Reflections 36-40 from Folding Mirror Poetry Book

Over forty reflections from 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections are on the Writing and Poetry blog now, so following on from reflections 1-5, reflections 6-10, reflections 11-15, reflections 16-20, reflections 21-25, reflections 26-30 , and reflections 31-35, here’s reflections 36-40 in what is this blog’s 400 post:

Reflection 36 mirrored When Life Looked Into the Mirror of Death:

When I started writing Folding Mirror poems I was looking for an ideal identity, hoping that I would find ancestors I could really relate with; maybe in line with the hippy ideal.
But I had to face the reality that the first settler-ancestors were forest-felling, meat-slaughtering, people-sacrificing humans.
They also did great things of course, such as surviving in harsh conditions, creating art and stone circles, and worshipping nature.
In other words, they lived like most human communities around the world, before being invaded by other humans with superior technology.
While the ancients’ world seems better than ours in many ways; such as freedom, space and the amount of nature; for comfort, peacefulness and human rights ours seems preferable.

Reflection 37 mirrored Sacrifice and Celebration:

Life is finite
time immemorial
we see changes
we feel differences
we are alive.

Our age flows
without interruption
we commemorate passing
we welcome return
we accept time.

Reflection 38 mirrored Humanity is the Filter of the World:

Most of my interest is in humanity
but its tainted with concern,
for we seem out of control
on a global scale:
tearing down the forests,
cutting up the animals,
polluting the seas,
thawing the glaciers,
increasing the likelihood of more war.

Reflection 39 mirrored PEACE DAY POEM:

Creatures of habit
go with the flow
they do what they know;
Within the flock
comfort and security
inspire aspirations for longevity.

Reflection 40 mirrored British Electorate Reunite Long Lost Political Twins:

Red Sky at night or morning

Was the New Labour government red at night or morning?
I’ve become so disillusioned by politics I don’t know
whether I’m coming or going.

Red sky at night is supposed to be shepherd’s delight
but blue and yellow has followed the red
which surely suggests it was red sky in the morning
which is a shepherd’s warning.

Reflections 31-35 from Folding Mirror Poetry Book

Over thirty-five reflections from 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections are on the Writing and Poetry blog now, so following on from reflections 1-5, reflections 6-10, reflections 11-15, reflections 16-20, reflections 21-25, and reflections 26-30 here’s reflections 31-35.

Reflection 31 mirrored As each second of the present passes:

Living the life extraordinary
is of course not as easy
as surviving the life ordinary
in mind as in body
to accomplish
tremendous feats
you must overcome
temptation to weaken
tire or tweet.
You must raise your game
in body, mind and spirit
and tame those thoughts
which would lead you astray
and one day you will make
it to a brighter day.

Reflection 32 mirrored Blue Skies, Delta Blues:

The poem was inspired by research finding that the human desire for love and drugs are both linked to the striatum part of the brain.
Like many Folding Mirrors, it combines the personal, social and wordplay. The words in the first half of the middle line; try, stray and from; derive from the main word of the second half of the line and poem: striatum.
It was thought that the poem was more psychological than social or literary, so it was included in this chapter.

Reflection 33 mirrored Hope for Humanity or Full Speed to Calamity?

Bipolar highs take you out of your shell, but increase your chances of getting shot at.

Reflection 34 mirrored Inside Out:

People and societies vary in levels of individuality. Some people pride themselves on being independent, while others want to be in the middle of everything social. Whatever the levels of individuality, if people have been born into any kind of society, they are likely to have been shaped by it to a certain extent, and will be expected to abide by the rules of that society. People might rebel, or consider themselves more independent than others, but usually they do it within the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, and follow previous examples from within that society.

Reflection 35 mirrored Railway Line Division Vision:

Ballad of a Young and Old Hobo

The young hobo
all full of myths and dreams
setting out on the highway
with nowhere to go
Where would the road lead him
what route would he follow
to a destiny of riches
or realisation of world hollow
The end of the long road
led to attempts at rooting
but the horizon always called
with new places for scooting
So the road has not ended
nor ever shall it likely
it was just suspended
reality upended
As ambitions tended
bended by society
a life in jeopardy
with no escape ahead of me
The old hobo moving along
myths and dreams no longer the fuel
new places on the old trail
sights and movement keep travelling cool.

Mirror Poem Reflections 26-30

Thirty-five reflections from 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections are on the Writing and Poetry blog now, so following on from reflections 1-5, reflections 6-10, reflections 11-15, reflections 16-20 and reflections 21-25 here’s reflections 26-30.

Reflection 26 mirrored Dying to Live, Living to Die:

Life is Like…

Life is like a journey on a neverending road,
you know you’ll never find out
the destination at the end,
but just try and learn along the way.

Life is like flying over a real rainbow,
you know you’ll never find
golden immortality at the bottom,
but just try and enjoy the journey.

Life is like a big night out,
you know that you’ll peak and tire
and not continue forever
but just try and make the most of it.

Reflection 27 mirrored Life Has More Meaning than Death:

Depression
is a state of mind
if you accept its normality
and accurate view
of the negative side
to the world cycle
that enters your life
then it’s not time
wasted.

Reflection 28 mirrored Y Green and Grey Go Together:

Reflection 28 (part 1)

‘by seeing Venus during the day while trekking in the Yorkshire Dales Three Peaks, alerted by the Sky at Night television programme; my first conscious sighting of a middle-of-the-day planet or star at the age of 46. It was on the same March 2012 trip that I took the 242 Mirror Poems cover photo.’

Reflection 28 (part 2)

The second half of the Reflection lightened the mood under a clear day and night sky with a previously unpublished comedy poem:

If the sheepdogs tell great jokes
and livestock like to clown around
under a smiling sun and moon
I want to go to the funny farm.

Reflection 29 mirrored I Can See Through You, Why Don’t People Understand Me:

I Like Your Mask

Why should you believe I like you
when I say I don’t care about myself
perhaps it’s because I can’t read your mind
as clearly as I can mine.

But the more I see of you
the more I think we’re no different
just humans living day to day
some with better masks than others.

Reflection 30 mirrored Space Brain Becoming Plain:

The poem was inspired by images of the universe and a scanned brain that looked similarly oblong.

A clear night sky from a dark viewing point is an incredible sight, but it is only what our eyes and brains can manage to see. Telescopes show the connectivity and immensity beyond our Earth view.

Human brains use complex systems to keep us functioning, but we can’t see how it is done, as our eyes see outwards. Scanning equipment shows the connectivity and immensity on the inside.

Mirror Poem Reflections 21-25

Over thirty reflections from 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections are on the Writing and Poetry blog now, so following on from reflections 1-5, reflections 6-10,  reflections 11-15 and reflections 16-20 here’s reflections 21-25.

I originally repeated Reflection 22 in 24, and have now edited it. Sorry about that!

Reflection 21

Reflection 21 mirrored Between Times of Fantasy. Maybe it was thinking of some time in the future like now when it was written. Here’s Reflection 21:

Sometimes I have written poems about my unknown future with inspiration from the forgotten past.
Then, a few years later I read it again.
The time when I wrote the poem, which is now of course the past, is then relived by the future mind that was written about.

Reflection 22

Reflection 22 mirrored Multitasking Melody:

Been walking
around the mountain
looking for a clear path
enjoying the view
now it’s getting late
time’s running out
fog’s forming
need to make a decision
or just keep rambling
to the end.

Reflection 23

Reflection 23 mirrored Not Love, Gnat Empathy:

Is it worth contesting people’s religious, political and cultural beliefs and views? While you may save them, you could also destroy them.
Somebody who might be saved in one way from a life of slavery and ignorance may in other ways die from freedom and knowledge.
And if you show them the possibility that life has no meaning, without providing anything else, are you not like a doctor taking heroin away from an addict without providing any methadone.
And for yourself, maybe you’ll ruin your career or life trying to do what you think is good, and do very little to change anything: or even make things worse by giving those you consider wrong more ammunition and an enemy to deflect attention and legitimise their cause.

Reflection 24

Reflection 24 mirrored Contented Living, Contents of Dreaming:

Keep honey cooking in the kitchen
memories on the mantelpiece
old flames in the fire.

Reflection 25

Reflection 25 mirrored Inner Strength, Mental Health:

The poem was written after the UK riots of 2011. Although I sometimes dislike modern society and yearn for a more natural one, the scenes of mass destruction against homes, businesses and landmarks looked all wrong.
Whatever the pressures and problems (if it wasn’t just greed and power), there are always places to escape if desired, rather than trying to create space in somewhere densely inhabited.
Many people feel they’re not their real selves within modern society; which is literally a construction. Most think they become their real selves outside the work environment, when they spend time with their family, play sports, or escape into the countryside.
I often wonder whether this is something inspired by life in modern society; a natural desire of your life in the here and now; or is it something imprinted in your genes stretching back to our ancestors in prehistory.

Michael McCarthy was also quoted from an article about St. Kilda published in the Independent newspaper on August 9th, 2012: ‘…I think the longing for nature in its pristine state is much older. Remember, we have been computer operators for a single generation, and workers in offices for about three; but we were farmers for 400 generations, and before that we were hunter-gatherers for perhaps 20,000.’

Mirror Poem Book Reflections 16-20

Hope you’re enjoying autumn/fall in the northern hemisphere, and spring/summer in the southern. Sorry I haven’t posted any new poems on here for a while, but I’m creating a lot of poetry for a two-years X Files parody project I’m serialising over at the Writing and Poetry greenYgrey blog, as well as serialising reflections from the 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections book there, so I’m being kept pretty busy when not doing the day-job.

Mirror Poem Book Reflections

Over twenty reflections from 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections are on the Writing and Poetry blog now, so following on from reflections 1-5, reflections 6-10, and reflections 11-15 here’s reflections 16-20:

Reflection 16 mirrored Middle-Age Memories:

Our age is one of great importance,
for it is the only one we’ll know.

Reflection 17 mirrored Living in the Middle-Ages:

Reaching middle-age
for a rebellious youth
leaves you with two pathway choices.
Try to continue as you are
while remaining cool
or become what you rebelled
against in youth.
Neither is easy or perfect,
and will include falseness,
compromise or both,
but there’s no alternative.
You are not what you were
and while not planning to survive
you continue to be alive.

Reflection 18 (in 2 parts) mirrored The Futility of Life and Death:

I’ve fantasised about creating life, but dreamt about ending my own more. Suicide was my parachute, knowing it was there helped keep my plane on course when it was in trouble.

Vampires are All in the Mind

Molars dig deep
through unconscious neck
into conscious brain
draining lifeblood from mood.

Hourglass inverted
serotonin drains away
you join the living dead
for another day.

Reflection 19 mirrored The Art of Humanity:

Travelling with Janis Joplin

Existential travel
searching for confirmation
only freedom to lose.

Reflection 20 mirrored Summer’s Sunset Soliloquy:

Strength and Death

In youth I felt strong enough to die.
In middle-age I feel my strength dying.
In old age I expect to feel death strengthen.

The book’s available from Amazon for under £3 and under $6, and lots of other currencies for the equivalent prices; and less than £1 or $2 on Kindle, and Smashwords for other ebook readers.

It could be a great present for middle-aged people, and a good one for people of all ages!

Mirror Poem Book Poetry Reflections 11 – 15

Fifteen reflections from 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections are on the Writing and Poetry blog now, so following on from reflections 1-5 and reflections 6-10, here’s reflections 11-15:

The book’s available from Amazon for under £3 and under $6, and lots of other currencies for the equivalent prices; and Smashwords for other ebook readers for much less.

Mirror Poem Reflections

Reflection 11 mirrored the poem Tale of the Weakness Tail

Limits of Freedom

When birds have freedom
they don’t fly into the stratosphere
but sometimes bump into windows.

Reflection 12 mirrored Human and Society Chicken and Egg Dilemma Oddly Solved

Those who feel hard done by
often seem to want to get even
not necessarily with whoever
caused their upset
but with anybody
who’ll balance the books
return their equilibrium
as they see it
for the unloved to feel love
for the bullied to feel powerful
for the unlucky to feel lucky
for the poor to feel rich
for the insane to feel sane.

Reflection 13 mirrored Mine Bipolar Mind

You cannot escape –
thinking you’re free
one side of the mind
on the same body.

Reflection 14 mirrored All Cooper

The mirror image of personality and humanity has been a regular theme in Folding Mirror poetry. Vincent Furnier‘s Alice Cooper alter-ego allows him to investigate and release his internal demons; demons that once sent him into alcoholism and a sanatorium.

Societies that have the freedom to analyse and criticise themselves, with a free press and human rights, should be healthier in the same way as Furnier is now, while societies that do not have the same reflection and release will probably grow more demonic.

Reflection 15 mirrored Climbing Over the Hill

Did I reach middle-age missing out a couple of lines? How many more lines will I go through and reach? Is middle-age the purgatory of your life: looking back at your life without knowing the future? Or if you have one!

Mirror Poem Book Reflections 6-10

Ten reflections from 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections are up on the Writing and Poetry blog now, so here’s reflections 6-10 after 1-5 were posted here previously:

The book’s available from Amazon for under £3 and under $6, and lots of other currencies for the equivalent prices; and Smashwords and other ebook readers for much less.

Reflection 6 mirrored See Below Sea:

Although inspired by nature, the iceberg of this poem is a metaphor for the human psyche.

As it is only an iceberg’s tip visible above the surface, most people only have a little of their personality, experiences and thoughts on show in society at any one time.

Reflection 7 mirrored
 I Am What You See
But You Are Not Me
Six Billion + of You
Myself – Only a Few

As travel is supposed to change people, it changes words and sentences too. What is meant by the communicator is often changed through relay: whether it is a spoken conversation amongst friends, or a person making a public statement.

Reflection 8  was a double reflection of Orbital Perceptions:

The doors of perception
should not be an obsession.
They will open in time
without such a steep climb.

There is little smaller and more insignificant in space than our planet.
There are few things on our planet that last less time than a single life.
There is little more significant to us than our lifetime in our place in space.

Reflection 9 mirrored Quality Words are like
Koala(ity) on a Eucalyptus Tree at Sunset.

Is there time to think
before talking
in modern society,
where everything is instant,
silence is belligerent
and noise is magnificent.

Politicians still try to do it,
play for time
get answers to mind
see the interview through
hide the reality
reveal nothing on telly.

Reflection 10 mirrored Driving Through The Desert

In the void between life and death
that’s where I like to be.
Flying in space beyond sight
of reality and mortality.
But the flight is finite,
and the return can be rocky.

Mirror Poem Reflections 1-5 from Poetry Collection

Over on Marc Latham’s central Greenygrey site Writing and Poetry blog he’s been serialising the reflections of mirror poems contained in the 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections collection.

Mirror Poem Collection

The Folding Mirror poems have been posted on this site. I thought I’d post the reflections five at a time here, with the first five below, along with links to the poems they reflected.

The book’s available from Amazon for under £3 and under $6, and lots of other currencies for the equivalent prices; and Smashwords and other ebook readers for much less.

There are links at the end of the post. Here’s the first five reflections:

Reflection 1

The first reflection mirrored a poem that reflected on the similarities between space and mind in the latest technological imaging called: SAGAS: Solipsistic Astronaut Gravitates Agnostic Space

It’s only a small one, trying to be philosophical, and many of the other reflections are much longer. Here it is:

What I am incapable of understanding has no meaning,
What I understand has no interest.

The second reflection mirrored Hopes Rise With The Sun

Reflection 2 

Concorde on takeoff (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Narcissism and Ego

I wanted to be famous for being famous, but too late now…?
A little bit of ego allows me to do this, rather than making me do it.

Has my writing and public profile fuelled narcissism, or given it an outlet?

Finding out that you aren’t the centre of other people’s world is a relief, but also a disappointment in some ways, as you wonder why not.

Titanik (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Addressing narcissism should help overcome a depression fuelled by feelings of failure: you can’t change the world, and nature of humanity, so don’t expect too much.

Concorde boomed the sky
but clouds still quietly fly.
Trains carry tons of freight
but the land doesn’t have to wait.
Titanic caused a commotion
but didn’t change the ocean.

Reflection 3 reflected Hazy Horizon Optical Illusion

Reflection 3 

Between the freedom of travel
and the solitude of home
is a fantasy world
called society.

Reflection 4 mirrored Adrift in Unnavigable Oceans: Sodium Chloride

Reflection 4

The well-behaved British working class used to be known as ‘salt of the earth’ when they were compliant up to the 1950s, but not so much anymore.

Were things that different in history? I don’t know.
And have they changed that much? Well, elite corruption has been exposed more since the 1950s, making the workers less likely to trust and revere the upper classes; Thatcher decimated the working-class industries in the 1980s, destroying communities; and New Labour betrayed their traditional voters by squeezing them out of the workplace between high-earning elites and foreign workers willing to work for less.
So things have probably changed, but I don’t know how much, or if it is the main reason for there apparently being less ‘salt of the earth’.

Reflection 5 mirrored Night is a Part of Day

Reflection 5

I have welcomed the sunrise
and dreaded it.
On mountains in the dark
the first glimmers of light
are a welcome sight.
On all-nighters when young
the first realisation of light
signalled beginning of end.
They were the same darkness and light
of the same day, which is basically just
the way our planet tilts towards the sun,
but I was in different situations, feeling
different things, on different sides of Earth.