Haibun Thinking: Escapism

Every week, two new prompts are given for Haibun Thinking. To find out more about this Japanese literary form, head to the host page here.

As it is film week, this week’s prompts are both Goose related. There is the image supplied by AnElephantCant and the quote:

© AnElephantCant

Golly, did I hear you say you would be free if you could?
(Gussy the Goose, Charlotte’s Web [2006])

I have chosen to use the quote.

***

Life plays ugly tricks on us at times. We find friends, lose them, and then a little down the line we find them again.  We learn to live without them, only to find that we do not have to. We need our friends, not just in times of stress, but also in times of fun. Humans are not intrinsically loners; we make ourselves that way when we hide from our friends and ourselves. We are not always in full control of our actions and we act stupidly, idiotically. It is as if we go into a self-destructive spiral and do not care about anything or anyone so we push people away so they are free of the blast radius.

We pretend we want freedom, when in fact what we do want is for someone to take us by the hand, look us in the eyes and say, “I am here for you”. In the film Charlotte’s Web, Gussy the Goose and Golly have a conversation over freedom.  Golly yells at Wilbur (the pig) to run, as he would like to be free. When questioned, Golly backtracks and says, “If I were a pig”. We say things for a reaction, in the hope that someone will say, “don’t go, I need you”

sometimes all we need
is to escape reality
to find ourselves again

A Final Farewell to Al for Terry

EDIT:
This poem is for Terry’s brother, Al who was taken by the angels at 08:30 this morning.
My thoughts are with Terry and her family at this time.

Terry asked me to write a poem to say goodbye to her brother, Al. You can find Terry’s blog here.

Al suffered from MSA – Multiple System Atrophy which is a “neurological disorder that affects adult men and women. It is caused by degeneration or atrophy of nerve cells in several (or multiple) areas of the brain which can result in problems with movement, balance and automatic functions of the body such as bladder and blood pressure control.“

You can find more details on Multiple System Atrophy here and here.

 

Farewell

As my brother I have loved you
For all of your fifty-eight years
We have argued and fought
Brought each other to tears

I would never change you
As the fights quickly faded
Our familial sibling bond
So strong we always made it

You always brightened my life
From toddler through to your teens
Then from twenties and beyond
You made me smile through many means

Al, you will always be the best
My favourite, no denying that
But not only with me
There’s also Rhino, the cat

You adore the brand Coca-cola
Collecting hats, clothes and cars
If you could have your way
It would be written in the stars

I do not want to say farewell
I want to stay with you forever
I will never, ever forget
Our many years together

But the time has eventually arrived
For you to go and join our father and mother
You will be forever with me
I love you and will miss you
Goodbye Al, my beautiful brother.

^{© A Forbes 2014}

Time Marches Ever On

Time is something that we always say we do not have enough of. Why? Because we are too busy to make time for ourselves. We are too busy trying to conform to what society wants us to do. We are too busy trying to convince people to like us. We are too busy trying to make ourselves memorable.

STOP

You are you. As Dr Seuss said: Today you are you. That is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you.

Penny posted yesterday that “Believing in yourself. One of the most important elements for attracting opportunities that can lead to your success!” PennyQuote 2014

Clearly Spring

The weather has been delightful before today – where we had a very short thunderstorm. I could have imagined it, it was that short, and we had some hail as well. These are a couple of plant life shots I took. I wanted to get the castle in the tree one as well, it wasn’t an “off-target” shot. I did try one with a Victorian lamp-post as well, but that didn’t come out too well.

I hope you’ve had a good weekend and have a good week ahead.