The creative impulse
The creative process
The creative product.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2017.
Tag Archives: lifestyle
Do Not Ask Of Me For That First Love, My Beloved
Do not ask of me for that first love, my Beloved
As I understood it, having you here makes Life so luminous
Sharing your woes, I have no quarrel with sorrows of the world
Your radiant beauty blesses the earth with eternal Spring
What does this world possess to compare with your eyes?
If you were mine, Fate would bow to my command
It was not so, though I wanted it only to be so
The present time has other torments besides mere love
Other pleasures besides the thrill of coming together
Dark spells threaded on the brutal loom of Ages
Woven in silk, satin and brocade
Hand over fist, bodies sold in alleys and bazaars
Bathed in blood, shrouded in ash
Bodies forged in furnaces of pestilence
Pus oozing from their festering sores …
What can I do? My gaze keeps turning to them too
But what can I do? Though your beauty is ever attractive
The present time has other torments besides mere love
Other pleasures besides the thrill of coming together
Do not ask of me for that first love, my Beloved.
(My take on a poem by the beloved Faiz Ahmed Faiz)
(c) Satori Publishing, 2016.
The Knowing
You know
You can SEE it or it’s invisible
If it’s possible or impossible
You know
If you can or if you cannot
If you will or you will not
You know
If you will fail or succeed
If you have a fertile seed
You know
If you will be rich or poor
It’s an open window or a closed door
You know
If by the gods you have been blessed
If by fickle Fate you have been cursed
You know
If it’s to be a famine or a feast
If you will have many or the least
You know
If you will be laughing or crying
If you will be living or dying
You know
If your time is coming or going
It is all in the knowing
And you know it.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2016.
The Power Of Compounding
Earn a penny, earn another to rub against
Earn and rub till the pennies are a pound
Earn another pound to double your money
Turn 2 pounds into 4
Turn 4 pounds into 8
Turn 8 pounds into 16
Turn 16 pounds into 32
Turn 32 pounds into 64
Turn 64 pounds into 128
Earn and turn, keep on turning
Once you are adding Zero after Zero
That is when you are really in the money.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2016.
INGREDIENTS
First, you PREPARE
Easy Strength, smooth Skill
Muscle memory, relaxed rehearsal …
Dedicated? Obsessed? Be REGULAR
Precise, to the point, graceful
Without strain, without stress …
Then, you put it to the TEST.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2015.
Fuel Of Choice
If you eat like an ordinary person
You will look ordinary
You will perform ordinary
You will be ordinary;
If you fill your tank with rocket fuel
You will look like a rocket
You will perform like a rocket
You will be a rocket;
Eat one super-nutritious meal end of the day
Or, if you really want to ride the beast,
Live the most by eating the least
Starve the stomach so the soul may feast.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2015.
Let’s Do The Deal
In this day and age it’s all about presentation
You have to play the part to appease public opinion
You’re somebody’s mother, sister, little baby
You’re so prim and proper, a real lady
After a date it’s just a simple kiss
I’ve got one thing to say — suck this!
I know you’re willing and able
Let’s put our cards on the table
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
Let’s do the deal
You can beg, borrow, or steal
Let’s do the deal
I don’t care how you feel
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
From the cave, to the mansion, to the space station
There’s a price to pay for every basic transaction
You want a solid roof over your head
You want to sleep safe and warm in bed
Clothes on your back, ring on your finger
Handbags, shoes, things that really matter
I don’t care about your airs and graces
Take all your masks off all your faces
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
Let’s do the deal
You can beg, borrow, or steal
Let’s do the deal
I don’t care how you feel
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
Do you have goods and services to trade
Get busy wheeling and dealing, or get laid
Who told you life is easy peezy
Who told you the world is lemon squeezy
Caring and sharing? You are mistaken
Learn to give and take, or be taken
We can do the business and call it romance
Lead us all on a merry song and dance
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
Let’s do the deal
You can beg, borrow, or steal
Let’s do the deal
I don’t care how you feel
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
Who told you life was a bed of roses?
Who told you to be one of the lost causes?
Life is a bed of nails covered with thorns
Life is wild animals thrusting their horns
Lust and hunger and fear are the driving forces
Feed your appetite, take control of the sources
It’s dog eat dog, it’s eat or be eaten
Life is death for those who are beaten
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
Tell me, how does it feel?
To know you have to deal
To pay for your next meal
Tell me, how does it feel?
Let’s do the deal
What price your next meal?
(c) Satori Publishing, 2015.
The Greatest Miracle
The greatest miracle in the known universe :
The human brain.
No human in history — Ever !!! — has made use of
The full potential of his brain
Each brain — on it’s own — can learn, and process,
All known, recorded, creative knowledge
Each brain — on it’s own — can create anything
From a flint, to a wheel, to a flying saucer
Each brain — on it’s own — can be an artiste
Doctor, engineer, scientist, sportsman, etc;
So why do you become a dentist
And think you have achieved something?
Why do you train as an accountant
And that is all you do all your life?
Why do you do business, making things, selling
Objects, services, and call it a life well lived?
Why sidetrack your god-brain into a cul-de-sac
Nullify it into a dead-end, and lobotomise it?
Why take that which Creates … and castrate it?
Why take the epitome of Freedom … and cage it?
Why does a brain surgeon learn to operate
To slice, and dice, and be praised, and rewarded
But only have an inkling —- that piece of meat
That handful of jelly can create a universe
Can destroy a world, ignite a spark
Kickstart a revolution, cure any disease
Unleash a plague, shine a light in the dark
Die saving one child, or casually massacre a million
Be alone, lonely, or love and be loved by many
Be part of a lumpen herd, or mould the clay into a god.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2015.
To Believe, Or Not
As only true greatness does
He offered the power of flight
To those who, like him,
Had flight within themselves.
In the end, it is always
A matter of belief. Always.
(wordplay with Majestie, by David Teems)
Practise The Gift
10,000 hours spread out over 10 years
1,000 hours per year of blood, sweat , tears
At least 20 hours a week
Steady climb to the peak
Bare minimum 3 hours per day
Master of the game you play.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2015.
Hard Work Plus
Hard work + Hard work = Dig foundation deep
Hard work + Talent = Top of the heap
Hard work + Gifted = That’s the giant leap.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2015.
A Paki Still
My father came to this country in 1952
Worked like a dog, swept the floor, other jobs
The white boys turned their noses up at
Paid half the money, twenty men sharing a house
Sending money back home — work, sleep, work
Built this country — damp, foggy, miserable
No roads, no cars, no shopping centres, no Empire;
By the time he was old this was a different land
He helped to build this country, but got no credit for it
When he died he was still a Paki.
I came to this country, a young boy, in 1966
Educated here, went to work, raised a family
Read, write, speak, understand English better than …
Taught to walk the straight and narrow
Do the right thing, in my father’s footsteps …
But I am still a Paki.
My son was born here, English to the bone
A beautiful young man, the apple of my eye
Intelligent, athletic, loving, respectful
I may be biased, but none can come close
But he is still a Paki.
One day he will have a child
He will pass on the lessons I taught
The wisdom of Ages I learned from my father
Work hard, be good, think of others, smile
Whatever he does, he will be
A Paki still.
(c) Satori Publishing, 2015.
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