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The second half of the Reflection lightened the mood under a clear day and night sky with a previously unpublished comedy poem: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

Mirror Poem about Janis Joplin

Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem is a fantasy conversation with Janis Joplin, who tragically died of an overdose at aged 27 in 1970.

Mirror Poem Explanation

There is no anniversary relevance for a poem about Janis Joplin in the wider world, but she was the subject of Reflection 19 in Marc Latham’s 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections, and it is that reflection’s turn to be serialised on Marc’s greenYgrey website.

So, in a first from that book, here’s a new Folding Mirror poem inspired by a reflection. It tells a story of an imaginary meeting with Janis in a biopic kind of way, based on real aspects in her life.

Janis grew up in Port Arthur, Texas and had a younger sister who attended her wake in San Francisco. Janis started her California career singing in the band Big Brother and the Holding Company.  Somewhere Near Salinas is part of the Me and Bobby McGee song made famous by Janis.

New Mirror Poem

Here’s the poem:

Happiness over Horizon, Jiving with Janis

on a memorable day of bopping
round clocking with Janis Joplin
at some Hollywood palace
of debateable excellence
I asked her if she treasures
memories from Port Arthur Texas

why did I ask, you really wanna know

forgetting love Somewhere Near Salinas
I remembered my past without fuss
boredom creates blues
feeling nothing to lose
replied singer in Big Brother
but I cherish Laura little sister

Mirror Poem about Life, Time and Thought

Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem was written out of nothing really, just stream of consciousness thinking watching Blondie at Glastonbury on T.V. at the end of June, 2014.

Poem Explanations

The title and last line refers to a single thought of a small creature being superior in that way to great giant stars, which just work unthinkingly by thermonuclear reactions. The last line also plays on the British television series about a vet, All Creatures Great and Small.

So although the universe is mindbogglingly massive, life as we know it on Earth is the best we know for thinking. Here’s the poem:

Photo by NASA.

Particular Preciousness of Thinking, Thought Superior to Reaction

crunch time for mortal minds
strangles infinite breath
day drags for damselfly
century crows to humanity
instinct, learning, loving, expiring
endless summer days

One’s outlook on life, age of calendar July

winter limits light
experience, remembering, warming, gripping
holding on for dear
life becomes more refined
sailing history’s horizon
all creatures greater than sun

Mirror Poem about Mind Processing Natural Inspiration

I am life, until I am death. It might seem that middle-age is half way between the two, but you are much longer dead than alive. In one body anyway. So in middle-age you are still life. Moreover, your life might live on through your descendants, or you could be reincarnated, or just your life remembered in memories, history and the arts.

Poetry Reflection 

Reflection in Windows Glass (Photo credit: Rosa Dik 009 — On & Off)

Hi, it’s William Wolfsworth, poetry correspondent in the greenYgrey world inspired by legendary Romantic poet William Wordsworth.

I hope you don’t mind the slightly maudling introduction, but I’m just trying to connect Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem with the next reflection from his 242 Mirror Poems and Reflections book.

I fear I may have indulged in a little introspective philosophising myself.

Reflection 16 mirrored Middle-Age Memories, a poem posted on fmpoetry.wordpress.com in May 2012. It was:

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

New Mirror Poem

That reflection does have some connection to Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem, freshly imported into the greenYgrey world today.

After the top half of the poem focuses on natural inspirations in the outer world, the bottom half focuses on how our mind interprets those prompts. Here it is:

English: Moon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Entrancing Haze, Thoughtful Phase

moon never told a story
ocean didn’t create a rhyme
but waves can sound sublime.
sun wouldn’t sing a song
air can’t write musical lyrics
but wind can breeze idyllic.

natural noise, interpretative imagination

hearing sounds sparks creative cell
nervous system neurons spark new
ingenious ideas begin to brew .
however our brains have evolved
knowledge from more silent times
cultural memes travelling laid lines.

Thinker on a Rock (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mirror Poem about Natural Inspiration for Mind

Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem was inspired by a hazy half-moon night, inspiring the thoughts of this poem. He thought how much more he would have thought if he’d spent more time under it, like the ancients did before writing down things; or even people of the last century before the age of television. Some people do still live like that of course, all over the world.

Entrancing Haze, Thoughtful Phase

moon never told a story
ocean didn’t create a rhyme
but waves can sound sublime.
sun wouldn’t sing a song
air can’t write musical lyrics
but wind can breeze idyllic.

natural noise, interpretative imagination

hearing sounds sparks creative cell
nervous system neurons spark new
ingenious ideas begin to brew .
however our brains have evolved
knowledge from more silent times
cultural memes travelling laid lines.

Human Life Mirror Poem with Natural Metaphors

Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem is another human life story with natural world metaphor.

Looking Forward and Back, Aspiring to Fall Longer

cutting down illusions
to grow delusions
catching up with heroines
once appeared advanced aliens
heroes turned real
rotating on life wheel

sitting atop clear peak, clouds roll in descending

only rock lives naturally
mountain top eternally
diving into deepest ocean
mask obscuring human emotion
sinking solace bliss
deep silent abyss