Linda Studley

Can't Put the Pen Down…

Archive for the tag “fear”

25 Apr 2018

One

I live in a bubble, life
playing out around me in comforting
rhythms, familiar if not predictable.
Passive spectator except on those
rare occasions when the bubble pops
and the world stands forth, stark and clean.

Colours sing that three dimensions,
five senses,
one lifetime,
are not enough
to experience a world so real
and I know that if I could just stay
outside the bubble I could hold time
in the palm of my hand, vanquish
the dragons of pain, fear, and longing, see
inside hearts, and speak without words.

Then a random, mundane thought intrudes
and the bubble sneaks up around me again, clouds
the freshness, lulls my senses.
But just before the bubble closes I wonder
‘is this what becoming one with the universe means?
Was I there and I blew it again?
Will I ever find my way back?’.

I feel in my bones this world
I’ve glimpsed is a stepping stone
to eternity and if I could just stay
long enough to find my way
I would sprout new senses, fly
into a new dimension, the next lifetime.
The dragons growl.
The bubble closes.

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03 Apr 2018

Like a Bird

Your heart, like a bird
fluttering, testing the winds2018-04-03-Like a Bird
of change in your soul

before taking flight.
Breath-taking fibrillation
shocks us to the now

where a breathe can hang
like mist in the frozen air
then crash to the ground,

tiny icicles
shatter, chime through the silence
“it’s time to go home”

 

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02 Jul 2016

To Live in Harmony

Everyone deals with pain. We all struggle with insecurity, alienation, and fear. Instinct gives us two choices; fight or flight. Wisdom gives us another choice: reason. Earnest, unbiased, drama-free reason.

To discuss a problem reasonably, dispassionately, with the only goal being a resolution that works for everyone, is not easy but it is always productive. It is a place where “I can” is more important that “you shouldn’t”. And it is a place we should visit regularly if we want to live in harmony.

When problems persist we need to look at our actions with an eye to seeing patterns, triggers, and habits that generate problems both for ourselves and others. Sometimes just acknowledging these things can help us overcome them. Sometimes we need to find ways to change the patterns, disarm the triggers, and reroute the habits. Be aware. Be mindful.

Problems exist in the present, solutions exist in the future (until achieved), and causes exist in the past. The only one we have no control over is the past so do not give it more weight and importance that it deserves.

Instead of telling someone what they are doing wrong, tell them what they are doing right. Build on ‘right’ rather than tearing down with ‘wrong’.

Anger is not an emotion, it is a reaction to an emotion.

Anger unleashed is the voice of fear, a weapon used to gain control, a vent for feelings of being overwhelmed.

Anger suppressed is the armour of pain, a shield carried by the misunderstood, a wall built by exhaustion and despair.

When you are calm, non-judgemental. When you are willing to look for a solution that works, not only for you, but for everyone involved. When the goal is harmony rather than hierarchy. Then so many solutions will appear that your only problem will be which ones to choose.

Smile and repeat.

 

 

 

Posted in Epigrams and Essays, writing and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2015

All Saints’ Eve or Halloween, All Hallows’ Eve or Samhain

All Saints’ Eve or Halloween, All Hallows’ Eve or Samhain.
Tonight the veil is thinner and the starry night is prowlin’
with rowdy revellers, masqueraders, and jack-o-lantern jesters
who plunge their hands through the misty veil to greet their lost ancestors.

Do not fear the dead, my friend, they’ve better things to do
than haunt a house or frighten timid folk like me and you.
Fear more the ignorant living, who use the blessed night
to feed their need for power and greed by giving you a fright.

So here’s to those who’ve gone before, a toast to those who’ve left.
They never meant for you to feel abandoned or bereft.
And if the veil is thinner now and the date auspicious,
perhaps they’ll hear you toasting them and treasure your well wishes.

All Saints’ Eve or Hallowe’en, All Hallows’ Eve or Samhain.
if there was naught to fright before, there’s naught to fright you now and
do no harm to man nor beast, but let your heart be true
for the only evil you should fear is what you bring with you.
#109

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21 Jul 2015
1 Comment

Hats Off

Many women are accused
of having far too many shoes
I haven’t fallen prey to that
but I know I have too many hats.

The hat I wear when I’m at work;
in charge and self-assured.
The hat I don when I’m alone
and feeling insecure.

The singer hat is large enough
to hide behind on stages.
The ‘Mother Hat’ endows me with
the wisdom of the ages.

My friend hat is much smaller
and is more for decoration.
My artist hat is paint stained
with high-lights of frustration.

My writing hat is comfortable
I wear it every day.
The hat I wear to clean the house
I’d like to throw away.

But I’m happiest going hatless,
the way you taught me to.
Today I’ve made the time to take
all my hats off to you.

 

#7

Posted in A New Poem Every Morning #2, Poetry, Writings and tagged , , , ,
28 Dec 2013

Reality, the Illusion

The sleight of mind that palms
truth up a sleeve and
replaces it with hope and horror
and so the illusionist dreams
reality out of anticipation and fear.
Reality, the illusion.

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03 Nov 2012

This is Good Morning

This is my apology for projecting
my fears and frustrations onto you.
You are not a blank wall or a white sheet.
This is not the Can’t Film Festival.
No one’s getting an award for best angst.
This is life.
The only true awards will be the smiles along the way.
This is me taking a deep breath, sucking it up, and carrying on.
This is a good morning because we believe it to be so.

 

#315

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28 Aug 2012
1 Comment

Food Fear 3

The scarlet letter of shame today
is not an “A”.
It’s the “S” painted on the shaker of salt
that’s at fault.

The salt shaker top is littered with holes,
it’s hard to control
the amount of salt that hits your food
and you overdo

because salt is teeny and hard to see,
it’s pale and wee.
Not like pepper that is easy to see
and makes you sneeze.

Though pepper lives in a shaker too
the holes are few.
And though pepper is safer than salt they say
this is the way

we traditionally think our seasonings should be
but it seems
pepper should be in the shaker marked “S”
(for ‘Safe’, I guess.)

And salt should be kept in the one marked “P”
’cause it seems to me,
since we know too much salt is  bad for us –
“P” for ‘Perilous’.

#248

Posted in A New Poem Every Morning, Poetry, Writings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
26 Aug 2012
1 Comment

Food Fear

A soft boiled egg perched in a cup
with a jaunty, hand knit cap on top
and buttered toast cut into strips
to dunk so you didn’t miss a bit

of the bright yellow yolk
so smooth and delicious
who knew that eggs
could be so malicious

as to hide the fiend cholesterol
that would lead to a dietary fall
from grace. All I can say is “Crap,
now what’ll I do with the jaunty cap?”

#246

Posted in A New Poem Every Morning, Poetry, Writings and tagged , , , , , , ,
20 Aug 2012
2 Comments

The Ticket

I think I lost my ticket.
Or perhaps I bent, spindled,
mutilated or folded it illegible.

It happens that way sometimes
when you hold it in your hand too long,
twiddling it, fiddling with it,
absent mindedly clenching and
unclenching your hands around it
as though the destination could
be absorbed through the skin,
a sweat stained dermal transference.
So perhaps it was just a transfer I lost,
not the ticket.

Wait, here is the ticket in my pocket.
I take it out but cannot bring myself to read
the destination.

 

#240

Posted in A New Poem Every Morning, Poetry, Writings and tagged , , , , , , ,

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