Mud bath, blood bath

Vienna by the day Graz by midnight We got off the train And took the bus We got off the bus And started walking On that opportune Narrow footpath Soon came the gray car Hurtling at sound speed Too fast to prepare those Not inside that metal cage Passing within a meter of me On that generous puddle Of black and muddy water A great many mugs of which Came splashing on my face And as a bonus, torso and legs In a flash of a moment Decorating my dignity In glorious muddy water Car culture in a nutshell Defiling and murdering Untold beings all around An unrelenting daily ritual Of mud bath and blood bath But it's supposed to be okay Because they didn't mean it

Working against hard

Bee against the glass pane
Striving towards the light
Wearing herself down unaware
Of the open window beside

As she nears the pane's edge
Darkness befalls her over
Pull of the light and push of the dark
Keeps the bee struggling forever 

A brief distraction away from the window
She circles aimlessly around the room
To finally return at the opportune window
Of freedom in the sunny world of bloom

Painted Red Chillies 🌶️

On my brittle white porcelain plate
There are four painted red chillies
Sometimes they look bright and pretty 
But most times just permanent scars

They lay today on my breakfast table
And on them I pour some maple syrup
So that albeit for only a few minutes 
I draw some sweetness from the burn

A heroic slow down

In a world obsessed 
With more and more
An act of resistance 
Is to say 'enough'
To resign from the demands 
Of peers and pop culture 

Call it sustainability 
Or plain old sanity
A delicious senility
Climate action
Social justice or
Just self care

Away from bright rectangles
Of all possible sizes
No bombardment 
Of senseless ads
No gasping and drowning 
In the information overload 

Some lazy weekends 
Doing nothing cool
No meat, no car
Fly less, buy less
Read, write, run
Plenty of naps
Fruits and veggies 
Wee bit of schnapps

Books and bikes
Walks and hikes
Trains and trams
Local vacations
Flaneuring about
On small city streets
And untrodden trails

Not just consuming 
Art and music
But yeah creating
Art and music 

Back to the present

I try and I fail
Again and again
As I drag myself
Now from the grudges of the past
Then from the checklists of the future

When will I at last
Arrive at the present
To behold the beauty
That I've gotten used to

They say ignorance is bliss
I say knowing too well is a curse
Wrest yourself from its shackles
Lean into this very moment
With the curiosity of an empty cup

"One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, 'What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" ~Rachel Carson