We’ve long known our reality,
Hinges on whether we agree,
That what we see is what we see,
Our world’s created mutually,
Assured acts of joint creation,
Helped us build civilization,
Though often I’ve had the sensation,
We’d lose our sense of calibration,
That one day we’d end our progress,
Things would unravel more or less,
But I did not know, I must confess,
It’d come down to the colour of an ugly dress!

We should listen to others,

Openly, with a good heart.

We should indeed even listen to what they don’t say.

Prepared to hear both praise, and criticism.

But we cannot listen without filters.

We should not be judgemental in a condemning way,

However we must listen critically, understanding of where things are coming from,

Assessing viewpoints, hidden agendas, and not giving undue weight to the input of others.

When we do so, when we are overly concerned with those negative voices,

We end up giving away our power to them. They become like energy leeches, sapping us of our inner strength.

Be aware, and don’t give away your power.

(I got an early Christmas surprise recently, a heartattack on Dec.18th. This piece is a reflection on that. I wrote it in Swedish first, then reworked it in English, so am including both versions here.)

BODY HICCUPS

My body stopped for a moment,
A hiccup it was,
A temporary pause,
Cause for concern,
My heart took a wrong turn,
Condition far from sound,
But it was my soul I found,
That ran and hid in the shadow,
Because it didn’t know,
What mattered anymore,
Shaken to the core,
As if all that is me,
Character, personality,
Stumbled behind,
Unable to find,
It’s footing anew,
After what it’d gone through,
But eventually, I begin to see,
My soul edging towards its recovery,
But slowly,
Ever so slowly.

KROPPENS HICKA

Kroppen stannade en stund,
En hicka,
Tillfälligt spricka,
Tillståndet långt från sund,
Men själen blev skrämmde,
Bestämde gömma sig i en skugga,
Osäkert om vad gällde nu,
Visst inte om det dugga,
Som att vem jag är,
Det hela mig,
Snubblade bakom,
Men äntligen det återhämta sig,
Dock så småningom.

One starry night, when the moon was just right,
Drank the octopus and the pussycat,
When they were both were pie-eyed,
A fine hobbit they spied,
And at the same time said both “I’d hit that!”
So using their charms, tucked him under their arms
And carried him up to their room,
Where their lust took control,
Tentacles, tongue, and hole,
Took him to the edge of Mount Doom,
Eight arms and a tongue, and the night was just young,
There was nary a part left untouched,
There was many a groan, the hobbit held his own,
Though in moments a little nonplussed,
At the height of the action, a guttural reaction,
Each screaming to their deity,
Despite lack of coherence, a religious experience,
Orgasms had by all three!

Starbucks mindfucks,
Superficial tit,
Here I sit,
Heartattack Mac amongst the hipsters,
Who’ve come to see and be seen,
Partake of a pretentious pricey coffeebean,
Balding bearded men adjusting giant lebanese scarves,
While young women with laptops look at pictures of themselves,
And I just melt into the corner with my black Americano,
Musing at the fusion of jazz and ego,
Smiling to myself.

sometimes you’ll see me step away,
I may, or perhaps may not say
I’ve chosen now to stand apart
because I am about to fart
to feel the flatulent caress
and I don’t want to cause distress
to make you pause and look about
wondering who let one out
pondering who was the master
of that particular crackblaster
I step aside through courteous thought
because I remember well when you did not!