Tag: Muse in the Morning

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XIII

I had an immense advantage over many others dealing with the problem in as much as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established practice to control and bias my mind, and did not suffer from the general belief that whatever is, is right.

— Henry Bessemer


The Dark Side of Redworld

An Ocean of Blood

A drip of blood

from one perspective

unless its yours

or mine

It falls on the ground

in the highest places

in the villages of Nepal

where blood runs cold

it trickles down

the mountainside

through far Kashmir

into Afghanistan

staining the banks of the streams

that carve the hidden valleys

and splash into the rivers

staining them too with the blood

of guilty and the innocent alike

ever downward through

the desert of Iraq

There are other mountains

in Bosnia and Kosovo

where the blood also spilled

running eastward perhaps

through the valleys of Chechnya

and further on to color red

the desert of Uzbekistan

Blood also spilled in the jungles

of the Congo and Rwanda

and the oil plains of Nigeria

flowing into the rivers

ever onward

’til the rivers ran red

Here too the blood

eventually sank into the deserts

of Eritrea and Darfur

and the bazaars

of the Sudan and Somalia

The desert is stained

with blood

The bloody fist of oppression

squeezes the life

out of the jungle of Myanmar

and the farms of Zimbabwe

The mountains

of Peru and Columbia

add more than their share

The Big Muddy is stained

as it passes by what

used to be the Big Easy

but it’s sure not easy anymore

and the rivers run red with blood

carrying it to the ocean

an ocean of blood

bathing our world

Our home is built

on the blood of others

yet still we add more

or stand by watching it run

Our home is sinking

as the blood-tainted

ocean rises

The blood will consume

us all in the end

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 26, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XII

We all operate in two contrasting modes, which might be called open and closed. The open mode is more relaxed, more receptive, more exploratory, more democratic, more playful and more humorous. The closed mode is the tighter, more rigid, more hierarchical, more tunnel-visioned. Most people, unfortunately spend most of their time in the closed mode.

— John Cleese


Chaos

The Bomb

I was born

with the airlift

food for life

human sustenance

We learned it early

They showed us

the films

parachuting food

Bring some pennies

I’ve forgotten what for

We have much to fear

The end is so near

The Bomb will fall

It will kill all

They taught us that

duck-and-cover

was a verb

how to bend over,

stick your head

between your knees

and kiss your

sweet ass

goodbye

Please give a nickel

The Bomb will fall

It will kill all

We all know how

It’s any day now

And if you are caught

in the open

when it gets bright

get in a ditch

cover up

with cardboard

Teacher, Miss Teacher

Cardboard will burn

and me with it

Fork over a dime

We all know how

It’s any day now

We’re all going to die

The end is quite nigh

Indoctrination:

The bad Russian

triangle would fall

It was indubitably

communistic

The good USsian

triangle stood firm

It was statically

democratic

Donate a quarter

We’re all going to die

The end is quite nigh

Up went The Wall

It stood so tall

And we went two ways

Some of us

became fatalistic

trying desperately

to get on with our lives

Some of us are still afraid

And want nothing else

but for everyone

to share their fear

To the point where

it is precisely them

whom we fear

Up went The Wall

It stood so tall

We have much to fear

The end is so near

Where do I go

to get my life back?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–November 14, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XI

A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.

– G. K. Chesterton


Eye #2

Aliens Among Us?

Even if there is

“someone out there,”

in the cosmic vastness,

why in the hell would

they ever come here?

Do we think we are so

intrinsically interesting

that “they” would want

to keep an eye on us

in secret?

Could any sane person

think that another race

could travel the stars

but would be too afraid

to say hello?

If we were the starfarers

and we discovered

a planet-bound society

wouldn’t we subjugate them

or exterminate them?

Wouldn’t we?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 16, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind X

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

– Henri Bergson


Star Womb

Relatively Speaking

On a cosmic scale

the scale of star stuff

we are all

so insignificant

minor players

on a minor stage

Just dust in the wind

evaporating in a relative

wink of an eye

or so I have been told

One can also

hold the view

that the vastness

of spacetime

gives primacy

to that stage

and to this life

while it occurs

Earth is my universe

until I can leave it

I am immortal

until I die

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 14, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind IX

If a Man will begin with certainties, he will end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he will end in certainties.

— Francis Bacon


Star Dance

The Flow of Life

once
upon a time
stars burnt
creating elements
molecules
this and that
chemicals organized
life
began
life
began
on this planet
we are star stuff
organized chemicals
life
began
it has
not ended
yet
from the stars
we come
into them
we will
eventually
go



–Robyn Elaine Serven
–December 29, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind VIII

‘It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

–Aristotle


Growth

Life doesn’t care

Life doesn’t care

if it’s flora or fauna

or something in between

It exists at a more basic level

cells reproducing

or not

growing…changing

evolving

Life doesn’t care

what genus or species it is

or how success is measured

in any other way

than the proliferation

of more life

eating…excreting

dying

A joshua tree, a mayfly

A redwood, a butterfly

A panda cub, slime mold

A humpback whale, Streptococcus pneumoniae

A human being

All passing fancy

Life doesn’t care

as long as there’s more life

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 5, 2006

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind VII

The open mind never acts: when we have done our utmost to arrive at a reasonable conclusion, we still – must close our minds for the moment with a snap, and act dogmatically on our conclusions.

–George Bernard Shaw


Solid Fire

When it burns

It is not ours

We only

borrow it

thinking that we

control it

we have killed

to possess it

’til it is

our master

The fire consumes

clear, sterile

and then waits

for  life anew

It will have

the last word

The fire was here

long before

life began

We only live

on its skin

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 3, 2006

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind VI

You cannot raise the standard against oppression, or leap into the breach to relieve injustice, and still keep an open mind to every disconcerting fact, or an open ear to the cold voice of doubt.

–Learned Hand


Planet

Days Will Come

Days will come

when sanity will

regain supremacy,

when disease will

be battled without

political consideration,

when people’s deaths

will not be occasions

to seek out

personal advantage.

But not today.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 1, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind V

“I try to keep an open mind, but not so open that my brains fall out.”

–Harold T. Stone


Blue Mother

Chapter 6

The Spirit of the Valley

never dies.

It is called

the Mystic Female.

The Door

of the Mystic Female

Is the root

of Heaven and Earth.

Continuously, continuously,

It seems to remain.

Draw upon it

And it serves you with ease.

–Tao te Ching (tr. Lin Yutan)

Blue Mother

Like you

I hang my head

You in sorrow

Me in shame

Blue Mother

I weep with you

for the damage done

to the spirit

of the valley

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–November 1, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind IV

Of those qualities on which civilization depends, next after courage, it seems to me, comes an open mind, and, indeed, the highest courage is, as Holmes used to say, to stake your all upon a conclusion which you are aware tomorrow may prove false.

–Irving Dillard


Black and White

Balance

It is all about balance,

so my book tells me.

What to balance with what?

Therein lies the difficulty.

Does the past

offset the future

or the present?

If it balances

the present

then how can Now

also be in balance?

And isn’t that important?

Cannot the present

only be the

balance point

if the past

and future offset?

But how can

the past

offset a future

which has not

yet occurred?

Perhaps this problem

needs more

dimensions,

a change in

the frame

of reference.

–Robyn Elaine Serven
–November 7, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind II

Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.

–Charles F. Kettering

Art Link

Time in an Egg

The Complement of Time

When people see some things as beautiful,

other things become ugly.

When people see some things as good,

other things become bad.

–Tao te Ching (tr. Strephen Mitchell)

Time is

the collective counting

of humankind

With recognition of time

comes recognition of mortality

To live long

becomes the objective

And while we’re all

counting together

maybe we should also

tally our stuff

I guess to

break the tie

when two people

die simultaneously

So greed

is born

Why is life a game?

–Robyn Elaine Serven
–November 28, 2005

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind II


Sand

On Time

The years fly by

while the months

pass too slowly

Each day drones on

With not enough

minutes

Each second

measuring

the beating

of my heart

pounding

relentlessly

to the end

of my eternity

counting

the grains

of sand

in the hourglass

acting as

the timepiece

of my life

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 22, 2005

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