"Murphy was an optimist!"
Protected: That hollow feeling in the chest September 27, 2011 1:59 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Mental, Philosophy, PoetryMANKIND from Grooks by Piet Hein August 19, 2011 8:46 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, Poetry
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Tim Minchin’s Anti-woo beat poem Storm April 8, 2011 6:10 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Humor, Philosophy, Poetry, Touchy SubjectsVery well produced!
Seen on BoingBoing.
What is woo-woo?
Woo-woo (or just plain woo) refers to ideas considered irrational or based on extremely flimsy evidence or that appeal to mysterious occult forces or powers.
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An Artificial Light March 3, 2011 7:09 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, Poetry[n.b. 1st draft of an incomplete one that's been sitting on a piece of paper far too long]
There’s a crowd in here
With so many voices
and so many noises
How can one be so alone
In such a crowded room
There’s a party in here
Everyone is having fun
Except for one
Who knows
It’s an artificial light.
With a flicker flutter
Pop a fizz
We’re all aware
We all know
It’s an artificial light
about to blow
And the darkness comes
Because all artificial lights
burn out
The light has to go.
The sun is shining bright
Birds are singing
Daises tickle the bellies
of cats playing with dogs
Rain has washed the clouds away
Only fog in the shadows remain
The sun is shining bright
It’s an artificial light.
A shiny man lies in my closet
He wears the clothes
that no longer fit me
The light in the closet
burned out long ago
The shiny man does not care
He lives in the darkness
with nothing to fear
But an artificial light.
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The Past Clings Forever to the Future February 16, 2011 8:53 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryThe Past cannot be undone
And will always haunt The Future
We extol ourselves,
“Learn from the past”
While brooding with regret
Frustrated, lacking the ability to forget
The desire to move forward; hampered
By our bygone action which shackles us
Immobilized
Frozen
Unable to escape its grip
The Past is one with us
No separating from it
No forgetting
Perpetually haunted by its ghosts
When at last, you have forgiven yourself
And believe yourself to have moved on
The Past latches on like a Tigress
Pouncing upon Her prey
Not even Death provides absolution
For you take The Past to your grave
And worse
Leave some for those left behind.
The simple solution to keeping The Past at bay
Be inhuman
Never make a mistake.
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Living large September 5, 2010 10:17 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryI will do everything big!
For no success should go unnoticed
No voice unheard
No risk taken without chance of harm
No conditional love
No joy mundane
And no mistake can ever be small.
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Tomorrow’s Future April 29, 2010 3:21 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryIf there was a future in my past
At present I can see
There was no future in it for me.
I awoke living each day for tomorrow
And slept lamenting yesterday.
Today I can only think
Of going back and doing it differently.
Tomorrow will be a new day
Then I can begin to live my future
Much more happily.
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If Not April 26, 2010 11:20 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryIf not for this darkness
I could see
If not for this sadness
I could be happy
If not for this weight
I could move
If not for this pit
I could escape
If not for this solitude
I could laugh.
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I was never a very good _____ April 25, 2010 9:03 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryI was never a very good Presbyterian
Nor a very good Baptist
I was never a very good Methodist
I attended a Catholic church once
And was not a very good Catholic
I was never a very good Lutheran
I tried reading the Book of Mormon
But was never a very good Mormon
I attended some Wiccan ceremonies
But I was never a very good Wiccan
I have chanted
But I was never a very good Buddhist
I have seen fairies
Spoken to the Great Spirit, o’ Maker of Life
Drawn down the moon
Worshiped the Sun
Praised the Mother
Oh Blessed Be!
I have been a trespasser
And a debtor
I have taken communion
The Body and The Blood
But I was never a very good believer
But, in all these things, the Spirit in me
Has been the best that I can be.
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Anxiety December 24, 2009 9:47 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryThis hand versus that
The good and the bad;
Trying to spread good
But feel only sad;
A harmless white lie
still tears at the soul;
Her ego judged me
When I did no wrong
Then I judged her
Same verse; same song.
Look in the mirror
It’s me that I see;
The image that is
Not the one I want it to be;
They write the rules
I write the rules
There are no rules
We; the fools.
I cannot live
Upon this pillar
So very tall;
Such that all can see
The stature
The nature
The me;
The higher it rises
The bigger it becomes
More of the pillar they see
And so much less of me;
As big as I wish to be
I’m shrinking
Vanishing
Becoming
To small to see.
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Poetry at 70 mph November 30, 2009 12:14 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryI tapped this out on my phone after cresting the hill south bound before the I-40/Pellissippi Parkway exchange. My normal glance at the peaks of the Smoky Mountains was obscured. The weather inspiring.
There are no mountains today. A cloud blankets the horizon. More so, it blankets us all. @djuggler
Theo Aukerman suggests this could become a Haiku.
With slight mods, could be a haiku: … @knoxcoder
So how’s this?
No mountains today
Cloud blankets the horizon
It blankets us all.
Hmm. I may have a thing or two to learn about meter versus moras ("on").
One on is counted for a short syllable, an additional one for an elongated vowel, diphthong, or doubled consonant, and one for an “n” at the end of a syllable. Thus, the word “haibun”, though counted as two syllables in English, is counted as four on in Japanese (ha-i-bu-n). Source, Wikipedia, Haiku
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Too stressed to type November 16, 2009 11:39 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, PoetryThy todoth list overfloweth. Nay, thine own muse shouts silence. Gagged. Hiding in thy shadows within the deepest recesses of mine own mind. Today’s stories shall be passed upon to giveth thy brain a necessary reprieve such as tomorrow’s adventures shall be retold with vigor! William eat thine own heart out with a spork!
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Throb throb throb September 14, 2009 11:08 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Philosophy, PoetryIt is so easy to become so consumed in thinking about one’s situation or task at hand or the thing that needs to be done or the impossible deadline that we become frozen, unable to do anything about that which needs to be done. So much easier said than done but the simple solution is to stop thinking about it and simply do it.
Today stress has left my head fuzzy, foggy, in a cloud. A rare state for me. I have never taken pain killers before but I feel like I could use some today. I’ll settle for a fist full of a Tylenol/aspirin cocktail.
There was peace
I drifted through space
Then I open my eyes
The ground rushed up
To smack me in the face
Leaving me with nothing
But a dirty taste of reality.
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Absorbing ourselves September 11, 2009 10:24 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryAnd I was consumed with darkness
So this is death
But there is no light
Death brings the light
Enlightenment
Only darkness
Where did the light go?
No, from where did the darkness emanate?
Within!
That hollow feeling in my chest
A black hole
Sucking the light away
Sucking the life away
Pulling me down
Down
Infinitely
Down
Falling
Failing
Spinning
Swirling
Going
Going
Going
Gone.
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And I can feel the changes coming on… August 31, 2009 6:13 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryWalking through Butler & Bailey, I feel a swell of joy
I sense positive change in my life
As if I am in the process of emerging from a cocoon.
I am calm
I can handle the next part of this journey with ease
I am happy!
I exit the store
To see a dragonfly dying on the sidewalk
Slowly moving its wings for the final time.
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