Scary Costumes and Second Impressions
Poetry Piątek #62 - Happy Halloween
One-eyed horse:
scary monster if life's
a movie. But in reality:
a kind animal with
love-filled heart.
White, with beautiful black freckles. Some of these, if you look close enough, are actually dark brown. Standing tall, always happy to see us. If you approach this sweet horse from the left side, you won’t notice anything. On the other side, an eye is missing. And with the white and black, it looks like one of the costumes you will see this weekend all over the world, as people are celebrating Halloween.
I really like this horse. My friend. But the first time we met, I admittedly was influenced by our culture, in which certain physical features, especially when they are the result of amputation, are supposed to be frightening. Scary. Meeting this horse once again proved that this is a ridiculous element of our culture. We should make it more central to our culture to not judge at first sight but to look beyond that first impression.
Poetry Elsewhere
One of the reasons I created my own poetic form, was that I liked writing haiku, but not that everybody and their brother would feel the need to comment on whether or not it was a real haiku and why not. That just distracts from the art. So, when I see a haiku that breaks the rules but makes me feel something, I tend to like it. Like this one: Lemon Water by @satzINK on Instagram.
Voices and faces can make a difference when enjoying poetry. That’s why I like it when a poet shares her or his work in audio or video format. For example, like The Mystical Poetess does on YouTube. Click the link for her poem Unravel.
Maybe you think this newsletter is written in English. Well, it is, and it isn’t. I actually prefer not to call it English, because then the next thing I need to do is decide whether I write in British English, or American English, or Irish English. So, I prefer to call the language I use ‘Panglish’. It’s the English as it is used by those who do not have it as their mother tongue. A second language, almost at the proficiency level of a native speaker. But enriched with word choices, sentence structures and similes from other languages. Colour or color is both correct. It’s a bit questioning the status quo of language. Like this wonderful poem by Traveler Tim (okay, longest intro of another person’s work ever, sorry): MAKE YOURSELF.
Did you like this? Help others find me. Here are two things you can do to help.
1: If you like this newsletter, why not tell the Substack community about it? Share your love for poetry and empathy with them here:
2: Share this newsletter. With your family, your friends, your coworkers. Whomever. Via Facebook, via email, via Twitter. Whatever you think works best. Thank you!
The poem on top is a tritriplicata, a poetic form I created. If you want to know more about it, click here to find answers to some of the questions you might have.