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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 13h

real love is rare
(yet somehow)
everywhere

#poetry #poem #love #reallove

Poem: REAL LOVE
real love isn't exciting
not all of the time.
mostly
its quiet,
repetitive
ordinary,
mistaken too often for boring.

real love
is someone who sees you
when you don't see yourself
who hears you
when your ears are filled with
doubt
who listens
when you don't think they hear
whose present
hoping that you'll return
who trusts you
when your back is turned
real love is
tended every day
needs the sunlight in your eyes
needs a smile
from chin to brow
needs a touch
quick, intimate, unreserved
needs a voice
mirroring thoughts inside
needs the smell & taste of food
prepared & shared in a home
where chaos & cognitive
dissonance
is a challenge
and not the way

real love is rare
(yet somehow)
everywhere.

This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)

ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 1d

Wimpie, What are you doing under my work table?!?

There's a lot of very scary noise in the sky
Deal with it
I'm not leaving
oh, and by the way
you need to dust down here
& there's a hole in your sock
that's premeditated poverty
Call me when there's something to eat

#thunder #dogs #pets #holeysocks

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 1d

on my mind today ... African Penguin awareness day
if you're in Cape Town today . . .
www.capenature.co.za/.../make-spa...

#africanpenguin #conservation #capenature

poster for African Penguin Awareness day Concert

ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 2d

Insomnia
I rise
and
as I pen my ledger
her sense of jasmine breaks my pledge
again to tease my brain
then tempt me back again
---
artwork:
Brett Charles Seiler
Untitled (Candle), 2022
Bitumen and Roof Paint on Canvas
57 1/2 × 57 1/2 in | 146 × 146 cm

#poetry #poem #inkMine

Poem:
Insomnia
I rise
and
as I pen my ledger
her sense of jasmine breaks my pledge
again to tease my brain
then tempt me back again

paired with artwork of a naked man huddled in the dark with a single candle casting a shadowy light
A plant behind, a tilted carpet to the front
The whole in shades of mahogany (https://www.artsy.net/artwork/brett-charles-seiler-untitled-candle)

© the artist, Brett Charles Seiler
Untitled (Candle), 2022
Bitumen and Roof Paint on Canvas
57 1/2 × 57 1/2 in | 146 × 146 cm
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 3d

We don't care about #insubordination
as long as you keep on winning
-Montgomery
talking to the SAS during WW2

That's true everywhere
Employers, directors, managers
cut you slack if you do your job excellently
kick you to the curb when you fail

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism

Poem: bloody insubordination
telling it like it is?
the moment you stop winning
its bloody insubordination

paired with a clip from the BBC series “SAS Rogue Heroes” where Montgomery gives the quote “We don't care about insubordination as long as you keep winning” The men are drunk on parade, to the left are seen generals and other high rank officers, and Montgomery is in the foreground with the SAS major’s back to the scene.
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 3d

There are four kinds of history
Economic
Social
Political
Art

In any particular era. They track each other
Of the four art is the one that shows the way to the other three.

ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 4d

in the Autumn of our lives
with thoughts of love surrendered
under russet boughs
on golden leaves
comes once more a quickening breath
late blooming love arising

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku

Poem: golden leaves
Spring forgotten, Summer sleeps
mongst falling leaves a Romance stirs
in Autumn's russet & gold

paired with an image of late Autumn on the Highveld on a silent Sunday at the Zoo Lake garden in 2016
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 4d

behold the artwork!
if everyone agrees
it cannot be art

#art

4

ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 4d

Just me
my deep internal me-ness
it has so many facets
like a diamond in the rough

with purpose & intent
I choose which ones to polish
which to leave alone untouched

in sorrow & neglect
or failure to take care
which to fracture into dust
Just me

#poem

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 5d

The mask of a persona worn
selected from a cosplay closet
disguising evil within
repressing good beside
Shadow of an inner self
awaiting a shining light
stepping into a growing life

persona- public mask
shadow- hidden reality of life-choices
ALT=deets
#poem #haiku #jung #psyche #art #caravaggio

The Jungian Shadow
Jung's shadow is the repressed side of the psyche, good (untapped creativity, assertiveness, positive instincts) & evil (hidden, repressed, inferior, guilt-laden, anger, envy, selfishness)
ie everything we don’t/can't admit about ourselves
Breaking the ties to the persona(s) releases the Shadow: the source of evil & reservoir of potential; and leaving you ready to examine before assimilating /excising.

Poem: who is looking back at me
the moment the Shadow escapes
seeping out from a coffin lid
reclaiming its inner light

paired with "Narcissus" by Caravaggio (1598-ish) Oil on canvas (110 cmx92cm) rotated 90° right
Housed in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica-Rome
The painting's rotated to give the impression of a man staring into a glass in a door.
On the other side in a darkened room, a shadowed twin looks back - alike but subtly different.
The man's Persona pushes to keep the door shut, his Shadow pushes to come out

copyright per Wikicommons
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 5d

taken from my full linkedin post ... taken from my full linkedin post
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 6d

The conundrum of #communication in a digital world:

in acknowledgement
& tone
not timing alone
we show our respect
our care
& concern
I am because you are

Its not about bad or #miscommunication:
It's how the message is treated on receipt

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #ubuntu #stoic #stoicism

The strategic use of silence, delay, or non-acknowledgment is a form of control.
It’s not merely poor etiquette — it’s a communicative behaviour that shifts the moral and relational balance.

Managing this in a an organisation requires setting standards that include this aspect of communication, typically written into a Project Charter.

In personal relationships, this is a sign of the health of the relationship, from equitable to abusive. A shift in the balance is a red flag for the parties.

Poem: ubuntu interactions
responding is what you do
acknowledgement tone & timing
signals my sense of you

Bring yourself to the relationship every day

and paired with a sepiaed image ©ilinkcs (2025/09) of a woman seated at a table checking her messages, behind her a man ‘s back facing a filing cabinet

Summary:
1. Communication as a Moral / Ethical Exchange
In both Stoic and Ubuntu frameworks, communication is not a neutral act; it’s a moral transaction.
To delay or withhold response is to interrupt reciprocity — to break the rhythm that says, “I see you, I hear you, I recognize you.”
A modern day Seneca would call that a failure of acknowledgment — a lack of humanitas.
In Ubuntu terms, it erodes umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu — our mutual personhood.
So a prompt, respectful reply = recognition of shared dignity.
A delayed, dismissive, or non-reply = moral diminishment of the other.

2. Power and Asymmetry in communication
When used deliberately, silence and delay become tools of asymmetry — a way to subvert managing risk or asserting dominance without overt aggression.
One can see this dynamic in:
- Bureaucratic communication (where response delay implies hierarchical control).
- Professional gatekeeping (silence as denial of voice).
- Personal relationships (stonewalling, passive withdrawal).
Here, non-response signals who has the right to define when communication begins or ends — an implicit power claim - a means to gain an unfair advantage

Summary: Stoic References
Dial: Timing
Stoic Theme: Self-control and appropriate response
Ref: Seneca De Ira (De Ira 2.10–12), Musonius Rufus (Lecture 12 (On Speech”)

Dial: Acknowledgement
Stoic Theme: Recognition of mutual rationality (“I am because you are”)
Ref: Epictetus’ respect for others’ agency (“Discourses” 1.2 and 1.16)

Dial: Tone
Stoic Theme : Moral balance between harshness and flattery
Ref: Marcus Aurelius (Meditations 6.30)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 7d

Love is a private emotion
unfiltered & unasked it's shared in public spaces

See how every fiber comes alive when a couple is comfortable in each other’s space and in the company of like minded friends

hat tip TS Elliot "To My Wife"
ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #happy #smiling #couples #tselliot

TS Elliot's "to my wife" came to my mind instantly when coming on this old pic of a couple I knew another lifetime ago, these closing lines immortalizing his feelings for Valerie by making plain unreservedly how he felt about her, & him:

"But this dedication is for others to read:
These are private words addressed to you in public“

Poem: every fibre come alive
focused ears & eyes
fully feeling seeing hearing
every fibre comes alive

paired with a photo showing a couple smiling and sitting close together, with the man wearing a light blue shirt and the woman wearing a dark dress with a floral pattern and a pearl necklace, clearly engaged with a group out of picture with smiles reaching their eyes, snapped in March 2001 ©ilinkcs (2001/03)
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 7d

On my mind this evening
is #Mendelssohn, and his #Elijah #Oratorio
is The music (melodic and tempestuous)
is The singing (uplifting and on point)
is The message (unexpectedly humbling)
is The ambience (welcoming & forgiving)
and an unexpected personal realisation

#ElijahOratorio

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 10d

In memorium

Dame Jane Goodall
3 April 1934 - 1 October 2025

Pioneering scientist whose breakthrough studies of chimpanzees changed how the animals were perceived and led to greater protection.

My childhood heroes go before me
Sadly missed

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #janegoodall #chimpanzees

Poem: Dame Jane Goodall
before jane collective disdain
in the shadow of man she spoke to me
now she walks forever free

paired with a portion of her photo from her book “In the Shadow of Man” caption “I would follow the Chimpanzees through the forest” ©the author
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/oct/01/jane-goodall-world-renowned-primatologist-dies

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 11d

#Maths isn't #Science

Science is (..) this bridge between the natural world as it is
& what we can understand with our finite mind

(..) a narrative that's understandable to us
from what is actually out there in the natural world
-Stephen Wolfram

#poetry #poem #haiku #particlephysics

Particle physics has become guesswork & endless debate fueled by donor incentives
Quantum physics in particular can no longer be proven experimentally, so we build mathematical models underpinned by assumptions and then try to align them with our observables, ignoring anomalies
Guesswork, really …

Poem: not so empirically speaking . .
somethings happening you see
explaining mathematically
assuming a & b & c

paired with a portion of the Flammarion engraving, a wood engraving by an unknown artist that first appeared in Camille Flammarion's L'Atmosphère: Météorologie populaire (1888). The image depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were a solid hemisphere, to look at the mysterious Empyrean beyond. The caption underneath the engraving (not shown here) translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet...“
Image from WikiCommons.
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 12d

ubuntu in the home

we listen
we hear
we align
we care

we await our turn
uninterruptedly
we bring ourselves
wholeheartedly

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #ubuntu
#relationships #axioms #boundaries #partners

Poem: ubuntu in the home
boundaries keep us safe
shaped by what we live & do
I am because you are

followed by relationship axioms:
2 for Boundaries (keeping us aligned)
3 for Don’ts (what I do affects you)
4 for Do’s (I am because you are)

2 Boundary axioms
Renegotiate, don't break
If one boundary becomes unequal, all boundaries fail

3 “Don’t“ axioms
damage things
hurt each other
endanger your lives

4 “Do“ axioms
Be kind
Be respectful
Listen with clarity
Bring yourself to the relationship every day

and paired with a near transparent sepia photo of a wife seated on a chair holding a new born child, her husband seated on the arm, both gazing at the child
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 12d

Ubuntu: I am because you are

#Gravity
distorting space & time
dragging objects to destruction

#Success
distorting perception
worth & value diminishing
hubris & suffering following

Be grounded:
Never forget who brought you there

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism #ubuntu #Kasparov

High achievers rise ever upwards, accreting honor & fame & rewards.
At the summit, they see only themselves, everything else distorted by distance

This is the negative side of the "gravity of success" - a downward pull swallowing contributions of all others

Gary Kasparov teaches us that after a victory, the winner may become ever more confident & complacent, leading to errors of judgement, pulling them away from putting in maximum effort needed to further improve & stay on course (How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom-2007)

Poem: I am because you are (Ubuntu)
Success has gravity
pulls you away from where you began
reframing your destiny

paired with a photo of the empty stairwell at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art, looking down into the well spiraling away to an unseen point of departure. The metal has a blue tinge, the concrete reflects a golden glow from the lighting..
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 13d

coffee & (forbidden!) cake & company
& a game of Hopscotch

with special guests
Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson,
Sam Waterson Ned Beaty
& the inimitable Hermet Lom

& music by
Mozart
& Puccini
What an evening to remember!

#hopscotch #waltermatthau #glendajackson #music #mozart #puccini #movienight

closing scene from the movie 'Hopscotch" showing Glenda Jackson & Walter Matthau leaving the bookstore as the credits start rolling ... this image ©ilinkcs 2025/09

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 13d

Just Indifferent Dust

Looking from kitchen to garden
in the warmth of a midday sun
noticed something rising
caught in an aural light
hoping that its friendly
or just indifferent dust

#poetry #poem #aurarising #dust

Poem: Just Indifferent Dust

Looking from kitchen to garden
in the warmth of a midday sun
noticed something rising
caught in an aural light
hoping that its friendly
or just indifferent dust

this image ©ilinkcs (2024/05)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 16d

Dichotomy on #Independence Ave
An Independent Partner
A partner with full independent personhood …

What to assimilate equally into the self of a life partner?
What's acceptable to both partners?
What kind of #partner can I, will I be?

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #relationships

$As a species we thrive in layered communities Co-dependence is our nature and our strength Fracturing a community collapses its outcomes - home, work, or society we thrive in teams Life partnerships evolving into families are the ultimate team-building program – you can’t be independently active in a relationship without consent Independence is granted by & to partners on the basis of equality, respect, loyalty & transparent agreement Anything else is abusive and is the root of pain, suffering and fracturing Life is long Youth is short yet Love grows slowly, it dies suddenly Poem: independence avenue shielded from supporting eyes don’t need no shelter in my life love’s dependency decried paired with an image of a young woman stepping away to go home outside an empty mall with the last hues of the afternoon fading into evening. ...Alone? Lonely? Living her best life? This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)$

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 17d

When life brings its chaos to you
be the rock for it to break against
stand firm
hold the line
live your life in peace

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism #chaos #Winslowhomer #turbulence #roughseas #rockycoast #greyskies

Poem: live your life in peace

wind swirling surf crashing
rock & stone & cliff stand firm
indifferent to the chaos

paired with “Northeaster” by Winslow Homer (1895; reworked by 1901) oil on canvas 87.6x127cm
The artwork shows a turbulent sea under stormy grey skies crashing against an unmovable, indifferent rock
copyright per Wikicommons
This image ©ilinkcs (2025/09)

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 18d

The image was snapped at Taiwan's Sun Moon Lake in December 2023.
It looked, in the moment, like a ghostly face holding a shining orb with the head & body of a spectral dog running beside.
Extraordinary.

ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 18d

Silent Moonlit evening, #Beethoven’s #MoonlightSonata playing on the car radio.
We topped a rise in Melville & there was this magnificent moon close enough to touch
She stopped the car & we simply listened & watched, enthralled by the beauty of the moment.

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #moon

Poem: moonlight sonata

coupled under a silver sky
two hearts silently enthralled
moonlight and happiness

paired with a photo ©ilinkcs (2023/12) of a bright moon in the night sky at Sun Moon Lake – Taiwan’s largest natural lake, known for its scenic beauty and cultural significance.
It looked, in the moment like a ghostly face holding the shining orb with the head & body of a spectral dog running beside.
Extraordinary.

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ilinkcs @ilinkcs.bsky.social · 19d

Krasner.
aarghhhh
we should be able to edit ...