Reena’s Exploration Challenge #166 offers two short pieces as inspiration, to be coupled with an image, our own or found online. Of the offered short pieces I chose the following:
inkblots mutate
to form pictures,
alphabets,
stories
I did not create
The image is one I’ve used here in the past. It shows me on my fifth birthday, in 1958. Our family tradition has been to place an extra candle on the cake, for good luck in the next year, as mentioned in this Wiki entry. (Something tells me that blowing out candles on a cake will become a thing of the past.)
Stories I Did Not Create
Decades to come, too many to count,
when I look to the past,
see stories I did not create,
stories that unfolded before, around me
Will I follow the inkblots that mutate
to form pictures and create alphabets
to understand the elements that came
to define my perspective?
What does a child know of these things?
There is only now. Before and after,
anticipation and regret, these we create.
Will I understand this, then?
rivrvlogr 
Anticipation and regret, these we create….Now that is a very profound line.
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Thank you. 🙂
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Good combination of image & suggestive text … MANY stories could spring from your image … maybe even an ahead-of-its-time saga of long-gone candles-on-cake traditions!
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Thank you, Jazz.
icing on the cake
candles counted
for untold years
wax in layers
peeled back
to uncover year
after
year
the sweetness of joy
revealed
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Yes! Candle wax layers – warmth of love to melt ’em away.
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I like that thought. Thank you, Jazz.
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Well… will you, Ken? Now I’m left wondering!
This was lovely, and you were super cute! 🙂
-David
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Always learning, David. Thank you.
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How much do we influence the unfolding of our lives? I like the questions in your poem.
Why did we ever start blowing out candles on birthday cakes? Ok, now I have to google that.
Happy Winter Solstice.
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Thank you, Ali. Yes, there are outside influences, but our decisions are our own.
Though I may not look forward to the weather that follows Winter Solstice, I do appreciate the significance of the light that follows.
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Me too.
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A child is born knowing how to laugh and cry, and recognise a familiar voice or touch. We do add the past and future, and joy/sorrow get linked up to things beyond immediate gratification.
Thanks for joining in!
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And thank you for the prompt. 🙂
All of it is a process of learning, including our decisions in response to all we learn.
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Stories I did not create ….. by Ken (rivrvlogr)
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Wonderful poem, Ken. It takes a bit to go by that cute boy, so proud of having blown out all the candles. Now ready to live his next…..although, he lives now. How true.
You used the inkblot though and created and told stories.
Miriam
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Those inkblots are always changing.
Thank you, Miriam.
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A thoughtful poem, Ken, and I always enjoy your readings. I think children do anticipate and remember. I agree you were super cute–that is an adorable photo, and I like how it’s recreated as a drawing for your poem.
I did blow out the one candle I put on my birthday cake this year, but it was only my husband and me eating it. I don’t think it’s going to remain a thing people do. 😀
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Thank you, Merril.
These days, the candles on the cake may not be as many, but sharing the moment still has its rewards.
Although, I now see a birthday as being about having survived another year, as much as starting a new one. 😉
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😏
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I agree with Merril about anticipation and remembering. But children do fall into the now more easily than most adults. Family stories…now those definitely mutate and take on a life if their own. Each participant creates their own unique pattern and interpretation. (K)
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Yes, thank you, Kerfe. Perspective.
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A great write, KG, and always good to hear the author. Love that anticipation and regret line, too; make me think of Mr Kerouac’s “There’s no rain / there’s no me / I’m tellin ya, man / sure as shit”
Salute!
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Thanks, Ron. We all play our small parts.
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Love how you have interwoven the prompt with your verse!
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Thank you. 🙂
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You are welcome. 🙂
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