Today is my birthday, To celebrate this annual event I went camping for the first time and it was freezing, but like in a good way.
At the first camp site I was crashing a going-away party and meeting an awful lot of new faces so as an introvert I wrote a poem about being around and meeting lots of new people. Naturally.
With every word and every courtesy
A strager, lover, friend, fantasy
The weight falls on the scales
As heavy or light as the heart dares.
Silence is costly, noise deadly
Give or take yourself so readily
Newness is challenging, numbing, shocking,
A chance to be different, better, cunning.
Give yourself to emptiness
Where nothing matters, neither more nor less.
In utter solitude there may lurk you.
On the following few days I fell ill from the cold, car sickness and overall weakness I was imbued with at birth. So I started writing a children’s book, I got as far as:
There once was a rabbit named Pete
He had the smallest of ears,
No bunny offered him a special treat,
To be like him was one of their fears.
Yesterday the whole day was spent on the road, drifting along the hilly roads and drifting from wakefulness to slumber. I failed to create a piece, but I played around with this idea:
Cat catches baby mouse. Cat releases baby mouse knowing that as a strategy the mouse will grow to be a larger morsel, to propagate and to trust his merciful will. Cat earns the trust of the mice. Cat eats mice. Investment!
And today, here I am, ready for board games and good food. And in the corners of my mind lurks a poem….
Hold still and let me have your silence,
The rustles of your clothes,
The gaze without the blinks,
The breeze of your approach,
The gentle palm squeeze,
The falling of a strand
To your lid
To your cheek
To your arm
To your feet.
Let me have your silence
And let others ask for your voice
I will eavesdrop and take
The highest pitch and lowest note.
Let me have your silence
For very few have some
And very few share.
-Melisa Im
[Image: “” protected by a Creative Commons license belonging to Eddy Van 3000]
Illustrated by Meli 