poetry

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Thu 29 May 2025

EarthSky

Posted by PJ under gods, poetry, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“I am a child of Earth and starry Sky,
but my race is heavenly. You yourselves know this.
I am parched with thirst and am dying, but quickly grant me
cold water flowing from the lake of Memory.”

—Orphic tablet quoted in The Orphic Poems by M. L. West

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Mon 5 May 2025

They

Posted by PJ under fairies, my poetry, poetry, spirits, the veil, ultraterrestrials
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They care
but they do not care.

We are luminous lights
that attract them
and repel them,
flooding the nighttime
with our concerns,
stamping the land
with our billions of feet,
covering over
what is theirs
what we claim as ours.

Would they end us
if they could,
the otherlings, the spirits,
the beings living beside
the things of our world?

They care
but they do not care.

We burn their eyes,
we poison their lips,
we cut and chop and boil
without respect or thanks,
but we are stitched
to their sides,
and they to us,
a shrouded veil away.
We walk amongst them
as they walk amongst us.

Here
but not here,
caring
but not caring.

—PJ Thompson

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Mon 28 Apr 2025

Balance sheet

Posted by PJ under my poetry, poetry
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18200 days of work
2600 weeks of work
7 sentences of wages
10000 meaningless meetings
250 echo chambers;
1 million stories
99900 untold
5000 pageants of wonders
2 wander inside a mind
2 beat back the mundane
2 survive on fantasies;
100 deaths close to hand
1000 broken hearts
2 broken knees
2 hobble and limit;
3 million hopes
2 million fears
7000 cries in the wilderness
6000 answers
3000 of them echoes.
This is the balance sheet.
This is the sum of a life.

—PJ Thompson

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Thu 2 Jan 2025

Cherry

Posted by PJ under haiku, poetry, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“under cherry blossoms’ shade
even those whom we don’t know
are not strangers”

—Issa Kobayashi, 1819

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Tue 14 May 2024

Fact

Posted by PJ under facts, poetry, quote of the day, truth
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Random quote of the day:

“Fact is not truth, but a poet who willfully defies fact cannot achieve truth.”

—Robert Graves, The White Goddess

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Wed 19 Jul 2023

Selected bedtime poems

Posted by PJ under bedtime poems, my poetry, poetry
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3:21 AM on Mon, Jul 17, 2023:

I’m more familiar
with 3 am than 6
but I rose for years at
hellish 6 to join the daily
grind, forced into
unnatural rhythms
but now I’m free
I rise when my eyes open
I sleep when they close
I still have bad nights,
hellish mornings
but at least I’m free
of the clock’s tyranny

2:54 AM on Sun, Jul 16, 2023:

shall I write of pain
or of the smoke
drifting through the open
window from the fire pit
across the way choking
like remorse before it fades
or shall I instead write
of the downy soft cat
who wants to cuddle
despite the heat
her purring a balm to all
the pain that aches me?

3:00 AM on Fri, Jul 14, 2023:

no pressure
you did this
to yourself
no one has any
expectations
except you
but that’s the thing
isn’t it?
we always martyr
ourselves
on our own
expectations

3:07 AM on Wed, Jul 12, 2023:

memories crowding around
like guests uninvited to a party
they have stayed too long
leaning against the walls
wondering if they dare to dance
but I’m too tired to indulge them
wishing but too polite to say
they should just grab a beer
and go home

 

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Tue 11 Jul 2023

Selected bedtime poems

Posted by PJ under bedtime poems, my poetry, poetry
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Lately I’ve been writing mini-poems just before I go to sleep at night. It helps me unwind and relax my mind. I thought I’d share a selection of them here. How long will I keep this up? No idea. As long as it seems necessary, I guess. If you want to read all I’ve done so far (they’re not all good), you can go here: https://pjthompson.dreamwidth.org/2065123.html

2:30 AM on Tue, Jul 11, 2023:

in the liminal space
at the end of the day
when sleep approaches
like a shy, purring cat
to knead at my
consciousness
turning in circles
looking for a place
to settle

2:11 AM on Mon, Jul 10, 2023:

dark energy, some physicists
say, is the force of
emptiness, a void in the
cosmic web pushing the
matter of the universe
farther and farther
from where it began
and it’s everywhere,
between us around us
within us without us
pushing us away
always away
from where we began

3:01 AM on Sun, Jul 09, 2023:

the world is small sometimes
so small and cold and selfish
it can be large though
large and warm and free
if imagination and compassion
can hold it up to the light
hold hands with me
let’s give it a try

11:45 PM July 6, 2023:

this will all make
better sense
in the morning
that’s what
I tell myself
over and over
but it never does

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Wed 7 Jun 2023

Tower

Posted by PJ under aging, poetry, quote of the day, sorrow, youth
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Random quote of the day:

“When young, I did not know the taste of sorrow.
I went up the tower.
I went up the tower
to write a poem on pretended sorrow.

By now I’ve completely tasted sorrow, but already
I do not want to speak about it.
I do not want to speak about it,
I only say: what a beautiful, cold autumn.”

—Xin Qiji
(28 May 1140 – 3 Oct 1207)


Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Thu 1 Jun 2023

Dragon

Posted by PJ under dragons, myth, poetry, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths about dragons that at the last moment turned into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave.

—Rainier Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, Letter 8

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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Tue 16 May 2023

Poetry

Posted by PJ under art, poetry, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:

“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.”

—Vincent Van Gogh, letter to Theo Van Gogh, March 18, 1883

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

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