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?

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  • a crabby haiku

    of crabs and mentalities 

    why do you get blamed
    for their own mentalities?
    o crab, you’re just fine.

    © said sadain, jr. 2018 

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  • the wind will have its purpose

     

    the wind will have its purpose

    the wind ruffles my thoughts
    that cling like leaves to branches,

    a tree takes root, a bird must fly
    and leaves will whisper to the wind

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  • mt. tumantangis

    mt. tumantangis

    (from the collection: Mt. Tumantangis and Other Poems on Sulu)

    she lays open the breast to the sea
    and crouches low enough to ward off the winds,
    her brows impose the wisdom of the time
    harder than the jutting rocks, yet gentle
    as the blue of the sky that crowns.

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  • arrivals

    naval-arrivals-02b

    Arrivals, an image of naval boats and soldiers disembarking, mashed up by SSJ from Internet images found here and here

    arrivals

    (from the collection: Mt. Tumantangis and Other Poems on Sulu)

    the wharf is like the season’s face
    it marks the time,
    the coming and the going
    witness the breeze dive
    to kiss the expectant waves,
    or the wind howl to shake
    the complacent crests,
    the gray iron boat approaches
    as a plundering heap.

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  • Devora de Bris

    Devora de Bris,
    she breaks her fast
    with dwindling hydrogen thrust,
    toasted titanium
    and a cracked cranium,

    (more…)

  • the calm

    simunul-wharf-9527255_orig

    A typical scene in Sulu & Tawi-tawi islands, when calmness is a boat cradled by the gentle sea in the safety of a wharf on a breezy, sunny day. Photo of a Simunul Island wharf by Harly Limlingan Marcuap of http://www.akrosdayunibers.com, 2013.

    the calm

    (from the collection: Mt. Tumantangis and Other Poems on Sulu)

    it haunts the people’s dream of comfort too.
    the cozy rooms, the furnished halls
    drive the cold out into the night
    and into the poor man’s house, it nurses
    the bleeding lungs, the muted mouth.
    and when a launch docks beside the wharf
    with shrill hoots in the early dawn
    arrival is no more wakeful than
    departures in the afternoon.

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  • the waves of sulu

    (All photos are courtesy of Harly Limlingan Marcuap of http://www.akrosdayunibers.com)

     

    the waves of sulu

    a boy contemplates the nipa huts
    beneath the coconut trees as a patch
    firewoods for the sacrificial pyre
    and the land heaves beside the waves.
    he rows as a speck in the sea
    his arms full now, his eyes deep
    scan the point on the beach
    where once a father had dearly bled.

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  • the damas trees of sitteen

    dino-draw-002-lighten-02c

    surreal image mashed up by SSJ from his photo of damas trees, and images from pixabay.com courtesy of aitoff, Capri23auto and Clker-Free-Vector-Images

    the damas trees of sitteen 

    green conocarpus
    dinosaurs lined up in mid
    island of sitteen

    silent witnesses
    to the flow of red-tailed worms
    this side of the world

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  • dawn

     

    1025032_orig

    a stilt house community along the shores of patikul in the sulu archipelago at sunrise, photo by Harly Limlingan Marcuap of www.akrosdayunibers.com,  2013

    dawn

    the causeways rattle under
    sleepy feet waking
    to the call to prayer at dawn;
    winds snake from
    below the sea as sharp bites
    to a native reality
    and the tide gently laps
    to grace the burdened stilts.

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  • fleeting thoughts of a fevered lover

    mountains-889131_1920

    photo by skeeze @ pixabay.com

    fleeting thoughts of a fevered lover 

    now
    the gurgling of peace
    in confused currents of a
    soft-silvered stream
    that runs under my pillow
    is joined
    by the stringed reflection
    of your guitar —
    a heartfelt tone of some
    moonbeam lights in nights
    of rambling cries.

    (more…)