well balanced. However, while I somewhat agree with your observation that "...the young women are not happy to be equal, they want to domineer, as much as it is their turn...". I think your observation could only be true to an insignificant percentage of the total female population in the West. I still think that the vast majority of women around the world still have been suffered a great deal, because of the well-established systems (cultures/arts/religions/etc.) that have mainly been created by men and only for men throughout the whole history of mankind. I think it might take many more centuries before women around the world could enjoy the current status and benefits from those male-made systems.

PS: There are three males vs. one female in your household. In addition, the long loving relationship with your (male) husband and the unconditional love for your two sons could have a certain impact on your mind and your heart. I wonder whether you are to totally immune to those factors in your thought of gender equality. I hope my subjective thought could provide you with some further thoughts on the issue. Enjoy your day.

@ Carole and Kelley. It's my bedtime. I'll give some thoughts to your postings when I have time tomorrow morning. Thanks and Good night to you, Carole and Kelley.

@ Carole. You're a very talented Canadian artist whose art reflects the beauty of Canadian cityscapes. You have successfully captured the livelihood of the people and every corner of the City Montreal. I like the mood-uplifting colours of your vibrant paintings. I wish if I would live in your neighbourhood, so I could take your painting lessons and learn some of your painting techniques.

Thanks for your positive feedback on the book review. I am so sure that Viet Tran must be thrilled to your nice words written for him. I also think your acknowledgement is great reward that means a lot for him.






Mystic Winter

Snowfall stops
the sun's shining on bluish reflection
as the azure sky
fallen down
drowned
into the white ground.

The forest is
in its absolute
silence.

Only
echoes of dripping sound
white flakes are falling down
from heavy snow
on branches
into
the mystic stillness
o nature.

Thao Chuong
2012-10-17

Thanks Kelley. Your statement "...We're all human and in the dark..." did generate a lot of thoughts for me. Maybe, I would have an echo from your thought. Have a nice day.

Kelley, I like your stunning work






On your thought: "...We're all human and in the dark..."



For Better or Worse
Fear of Own Shadow

It's hot
and sunny
the noisy crowd's pouring outside on the streets
children are jiggling in the parks

sunshine's often so bright that blinds her eyes
in front of her
she couldn't see
anything
and behind her back
the creepy shadow of her own is constantly haunting
she's really
scared.

gives up
and retreats
into her own universe - a tinny shell
fully covered by thick curtains for her safe refuge
she weeps
in
relief.

Alas! Her beautiful tears are pouring for nothing
in darkness

2013-05-05

My thought of the day: The worst fear of man is the fear of his own shadow. The problem remains deep inside his own universe. He brings it with him until his last breath, regardless wherever he goes on this earth.

Dear Poe, Thanks so much! Wonderful poem above! :-)

Glad that you like it, Kelley. I hope it could provide you with some further thoughts on the issue. Peace to our mind!

For Better or Worse
High Expectation (my lengthy caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- May I help you, Sirs?
- This Viagra was a joke. Our partners wanted us to file a complaint. They told us that it didn't meet their expectation.
- How come? Did you take it as instructed?
- Oh yeah! We all did. But it last about one hour for only five to six times per night.

You are a Canuck and a poet!! :)

For Better or Worse
An Invitation to Westshore

Im a Canuck
temporarily living in a paradise
on West coast
and soon
would be a dead poet
rotten
in hell

honey!
doncha wanna
be
with me
on my warm Westshore
or
be frozen to death
every day
on the 107 bus around your town
in the icy East coast

2013-05-05

Featured artist Tarak Mahadi in the book "Shining Above The Rainbow".

Bangladesh artist Tarak Mahadi is a painter and a sculptor. He is very philosophical in both his thoughts and his art.






Man's Illusion

He asks
the tireless waves
why
not stop
just for a second
so the ocean could take
a break.

He looks at the sky
wonders
why
cotton clouds always wander
non stop.

He forgets asking
himself
why he's so reckless
in life.

The gusty wind laughs at his restless mind
full of confusing thoughts
then blows
his hat
off.

Thao Chuong
2011-08-18

In answer to your poem... YES !! ....(but technically it has been over 20 degrees here in the city for over a week now... lol so I can't really complain at the moment).. hehe....
keep Poe-emanating!! :) love it!

would I live in a place where the trees touch the sky
and envision huge mountains where clouds gently float by?
Yes!
Here the Nor-eastern winds, at times do blow through
But they can't seem to lift me and bring me to you!
:)

On Reb Frost's perfect weather: It has been over 20 degrees here in the city for over a week now... lol so I can't really complain at the moment


For Better or Worse
Her Perfect Temperature

she fully takes her clothes off
lying naked
alone
on the fine sand of a secluded beach

she closes her eyes
and lets the glazing sun
kiss her face,
fondle her firm breasts,
rub her tanned body
and lure her to sweet dreams

it's a nice day for her sunbath
the temperature is
perfect!
it's about twenty degree Celsius
but she feels
as if
she were over one hundred
she wishes
if he were here
on an exotic trip with her to the top of a joy mountain

oh my
how could she be in heat at the wrong place
and not at the right time

2013-05-05

Lol

My Father was a Plumber for a While but that did not define him. He was also a dreamer, a realist, a gentleman, a gypsy, fatherless, big hearted and he would have been 82 today. Philips poem inspired me to write a poem, I didn’t realise that my dad, once again was pushing my pen.. He was my father for better or worse.

The pipefitter pulled down his eye shield
To prevent flash burn to the retina,
Of his eyes, the camera’s of his life so far.
It was bitterly cold in the yard,
The welding equipment burnt bright
sending sparks flying like fireworks
Burning holes in his worn dark coat.
His thoughts wandered, as he fused the metals together
Fell back in time.
He worked in a bright halo of light until the sun went down
And little candles began to burn bright in the night sky
Several times he looked away from his work
To the vast black space, remembering, recalling and forgetting,
as the welding spark began to die
Its last sparks jumping around in the dust
Like the last breaths
of the old man's emphysema
Fallen stars in dust
Brought from somewhere with the wind.
Belonging once to something..someone.
Maybe from some memory
When it was real


Maria Disley 6/5/13

Kelley,

every year around this time something happens..smoke alarms go off, pictures fall from walls etc..I was telling you about this and then nothing happened, even this morning i thought how strange it was. Anyway, took two cake sinto work that I had made for the other aides. When i arrived they said happy Birthday! I laughed thinking they meant because of the cakes. I couldn't convince them that it wasn't my birthday. another aide who wasnt there and kept eveeryones birthdate in a book told them not to forget it was my birthday. They said...she never gets it wrong..then I realised and got a shiveer and said well it is my dad's birthday! so we can still celebrate!!

Maria, That's a great story, thanks for sharing it!

Poe, thank you for your very kind words from yesterday..sorry I am a bit late getting back to you, just enjoying our gorgeous Spring temps...
also thank you for the beautiful winter poem.
Since you began this thread with my all time fav poem, I will enclose a poem below that I wrote which alludes to several lines from the road less travelled, or the road less taken..

LAUGHS THE SABOTEUR

the saboteur a clever foe, plants seeds of doubt

plants weeds within the minds of those too weak

to stand alone , to endless plots so stale

so bleak to harm themselves who cannot think

cheap and false the flattered words, laughs the saboteur

He who stands for nothing real, save evil schemes and nasty dreams

sell their hearts for nothing gained, laughs the saboteur

to be the crowd that's loved by Him ,in fear they acquiesce

sell their souls, pimp themselves, laughs the saboteur

goodness gone, mindless all, no one wins a thing

guilty games played, all agreed ,with the saboteur

no going back , deeds were done , unmasking too complete

was ever I the one who cared ,and set the game in play

not knowing who behind it all, laughs the saboteur

the road less travelled forks again and I must choose the way

that leaves these creatures soulless now, to Hellish arms defeat

saddened I but wiser still, to travel roads unknown

not them who played the devil's game

owns the saboteur.

CAROLE SPANDAU

Good morning Reb, Maria, Kelley, Carole, and all

Reb, Very glad to see your laughs - even I did not hear them. You gave good thought about a place where trees touch the sky. Probably, it would take a cyclone to lift you over here.

Maria, I like your poem, it is another master piece of yours. I always say like a broken record that you are an awesome poet who can connect your readers to your descriptive poems as long as you go with your natural flow.

Carole, happy to hear that you love Robert Frost's poem. He was very philosophical in his poetry, Yet, he poetically made the matters simple and easy for his readers to swallow and be connected to his poems. Please feel welcome to share your thought and post any poems of yours on this thread.

Have peaceful time to all

Wow! I love it, Carole. I will read it again a couple of times and I may have an echo later.

would I live in a place where the trees touch the sky
and envision huge mountains where clouds gently float by?
Yes!
Here the Nor-eastern winds, at times do blow through
But they can't seem to lift me and bring me to you! :) By Reb Frost


My take on Reb’s dreamy thought


For Better or Worse
Love in Limbo

You wish if you would live on the treetop
where your hands could romantically touch the sky
you could rest your eyes on a jade mountain afar
and joyfully ride on white clouds gently floating by.

I offer you a better world
my penthouse
at a luxury condo on the summit of Bear Mountain
so you can have an eagle’s view
from up high in sky down to the whole world below
under your feet
you can also touch angels’ wings
and fly with them to heaven

You seem excited but afraid
that even the Nor'easter can't seem to lift your weigh up
and bring you to Westshore
for me

Recently
you must have gained too much weigh to be so heavy
probably
you have just packed up on your waist
at least
a couple of hundred pounds
more than before
so I must guess
no airline could carry you
even on their jumbo jet


O no
honey
you smash my heart
and leave me no choice but to let
my love for you
decomposed
in limbo

Thao Chuong
2013-05-06

Note:
1. Bear Mountain is a luxury resort located on Westshore of the beautiful Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
2. Nor'easter (or Northeaster) is a massive scale storm along the upper East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada,

Carole, you had already left the bumpy road safely. The road taken was just one of many dark moments of your shadowy past. You still have millions of roads in front of you. Our lives would be less challenging and more boring, if we had less of the unknown and more of the expected.


On the same path of Carole’s poem LAUGHS THE SABOTEUR


For Better or Worse
Hidden Agendas

as
a spider
patiently weaves cobwebs in a dark corner
and allures innocent victims
for its catch
a scam artist skilfully twists his words
in a deceiving form
to draw naďve people in
his trap

as
always
his real agendas are concealed
somewhere
inside
his bottomless pocket
in a dark drawer of his desk
or hidden
deep
within his mouldy thoughts

simply listen to a deceiving person
whatever
he secretly does
is the opposite to
what
he openly
talks.

2013-05-06

Featured artist Chris Mackie in the Book Shining Above the Rainbow

Chris Mackie is a fine Naďvism painter and a daring Pop artist who is not afraid of exploring untaken roads in his creative process in both traditional and contemporary art.




Description: I had a dream where I was dragging a huge elephant through the cold Atlantic Ocean. I was obviously carrying some sort of burden in real life. Anyway... I painting this pastel the next day.



Letting Go Of The Elephant

I rested
on a rocky cliff
on the way to a Buddhist temple
somewhere
on the mountain top

foggy fragments of cloud
partly covered the path
narrow and stiff
leading up to the
unknown
into opaque
mist

in the late afternoon
wind
gently blew
from the distance
serene sounds of a mystical gong
echoed in chilly air

at the soothing moment
everything was completely vanished but emptiness
inside my inner self
a true Zen master
emerged

Thao Chuong
2012-04-28

Hello Poe......please accept my sincerest thanks for your kindness to mention my Art, my absence, and your poetry of inspiration, back @05/04/2013 - 12:42 PM
Am sorry for this belated reply, but know you understand.

Suffice to say.........yes.........I was in a "lost world" for a while........it is a lonely , cold place...........Finding warmth again is invigorating indeed........V.

It is quite a nice surprise to see your post. First, I thought I posted the inaccurate information a couple days ago that ``Artist Vivian Anderson`s account was closed and she is no longer an FAA artist. But now I have realized that you have just opened a new account and have yet uploaded all former artworks to your new portfolio. Welcome back, Vivian. I hope those old timers who were in the same boat of yours before, could be able to show their faces one by one on this site.

To celebrate your coming back, I cut and past the introduction that Viet Tran wrote about your art in the Book Rising Above the Rainbow:


Artist Vivian Anderson
Introduction

The clarity in the colour palette of Australian painter Vivian Anderson has attracted me to her art. She is one of the rare contemporary artists whose palette of one single colour highlights their skills in "ton-sur-ton". This is quite a sophisticated pallet that requires the artist to use only one colour for different tones, shades, lights, and depths in one painting. Artist Anderson sometimes adds another single contrast colour to highlight or create a focus point for her paintings. She has different interesting series of “ton-sur-ton” paintings - the “Reds”, the “Blues”, and the ‘Purples”.

Semi-abstractionist Vivian Anderson has her artistic root in realism, as she prefers to keep lines, shapes and forms of the real objects intact in her abstract. Yet, she skilfully blends them into dramatic movements in her work. Anderson uses brushwork and techniques of impressionism in most of her non-abstract paintings/drawings.

Viewers can easily recognize the simplicity of Vivian Anderson’s work. Her artistic expression reflects her easy-going nature that she would rather make a complex matter simple in her art and happy with it. She wrote “Some of my smallest works are the most revealing and intimate. They are pure, momentary, deep revelations about me...full of a certain melancholy and thoughtfulness, in a style not always understood, but totally fulfilling, and uniquely my own”.

Vivian Anderson’s “ton-sur-ton” semi-abstracts reflect her own unique style that it rarely found in the contemporary art. They are great addition to any collection for art investors and collectors. (by collage artist Viet Tran)

Thank you for your support and inviting me to be part of this beautiful book, and here's a reminder of the faa/forum thread / announcement..and thank you also for the quote describing my oeuvre...much appreciated.........I am still and always humbled to be among the many great artists chosen for this Book, and especially impressed with the collage of my works for the cover........thank you so much.
(I will be re-loading my works slowly to fill the Galleries on my page - ).

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=950452

My Dear Vivian,

Welcome Back!!!

Your Biggest Fan,
Roger

Thank you very much, Roger......and for your recent posts, kind thoughts, and for showing my image you've framed and saved from Sandy.............Much much appreciated........

For Better or Worse
Not As It Seems (My caption for Swezey`s Cartoon)

- Don’t be shy man! We are behind your back, in case you’re stuck with your words.
- My only concern is that whatever I am going to say, she wouldn't trade her wheelchair for my flower bouquet.

Welcome back Vivian..and great to see your work in the new book!:)))))

For Better or Worse
The Death of an Artist


like
a pebble
never been turned over
his creative mind is fully covered with moss
his passionate heart is left corroded on a metal heap inside a junkyard
he
keeps
walking on his worn path
sleeping on the shabby bed
having sex with the same damned woman
for
many years
in his comfort zone

the blazing sun is gone
his colourful world
is
totally
lost

in darkness
he waits for the scythe of the death
swiftly slashing at his throat
for the painless
end

2013-05-07

"he waits for the scythe of the death
swiftly slashing at his throat
for the painless
end "... Poe Ed


Hello my dear friend Poe, your poem made me think of all the times i have died... here's a first draft echo


For better or Worse an Echo to Poe's
The Death of an Artist

My Many Deaths

i have died so many times
that there's no room left
on my soul for another hashmark
my early deaths were wrought
with self inflicted pains
so i could enjoy how i suffered
at the hands of fate
the cruelest of the circumstances
and each new lifetime ended
in disappointment
and delusion
without awareness
of how i arrived

in the comfort of my ignorance
i knew not when that death had ended
and the next life began
but now as corporeal death
peeks from shadows of the darkness
i dance the dance of life
dying and reborn
moment to moment
until Death swings
his sharp
blade
and
ends
me

Ed Meredith
07 May 2013

Poe,

After reading your and Ed's latest poems, I looked up and this view comes through the back window of my provisional abode onto my eyes.
(this photo taken 10 minutes ago)



I would like to believe that the gnarled dead foreground represents the Present I've been forced for the last 6 months to endure as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

And

The green background, Not the past,..But the FUTURE.!!

For this old Coot ain't dead yet!!

Thanks so much, Maria.....knew I could always count on you , too......

@ Ed. Your echo provides a broader scope of deaths. I like it.

We humans are living in a dying process. When God kicked man out of His Garden of Eden, He officially gave up His own power of creation into man's hands. Man faces the death sentence and is gradually executed and suffered a slow death. Yet, man gains the freedom of creativity to create his own heaven or hell. He controls his fate and lives freely on his chosen path with or without a god.

@ Sr. Swezey. You ain't dead for sure! The beauty of taking the path of an artist is that you may be dying at every minute of your creative process. But your art could live forever, after you leave this world.

Dear Poe,

I just thought for a moment, you are a woman, and Poe Ed is your son.

except I am continuously wrong most of the time ..........he he......

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
— Albert Pike

Dear Poe,

What would happen if you stopped all your creative pursuits?

Would you, me, I, die.

I'm really considering this possibility. I don't believe I'll be less, perhaps something a whole lot more...


These are baby steps I want to take...

Best and Worse of
The Nothing of Everything

learning to live
in the nothing
of everything
where the elusive
is available

Ed Meredith

@ Kelley. If I were a woman, I would fight with all my teeth and nails against those believers who still believe that God is a Man. Anyhow my gender is not much relevant to our conversation, unless you're looking for a same sex partner (LOL)

To answer your question "What would happen if you stopped all your creative pursuits?", I must confirm that I have no pursuit or whatsoever in both art and poetry. I do them for fun as a part of my living process, no more, no less.

Ed. Albert Pike's quote reminds me of those compassionate sayings of the current Dalai Lama.

For Better Or Worse
Everything for nothing (an echo of Ed poem's The Nothing of Everything)

from
somewhere
in darkness
man has emerged
he's nothing but a tinny piece of dirt

he
loves
to take
everything
in a very short period

soon
he'll be back to dirt
leaving everything behind
carrying nothing with him
to nowhere

2013-05-07

For Better or Worse
The Sin He Cannot Commit (my caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- It's a good news, my man. They have just passed the laws for the same sex marriage. We can openly legalize our long-term, hidden relationship.
- I really luv' ya, mahn! But I can't do it. I am still a Christian and a strong believer in God.
- Why not?
- It is my God's most forbidden sin that I cannot OPENLY commit it.

Dear Poe,...Loved your answers...but I still wonder about artists, and their identities aside from their expressions...perhaps not to be answered, just pondered.

@ Kelley. Have you noticed that many artists haven't shown their real faces or identities on FAA site as well as other sites? Most of them are hiding their faces under those masks called avatars. It is a very popular culture on the World Wide Web.






For Better or Worse
C'mon Show Me Your Real Face (echo Viet Tran's collage above)

either
you're so embarrassed to show your ugly face
or you're afraid
that someone from your neighborhood could recognize, reveal your true identity
and expose your nasty nature
also
there could be other good reasons
why
you cover yourself
with a mask

c'mon
both my online friends and strangers
show me your real face
and I'll show you mine
so we know a little more about each other
for a better talk
without fear of the unknown
and the unexpected

2013-05-07

I like this one:

Welcome to the confusing world of "For Better or Worse", Mormad!

I'm somewhat confused by your statement: "I like this one" . You posted a photo with Frost's poem on it. So which one do your like? The photo or Frost's poem?

Dear Poe,

Yes, I have noticed the "avatar" thing, it's impossible to miss. That's why I can imagine all kinds of things about a person.

I wasn't attempting to give you a hard time, it really was something I thought all of the sudden. It doesn't make a difference to me one way or the other. :-)

Dear Ed,

The Nothing of Everything speaks volumes! That's what I was thinking about, and you said it so well!!

I appreciate your time. Thanks Kelley. Glad that you enjoyed this thread. Have a great day.

Featured artist Anna Duyunova in Viet Tran's Book Shining Above The Rainbow

Canadian artist Anna Duyunova of Kazakhstan heritage tends to paint with saturated colours and simplification of forms. It is likely that Fauvism has its influence on many of her acrylic paintings, especially on her painting series Tropicana.





Fantasy Of Love

soft
as morning fog
fragile
as glassware
innocent
as a pristine forest
she's pretty and attractive

the beauty of her naked body
is
really
a lethal trap

he
bites
deep into her striking lure
and gets caught by the sharp hook
like a brainless
fish

awfully jealous
suspicious and controlling
she gradually pulls her line
close and closer
eventually
ties a lifetime knot
regardless his hopeless
struggle

Thao Chuong
2012-11-02

For Better or Worse
It's a Compromise (my short caption for Swezey's carton)

- They all agree to disagree

For Better or Worse
What Really Matters In Life

life is
neither
a race to compare
who does better
who is the best
nor
a game for medals
to the very few for a high pride
of their own achievement

life is a true reward for everyone
regardless
which path one takes
what fate one endures

no
matter
whether
who is better
or who gains more and the most
in the living
process

but
the happiness for those
who could appreciate simple things
currently lying
on their bare hands

2013-05-08

Thank you Kelley, it was your words that inspired "The Nothing of Everything"...



@Poe, i had the good fortune and pleasure to have a ringside lawn seat when the Dalai Lama had a gathering
and spoke one summer afternoon in Central Park, NYC… i love the playful child of his serious spirit/soul…


Wandering on the Wheel of Becoming

while shunning the transient
and imperfect nature of worldly
objects ideas and perception

i thought i had found the
beginning and the end
of the path to contentment
as i began to see and understand
false things as they really are
or so i thought

but try as i may to drop
my attachment to collected
things and precepts
i'm held captive
by the daily life
of an insidious world
that creeps in
making it difficult
to break the chains
of materialism

Ed Meredith
08 May, 2013

Agreeing to disagree....For better or worse.

A cartoon with plenty of words"



One of these days, I'm going to take this drawing to Photoshop and clean it up

One of many possible echoes to Poe's; "What Really Matters In Life"





Dinner For Four
A poem in two line rhyme... for Better or Worse


our evening began as we walked through the door
and were greeted by loved ones at a dinner for four

champagne in crystal most beautiful and smart
a toast to love and friendship always a good start

sublime appetizers both hot and cold
and tempting fruits all dusted with gold

the table setting was beautiful most lavish and divine
and in simple surroundings it was elegance squared defined

my palate was sparkling with surprise and delight
as each new course passed my lips last night

the entrees were heavenly with flavors unbound
conversation came to a halt not a word not a sound

it all seemed unreal as though conjured from a spell
the pouring of the wines with each course paired so well

the desserts were magical flavors i never tasted before
so unearthly and heady my senses began to soar

it was not until the cheese plate and a multi layered torte
that was paired up brilliantly with glass of ancient port

at the evening's end i thanked my hosts for sharing their epicurean gift
then staggered into my car trying to remember how to drive a stick shift


Ed Meredith
08 May, 2013

Roger, i like the succinctness of the four letter word and would post an echo poem but fear of banishment stops me... LOL

Ed. You have gained the momentum. It is likely that you and I are riding on the same wave. We have our lost paradise (LOL)

Sr. Swezey -a man with few words. I think that you have ventured too far (out of your comfort zone) on this one. I agree with your observation the cartoon does need a good clean-up. Those lengthy conversations are very distracted as they take away your humor in using the terms Discuss and Cuss. I suggest the following caption to broaden your original path of humor.


For Better or Worse
With or Without (short caption for Swezey cartoon)

-Trust me! You can COUNT on my DISCOUNT. If you insist to DISCUSS further, then take my CUSS and get the heck out of here.

- @Poe, i had the good fortune and pleasure to have a ringside lawn seat when the Dalai Lama had a gathering
and spoke one summer afternoon in Central Park, NYCďż˝ i love the playful child of his serious spirit/soulďż˝ Ed Meredith

What a wonderful experience! I have read a lot of Dalai Lama`s amazing quotes about compassion, love, and peace for inner self.

I agree, what a great experience that would have been..:)

Good morning Maria. I have noticed that while Dalai Lama is promoting the way of life in Buddhism, he doesn't preach us about Buddha and his own religion. I think it is the reason why his speeches touch the hearts and appeal the minds of many people - even those who are not Buddhists.

Poe,

Maybe I should stick to cartoons that have NO WORDS:



(a road taken for better or worse)

Ah, Sr. Swezey This cartoon looks clean, neat, and attractive. I love your newly modified version of this cartoon with nice colors and its three-D impact on my vision. The cartoon itself is very humorous without a single word in it. Yet, I will try to see if I could add my black bean sauce to the cartoon later.

For Better or Worse
WARNING SIGN (my caption for Swezey's wordless cartoon)

- reckless on the roads: neither jaywalking seniors nor wildlife but "teenagers” behind the wheel.

Maria, that day in the park with the Dalai Lama was a wonderful experience...

Your right Poe, he's not about selling religion...


“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” --- Dalai Lama

When asked how he viewed himself, the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) replied;

"I always consider myself as a simple Buddhist monk. I feel that is the real me. I feel that the Dalai Lama as a temporal ruler is a man-made institution. As long as the people accept the Dalai Lama, they will accept me. But being a monk is something which belongs to me. No one can change that. Deep down inside, I always consider myself a monk, even in my dreams. So naturally I feel myself as more of a religious person. Even in my daily life, I can say that I spend 80% of my time on spiritual activities and 20% on Tibet as a whole. The spiritual or religious life is something I know and have great interest in. I have some kind of confidence in it, and thus I want to study it more. Regarding politics, I have no modern education except for a little experience. It is a big responsibility for someone not so well equipped. This is not voluntary work but something that I feel I must pursue because of the hope and trust that the Tibetan people place on me."

Listening to the Dalai Lama speak, one has to be greatly impressed by the way he has constantly been emphasising the importance of world peace… and when he touches on the subject of world peace or simply of peace, the reference is always to "inner peace"… i think he never deviates from this stance and his belief that in order for there to be world peace, we must first overcome our selfish blind passions and attain that inner peace…

i love that he describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk… and i think he is a person who actually lives his teachings and incorporates it into his way of life
and whose first commitment is the promotion of human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline...



Inner Peace

when awareness
has broken through
the clouds and mist
of darkness and ignorance
the love of anger
and hate will fade
in the light of truth

Ed Meredith
09 May 2013
.

Dear Ed. Thank you very much for providing me with such a generous food of thoughts for me. Peace to the mind! Enjoy the sunshine on a fine sandy beach in Florida.

Featured Artist Angel Ortiz in Viet Tran’s Bok Shining Above The Rainbow
Mexican painter Ortiz tends to pursue perfectionism with his fine brushwork in most of his surrealism paintings.







Before the Storm

the sky is cloudless
the sea is calm and bright to the horizon
light wind blows gentle waves
dancing
on aqua blue water
then rubbing
on fine sandy beach

the nature retreats into absolute stillness
recharging its energy
and awaits to unleash its full speed of hostility
the storm would come
and wipe out
everything
under its wrath

most disastrous violence always comes from
something
soft, flexible, and harmless
in its nature
as air and water

isn’t it ironic?

Thao Chuong
2012-09-29

Description: We all know what nightmares are because we all have them. How do you get them to stop? By Kelley Lee McDonald



Dear Kelley. The description of your artwork "Nightmares Have Come To Call" planted a seed of thought inside my mind. Now it grows into something. I have found the answer for your tough question. Yet, it could only be found in the Satan's Hell - not on God Heaven. I do hope that you wouldn't end your nightmares before your last day on earth.



Her Worst and Last Nightmare

she was shivering at the edge on a rock face
above
her head
a crimson sun was whirling
in the burning sky
bleeding clouds came down
swallowed her into
a spongy curtain of condensed blood

she closed her eyes
in terror
took a deep plunge down
she could hear the gusty wind whistling
while she was quickly descending
at high velocity
into darkness
below

it seemed forever
but she could never reach
her bottomless
nightmares

all of a sudden
she woke up
she profoundly sweat
all was quiet and dark
around
her

she found herself
trapped forever
inside a confined space
of a buried
coffin.

2013-05-09

Dear Poe,

Bravo!! Loved your story on my art. That piece goes with a poem called “Still in the Dream” from my book “Paintings” currently being sold at the iBookstore on iTunes.

When I was thirty years old I had 7 or 8 out of body experiences. They took place over about a year. I wasn’t sick or traumatized by anything, yet I was lucky enough to have those profound experiences.

The trouble with being “open” or sensitive is you can run into all kinds of energies, and not all of them are positive. That piece of art was made on the behalf of a tango or two I had with other worldly presence’s not wanting to play so nice.

The truth is every time I encounter a negative force I always come away better, brighter, and very grateful. It’s my path, my own evolution.

Thanks again for your great words to something of mine! :-)

Hi Kelley, Glad to know that you love my echo to your art. I wrote the poem with my general thought that nightmares are part of human's psyche. The story written in the poem presents a nightmare generated by the terror deep inside of one's inner self.

As you wrote, I become aware that your artwork reflects your former nightmares from one or two failed tangos. Good to know that each time you had your toes badly stomped by a bad dancer in a tango, you got out stronger and better for another dance (LOL). Have a good night.

For Better or Worse
Frustration (my cartoon for Swezey's cartoon)

I'm no emperor. No need to lick my butts. You'll gain nothing
I'm nobody. Go ahead! Kick my ass to vent your anger.

For Better or Worse
Identity Crisis

I
waved
my hands
shouted aloud her name

she
looked at me
poised for a moment
gave a cold face
then turned her back without hesitation
on the opposite direction

I scratched my bald head
and swore
"damn it!
what's wrong with me?"

I know her quite well
from inside out
and from the top of her funky hair down to the tips of her bare toes
she’s my x
we shared the same bed
‘til she left me for one of my foes
then with other folks I don’t know

yet
she and I are still good friends
sometimes
we
meet
have fun
enjoy our sex
as in the good old days
I wondered
"what's wrong with her today?"

it could be déjŕ vous
or maybe
she has just had a name changed
in response to
her inner insecurity
of an identity
crisis.

2013-05-10

Prank comes to life:



sorry it's so dark......I'm the recipient of the prank

And here is an out take, somewhat funny:

Sr. Swezey. Thanks for sharing your short play. I wonder what you would think of my suggestion of adding the dramatic music to the play. Have a good day

For Better or Worse
Marriage In Progress

she talks, i listen
i talk, she listens
but our honeymoon is faded
much sooner than
her short spring
break

she talks
i talk
and our neighbours listen
for their own leisure
they also feel bored
faster than
a shooting
star

she talks
i talk
our neighbours talk on the witness stand
only
the trial judge listens to
our bitter
end

that’s Y
my X and I
both hate a marriage

2913-05-10

Featured Canadian artist Alfred Ng of the Chinese cultural heritage (in Viet Tran's Book Shining Above the Rainbow)


Alfred Ng is one of the best contemporary realist painters in water colour. He is in total control of his brushwork and the medium. Contemporary realists tend to follow a variety of painting techniques of Old Masters such as capturing the rich colours, convoluted shapes, complex flows, and dramatic textures of nature and real life - the way thing really is - in the most flawless perfection. Realist painter Alfred Ng has mastered those techniques, but departed from the old path, and defined his own style in the "extremely difficult-to-control" medium watercolour.

Realist painter Alfred Ng has excellent brushwork, texture, techniques, and artistic aspect in his medium. He is very detail-oriented in his paintings on all subjects. He is able to capture the mood, the texture, the feeling of each subject. Viewers who have never seen "bitter melons", "bottle squash", "silk squash"... can feel as if they were seeing those real vegetables in front of their naked eyes through Alfred Ng's series Edible Garden paintings. His Images of China series provide viewers with a tour to Chinese tropical gardens of lotus ponds, heritage buildings, and tropical plants of bamboos, bananas, willows, etc. Realist painter Alfred Ng also takes his viewers to the mystic landscape of the East from small and peaceful villages to mountains and waterways. He excels in capturing the soul of his subject from fog, water, reflection, mountain, sky, etc.

I had never paid much attention to flower paintings, until I viewed watercolourist Alfred Ng's different series of flowers from Lilies, Iris, Orchids, to Tulips. I can say without much hesitation that he is one of the best contemporary flower painters. (By collage artist Viet Tran)

The Artist and His Art

Years
after years
passed
countless lives have been carried away
to the eternal sea.

Where’s the artist?
no trace of him
vanished within thin air
completely
gone
with those glorious kings
and almighty emperors

Everything
washed away
by the tsunami of time

But the art
from his creative mind is still intact
continuously enjoyed
and inspired
by
mankind

Thao Chuong
@ 2011-09-17

What Is My Faith?

1* God Without

above my head
bottomless
sky

under my feet
only
dirt

where are you, God?

2* God Within

no
religion
is my religion

nothing
is my thing

nobody
is me

could I find You inside myself, God?

2013-5-10

Speaking of faith here's one from my archives...


The Changing Church of Bell Book and Candle
or How to Deal With a Heretic in the 21st Century


The Good Old Days

put the devil behind you
demanded the priest
as he tightened ropes
lashing me to the heretics post
binding my ankles and wrists

and then he rang the bell
the goddamn bell
the magic of the senses
of sound
of pleasure and pain
it seemed
for those who choose to hide
in the illusions of control
over the chaos they cause

of course he read from the book
the scriptures
the word all knowing
for those who need answers
and willing to pay

the flames were slow
and harsh to say the least
it was a tough way to be
excommunicated

The Good New Days

but that was then
and this is now
an enlightened age where
technology has replaced the icons
used in sacred rites
no longer a book
scriptures are all on vid files
in the cloud
candles replaced with L.E.D's
and the bell
the goddamn bell
no longer rung by hand
is still a bell pealing
excommunication
chiming the promise of a short life
apart from god’s favor
and sending the heretic
to die slowly in space
well that's new too

Ed Meredith
2 June 2012

Faith is a clinging face of doubt and the sister of fear

RJ.......I do have faith......in those I trust and animals past and present, that were always faithful, by the by. Maybe 'faith' can't be defined just as you describe it only therefore...........but.....I do think 'faith' espoused by believers in dogma is the domain of the fearful........those who fear being denied 'eternity'/after-life" by virtue of the 'promises' of their faiths. Oh well......I'm supposed to be quiet............that's 'it' from me (for now,lol)

Dear Poe Ed,
I've read the Frost poem so many times in years past, and it seemed to embolden me every time there appeared a cross-roads....and here it is again, at yet another time of 'choice' (for me).......and it stands the test of time, and experience.......thank you for reminding me.....

one must own one's choices.........

Being a Poet, Not..........I share my small response, titled by courtesy of Viet Tran, many moons ago, not sure if it's relevant here, but, thanks..

"Faith is a clinging face of doubt and the sister of fear" Robert James Hacunda


Faith has broader meaning than the narrow definition only related to religious belief. It would be disastrous for those who don’t have faith in themselves or the trust in their own ability.

1/ Faith is the confidence or trust in a person or things based on past experience, positive perception of someone or of something.

For example: He has faith in himself (= he is confident = he trusts his ability) that he could do the job.

2/ Faith is a belief in deity, or in the doctrines or teachings of a religion. The belief that is not based on proof.

I could relate Robert's quote to the belief in god. When one loses faith in oneself, one tends to look for help from god.

Hi Vivian. One has to make the choice between himself and a god. Man can be his own master or be a slave to his man-made god. He can take his fate in his own hands and make a difference for him. Or he prays for god to save him when he is suffered of sickness, in fear of death, or in some other desperate situations in which he loses faith in himself.

Poe, I put that rather blunt or perhaps sarcastic statement out there as an illustration of what walking contradictions we humans are....

Here is a joke about belief

There was a man who was a strong believer in his God. He strongly believed that God would define his fate. He did nothing but prayed for the better and the best for himself and his family. His wife had to work like a horse to feed him.
- My dear. Please don't stay home and pray all the time. Can you share the heavy workload at home and on the rice field?
- Don't worry, honey, We will be better God will listen to my prayers.

The situation had never been improved. He died in poverty. Finally he met his God and filed his complaints:
-My Lord, did you hear my daily prayers. You didn't provide enough food on the table for my family when I was alive.
-Son. I really wanted to give you a lot of money, fame, and everything on earth. I was about to let you win the jackpot of tens of millions dollars. But you kept praying and did not nothing. You didn't buy one lottery ticket, how could you win.
-Oh my Lord, Can I go to Heaven?
-Oh Son. You did nothing to help yourself and other people, while you were alive. Do you think that I am so stupid to accept your wordy/nonsense bribery. Go to Hell with your blind belief!

Robert. I know that you love to provoke some thoughts and irritate other people! My skin is too thick to be poked (LOL).

You're a baby Poe, Maybe you just like to be tickled a bit

Haa...Robert. I am feeling funny to be tickled. I'm still baby. My heart is pure without hates so I can laugh easily .

I have yet gained much experience of sufferings in life. When I am suffered of hunger or wetness, I cry, there are a couple Gods already in the household: Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa fulfill my needs. My innocent mind has not yet piled up with too much garbage of thoughts. It contains no sufferings of sickness and no fear of death.So I don't pray. Simply because I need no other God for now.

But who know! I may need Him later when I endure sickness and sufferings. that are out of the magic hands of those current Gods in my household. Or, maybe, as I am growing up, my current Gods may take me to their temples or churches and gradually program in my head the nonsense belief of their God.

Robert, I think that I am much luckier than many other babies who were born into the household of those blind believers in God. So when I grow up I can have totally freedom to make my own choice of my faith without having my mind infested by my household Gods. So, I can cry and laugh without fear of haivng my soul being burnt in Hell eternally.

You're pretty smart for a kid...

Ah, Robert. Good or bad and smart or dull is but purely a subjective perception. I think that adults tend to judge so soften in their daily communication. They perceive things based on their knowledge, own experience, and their unique cultural/religious backgrounds. Then, they impose their own value or belief system on their own interpretation of the reality. Unfortunately, most of the time - their version of reality or truth is not the same as what really happens.

Can those adults get rid of their judgmental observation or biased perception of others? Can those who often rush for a conclusion to step back and take a deep breath, before they proceed further on their own path of thought? I think that in doing doing so, they could become more aware of the fact that there are millions of other paths of thoughts. So they could be more liberal and less conservative in their thinking of others.

Back to the religious path


For Better or Worse
Simple Question (my caption to Zwezey's cartoon)

- If heaven is the best place - a paradise as it has been religiously claimed by the Church, then why on earth those strong believers in God are so afraid of taking an early "check-out" ticket from this suffering world?

For Better or Worse
The Creative Process

as
a tireless pendulum
effortlessly seeks for
its balance

I
endlessly
swing my imagination
from the far left of the outer universe
into the far right
of my inner
self

'til
I'm
totally
lost in both worlds

2013-0-10

For your pleasure here is a colorized version of "Church Pews", that will appear on page 77 of the forthcoming(?) tome "FERAL COOTS- The Saga of Modern Feralgenaria"



It's in Section 7 of The "Very Advanced People's* Bill of Rights



Rights, they will defend with all the strength they can muster...And that strength is Formidable!

* Never call them "Feral Coots"...They want to be known as "The Very Advanced People"

Love your pendulum poem Poe...I know that pendulum feeling ..:))) Also like yours and robert's pendulum of thoughts..:) Mr Sweezy if I was an extreme thinker i might rant at your comical strips..but I usually end up laughing...afterall we were...thank God! given a sense of humour...as each one of us is a descendant of our maker she/he/it must have had a sense of humour too...otherwise where did it come from? maybe there's a laughing planet out there somewhere....where all's they do is laugh and one day there was an explosion of laughter and some of their rock flew out of their atmospher and into ours where the laughter microbes, encased in cells containing oxygen and carbon and laughter mixed with another explosion right at the same time, or maybe a bit later or earlier and it all mingled together....that might explain why some people don't get humour or catch on too late. I wonder if the cave men laughed or dinosaurs...what would life be like without laughter i wonder....maybe everyday would be like waking on monday morning and thinking it was Sunday, then realising it was Monday and you just overslept!!!
have a great weekend and be nice to you mothers or wives and daughters who are mothers and friends who are mothers...........say no more..:))

Mother you were never there for me...but you were always there
Mother you made me laugh...your sadness cut through me
couldn't be covered by your flowered apron..or your staple meals
steaming or sweet..
Mother your strength, towered over me in its quietness
Your beauty I was drunk on... like a constant hangover
Mother you paired him faultlessley..in everything
what a match....
what a tear....for the pair!
Mother you battler....you forgiver...you provider of love
Mother much too late
I offer up this day for you
In hindsight
It was your truth....
I overlooked in my youth!


Maria Disley 12/5/13 (Mother's day)

I think this could be titled insatiable children...maybe...I now know no matter how hard a mother tries she never can always get it right...her idea of right that is...or maybe just my idea of right...

Poe, have to dig out Father poem :)

@ Sr. Swezey. Thank for posting your colored versions of those drawings. Now these cartoons look much clearer than those black and white originals. Now I could see the flood of urine on the Church floor (which I didn't notice before). I think some of your viewers may not be able to laugh easily at your daring sense of black humor. Most of the time, I laughed with your humor in the cartoon. Sometimes, it took me awhile to get your hidden sense of humor in some cartoons. It could have the root from cultural differences or generation gap or other factors between us. Yet, I still prefer to see if I could look at another humorous angle different than your original humor.

I fully understand that you might expect your viewers to burst into an instant laugh in the original way that your cartoons convey. However, I would like to present your cartoons on this thread in a different perspective, if you have no objection to it. If this goes well, you and I may have a potential collaboration. But it's too early to know. For now, I present them just for a laugh, if you don't mind.

@ Maria: Thanks your taking your time to provide your insight and to share your poem for the Mother Day.

To My Mom and All Mothers

Dear Mom

I kicked
I punched
I ate your flesh
I drank your blood
I created awful sickness
I harassed
you
for
nine
months
and ten days
I tore your body
out of your womb
I created much pain for you

Mom
You cuddled me
You held me tight
You rubbed my head
You calmed me down
You lost many sleepless nights for all my needs
You went through too much pains, endless headaches, and lots of problems.
You gave me your whole heart with the immense love
You brought me from a tiny seed to a grown-up man
You sacrificed for your entire life for me

Mom
You needed nothing from me
in return to your unconditional love
except to be well-informed
that I still am healthy, safe, and happy

Mom
I am fine, now. Do you hear me from another world?

2013-05-11

http://youtu.be/occPOuzLZuU

For Better or Worse

Mom Discovered There's More To Life Than Frying An Egg And She Name Him Ed

@Thanks for sharing the song, Maria

@ Ed. You hit my nerve as usual. You often make me think when I read your poetry or view your art. Thanks

"Mom Discovered There's More To Life Than Frying An Egg And She Name Him Ed". My special thanks to Ed Meredith for provoking my thought and inspiring me with your artwork of an amazing title.


For Better or Worse
Sundry Thought on the Mother Day
(To my children's mother)

falling in love
enjoying sex
and having fun
you got pregnant
with our first kid
I
witnessed
your morning sickness in a couple of months
your weariness from the seed growing inside your tummy
your extreme pain during the delivery

for
me
'twas
a piece of cake
much easier than scrambling an egg
on a frying pan
I
took
my painless fatherhood
with a lot of joys

honey
you paid
a high price
for your motherhood

thank you
for what you have done for my kids
and for opening my mind to understand my mommy`s enormous pains
so I can be happy with you
and our kids
today

2013-05-12

Poe, so happy i could spark your loving thoughts and poems to the most important women in your life.


A For Better or Worse
A Story of My Three Moms...
(a reprint)

i am a bastard son of a circus/carnival Geek father and my mother was a Magician's assistant...
At age 7, i was abandoned by my birth mother who was last seen walking into a full length mirror during
a tent performance in the Apollo Feed and Grain parking lot in Crooked Creek iowa.
According to one of the stagehands, she winked and gave a little wave just as the mirror began to fill with smoke
and was never seen again... My Geek father never recovered from losing her and lost his appetite for chicken
and rodent heads. He began to binge on fast foods, candy and donuts… literally putting himself out of work because
no one would pay to watch a fat sad man eat Big Macs and Snicker bars.
We spent the next few of my formative years traveling with the circus/carnival because my father didn't know how to do
anything else, and besides that, who would hire a washed-up has-been Geek anyway.
Fortunately, i was taken under the tutelage of the Canry Forman and was able to learn some circus skills and supported
my father and myself by cleaning up after the elephants and bears. i think that's where i first learned i had a talent for sculpture.
i was almost eleven when my Geek father tried to take some marshmallows from one of the bears, he only survived the attack
for a few hours but i remember his last words, "I sure could go for bacon and cheese stuffed deep fried pig in a blanket" he said,
and i asked him if he would like fries with that, but he never answered.
A few months later my adopted guardian, the Carny Forman, was shot and killed by the Bearded Lady who thought he was cheating
on her and having an affair with the Sword Swallower. She shot him with one of the 'HIT THE BULLSEYE AND WIN A KEWPIE DOLL' rifles.
And once again, i felt alone, abandoned.
Fate however, decided to smile upon me one last time and a loving gay couple who billed themselves as the Corsican Brothers let me
move into their trailer and became my two moms… life was good with Lucien and Mario, until one day they were both arrested
and deported for, according to the U S Government, performing a public lewd act on the high wire… i've hated critics ever since.
i continued to traveled with the carnival/circus until i reached the age of seventeen, then ran away from one circus only to join another…
and another and another…. and here i am today, on Mothers Day, thinking and missing my all my Moms.…

Reminiscing made me rummaged though old photos and i came across a picture of two of my moms; the Corsican Brothers.

Ed. My heart sunk. I am overwhelmed by your real life story. You have such a unique path in your early years. I think that childhood is the road that no one could select. I think that it is called karma or fate in religions. I could feel that your experience would have somewhat reflected in your poetry and art.

How could mother's day bring about this avalanche of life's poetries!?? i remember this photo Ed when you showed it years ago. It always intrigued me as you never explained then about the Corsican brothers. How kind they were, how generous with their love. Your life has made you a very wise and well rounded artist/person, your life, more colourful than the circus. Have you ever thought of writing a circus poetry book...wow..I've already imagined its pages...though my imagination wouldn't be doing it justice....only you could do it justice...
Ed in Wonderland..:) Oh NO! i keep being visited by images of Chaucer with his pilgrimage characters in Canterbury Tales....it just happened again...only this time...circus characters...I suppose the circus is a bit like a never ending pilgrimage....

For Better or Worse
Special Effect (my caption for Swezey Cartoon)

- Oh no! That damned homemaker forgot putting your diaper again!
- Don't blame her. It's me! I love this type of new orgasm when the warm feeling is freely running down on my thighs.

Poe,
How's this for a caption?

Good morning Sr. Swezey. This version also looks better then the original. Sure! I take the challenge and provide another caption for it. Have a nice day.

Another artist vented his air against environments in his post last night on another thread. He seemed very pissed off by those who didn't have the same thought as him about man's civilization, progress, and achievement.

On the same thought of man's progress

For Better or Worse
No Big Deal ( (my caption for Swezey Cartoon)

- It's just a little mess. So what's a big deal! Anyhow, you and I will leave this place soon. Don't worry!
- Haaa.. You're really a smart ass! The nature always takes its course; if not, those next generations must wipe out your butts

Hi Poe! This place is just an illusion, so no harm is actually being done, but that's just what I think. (But I'm only a pleb)

This poem was written from my inspiration by Ed Meredith’s unique experience of his turbulent childhood.


For Better or Worse
He is What He is

his
back
rested on a sandy beach
his eyes tightly closed
let the bright sunlight shine on his face
he listened to strong wind whipping in the air
and tireless waves crashing on the rock
unexpectedly
those furious sounds brought his mind
back to the uneasy childhood
and his turbulent
past

he
wondered
whether
he would take
a different path
for his
life

he
paused
then laughed
at the silly thought of him being
another
man

2013-05-13

Hi Poe! This place is just an illusion, so no harm is actually being done, but that's just what I think. (But I'm only a pleb)

Good morning Kelley!. You really confused me with your thought of illusion (and reality). I felt as if I were in the air. Give me some time to set my feet back onto the ground. In the meantime, you enjoy a peaceful day (without having any further thought of a peaceful day -just another illusion - LOL).

An echo of Poe's echo of the echo of my memory...


For Better or Worse
i Am Who i Am

who am i
a question
often asked
and seldom
answered
truthfully
i am
what i am
is my favorite
reply
respectfully
my mirror tells me
everything
by telling me
nothing
of who
i am
curiously
i can only tell
me
another version
of who i was
falsely

Ed Meredith
13 May 2013

It's easy
On the Internet
To be who you please
An imaginary playmate
For others to see

The egos identity
Fractured and split
Put on the web
Like a comedy skit

Hold on to your horses
Just enjoy the ride
For although there is
Pretense
It comes from
Inside

Karen, you are the one with the light switch in your grasp to expose us all if you wish... but some of us will scurry into the shadows again...

My Story

half truth voices echo against the walls of my past
that is written through revisionist eyes in the telling
with mythic smiles that line the miles
of mediocrity that defines my story
from outside in and resembles little of
what is seen from inside out i shout
i've been there all the way and i can say
my good stories are few and too often spewed
on those who would spend the time to hear my rhyme
my prose that ever grows in the telling and the selling
so fantastic all so plastic
my story
from spare beginnings that went nine innings
unnoticed until viewed in life's review mirror
with it's message from the seer that things appear
greater than they really are from afar
not so bad so sad i'm glad
it's finished done back there
and only shadows in the air
my story

Ed Meredith

Why light a lamp
When fireflies
Illuminate
The Seers Path

i once met a man on the road who introduced himself as Diogenes and said he was searching for an honest man…
and i replied;
"Oh yeah!... where did you get my lamp?"

Poe,
Re: "Secretion, Secretion" Caption

One of your captions read:.".It's just a little mess. So what's a big deal! Anyhow, you and I will leave this place soon. Don't worry! "

As far as "leave this place",..One must keep in mind:..THE VERY ADVANCED PEOPLE (Feral Coots) BILL OF RIGHTS,,Section #10

Haa…Ed. Both Kelley and You have turned my easy day into a day of utter confusion.

Here is another echo to Ed’s echo…


For Better or Worse
Who

who are you
the man who is staring at
me

who am I
the guy who is gazing at
you

are we
(you and I)
the same person
standing at different angles
looking at each other everyday
from the same mirror
of myself.

but
who on earth are we
anyway?

2013-05-13

Why light a lamp
When fireflies
Illuminate
The Seers Path

Karen


I love your romantic thought. And here's my echo to your poem.


For Better or Worse
A Romantic Dream

I'm dreaming of your romance
at a secluded place
somewhere
in the wild
only you
and
me

on a moonless night of dimmed stars
in darkness
only
mystic lights of fireflies illuminate your beauty
I
would let
my heart sunk
my mind frozen
my body melted
deep into your romantic world

It's just a pipe dream
(as you've said anything could happened on cyberspace)
but
honey
who knows
someday
I could meet you in real life
and turn my dream
into reality

why not?

2013-05-13

@Ed

I found your lamp
Beneath a bushel
And rubbed it
Til A Genie
Appeared

@Poe

Pipe Deams
Pipe Bombs
Pipe Smoke
Who can say
Where the shrapnel
Shall come to rest

WISHES THAT ANNOY GENIES:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/shouts/2012/11/wishes-that-annoy-genies.html

@ Karen

Here is my echo to your worst fear


For Better or Worse
Her Fear

she is really scared of his jealous rage
at her romantic
thought

hard
punches
of his strong fist
could leave a big Mac on her pretty face

shrapnel
from his grenade
could drill big holes in her sweet heart

I'd better leave her
alone
in her
brutal world

2013-05-13

Thanks for sharing, Ed. He has a great sense of humor. I couldn't stop laughing.

@Ed

I have no magic wishes
Begging to be granted
The Genie was surprised
For no one ever wanted
Just to chat

@Poe

There are no jealous rages
There is no black and blue.
I cast my eyes from the brutal world.
I Create
My own Reality.
Anyone can.
Don't you?

@Karen

Here is my answer to your touchy question: Yes, I do,


For Better or Worse
Our Reality

honey
tell me
what your reality is
fore sure, I could create mine
as a perfect match
to your
need

so
you and I would live
in our reality
side by side
forever

2013-05-13

I have never met
My perfect match
As funny as that may seem

Who wants to match
Their reality
Perfectly to mine
I call that codependency

Let us share
Our dreams instead
No happily ever after
Need clutter our heads

Nothing more
Nothing less
Only words
Woven in the threads

@ Karen. Thanks for taking me onto your poetry flow. I have enjoyed a good time.


For Better or Worse
Sundry Thought of Reality

the
higher
expectation
I have in life
more of the unexpected
I may
get

If only
I could be willing to take
whatsoever
it falls into my hands
I would certainly be happy
with the way in which reality truthfully is
regardless
it fits or unfits
with
my own
expectation

2013-05-13

Where do some poems come from?? I'm taking that one away! ;))

One must keep in mind:..THE VERY ADVANCED PEOPLE (Feral Coots) BILL OF RIGHTS,,Section #10 -Roger Swezey




For Better or Worse
Wiser but Harder (my caption for Swezey's Drawing Bill of Right)

- The longer they live, the wiser they become. Yet, watch out for those old folks, their minds also become harder than a piece of rock

hmmm..
that Section 10 sounds unemancipated maxim.

Haa.. Karen! You took one of them away. Luckily I lost only the last one which I hadn't had much time to digest. I do hope those former poems of yours would not be vapourized one by one in the thin air. Otherwise, it would seem that I were insane talking to my knee in those dreamy poems of mine (LOL).

Brother Saigon! Don't mess up with any old coot. Or you would get his boots at your hood.

ouch..that's an expensive croc's skin boots!

Hi Poe!

So sorry I confused you earlier! It seems to happen the minute people begin communicating.........(he he) have a great night sweet cheeks.

@ Saigon.He wrecked his only pair of expensive croc's skin boots on my head. Watch out for the worst as he is probably wearing his working pair of steel-head shoes.

@ Kelley! I like the beauty of diversities. Everyone is unique in her/his thinking process and expressing in words. I have learned something from your special moment. No need to feel bad about it. Enjoy a peaceful evening.

COOT'S BOOTS:

Sr. Swezey. I think that your pair of shoes would be over couple of hundred years old. You could probably sell them as antique on Ebay. Don`t destroy them on Saigon's steel helmet.

Abuse against women is still a problem nowadays. Many women have been still suffered in the hands of their husbands. Violence against women are still considered an internal issue of a family in some cultures and countries. `Honour killing is culturally accepted in different areas in some countries, especially in the Middle East and India. Many women were killed in the hands of their husbands, brothers, fathers, and uncles on behalf of family honour. Could they find little light at the end of the tunnel of their cultural darkness.


For Better or Worse
The Torturer

banged
against the wall
she was bounced back
and fell down
her head hit the hardwood floor
the drunkard bent himself
grabbed her neck
yanked her up
and threw her against the wall
again

the torment dipped her body into a sea of severe pain
her mind was shut down
she was totally
passed
out

how could she endure so much suffering
from that monster
for many years
in his burning
hell

2013-05-13

What says the drunkard
As he burns
In the hell of his own mind.
Tormented Soul
Downing the devils brew.
Trying the impossible.
To drown his sorrow
And see once again.
Yet how can he stand
The sight?
When his only
Thought is that
Of his eternal sin

Thanks for sharing your poem, Karen

It is just the tip of an iceberg

Statistics

• 5000 honour killings internationally per year.
• 1000 honour killings occur in India
• 1000 honour killings occur in Pakistan
• 12 honour killings per year in UK

(Source: http://hbv-awareness.com/)

Yes it's very sad. In many cultures you needn't be a drunkard to commit violence against women. It's the social norm. I recently read an article about the women of Africa who fear going to get water because of the brutal rapes committed on the path. The men then leave deep bite marks as a symbol of their victory. I feel so fortunate to have never known violence. May Blessings Be.

For Better or Worse
Honour Killing

no trial
no judge
no lawyer
no defendant
only prosecutors
a grandfather, a father, two uncles, and four brothers from an extended family
those men were eating, smoking, and drinking
while they decided the fate of the accused
the guilty verdict was issued
without any debate
in her absence
she disgraced her family honour
they officially declared the death sentence and the execution date
without her knowledge

a couple days later
her strangled body was found
in a garbage
dumpster.

2013-05-13

Those numbers are staggering...
How does the civilized world help bring about a moral change to that mentality… are we complicit in our silence.

Honor Killings
We Look Away

we look away
and another young woman
tortured and murdered
is added to the gruesome
gallery

we look away
from the horror
of young women
terror stricken victims
held captive
in desperate and brutal lives

we look away
in our complicit silence
pretending
the bloodthirsty savagery
is outside our realm
of women's rights

we look away
in shame
for failing our women
our children
our girls
our very way of life
we look away

Ed Meredith
14 may 2013

Love how you guys support your women/all women. Ed I just sent you an email.

Good morning Karen, Ed, Maria and all

Thank you very much for the poem and for your thought, Ed,

I think women have achieved their political rights at a significant level in many democratic countries. However, it could take many more centuries before women can be culturally and religiously considered to be equal to men.

In all religions, women practically have a very low status on the religious ladder. I wonder if women are allowed to gain priesthood in Muslim. In Buddhism, male monks hold higher ranks and often gain more respects from followers than nuns. In Roman Catholic, nuns have zero status in the Vatican's well-established powers reserved only for male priesthood.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to fight against those biased concepts and bad treatments toward women, simply because if you dare touch those sacred beliefs in gods, you could be accused of violating freedom of religions, and worst you could be killed. (Religious extremists, especially in Muslim would hunt you and kill you if they feel that you insult their Allah).

A lot of female Muslims (even those who live in the West) often refuse to press charges or be witnesses against their abusive husbands. They are proud of, and insist to, preserve their rights of having their body fully covered (from the head to the toe) by jilbab (hejab or hijab).


For Better or Worse
The Voluntary Victim

it’s the culture
she
is proud of
the tradition runs swiftly in her blood
embedded deeply in her mind
the normal way of life
it has been always
like that for
centuries

she is happy to follow the same path
as her grandma’s and her mom’s
she covers herself fully with a jilbab
awaits for
the man
whom
she has never met
she is pleased to leave her fate in his hands
regardless
of being the first or the fifth wife in his household
he is her only man
her husband
her master
and her
god

or whoever he demands her to respect
and serve

it’s the culture
she is fighting to preserve
as his loyal
wife

2013-05-14

He calls the hijab
A sign of respect.
So other men shall
Not be inflamed
By her beauty.
Thus
Driven to commit
Mortal sins.

See the blonde
Infidel?
The seductress
Who leads
Proud men
To ruin.

If only she would cover
That hair
We could all
Live in Peace

See the blonde
Infidel?
The seductress
Who leads
Proud men
To ruin.

Karen, I think you hit right at the nerve of those rotten folks! Haa... Those religious extremists in the Middle East would adore the beauty of the blonde infidels whose nearly-naked bodies to their bare eyes. I think that their souls are drowned in mortal sins too.

Religious extremism belongs to all. Some Christian sects still ban dancing and swimming with the opposite sex. Even women wearing pants is seen as an affront to God. But now the Age of Aquarius has dawned and thought patterns shall evolve! :))

An echo to Karen's poem


For Better or Worse
Martyrdom of a Religious Extremist

he
hates
the West too much
that he would risk his live
to take those infidels to hell

but
he can
never resist
the great temptation of taking his eyes away
from those naked bodies
secrete beauty of the blondes
fully exposed on a sunny beach
a burning desire
for exotic sex
is growing
nonstop
inside

he felt
as if
his immortal soul were burnt in a hell

he takes martyrdom
on a high hope
that Allah would reward him
many White virgins
in heaven


2013-05-14

Karl Marx said "religion is opium to the mind" - I must add: "it also blinds the heart"

An over used Poem but still a favorite of mine :))


I’ll Meet You There
by Rumi

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field. I will meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.

Women of Light

One day a long time ago I noticed an older woman in passing. She was tall and slender, and wore a floor length coat to keep away the winter wind. She almost glided across the room as if her body were in perfect balance. She held my attention because of a warm light emanating from her presence. This light was something subtle but it was certainly there, and I had never seen anything like it before. I thought about it off and on until gradually it was forgotten. A few years later I saw the same light surrounding a group of grandmothers gathering for a reunion, so I watched them for awhile. I imagined they were magical in some way, and knew some ancient spiritual practices. Then one day it came to me. These women were just at the height of their wisdom from a long satisfying life. What could hold more magic than that.

Kelley Lee McDonald

The Crone
Holds her Power
Once freely flaunted
In the folly of Youth
Wisdom resides
In the arid Womb
And men
No longer captivate

It's very interesting. Thanks for sharing your spiritual experience, Kelley.

@ Karen. The perfect place in Rumi's poem could be a heaven or a paradise.

An echo to Rumi's poem I’ll Meet You There


For Better Or Worse
The Perfect Place


It could be just a mere place where I would simply live
fully
with both imbalanced ends
dream and reality
wrong and right
up and down
love and hate
happiness and suffering
day and night
yin and yang
highly
imperfect
as
is

Or
If it could be just a mere place where I would simply live

2013-05-14

Poe, I like your Perfect Place. It feels authentic.

Karen. Authentic is a magic word of the mind!


For Better or Wrose
Zhuang Zhu's Butterfly Dream

he wonders
whether
he is the man
in his overnight dream
being a butterfly
or he is the butterfly
in its lifetime dream
living as a man

regardless
which one he really is
his life is always
authentic

2013-05-14

Note: Zhuang Zhou was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE. Zhuangzi's philosophy is skeptical, arguing that life is limited and knowledge to be gained is unlimited. To use the limited to pursue the unlimited, he said, was foolish.

For Better or Worse
Water Nozzle (my caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- What da ya think you’re doing, folks?
- Doncha see it Missy! Those things can no longer work on a queen bed, but they can be good nozzles for a flower bed!

More than just a helping hand:

For Better or Worse
Unionized Job (my caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- Stop ,you guys! Don't compete with my unionized job! I dun wana be laid off.

Description: In the mind of a child anything is possible. Mountains are moved, and seas are parted.

@ Kelley. It's a lovey work and a very imaginative description.


For Better or Worse
The Wonder of Her Childhood

she
opens
the door
to her secrete place
for sweet lullabies from her bedtime stories of the past
in her childhood wonder
she always finds peace, hopes, dreams
and a safe haven
easing her enormous sufferings
from brutality
of the adult
world

2013-05-14

Such a soft slumbering rhythmn Poe.
and great artwork kelley. Nice duality of words and image.....a kind of neutral plane...

Thanks Maria. Soft and spongy is what my eyes were attracted to her dreamy work. Kelley presented very well the wonder of her childhood. Every child would be able to put the whole ocean in a small aquarium. The work provides viewers with the feeling of simplicity, tranquility, and innocence in the world of a child. I also like the light in the background and its reflection on the seashell. It's a perfect world for the mind to rest.

Hello Poe, Wow!!!
What a surprise to see my art here this morning. Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments on it, and I did so enjoy your poem put to this piece. I will say the lighting took me quite awhile, but art is kind of like knitting, just settle into it and work quietly...Thanks again!


Dear Maria,
I appreciate your opinion on this piece, many thanks!

@ Kelley. May I have a small suggestion? Cranes represent peace, simplicity and lightness in my country of birth. I wonder if you can save the original and try a new version without the four cranes at the upper left corner. I think that they make the work look a little bit crowded and distract viewers' eyes. It's just my subjective observation. Have a great day.

Hi Poe!

When I was creating the piece of art ‘Childhood Wonder’ I decided to draw a flock of Petrels because they’re a widespread seabird. It seemed to be a natural choice given the elements at hand.

I drew in the small flock of birds to the far left of the illuminated fish bowl as a reminder that magic and miracles exist even outside the tiny space we allow for them (...the fish bowl...) I’m always having to remind myself of that!

Thanks Kelley.

(Sorry for being unable to reply to your comment sooner. I have just signed a short-tern contract for about one month to provide legal consulting services for the planning and negotiating process of a business venture. I will have less time than before for poetry). Have a good night.

- He is sitting idle and anxiously waiting in the long line for his check-out ticket to heaven (or to the burning hell. Who knows!)

Poe,
Re: "Still Life"

Your caption:.." He is sitting idle and anxiously waiting in the long line for his check-out ticket to heaven (or to the burning hell. Who knows!)"

I know

He is patiently waiting his turn for their annual proctology exam.......Which may be "Heaven" or it may be a "Burning Hell"....It all depends.

Good morning Sr. Swezey. Your caption is much better. Thanks for the good laugh to start a day. Have a nice day.


For Better or Worse
My Worst Enemy

totally
blind in my own rage
I point my fingers
and shout aloud
at my angry foe
standing inside
the mirror

he
is doing
exactly the same
who is my worst enemy at this ugly moment?

2013-05-16

Dear Poe,

All of us on this planet are connected...I understand your words above (of course, from my vantage point a zillion miles away!.... :-))

"All of us on this planet are connected." Kelley. We are barely united, aren't we?




For Better Or Worse
Dream of Perfect Union (Caption for Swezey's Cartoon)


-Like United Nations, those multicultural seniors can barely stand united, unless for a big photo op like this!

Dear Poe,

Yeah, just barely, hanging by a thread............................................................................................................................................................................................................

For Better or Worse
Expectation (Another caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- In the end, they have nothing left: no health, no sex, no love, no money , no glory. What else are they waiting for? Why don't they lift their butts and get the heck out of here?

Dear Poe,

You've said it before "about getting out of here" boy, do I know that feeling!!! Except things have a course, of course....

On my class today for MIME lesson as their summative task..I stumbled a stunning video that depicts the ongoing theme I observed in this thread:

Road (medium) less taken, the pantomime presented was more than a comic relief but challenging wit, intelligence, science with a taste of
philosophy. The personality and other self, narcissism, dr. Jekyl and our dark side...hereto on life's questions, leaving, ressurection and final end.

Thanks Saigon. It's stunning.

For Better or Worse
Poets and His Words (written for all poet friends of mine)


a poet can mix his vibrant words on an artist’s colourful palette
painting his compassionate heart
drawing his thoughtful mind
on a canvas
or he can add two wings
for his stunning flight
into bright
sky

also
he could sharp those lethal words as a samurai’s swords
to split the throat
of his own enemies
for blood

it
is
He
the poet
who could hold back his emotion
or let it run wild
he could assign some certain meanings to those words
for the thought coming from his mind
at his own choice.

a poet
can be
either a master
or a slave of his own words.

how could a poet allow those empty words to define him in his poetry?

Thao Chuong
2013-05-16

For Better or Worse
Great Lifestyle (caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- No worries and no responsibilities about jobs, kids, wife…I betcha enjoy our great lifestyle!
- Oh. Except my arthritics and those aching bones that keep torturing me!

Poe,

At 78 and the "Lifestyle" I've maintained, I certainly qualify as a "Feral Coot"

And as with all the "Feral Coots", I can't allow myself to continually complain about "Aches and Pains"....And in my particular case. the recent hole in my head, the destruction, the displacement, and the law suit as a result of Hurricane Sandy, CAN'T dictate my everyday activity.

PEACE!



Edit:

Within the last 15 minutes since I posted "God and Buddha", I got phone call from FEMA, stating that I qualify for rent payment on this place I'm now typing this.

Positive Thoughts Produce Positive Results

Echo to
A Poet and His Words


The Poets pen is
Played.
A fife flirting.
Magic words
Mesmerizing.
The dance card of
Dizzy delights and
Deadly dirges.
Follow my folly
Through this
Trapdoor.
Into the Soul
Where no empty words
Bear witness.

Karen Newell
5/17/13

I beg to stop
this torment of words
should I let them
define me
write me
prop me
light me
there are grander things
to be seen
with our other eyes...

I was buried in a scrapped heap of paperwork. It was nice surprise to read touchy echoes of both you. Thanks Karen and Kelley for your poetic response

Sr. Swezey. It's good to hear that those cracking bones don't have nay impact on you. I respect you for your high spirit in dealing with the Sandy's aftermath. I know how hard one must push those bloody insurance companies to get a fair treatment for what one has paid for insurance. Sorry to hear about your law suit. Legal route is the last option as it would tax more energy and happiness from one's life. Sometimes, the material outcomes ain't worth for the mental investment in the case. Peace to your mind and good luck.

Poe,

It ain't MY lawsuit, it's a lawsuit against me, by my neighbors claiming that my oil is on their property as a result of the massive spill...

Sr. Swezey. It is never good to be involved in a lawsuit as a defendant. However, in this case, your insurance could take care possibly all of it. So, you would lose no hair -except little time in working with the attorney assigned by your insurance company. I hope your insurance coverage is good enough so your own pension wouldn't be blown away from your pocket.

Poe,

What insurance?..Insurance had been cancelled just before the storm.

Relying on FEMA

Oh no! How could it have happened? It's even worst! Sorry to hear that you are on the hook for the mess left by Sandy.

I am wondering if FEMA would have any specific fund to subsidize your lawsuit even it was generated directly by the oil spill from Sandy.

It seemed to me that you're still able to maintain your humor and our high spirit. I respect you for your positive approach. I hope this wouldn't affect your normal sleeping pattern.

Poe,

After 6 months, things are resolving themselves...so I just keep on "Truck'n.

Cool! I am inspired by, and really like, your thought of wisdom.

For Better or Worse
His Own Refuge (caption for Swezey's cartoon)

- Roger must feel sound and safe in his very own niche, as this is the only place that has helped him survived from many Hurricanes.

Your menu Seńor
(chain senryu for Poe's dessert order)

Either polvorón
for spurting testerone or
a macapuno?

The last one mentioned
a slimy coconut sport
assures jovial resort

Last secret weapon
rice cake or layered pudding
to complete your meal!*


May 15, 2013

*edited ;-)

Haaa...Thank you for your delivery of a good laugh. You make my day, brother Saigon.


your delivery
puts weigh on ten fat lions
poisons me to death

generous dessert
too much for my big belly
could be exploded

Senryu to Poe

additional order
compliment is from the house
Hot balut perhaps?

A San miguel beer
would definitely push belly's
unforgiving bane.

For Better or Worse
Perception (caption for Swezey's cartoon)

Aren't we always confused whether the glass is half full or half empty

Would love to submit a colorized version (page 86 FERAL COOTS./R Allen Swezey)...But this damn "BAD GATEWAY 502" prevents me.

Good morning Sr Swezey. I think that it should work now. Please try it again.





For Better for Worse
The Denier
(My caption for Swezey's Cartoon)

-It's bitterly cold, man. It's likely that we're drifted back to the Ice Age! So, what are your scientific proofs for global warming?

I'm back (been working on Cicadas images)...Hopefully here is the promised colorized version:



Now, I'll upload the colorized version of "Ancient Feralgenarians"

The carton looks much better than the one I posted.

Now here is the latest image for "Ancient Feralgenaria", with a bonus drawing:

For Better or Worse
Man and Nature (my caption for Swezey's above cartoon)


-It 's been a long trek of brutal exploration and endless destruction for the caveman to reach his modern civilization. Hopefully, nature would take less time in its course to transform the modern man back into a wild ape?

For Better or Worse
The Blind

The whole world must be blind
they couldn't know right from wrong
they couldn't see
clearer than what you see
you know better than
anyone
else

you're pissed by those who don't agree with you
when you keep trying to inject
your humane thought
into my Satan's
mind

no words for me to say
when you say it all
when your belief is totally right
better than mine
what else is
left for
me

I don't want to fight
now the world belongs to you
what is your next
move?

2013-05-19

Poe, and Everyone Else,

LET'S DANCE!!

Let's dance
Let's put on our leopard skin pants
Let's throw our hands in the air
And shake it like there is no tomorrow
Let's dance
Who cares if others stare
Let's dance

@ Karen. Love your natural flow of your wild moment. I'm floored (LOL)


For Better or Worse
Echo to Karen's Verse

Let's Dance

let's
dance
in Tango
let's sway in Merengue
let's plunge in Salsa
let's sink in Lambada

let's
dance
now - not tomorrow
only you
and I
submerge in our hot sea
and die inside each other
at this instant

let's dance
'til you and I
are vapourized
within thin
air


2013-05-19