Journey Through the Years: Snake

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Whenever I find myself in front this screen there are a thousand thoughts and questions I have to contend with.

“Are they even reading this stuff?”

“Who are ‘THEY’ anyway?”

“Why are you writing again?”

“Where are you going with this?”

There is no shortage of inner dialogue to both confuse and make things interesting for me.

Tapping away at this project, after months away from it, brings a lot back to the surface. I become very aware of how ambiguous each of these entries can be, and how obscure my interpretations of this zodiac can come across.

I have always enjoyed the less concrete dividers around any given idea or image. This weeks entry was a strong reminder of this.

As we step back into this journey through the years, to walk with our Zodiac once more, we are accompanied by the Snake. Enigmatic, Powerful and Proud.

Slithering through the stark images this brought up for me, I offer you this, This is my take on this majestic entity.

I hope you enjoy it.

Journey Through The Years: Snake

There are no half measures. Once halved, our efforts become shadows of themselves, and every attempt to win is nothing more than a hollow gesture for the sake of on lookers.

For this reason I loath the sheep. For this reason I adore my own peace and I refuse to keep the company of prey. I pray their presence is as short lived as their courage and that their course is far removed from my own. There are no half measures allowed around here.

This gauntlet we have called life was built for the Gods. We make do with confusion to find our footing, We live in leaps and bounds pushing our service to the Tao* so we can enjoy the treasures promised. Mortals don’t live like this, No. They disguise effort with sweat, letting lip service secure them heaven. I have listened to how a practiced tongue can work at picking the locks of a labyrinth it had no hand in building.

I have fanged the floor with a beaded brow to make my mark along the way, etched my resolved into the concrete fact that even as everything ends, my contribution will echo forward in these tracks. Lend me space to show the gods that the odds were lax to forget me standing here, that there was never a shortage of truth in my desire to be greater than the status quoted.

The cunning of time has been a menace to me as I have walked this way. Carrying gold through the eyes of her storms has meant I could only steal a whisper of heavens chorus into every moment. Fair being fair, should have spared me the trials of patience when I wanted to claim what was mine. After all I have given to this pantomime of Sisyphus, surely I deserved some leeway away from where the layman finds solace.

I have stood in courts and added lightness to heavy words, Yet your gaze has remained a fearful one, frozen, as though my touch could rust the luck away from a decades worth of living. This was lent to me by the pantheon of your people. A sea of sickles, this sinful skin, kined with unjust deeds becomes a banner that betrays my intention. I am not the character of your confusion, you confuse me with your pain. It pains me that I have no leg to stand on while your misconceptions run away with you.

B.N.

*

I’m always interested to hear what actually comes across in these pieces. Feel free to share your thoughts and responses in the comments section below.

Journey Through The Years: Dragon

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Greetings friendly readers, and welcome back to the show.

The absence has been long, and the silence has been evident, yet the journey through the years sustains.

A month long project has stretched itself further than planned. As frustrating as it has been, I welcome these spells of creativity and appreciate the time that anyone takes to read this.

The series, centered around the Chinese Zodiac, allowed me take each animal in the Zodiac and create a piece in attempt to capture the spirit of the animal. Time and inspiration steered me away from the task.

As of Friday the 16th of February, we had entered a new year in the Chinese calendar, celebrating the “Year of the dog”. The ideal scenario for this would have allowed me to post a piece dedicated to the year of the dog as the year of the dog rolled in, but as it stands I was unable to make the most of that opportunity.

Despite missing the wave, the new year was a reminder as to the beauty and richness of the Chinese zodiac. A chance to play with words and introduce myself to new mindscapes was a part of this series that I missed.

I see no better time that the present to reintroduce this serial adventure, my journey through the years.

With no further delay, I present to you..

The dragon

If everything you have read is true, then I am ready to do my bidding. There are wide skies and endless ridges of space to play the backdrop of my efforts. A hand full of silent nights will be the canvas I carve with gold. Silent stars will be the trinkets to fill the shallow and every growing cup of triumphs.

My friends I have not forgotten you, hold peace. The letters I have yet to mark as read are never listed as dead but merely lead cladding to a comfort I continue to value most . So little penmanship for piers can give my tomorrow a healthy hand. There is no sin to season my intention to bow my head, plough my lot alone, the harvest is calling for my efforts.

I don’t attack friendly company with my preference for peace. I value the friends I keep, I am simply steeped in a kind of sadness that grows deeper when anyone else is near. As my belly is fills with laughter I am unable to eat my fill of the work that is yet to be done.

Empty scores and a countenance fit for the quiet, allows for my breathe to remain somber and well. I have no intention to colour words with fire, I burn too many bridges this way.

I have lifted the clouds from inside you in hopes of offering you freedoms touch, I have carried for you the burdens that weight you down, and softened the levys that leached at your souls currents of goodness. I work for your happiness as much as mine, the favours are repaid in gratitude, there are no debts amongst friends.

When I master the slipping scales of time, I will dance in the thick of the crowd. Until such time is present, I will whittle away the skies.

B.N

Journey Through the Years: Rabbit

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So here we are again, welcome back to the page. Yet another interpretation for your viewing pleasure.

Here is what we have to deal with today.

The task that waited for me when I decided to take on this concept of the “Chinese Zodiac”, was faceless, nameless and indescribably inciting. The animals I needed to get started were right there waiting for me, a simple google search away. As I penned a promise of content I had no idea what would be coming out of each animal. My curiosity was the driving force behind the project and it continues to feverishly examine the raw materials.

With each of the zodiac animals I dance with, so many unknowns cloud the way, a cause for both celebration and panic, I love the prospect of new information, but the lack of familiar territory doesn’t make for a smooth ride. The previously shared excerpts were of reasonable success, I steooed into the animals and played a role in my head thay i coukd share on the page, but this rabbit, this …. cunning fur ball was an enigma that tested my patience. It worked deeper into its burrow each times I inched close enough to tease a tale out of its hide.

An excavation of this experiment in the future grows more and more likely as I play with each candidate, with so much potential it would be a shame to leave it all with this one attempt. For now I would like to share the results of my recent dig to harness the rabbit energy.

Enjoy

 

 

Tomorrow seems to be a short breath away, the future Is a moment in the making, waiting for me on the furthest side of each passing second. I work for the finish, laying hour upon hour with a diligence reserved for kings, only time will crown these effort. No fanfare or flare needed when I finally win my lot.

Forever is soon to find the students of longevity, luck had no say in the sheen of this coat, forever is no fickle feat handed to well wishers and common folk, its a prize reserved for only the few who are privy to that south easterly wind carrying the guile of the rabbitkin.

I am a companion to the evening light, I leisurely dress my years with an eye of keen composition, I am more than happy to dance with the devil in the details to win my admittance into heaven. We are wise to remain enamored with perfection, with a formula as old as time I see no need to defect.

I am waiting to watch the last light slip silently from sight before I can offer you my final farewell. As the course of nature goes, I follow suit, I have learned never to argue with the flakes of winter as autumn leaves, we are best to avoid all friction. The warren warrants safe stay from that inevitable chill, what better way to savour peace than a slumber away from the cold. Fire may fold away the frost, but I am unable to justify the risk of feeding my home to this insatiable beast, we are best to avoid the friction. I built a table inside my house in order to feed friends, never to fuel the end, the tombs of texts guarding my walls would be nothing but kindling for a fire conjured in vain. Look at how well I have worked the worlds mysteries into these shelves. I would quench any fire at lest it consumes my haven, I am play for the finish.

B.N.

 

 

 

 

Journey Through The Years: Tiger

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Building on with another week of these interpretations. I bring to you….. the tiger.

Very little has yet to happen without a touch of encouragement on my part. Allow me to show you how. We have laughed together for too long, you  may have forgotten the gold in these stripes.

In spite of these walls we are likely to obtain heaven. I have heaped my paws with treasure, I can assure you that no measure of salt can dull the taste of victory. Fortune favours me, might and speed are but seeds to what my frame can make true, I can promise a piece of my luck if you are willing to take my side on this hunt. Follow my lead and lean your flanks into this venture.

I have seen enough of the bitter otherness that betrays so many in the heat of war. I believe an understanding has made itself known to me, by name and now by taste. I let no morsel of a moment avoid my tongue, what the hunt provides I shall always relish. The hunt was everything we needed it to be, it sharpened the fire that flickers in our coats to consume defeat. It offered a serving of fear so that we can steer clear of its effects. Locked in a race against tomorrow, how could a shy claw possibly pierce that curtain that dances between mediocrity and greatness. With too many names for the varying shades of cowardice, I pray by my yellow Lilly that they may never stain this hide of mine.

B.N.

 

 

 

Journey Through The Years: Ox

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The mighty ox is a picture of resilience, certainty and admitted stubbornness. I had a lot of fun with this interpretation of the zodiac.

Enjoy.

Having imagined the summit, we have promised ourselves to the climb. Limb and life married to the steep steps of our greatest adventures. I hold the colour of my mothers flag between my teeth and meet this faceless giant with hue of whose who from our family tree. I bless these fruits to this giant so clearly raised in a relm void of all of us, uneducated in the ways hoof and horn, hurling its thornless  words in hopes of discouraging our nature. The toil of the migration finds us more fit for triumph than the sight of a days breaking, more trying to the cause than the pulse of the river run, more stubborn against the odds than than the timing of seasons cutting their course.

The pitch of the mountains song has no relevance to the heart of the driven herd. Darting north and south to the rhythm of legacy and tradition, no soured stream of doubt can dilute our verve. The fire feeds our bones with the letter of its law. Till the last morsel of fuel, we will feed this furnace, a fierce blaze to raze the hurdles that dare a chance and living. All apologies reserved for the timbre of conflicting dissonance. We hear you graze the flanks of our bulls, grazing on deep seeded dues, we need more we than you to be done with these deeds, so accept the rhetoric reserved for the “other” and hold your tongue.

However long this winding whisper runs, the sound of the finish is power. How can the marrow of the me soften at the sound of sleep when the pastures are promised ten fold at the top. Paved with the nectar of peach blossom, our fetish for the sweeter side of effort drives the herd. Together we claim the finish, nature has offered us strength and the endurance to conquer the miles, to conquer this journey through the years.

B.N.

 

 

Journey Through the Years: Rat

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Two months ago I pressed a promise into words. While sitting besides myself I was struck with an idea cradling a wealth of creative pasture. My “Journey through the years” collection would be my opening into an interesting perspective. My enthusiasm was tested quickly, my tongue recoiled at the richness of this morsel of a muse, my keys stuttered into an inertia that has offered nothing but silence onto these pages. While the year has still so much to offer, I will shy away no longer. Lets list together the years.

There will be poetry, prose and open ended letters, however the year speaks best. I wont know what vessel each piece of this zodiac will fall in, but I will find a way to offer it forward.

For our first of the years, here is our first.

 

 

The Rat

Under the banner of allegiance, I can lead you where you need. With my back to the west I will welcome the new beginnings, we shall  forget the taste of hunger. In all the ways I championed to be the first I can offer sweetness into your season.

This will be ours to claim, the year that opens hope. I have sampled the soured pearls of the vine, believe me when I steer you safe from sour fruit. We can head fully into the onlookers and mingle as one of them, as though cut from common stock we can stoke our value from wherever there is voice. Steadily and stern, wary of the wayward few.

Point easterly, north and south and welcome the coming sun. Light needs very little to argue for its life. There is no head way to be made for rootless quadrilles, no slight of speak to bite into if we believe our motive just.  The sun speaks a language without refute. Light is light.

Our year yields a bouquet of the most flavour, I list my luck on the life of the Lilly. She warns me with her pail gaze when winter rounds the bend, then we are free find for ourselves shelter. If the world lives as colourful as this beautiful sentiment of golds, greens, and blues. Then dawn your suns, pastures and skies, to rally our lucky stars.

These will be the banners of our years. Coursing through the rivers of time.

B.N.

Journey Through the Years 

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Image by Thailen When

Welcome back to the home of the Nomad, Mi Casa es Su Casa, settle in and sink into a word or two.

Before the pleasantries over run our conversation, there is something I need to share. There is no easy way to tell you this, but right now as we speak we are locking ourselves into another serial series.

I know what you’re thinking, we’ve not long gotten out of the whole poems for planets thing I’d been playing with, and the wounds are still very fresh. However we must continue to follow where the river flows, dragging you down another rabbit hole might seem all too soon but my curiosity demands it. This is education and entertainment, at least I hope it is.

We had a great time touring our solar system from Sun to Pluto, playing around with the idea of space. Now its time to switch the focus and toy around with time. I’d like to present to you…

“A Journey Through the Years”.

The idea for this new journey came to me while I was doing some additional reading for my last project. Wondering into a labyrinth of mythology and symbolism I stumbles onto the Chinese Zodiac.  The Chinese Zodiac is a collection of 12 animals, each representing a year in a 12 year cycle, according to a lunar calendar. Its a concept that has been around for years, with an origin story that is sustained through time in differing versions. The work of Joseph Campbell on mythology has taught me to pay attention to these myths and legends that survive the test of time.

“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.”

Joseph Campbell

The 12 Zodiac animals, in their given order, are:

  1. Rat
  2. Ox
  3. Tiger
  4. Rabbit
  5. Dragon
  6. Snake
  7. Horse
  8. Goat
  9. Monkey
  10. Rooster
  11. Dog
  12. Pig

 

During the coming weeks will be introduced to each of the animals in turn. You will meet the animals through open letters, poems, monologues or pictures. The medium of representation for each will be left to the discretion of my muse and the characteristics and traits of the animal.

Stay Tuned.

B.N.