Blogs

  • wavy windy quest

    seasand-01

    it’s not red, but this is the red sea on the shore of jeddah, saudi arabia. photography by ssj

    is the wave
    that creates the wave
    that creates the wave
    that creates the wave
    that reaches my feet
    the same wave
    that reaches my feet?

    (more…)

  • the semicolon

    two views about the semicolon, excerpted

    unfinished business

    the semicolon is unfinished business;
    don’t use it if you are not willing to deal
    with unfinished businesses;

    an invitation you cannot refuse
    to take a leap beyond the known
    to explore what lies ahead;

    a separation that does not divide
    but rather bonds
    those which are separated;

    know that it can become
    larger than life and cannot
    be bothered even by death;

    a flow greater than itself
    rolling waves on a quest
    to bring us closer home;

    (more…)

  • ramadan

    Ramadan Rise. Image is a mashup from photos shared by Engin_Akyurt, Reimund Bertrams and 5hashank @ pixabay.com

    ramadan

    my world cannot sleep
    with the tinnitus of silence,
    my 3 am soaked in the rousing scent
    of lemon drops and apple cider vinegar
    that dress up the onion and watercress
    salad for the suhūr meal waiting
    in the kitchen, while my wife
    naps peacefully for a few more minutes
    perhaps again murmuring in her dreams,
    her conversation with a washing machine
    that launders like the sea
    we have not visited since the start
    of this ramadan.

    we do not mind what we cannot see
    the drones stealing in the night
    the silence of the tinnitus,
    the intercept of ballistic missiles
    crashing onto sidewalks and cartops,
    we cannot see, except
    when wannabe paparazzi decide
    to splash the images on social media and
    the morning news.

    (more…)

  • scoria

    Picture is a mashup from Pixabay.com images contributed by Stefan Keller, Erik Reichenbach & Ulrich B.

    scoria

    oh, to bless the meek,
    to inherit the earth,
    to drown our hearts
    in the raging sea.
    to teach a man how to beg
    and he will learn how to smile.
    to teach a man how to fish
    and he will learn how to kill.
    and the bottom of our cup
    remains fathomless as can be.

    –  © said sadain 2019

    (more…)

  • An invitation to a place of more understanding and less fear 

    An invitation to a place of more understanding and less fear
    A Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta (UUCA) talk about Islam by Rev Dr. M’ellen Kennedy

    “…We are being whipped up into fear of Muslims. And when we are afraid…. we’re operating out of just that reptilian part of our brain…. When we are afraid we don’t have access to our higher functionings, our whole self, the power of the knowledge in our hearts, our whole being, resigned to a small place of living. ….People are afraid of what they don’t understand, so my hope today is to share with you a little bit about what I love about Islam, in order to invite you to a place of more understanding and less fear….”

    — Rev Dr. M’ellen Kennedy

    UUCA Talk on Islam by Rev Dr. M’ellen Kennedy

    (more…)

  • dissection

    mu-dissection2

    mashed up from pixabay.com images of www_slon_pics and geralt: here, here and here

    dissection

    come brother and feel this pulse
    rhyming with the flowing red.
    its presence is evidence
    that i have a heart like yours.

    reach closer now and feel me breathe:
    this chest heaves
    with the warmth of the sunshine
    in the morning chill,
    it rages in the sultry air of
    the noonday heat,
    it freezes with the swelling
    of the midnight breeze,
    its essence is with the sameness
    we inhale and exhale.

    (more…)

  • the seeds

    haka-collage

    a collage of the Christchurch community’s memorial for the 15 Mar. 2019 Al-Noor Mosque shooting victims, images lifted from various internet photos and videos

    the seeds

    the world is shrinking as we shake
    from all the swelling and the aches
    the hours are shorter, distances near
    for all the borders we hold dear,
    and as the world shrinks and squeezes us in
    its membranes wrapped over our skins
    we grasp for the haka of souls and spirits
    to break through the sheaths, to let us breathe.

    –  © said sadain 2019

    (more…)

  • talking to the sun

    ttts

    image is a mashup of photos by Leo Cardelli and Cristiano Bizzinotto, both @ pexels.com

    talking to the sun

    the cars stop at red, a momentary block,
    as the gaunt but big-boned man
    — with sun-baked face and arms,
    hair and beard dangling wiry, crinkled
    like loose threads of his faded-violet
    duffel bag slung on a towering shoulder,
    dressed in tattered flowing brown robe
    that had long lost its sleeves —
    crosses our part of the street on to the middle island
    to teeter beneath the traffic light that worries about
    the man dancing round its weather-beaten pole.

    the man’s fierce eyes tell me
    not to open my side windows,
    as he, a soul from the middle island, shaded
    by the red-eye traffic lamp,
    raises his hands high to the sky
    looking up directly to the morning sun,
    alternately shaking his pointy fingers of doom
    to shoot down the cosmic glare,
    or opening up his fists into a graven cup,
    to beseech the sun and his many moons
    to come rest in his palms.

    (more…)

  • enchanted

     

    borderspell-md

    photo of a signboard displayed at a borders store in Selangor, Malaysia. photography by ssj, 2019

    ‘nice to see, nice to hold,
    once broken, considered sold.’  

    — anonymously printed on a signboard at a borders store  

    spells to sell

    modern magic spells,
    flasks of fortune to dispense
    ancient human greed

    stir up the cauldron,
    lift the urns into the air,
    there are no borders

    longer than your smile,
    wider than your appetite,
    these spells are for sale.

     

    –  © ssj 2019 

    borderspell_

    signboard displayed at a borders store in Selangor, Malaysia – no filters. photography by ssj, 2019

     

     

  • still lost in time at the 10:10

    when the 10:10 strikes

     

    the1010b

    @ the center court of the Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 2018. photography by SSJ

    the public is
    normally a band of
    toy soldiers for 
    mainstream and
    social media to
    play with.  

    what will you be 
    when at 10:10
    the clock strikes?  


    © ssj 2018

    Notes: 

    Lifted from a postcard that I came across on Messenger, but most specially from my heart to yours:  here’s wishing you all a relaxed mind, a peaceful soul, a joyful spirit, a healthy body and a heart full of love this holiday season and always.

    As you can surmise, I remain lost at the 10:10, and will probably not be able to blog regularly for some more time. And if you are wondering, why the 10:10?, here’s a few fun links to get you going after the 10:10, for whatever good it will do to your part of the multiverse:

    Why is 10:10 the Default Setting for Clocks and Watches?

    4 Reasons Why You Are Seeing 10:10 – The Meaning of 1010

    Those ones and zeros might not look like anything to you, but in binary code the numbers are actually saying… 

    The Ten Codes 

    — SSJ, 31 Dec. 2018

    _____________
    Disclaimer:  The poster above is not earning me any commission fees, neither from the image’s watch watchmaker, nor from any of the Suria KLCC businesses that you may encounter in some of the links on this page.

  • splitting seconds

    combo-02-reflect

    Image is a mashup of photos by Jaymantri @ pexels.com and Trinck @ pixabay.com. The imagery employs some amount of Gaussian blur combined with a zooming effect. Neither of the original photos is anywhere near 71st Sinaiyah.

    splitting seconds

    this is what a WTD moment
    on 71st Sinaiyah at my 10:
    10:00 AM looks like from
    the driver’s seat:

    narrow asphalt lanes
    no longer than a mile
    going and coming empty
    but for the single file of sad cars
    illegally parked along the curbs
    — but only illegal for stray 
    traffic cops to say —
    withering dull or glossy
    under the desert sun on
    either side of 10:09:58 AM,
    twin solid yellow lines solemnly mark
    separation at the middle of the world
    promising a robust paradise
    at the foreseeable future bend,
    when from the corner of an eye
    a red ocher car whips up to life:
    (more…)