Poetry – embrace the strange – a poem about being open and positive to new experience

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Embrace the Strange

They say that travel expands the mind. That may be true for some. It may be the opposite for others. It may foster greater understanding and respect or it may merely reinforce prejudices. It depends on the attitude of all concerned.

To visit a new culture with excitement, eager to sample what it has to offer, is a positive frame of mind. To gawk as a tourist without touching its soul is exploitative.

Experience is what life has to offer. If you do not reach you cannot grow.

I am involved in the experience of tasting South America. It is such a brief taste but the flavour lingers and explodes on the palate.

We are all evolved from the same mother though her children have many hues and spirits. It is good to reconnect, no matter how briefly, and know we are siblings.

It is good to absorb the nuance of colour, light, flavour and attitude. It lifts the soul.

Distance creates stereotypes, division and hatred.

Closeness can only be good.

Embrace the strange and grow.

Embrace the Strange

 

All around

The strange architecture

Of a different land.

The Colours, smells and language;

Customs, dress

And South American sway.

 

Perhaps Buenos Aires will provide the answer?

Perhaps another beer?

A glass of wine?

Or meeting of happenstance?

Whatever it may be.

Go with it.

Open the mind

And go with the flow.

 

If I arrive with a smile,

With eyes prepared to see,

I might find what it is I seek;

The solution

To a better way;

The adventure and

Touching of spirits.

We might break down

The barriers

And even melt

The razor wire

That separates

Our minds.

 

Opher 29.1.2016

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Poetry – Sail Sweetly – A love poem (I like love)

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Sail Sweetly

Love is what makes life splendid.

Perhaps it is hormonal? – Nothing but the flooding of the brain with neurochemicals? Perhaps it is merely a biological device to ensure pair-bonding, breeding and the care and upbringing of children? Perhaps we have no choice?

But then I am a romantic. I believe in love and friendship.

I feel that the feeling of being in love makes the whole world a better place.

Love is real.

There is nothing better than love.

The trouble with love is that it changes. That first madness of all-consuming passion gives way to less turbulent waters. Many leave the tranquillity of those calmer seas in search of the stormier tides – they become serial lovers. Yet I cannot help feeling sorry for them as they rush in search of their daily jag. They are missing the depth, the continuity and security of lasting love – it means more.

The beauty of love is that it is elevating, it makes one greater. There is a melding of minds, a growth of possibility.

Love creates the drive to nurture and protect. Lovers are immersed in each other and adrift from the world. They live in their own universe, safe within each other’s arms.

 

Sail Sweetly

Sail sweetly through your dreams, my love,

Encased in the warmth of my embrace –

Surrounded in a golden cocoon

Of splendid caresses;

Safe within the refuge

Of my thoughts.

For the sweetness

That we shared

Has encircled us

In radiance sublime.

 

Opher 13.1.2016

Poetry – It Must Be Love – What could be better than love?

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It Must Be Love

Love. What could be better?

Nothing makes you glow like love, puts colour in the world, and makes everything positive.

All the worries go. The whole universe becomes focussed on one person; someone you would willingly sacrifice yourself for.

It may all be chemistry in the brain, a mundane firing of neurones, a stimulation of nerve centres along with a concoction of hormones, but it is real. There is no excitement like it to bring you out in wide-eyed blushing, sweats and heart thumping ecstasy.

Love makes you feel good.

You fit together perfectly. No one else would ever do.

You want to be perfect for them.

To be with them makes everything perfect.

For love is pair-bonding. It is the prelude to family; the vehicle for selecting genes to merge with yours in progeny.

Love is biology.

 

It Must Be Love

 

Flooding chemistry

Electricity flowing

Hormones raging

Emotions growing.

 

Hand in glove

It must be love

 

Centres firing

Skin perspiring

Full with energy

Never tiring.

 

Hand in glove

It must be love.

 

Forever laughing

Often bathing

Eyes connecting

Soon to be expecting

 

Hand in glove

It must be love.

 

Opher 13.12.2015

poetry – Love again and again – Because we know we can and we’re worth it.

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Love again and again

It’s true. There’s no end to love. It’s infinite. It can blow you up.

Love is like hydrogen. It makes you float and it explodes in your brain.

It’s an anaesthetic

It banishes the dark.

It makes you laugh and it makes you cry

But it gets you high.

Love. Love. Love.

All the people and animals, trees and things I’ve loved and still do.

There’s no end. I’m never full.

There’s no loss with love – it’s all gain.

We can love an infinite number of times then do it all again.

 

Love again and again

 

It has no weight.

It has no size.

It’s antigravity

Built of sighs.

 

You carry it around

And it buoys you up

Making each sip

A whole full cup.

 

You can never have enough

But need never be afraid:

The more you give away,

The more you’ve made.

 

There’s no end to the people

You can give love to.

When you give it to them

They’ll give some to you.

 

It’s the kryptonite to hatred

The antidote to pain

Luckily we can fall in love

Again and again

And again

And again

Again

Again

Gain

Gain

Gain

 

Opher 12.12.2015

 

 

Poetry – When we love – A poem about trying even if we fail.

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When we love

I got up in the night to write this down. It was floating around in my head as I was trying to sleep. I knew that if I did not write it down I would not remember it.

It is a poem about that reality of human nature that many of us possess:- that we prefer not to try in case we fail.

I used to be guilty of this. There is a tendency to keep your head down. As if we are so delicate that we cannot take the criticism or that we do not want to appear stupid, useless or a failure. We don’t like to hurt.

I think that if you never try, never put yourself forward, you can never succeed.

I believe it is better to try and fail than to live life without trying at all.

I believe that the hurt of failure and ridicule serves to make the taste of success all the sweeter.

Life is about pushing yourself to the limits and beyond, extending your reach, failing and succeeding, and reaching your potential.

I want to reach the end of my life knowing that I went for it. I don’t want to be full of regrets about what I could have achieved.

There is a horrible voice sitting on our shoulder whispering in our ear that we will fall flat on our face and look stupid. We need to tell our subconscious to fuck off.


 

When we love

 

When we love

Sometimes we are hurt

But it is better to be hurt

Than to have no feelings at all.

 

When we create

Sometimes it does not work

But it is better to make rubbish

Than nothing at all.

 

When we try

Sometimes we fail

But it is better to fail

Than never to have tried.

 

Opher 31.10.2015

 

 

Shining Sun

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Frederik is just wonderful. He has such brilliant ideas. This is fabulous. Check out his visual poems on his blog. You’ll be impressed.

Poetry – Long Live Love! A poem about endorphins and life, religion, futility and LOVE!!!!

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Prose Cons and poetry cover

Long Live Love!

Well – being cynical, love is just a set of endorphins. Evolution has rewarded us with a euphoric brain chemistry for seeking out someone to pair our genes with. It is nature’s way of making us feel good. It is all in the name of procreating genes.

But then there are those that get rapturous and full of endorphins at the thought of God or Allah, to the point where they are perfectly willing to torture, kill and terrorise in his name.

As I am an antitheist who believes that religion is the cause of many of the world’s power struggles and creates too many floods of negative brain chemistry I will veer towards Love.

One life – no gods – no heavens – just a beautiful universe, endless wonder, creativity and love. It may only be brief, only chemistry, and ultimately without purpose, but I adore the endorphins! Long live love!

 

 

Long Live Love!

 

An endorphin rush flooding the brain,

With electrical excitement,

Transforming us to dopey eyes and tenderness.

Just nature’s way of rewarding us

For pairing up our genes,

To facilitate DNA’s togetherness.

Just chemistry

Endlessly.

 

That same mad chemistry

That runs through mobs

Through the religious fanatic,

A neuronal surge

Of euphoria

Making intolerance automatic.

 

Yet for us who have no god

Who peer with ecstasy at the majesty

Of all that circles within and above;

No matter how brief,

How futile,

How insignificant,

I’ll settle for love.

 

Opher 1.10.2015

Poetry – I don’t promise you forever – a love poem of sorts.

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I don’t promise you forever

All this romantic talk of forever is just a farce. We haven’t got forever; not even a mere hundred years.

Love is an emotion, an endorphin rush, a surge of brain chemistry. It comes out of attraction and serves a purpose. That purpose is to match our genes and produce children that transcend us or to create a bond with someone that is deep enough to see us through life’s hurdles.

I don’t hold with this romantic talk.

I’ll love you while the endorphins last and then we’ll see if we can still get along on friendship, trust, habit and mutual respect.

On the other hand I might just tell you that it’s forever. That sometimes helps.


I don’t promise you forever

I won’t promise you forever

That is much too long.

After the first billion years

We might not get along.

 

I won’t be loving you

When the stars all blink out.

You wouldn’t like it then

With just hydrogen about.

 

No, I’ll love you for a while

And then I’ll stop.

Even a thousand years

Would be over the top.

 

I won’t even promise you

A measly hundred more.

Long before then

I’d be heading out the door.

 

Ten more might reasonably

See us through.

I have a feeling that

Will just about do.

 

So I’ll love you while

The feelings last.

Probably until the end

And we’re both in the past.

 

Opher 11.9.2015

Poetry – My Mountains – A love song.

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My Mountains

We cannot live without a heart, without recognition of something worth more than ourselves.

Love gives purpose to existence. It makes us strong, bolsters us when weak and generates power.

In an infinite universe it is not good to be alone.

To share a tea, a sunset or a quiet moment is transcendental. It is enough.

There is nothing more important than love. It is the antidote to the hatred and cruelty that destroys the world.


My Mountains

You are my mountains, hazed with blue mist

My sky

My sun

You are my forests, seas and wind

My stars

My rain

You are my volcanoes and hills

My soil

My trees

You are the ground underneath my feet

My air

My wind

You are my moon serene in the heavens

My clouds

My flowers

You are the touch that wakens me

My morning

My day

You are all the time I hold in my heart

My streams

My shore

You are in me beating with life

My blood

My guts

Without you there is only silence, darkness and perpetual night

For you are my light, my beauty and my truth.

Nothing can exist without you.

 

Opher 10.9.2015

Poetry – Rock your Spirit – A love poem for the Rock Age.

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This was just a little love poem I put together to a little guitar riff I was hearing in my head. Love is great isn’t it? There’s nothing quite like it for filling the head with a warm glow. If you could take a picture inside your skull you’d probably find the whole cortex radiant with luminosity. It’s those endorphins causing all the neurons to fire – just a chemical high.

Music does that too. When you put the two together it’s double the effect!

I hope it doesn’t wear off after a mere fifty years?

ROCK YOUR SPIRIT

I wanna rock your spirit.

I wanna rock your soul.

I wanna rock our love

Til we’re both whole.

 

I don’t wanna bitch

‘N I don’t aim to crawl.

I just wanna wrap you

In my Rock ‘n’ Roll

‘n Love you.

 

Opher 2.10.95