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ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

on my mind this evening
returning along Rosebank's leafy avenues
was the hum
the flutter
the coos and trills
of nesting courting calling birds
flitting in & out
shivering branches
rustling leaves
& how contented it made me feel

ALT=deets
#poem #poetry #haiku
#urban #birds
#urbanbirds #urbangardens

Poem:
shades of urban green
nature's high-rise nesting plan
awing in city skies

paired with a photo of the trees in multicolored greens of Rosebank gardens backlit by a deep blue highveld sky. In the bottom right an edge of a white and red roofed home with a brick chimney.
Photo for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)

December 16, 2025 at 6:56 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

What's on my mind today ...

The lazy Sandspruit
spooling down a man-made channel
gathering water as it swells into a river
Occasional high thunderclouds threaten
floods
bringing human detritus & waste
work for the eco warrior

ALT=deets
#poem #poetry #haiku
#eco #symphony #channel #river #waste

Poem:
urban channels flow
along natural waterways
eco symphony

paired with a photo of the Sandspruit River flowing under the brick bridge in the James and Ethel Gray Park
Images for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)

The Sandspruit river once channeled the ancient rocks and shelves which run through the James and Ethel Gray Park, water which finally spools into the Crocodile River on its way to the Indian Ocean
Today it is channeled through the park with brick walls and the occasional cement floor, recognizing that Highveld storms can turn lazy into raging flood in the blink and flash of a lightning bolt.

spooling down the park, nature tackles the concrete . . . and wins.
of course it does

December 15, 2025 at 9:46 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

Thunder clouds gather over Franschhoek Valley,
vines move restlessly
date palms sway
women gather laundry
men move equipment & tools
children secure windows
time later for cocoa and rusks
after the first heavy raindrop
relief

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #thunderclouds #raindrops #datepalms

Poem:
vines shiver palms sway
cumulus gathering white & gray
no more waiting today

paired with image of Franschhoek valley, in the foreground date palms, further in the distance wine farms and their seried vines rising up against the Franschhoek mountains. The sky dominates, white cumulus gathering, spilling over peaks, touches of blue and heavy grey thunder clouds making their way in.
image contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)

December 14, 2025 at 12:08 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

What’s on my mind today
is the mid-Summer High Tibetan plain ringed by the Himalayas.
At 4200 meters it’s higher than Europe's mountains
& most of the Americas.

(inspired by my earlier #flowers #prompt post)
ALT=deets
#poem #poetry #haiku
#mountainbees #wildbees #breeze #tibet

Poem:
open sunlit flowers
scenting on a silent breeze
high wild mountain bees

paired with photograph of a Qinghai-Tibetan plain covered with Summer flowers high in the Himalayas. Photo snapped in July 2006.
Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)

December 12, 2025 at 10:44 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

The ox and the ass
silently stood in the stall
her burden now asleep
mother and child listen in peace
to the whispering caroling

#poem #tanka #weekly #prompt
#burden #TankaThursday #TankaPoem #micropoetry

December 12, 2025 at 9:29 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

consider: to think about
carefully, really that's the point
to take into account

not deflect, manipulate
merely give consideration

#poem #tanka #tankapoem #weekly #prompt
#consider #inkMine

December 11, 2025 at 11:36 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

Something's off?

when the cards were laid on the table
there never was a doubt
grenade unpinned

but I’d a roadmap out
files & a folder
no need to spin

so sure that I would lose
never thought that I could win

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku
#gaslight #strategy #evidence #uno #ginrummy #stakes

Free verse poem with standing image of a man ready for his next step in life
Poem: When things feel off
be strategic, not tactical
gather the evidence
compile the proofs
file the receipts
keep a timeline

secure your value
protect your future
your name
your family
your life
& theirs

This is gin rummy
a price might be paid
life isn’t Uno
stakes will be raised

This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)
...
When you’re committed to someone you become attuned to them, the eye sees & the ear hears what the brain does not process consciously.
Deep in the subconscious tiny changes in behaviour patterns trigger as red flags, not overtly: the seep up from somewhere deep inside triggering a sense of shift, a change, a tiny charge of emotional weight displaced. Your conscious mind registers a different sense. Maybe of respect. Or of being seen, or deflected, often – gaslit.
And so a long, extended period of self-examination, self-criticism begins, a diminution of the self.
It’s the moment to stop looking at yourself, but at your partner. To start recording the changes and inconsistencies that your pattern rich subconscious has subtly pushed at you.
Those closest to you cannot hide themselves from you once the scales fall from your eyes.
It’s the time to document, to research, the clues will be everywhere – changes of spending, clothes, aromas, habits, time keeping, and always, a tilt to disrespect.
Find the receipts, understand the new patterns, be ready to control the narrative, because lord knows, difficult times are coming.
Armed with the truth, supported by the receipts, you will be ready to take back the narrative of your life.
Deceivers and controllers can't maintain a consistent deception. But they will delude themselves that they can.
When you ring down the curtain, the tables will be turned.

December 11, 2025 at 10:59 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

what’s on my mind this evening
is how the days slip by
& almost unnoticed
the miracle of another day’s life
passes by in the daily grind

The blessing of life taken for granted

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism #sunrise #sunset #dusk #dawn #miracle #labor #toil #grind
#dailygrind

Poem: East to West
I bow to the sun
bringing warmth from the East
another day's labor
another day's toil
turn to the West
as it slips to our rest

paired with a photo of the setting sun the final glow of red and gold stretching across an African sky
Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)
...
what’s on my mind tonight
as I watched the setting sun settling in the west

with the earth rotating to evening dusk and night’s darkness
is how the days slip by
and almost unnoticed
the miracle of another day’s life
passed me by in my daily grind.

I realized
sunrise to sunset,
we labor and sweat.
Then,
dusk to breaking dawn
we have the gift of a blessed night
to rest before the morn.

I realized that the daily blessing of life
was being taken for granted.
every day, when I lift my head
I get a little miracle
another day of life.

December 10, 2025 at 6:22 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

open sunlit flowers
scenting on a silent breeze
high wild mountain bees

#poem #poetry #haiku
#mountainbees #wildbees #breezes
#flowers

December 10, 2025 at 10:24 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

consider me, consider you
where to find the eponymous we
knowing who we are

lines
1 Just lets look at each of us independently of the other
2 then 'eponomys' challenges whether the separate parts represents a cohesive whole
3 bearing in mind past behaviours

#poem #poetry #haiku #inkMine #consider

December 9, 2025 at 8:05 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

am I alone in struggling with lack of #alignment between #Bluesky avowed #ranking practices & what's empirically in my feeds.

Level of #curation hides #content I might be interested
-and-
restricts the reach of my own.

Wondering if it has become little more than a personal blog

December 9, 2025 at 8:09 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

what’s on my mind today
is John Lennon
40 years on

Like
Beethoven
Mozart
& Holly
I mourn not just the man
but the loss of unrealized music too
my stoic mind flooded with empathy

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #tanka #stoic #stoicism
#eagle #eaglefalls #johnlennon #lennon #legacy #empathy

Tanka poem: remembering Lennon
A shot rings out
the soaring eagle falls to ground
Lennon's lost life
a loss of music, vibrancy
not balanced by his legacy

paired with a photo of a soaring eagle over a bleak Karoo landscape. Gray clouds above, parched earth below.
Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)

December 9, 2025 at 7:13 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

It's a fine ruby, Joe!
Helen's haughty condescending tone
I don't have the wherewithal

going to have to let her go
her ex can have her hallowed hand

...
#poem #tanka #inkMine #weeklyprompt #prompt
#ruby #fine #hallow #hand #tone #wherewithal

December 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

Our deepest regrets
corrode from within

Maybe
something unexpressed
said, not unsaid
harmed, not made good
hidden, unrevealed

Maybe someone
deflected, gaslit, neglected
or simply
patronized

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #regret #betrayal
#deflected #gaslit #neglected #harmed #hidden

This post is about regret.
The deepest kind,
the kind that corrodes from within.

Not stemming from choices
(which become lessons learned)
or circumstantial, out of our control
(which call for a response).

I'm thinking of regrets
stemming from our own failings.
Maybe
something unexpressed
said, not unsaid
harmed, not made good
hidden, unrevealed.

Maybe someone
deflected, gaslit, neglected
or simply
patronized.

Regrets that cause harm.
We think we're controlling something
or some situation.
The other parties don’t know
or suspect.
But they do
and we know they are hurting
until,
situationally,
the point of unraveling can't be avoided.

It always comes out,
we've betrayed ourselves
and all that we are left with
is regret.
---
Haiku poem: regret
Regret is a betrayal
betrayal you commit on yourself
memory staining debt

coupled to free verse discussion of life’s journey to regret, paired with an image of graffiti on an electrical substation with the words “Sorry” and “Mom” spelled in the form of a cross balanced on the “o”’s; snapped in July 2024 in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Graffiti is by a homeless person whose parents were subsistence laborers, unable to care properly for their child during working hours, and so he was lead astray.
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)

December 8, 2025 at 7:33 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

Rituals in partnership
we build our #intimate bonds
by creating & honoring #rituals

sharing and nurturing the everyday
creates #trust & #understanding
the space to bring a #crisis
when life's a #difficulty

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism
#JamesandEthelGrayPark #trust #life

Poem: being present
mother daughter walking
the ritual of being present
a shared path together

paired with a photograph taken at the James and Ethel Gray Park in Melrose. A red brick path in a green park area separates to the left and right. Grey blue clouds above, haloed by a setting sun. Ahead grass rises to an unseen common. Two women walk in synchronization along the path, the younger to the left her elder to the right in the comfort of each other's company.
Photo taken in December 2025, this image for contemplation only; a low-res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)

December 7, 2025 at 7:48 PM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

Granny Smith's Honeycrisp
with McIntosh betrothed
he alas with Pink Lady laid…

sighed Honeycrisp when she was told
Gala's off! … & I'm with Jonagold

...
a wee bit of Doggerel on a Friday
#poem #tanka #TankaPoem #micropoetry #doggerel

December 5, 2025 at 6:48 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

here the storm retreats
there
it rushes in

#poem #poetry #micropoetry

Thunderclouds over James and Ethel Gray Park are moving on, this load of heavy rushing drops and icy stones now seeping in while a new load is prepared in the bomb bay of nature's grey fleet.
In the distance, the last of the sunlight is filtering over the horizon. A wet stillness lingers.

December 4, 2025 at 11:48 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

on my mind today is

the beauty of agriculture
aligned
to natures rhythms
not overlayed
not superimposed
aligned

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #Alishan #sakuratrail #Taiwan
#nature #agriculture #alignment

Poem: aligning
blue mountains green fields
mist of cloud rolling caressing
man and nature synchronized

paired with a photo is of Cloud covered Mountains and tea fields.Original photo taken in November 2025, along the Sakura trail at Alishan Natural Park in the central highlands of Taiwan.
Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)

trail guide of the Sakura trail at the Alishan National Park in Taiwan

December 4, 2025 at 9:10 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

Hippos #wallow
crocodiles lurk
eyes following the #Sable herd
stepping down to the waterhole
a #faux #display of confidence
life & death
hangs in the balance

indifferent
cameras click
a guide #exhorts the tourists
#enabler of a thousand media posts

...
#inkmine #poem #poetry #prompt

December 3, 2025 at 9:45 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

Hail laden
Highveld thunderclouds
threaten
move in from East
overtaking the sunset
Nature drives us back to our shelters

Thunderclouds over James and Ethel Gray Park. Pink sunset glow in the NW

Thunderclouds now over James and Ethel Gray Park, in the distance rain comes down as the air tightens above

Thunderclouds over James and Ethel Gray Park, the sky darkening and the first heavy drops over the empty commons fall

December 3, 2025 at 9:11 AM

ilinkcs

@ilinkcs.bsky.social

The bachelors monthly grind:
Fresh food

Once a month
Saturday
the farmers market
and me, of course
4 hours of selecting
seasonal only, of course

Sunday
prepping blanching wrapping
freezing

I love my life
it isn't that hard
to be your own wife

ALT=deets
#bachelor #life #wife #freshfood #market