Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

runes June 27, 2010

Filed under: Mythology,Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:25 am
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I was visiting a friend today and she pulled out a bag and suggested I cast  runes.  I had never heard of such a thing, but I figured it’d do no harm. A new experience.

Apparently I am at a time of change, oportunities need to be evaluated, and great success is coming. Pretty cool. A young man was also there. His runes showed that he was in frustration giving up possessions, he’d be in turmoil and then he’d face new life.   Since he had his whole life in a U-haul and was heading off on a 4000 km move, that was pretty freaky.

I went on-line afterwards to see what I could learn about runes. All I knew was that in Harry Potter Hermione had studied Ancient Runes at Hogwarts, and was able to read The Tales of Beadle the Bard in their original runic…

On the internet I learned that runes are ancient letters, and that divination with runes is simply about exploring the current situation by pondering it in the various angles brought by the tiles. The author of the site I visited suggested it’s about allowing the sub-conscious to lend its voice to decision making.

Interesting.

Some people don’t make a move without prayer, others without reading their horoscopes, others without consulting the Q’ran or the Bible.  The internet is handy for researching every angle of an issue.  There is always the very useful Magic Eight ball.  😉  Every consultation comes through the filter of our own consciousness and understanding. We can never know our future, because the future is mutable. We can only do the best we can and hope for the best.

 

under the microscope June 24, 2010

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:28 am
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A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones. -Lord Chesterfield

Our universe is a big place, and we are really just ants. If we are fixated on our own little anthill, we miss out on a lot of wisdom and beauty.

Curiosity is such a powerful vehicle for self-discovery. “I wonder why…” and its cousin “I wonder if…” are keys to unlocking a greater world, but if we focus on tiny things, we don’t see the greater things.

I used to be beautiful, brilliant and infallible. Then I turned six. What a shock it was to learn that I was neither the centre of the universe, nor that my vivid elucidation was of value to the masses. Poor Mrs. McClure, my grade one teacher, caused me great trauma by expecting me to work quietly and to let others speak occasionally.

Perhaps I didn’t learn her lessons quite well enough, because if I did, I wouldn’t be blogging to the world, would I? It doesn’t take much to set me pondering, but since I know there are those out there who enjoy my take on the world, I’ll keep sharing. I am not sure if I’m magnifying trifles or receiving great things. Hopefully the trifles I consider will be worthy of magnification, and the great things will be explored with integrity..

Stopping on a walk to savour the scent of a rose or a pear blossom, to rescue a caterpillar, or to whistle with a bird is definitely magnifying trifles. These are small things, but they are also great joys.

What are the great things? The wisdom of great men and women from throughout time. The kindness of a welcome heart and home. The birth of a child. The strength shown against terminal illness. Greatness is found in unexpected places outside our anthill and within it. The trick is recognizing it when it appears.

 

lupins June 23, 2010

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:01 am
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Cars on the highway
Race past the fields of lupins
dancing in their draft

 

arrogant truth June 22, 2010

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:20 am
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It is quite sublime arrogance to assume that you have the corner on truth, isn’t it? I am quite astonished at vehement superciliousness that simply reveals a profound ignorance about the world. As Hamlet observes, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” If one imagines he knows everything about anything, he’s simply flashing a glowing statement of his own ignorant pompousity.

People ranted and raved and rallied about the stupidity of sailing around the world, because the world was flat! They screamed and burned and pillaged at the heresy of suggesting that the Earth orbited the sun. They were sure their holy books supported their opinions. They were wrong. At best, they were misguided, at worse, they were dangerously stupid. In Hamlet, Polonius suggests, “Tis too much prov’d, — that with devotion’s visage, and pious action, we do sugar o’er the devil himself.” A lot of people who imagine they are of profound faith cause more trouble than all the demons they imagine strolling among the population.

When everything in your world is black and white, there is no room for any truths to manoeuvre. When your mind is closed to the fact that any God that exists must be bigger than any truth you could conceive of, you are essentially declaring yourself divine. If you think you can hold God’s truth, than you are the ultimate blasphemy.

My friend Rochelle has a saying, “The only thing I’m sure of, is that I’m not sure of anything.” Now there is a philosophy worth espousing! The more you learn, the more you realize how little you actually know. For fanatics, the world is so tiny they imagine that they hold all understanding in their own minds. Winston Churchill says, “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” It is depressing that he says ‘can’t change his mind.’ I guess it’s so narrow in his fanatical mind that there simply isn’t room to turn around a new idea?  They certainly will rant long and hard on their verisimilitude.

Whatever your faith, kindness and consideration are the only components of value. Respecting others and striving to be the best you can be is the greatest journey of faith. We can only hope that time will bring wisdom to us all. With luck, it will also bring a hefty portion of patience for dealing with the adamantly ignorant who live in a black and white world. I prefer to live in colour. The world is so much more beautiful in colour than in black and white!

 

Migraine June 20, 2010

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:39 pm
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a gleam in the distance
a vice on the temples
a tempest in the stomach
an echoing in the ears
an agony in the light

an explosion in my head
paralysis

© Shawn Bird 2010

 

June 19, 2010

Filed under: Literature,Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:39 am
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It’s odd how you can leave a friend for nine years, then feel surprised when he turns up looking a decade older.  In fact, you feel betrayed, as if he’s aged you along with him, and personally dragged you a decade closer to the grave. (Ian Weir.  Daniel O’Thunder. p. 61)

I chuckled when I read this paragraph. 

I suppose it shouldn’t surprise us that our friends and family members are aging as the years go by.  It’s always a surprise when some young relative appears to have shot up several inches in height, dropped a voice an octave, or turned from girl to woman.  We ponder that we ourselves haven’t changed at all, and yet those kids prove just how much time is going by.

Gathering with old friends also reminds us how time doesn’t matter.  We may not have seen each other in a decade, but the relationships are easy and natural.  Shared history makes an easy link and conversations are picked up as if they were left yesterday. 

Time marches on, but what are we doing with the time?  Are we marching closer to the grave without anything to show for our time here, or are we making the most of the years, leaving a legacy for those who follow?

 

Love is a comfortable coat June 16, 2010

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 5:31 pm
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I want to wrap you around me like a coat.

I want to pull up the hood and huddle closer

to keep out cold realities.

I want to button in the warm assurance

of your body tight against me.

I want to cuddle into the closeness

of your heart next to mine,

and the comfort and contentedness

of being wrapped in your love.

 

I will never be… June 14, 2010

Filed under: Literature,Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:49 pm
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…we are never the people we think we are. We are the ones we pretend, with all our hearts, we can’t become. (Jodie Picoult, The Tenth Circle. p. 171)

How many times have we said it? “I will never be like my mother!” As teens we plan to completely re-write our history and do things entirely differently, and yet, faced with unruly children, we find our mother’s words coming out of our mouths and see our mother’s actions in our own.

If this is true for us, then our mothers echoed their mothers back through time. My motherhood style may have originated with my great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother. It is a much bigger task to pull away from generations of history. It’s nature versus nurture. Generations of genetic history are revealed every time we remind a kid to clean his room or to feed the dog.

But there is nurture to contend with as well. We can reprogram a lot of our essential nature with parenting classes or a well-rounded education, but left to ourselves we can never get very far from the words our mothers uttered from the moment we were born, just like they didn’t get away from their mothers’ words .

It’s a little daunting, isn’t it? It helps to remember amid the overwhelming realities of life: your mother loves you. Even though you’re as screwed up as she is.

 

Destiny June 11, 2010

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:42 am

prowling around

circling the ground,

Growling.

Pondering

crushing me

crunching me

cracking me

devouring me.

Destiny

 

Chickadee June 9, 2010

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:54 am
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From deep in the leaves
Chirps a hidden chickadee,
“Come find me me me.”