General

Janus

Which face to wear?
Looking forward
or back? The past,
both blessing and weight,
does not cease to be,
even as what will be
approaches. To know
both is not possible,
yet one gives insight
to the other. I wear both.

This is my response to Reena’s Xploration Challenge # 264. It’s January, and Reena asks us to consider Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, and endings, who is depicted as having two faces.

Shared with OpenLink Night LIVE at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.

Reena’s Exploration Challenge #264 & Moonwashed Weekly Prompt #126 – Evolve

While this is not a new creation, both Reena and Eugenia prompted me to revisit this piece and bring it new life. 🙂

birth delivers an unknown entity
and life begins yet again 
you start to exist

the business of life
is to evolve
into your best form

the goal is to reach
a physical peak
then head to the inevitable conclusion

during your stay
your personality
the essence of you
continues to be shaped
by the experiences, tools, and influences along the way

daring to live
requires enhancing it
doing it your way
requires courage

i hope you find joy in it along the way 

Originally published 5/23/2018 on I Write Her. Presented here with revisions.

Shuffle every second or every moment

My life in different manifestations

Standing side by side every component

Like broken legumes of a loment

Or powdery rooms in some stations

Shuffle every second or every moment

Shoulder to shoulder with my opponent

In silence or different sensations

Standing side by side every component

Again doing things spur-of-the-moment

Nearly getting some expectations

Shuffle every second or every moment

Wrap myself warm on my enrollment

Having dinner with my relations

Standing side by side every component

Being logical my proponent

Life is full of hope and fluctuations

Shuffle every second or every moment

Standing side by side every component*

(c) ladyleemanila 2023

*A Villanelle is a nineteen-line poem consisting of a very specific rhyming scheme: aba aba aba aba aba abaa.

For: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2023/01/19/reenas-xploration-challenge-264/, https://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/2023/01/15/wordle-588/

Reena asks us a question this week:

Janus isthe god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings.He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus.

Source: Wikipedia

We counted backwards at midnight on 31st December 2022.

How should we go forward now? I need to know how many months, weeks, days I have to make my life or this world a better place to survive. I may not die at the end of this year, nor will the world end. But it will be criminal to lose time.

Or do you prefer going with the flow, and letting life unfold on its own?

I would love to see your take on this.

A Story of Arrogance Sponsored by Greed

Shelly was excited to get busy!
Her major in Earth Sciences had prepared her for a career…

Time changes everything, as when I was younger, I always went with the flow, and let life unfold on its own, but now that I see that my time on this Earth is getting shorter day by day, I have a very different outlook on life.  I had a live for today philosophy, not worrying about what happened in the past, or fearing what the future would bring.  I tried to live in the moment and enjoy what life gave me.  When I was young and healthy, all I ever thought about was having fun.  Life is full of surprises, and the only certainty is that one day we will all die whether we are healthy or sick, rich or poor, or happy or sad, as death is inevitable.

Recently I discovered that I am like a non-stick pan, which is a pleasure to cook with, but they must be taken…

Welcome back to another week of January!

We counted backwards at midnight on 31st December 2022.

How should we go forward now? I need to know how many months, weeks, days I have to make my life or this world a better place to survive. I may not die at the end of this year, nor will the world end. But it will be criminal to lose time.

Or do you prefer going with the flow, and letting life unfold on its own?

I would love to see your take on this.

⏰⏰⏰

As I saw the countdown posted by Reena with the prompt, it seemed to be the longest minute ever.

I was born in November

Have seen 61 new years

At first we used to be excited

Then we grew apprehensive

With age worries overtook excitement

Now approaching old age I’ve found serenity

Life is unpredictable, no matter…

Dire predictions
the dimple in a grim smile
Is my resistance

like changing seasons
heedless deeds spin fortune’s wheel
a chain reaction

I see with thine eye
Is this the lover’s edict
hybrid creations

In a lawless world
karma keeps a watchful gaze
the peasant toils on

Inhibited soul
you must bloom in their vision
to grow your wisdom

On a dreamer’s whim
pave new ways to withered ends
that you must rebuild

A Senryu series for Colleen’s TankaTuesday. See if you can pick a favourite.
Also for:
Sadje’s whatdoyousee
Caley’s writephoto
Reena’s xploration challenge.

Tall Tales Corner

We named her Aangaz the village clutz Clumsy to a tear Tinkles trailed her tippytap step pots and pans broke in her wake coins and trinkets fell from her pockets the children chortled with laughter but always returned her lost treasures and how she loved them so One…

Do you see humans birthing in laboratories or Earth changing its orbit or aliens attacking us? Well! I don’t, at least in the near future but these are some of Baba Venga’s prediction for 2023. This was done way back and I attribute it to an imaginative mind!

I would draw rainbows from a hazy sky. Creativity knows no bounds. Like an agile magician, poetry and poets stretch their possibilities and see beyond the horizon. A flower floats in the sky and fish, well, can do everything but swim. Everything I do is stitched with its colour, and dutifully taken back.

Without poetry, poets and predictions, living would lose its charm and life would lose its liveliness. Hurray to a world of imagination. Beyond reality!

125 words.

Acknowledgements :- Thank you Reena Saxena for RxC #263 . The prompt is to use Baba Venga’s prediction as a stimulus for imagination…

Welcome back to another Sunday Poser

This week my question is;

What is one advice you wished you can give your younger self?

It all depends on what stage of life my younger self is in. In her childhood days, I’d tell her not to be too concerned with what others thought of her. People are usually too involved with their own lives to give much thought to others around them.

To my teenage self, I’d advise her to not react to her emotions too much. She needs to be more pragmatic and look at life more practically.

To myself as a young mom, I’d tell her to stop fretting about being a perfect mother and to concentrate on being a more understanding and loving mom. Though I think that the kids would still have complaints regarding her style of parenting!

What would you advise your younger self and at…