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ilinkcs.bsky.social
ilinkcs
@ilinkcs.bsky.social
46 followers 38 following 360 posts
itinerant autodidact seeking the truth stumbling into what obscures it
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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.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. Hadadas strut the channel wall spooling down the park, nature tackles the concrete . . . and wins. of course it does
December 15, 2025 at 9:46 PM
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.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.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.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.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.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.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

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#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.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.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.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.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
Kitchen monthly food and vegetable load Marble counter with fresh food
December 2, 2025 at 7:03 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
dwarfing the skyline in the rear
a thunderstorm barrels down
from the North

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #clouds #cumulus #highveld #lazysundays
Poem: Highveld thunderstorm Highveld thunderstorm disguised in cuddly cumulus white innocently on the rise paired with a photo of Highveld cumulus rising in the North Snapped from corner Bath & Tyrwhitt in Rosebank This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12) Photo of Highveld cumulus as it rises in the North, snapped from corner Bath & Tyrwhitt in Rosebank This image ©ilinkcs (2025/12)
November 30, 2025 at 11:02 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Theseus slew the dreaded Minotaur,
an amazement in a maze.

...
Weekend #inkMine #Prompt - AMAZE
#prompts Nov 28, 2025

ALT=deets
#tenword #Theseus #Minotaur #labyrinth #maze
...
image:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ky...
Theseus slew the dreaded Minotaur, an amazement in a maze. ... Weekend #inkMine #Prompt - AMAZE #prompts Nov 28, 2025 #tenword #Theseus #Minotaur #labyrinth #maze image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kylix_Theseus_Minotauros_Louvre_F83.jpg Image is an Attic black-figure drinking cup (kylix) from Athens, dating to approximately 450–440 BC, depicting the hero Theseus in combat with the mythical Minotaur. The central image (the tondo) uses the black-figure technique, where figures are painted in a silhouette of black slip on red clay, with incised details providing texture and depth Description Theseus and the Minotaur, attic black-figure kylix tondo, ca. 450–440 BC. Dimensions H. 12.5 cm (4 ¾ in.), Diam. 19 cm (7 ¼ in.), W. 25 cm (9 ¾ in.) Collection Louvre Museum wikidata:Q19675 (Inventory) Current location Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities in the Louvre, Sully, first floor, room 39 Accession number F 83 Credit line Campana Collection, 1861 Source/Photographer Bibi Saint-Pol, own work, 2007-05-09
November 28, 2025 at 9:37 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
The genesis of Table Mountain's Table Cloth
Jan van Hunks and the Devil sat on Devil's Peak and competed

Who could create the most smoke from their pipes?

A week later #Satan snuck away,
defeated

#tanka #weekly #poetry #challenge #table

ALT=deets
#poem #TankaThursday
Poem: the Pirate & the Devil van Hunks and the Devil pulled out their pipes & puffed away Table Mountain's Tablecloth rolling white clouds born that day lasting memory of Satan’s defeat paired with a photo I took of Table Mountain and it’s tablecloth taken from Blouberg Strand on a Sunday morning in June 2019. This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 28, 2025 at 8:51 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
small little useful gifts
plain & utilitarian
touched by the loving heart

...
that little fridge notepad touched my heart,
not just because it's so useful
but because of the unexpected loving thought
it hides

#poem #poetry #haiku
#gifts #heart #lovingheart
#notepad #proteas
picture of a fridge notepad with one note torn off, a list of shopping items the pages have a line of four colorful proteas This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 28, 2025 at 8:44 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
What's on my mind today
and all day long

is my No. 1
all time favorite
second born Sister

on her 70th
the only flower who never faded
seeing her as I'll always remember her

#birthday #sister #flower
December 2001, Sun City, Back-drop of a hill covered in low thorn trees A profiled woman in red fore-grounded head turned to the camera smiling happily
November 27, 2025 at 11:33 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
A new, emerging #rhythm
Brisk 20 minute #walk to the James & Ethel Gray Park
Couples, dog persons, walkers
populating paths, fields
picnic benches & tables.
#Settle to an hour of quiet #reading
Late afternoon becomes early evening
A slow steady return
to the noise of daily life.
#lifestyle
Trees, grass, boulders and sunlight on grass Late afternoon shadows speckle empty picnic tables and benches Sunlight breaking through the trees, shadows shifting West to East, time to ready for a return to civilization. Rosebank, corner Oxford and Jellicoe looking West. Oxford Corner building to the left, cars waiting for traffic lights to change Sun settling towards the West, made known by rays haloing and rising behind the clouds. Cool air descends on Rosebank
November 27, 2025 at 8:14 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Weekly inkMine word challenge

moral of the story ~

Don't run for the boulders
while still on the scree.

#wee#prompt #inkMine
#sage #understand #scree #challenge #elaborate #decency
TEXT OF A WEEKLY WORD CHALLENGE: Never got to the top Oh, why? Bit of a challenge, really Was on the scree & twisted the old ankle. Well that's a shame. Oh, why? Well, you have to understand embarrassing, really - top climber like you, slipping like that. Who said I slipped? Oh, come on! Have the decency to admit it - We all make mistakes. You want me to elaborate? Well, yes - of course, why not? Ok, well. here's some sage advice don't go for a pee while you're still on the scree.
November 25, 2025 at 10:14 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Revenge is an act of clinging on
leading to retribution
cascading violence
& root cause lost

Forgiveness is an act of letting go
finding root cause
self examination:
to forgive each other
we must forgive ourselves

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism
#revenge #forgiveness #violence
The urge to punish is the trigger to revengeful acts. Submitting to one's urges is easy, it's reactive, the sense of Vengeance is satisfied, repetition becomes easier. It solves nothing, it's outcome is retribution a cycle of cascading revenge ensues Forgiveness is a search for root cause killing the queen bee of retribution Clearing the path for what followed and opening a road to redemption and freeing the future from suffering with the past Poem: The Hard Path vengeance is easy, habitual forgiveness is divine, difficult a continuous effort of will paired with a portion of an artwork 'Mask Conversation III' by Tatenda Chidora (2021) Two men heads bound together trapping them in their thoughts, unseeing eyes, ears not hearing, mouths not speaking; only their actions responding to the internalized drama in their minds. Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Soothing Urban Souls

Processing
is best done within the sounds of solitude
rushing,
pooling water,
crickets
harmonizing to the distant barking
of urban dogs
set free.

Just me
reflecting
also
set free.

ALT=deets
#poem #processing #poolingwater #crickets #solitude
The Poem in the main text is supported by these 4 photos, taken at James & Ethel Gray Park, Melrose Johannesburg. Rainwater channel running through basalt rock 4,5 billion years old, it carries Highveld rains while soothing urban souls. These images ©ilinkcs (2025/11) The Poem in the main text is supported by these 4 photos, taken at James & Ethel Gray Park, Melrose Johannesburg. Rainwater channel running through basalt rock 4,5 billion years old, it carries Highveld rains while soothing urban souls. These images ©ilinkcs (2025/11) The Poem in the main text is supported by these 4 photos, taken at James & Ethel Gray Park, Melrose Johannesburg. Rainwater channel running through basalt rock 4,5 billion years old, it carries Highveld rains while soothing urban souls. These images ©ilinkcs (2025/11) The Poem in the main text is supported by these 4 photos, taken at James & Ethel Gray Park, Melrose Johannesburg. Rainwater channel running through basalt rock 4,5 billion years old, it carries Highveld rains while soothing urban souls. These images ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 24, 2025 at 6:56 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
What's on my mind today

is yesterday evening
is day's end
is the security guard
on one side
me on the other
both of us going home
waiting to cross over
behind him

is a Highveld sunset
is so everyday
is so magnificent
is so invisible

at day's end

#poem #highveld #sunset #justme
Poem: Day’s end see main text paired with a photo Sunset corner Oxford & Jellicoe (Rosebank) A security guard stands at a pedestrian crossing oblivious to the evening colours behind blazing through Highveld Jacarandas and office blocks This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 22, 2025 at 10:45 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
give me fire & brimstone
when we’re out ‘n about
that’s not the time
to work it out

lets be happy in the home
its not the place to be alone

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #glow #plunder
#menatwork #jerryleelewis #peaceinthehome
Keep the fire burning for each other one to glow the other to plunder Keep a happy home, look out for each other happy father, happy mother needs peace and order and regular cover when life is hard, to look out for each other Poem: Glow & Plunder Some Men at Work taught me feminine men do not plunder masculine women do not glow Give me glow! Give me plunder! Give me a raging roaring bed on the weekend and peace in the home tween times paired with a clip from Jerry Lee Lewis going wild at the piano in '64 and the party roaring about him. Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 21, 2025 at 7:19 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
on my mind for this evening

The James & Ethel Grey Park
in Melrose.
Broad green spaces,
long walks,trees,
folks with their dogs .

Time to stop & stare
chat and meet,
informal and comfortable
quiet & discrete.

#poem #walks #greenswards #trees
the open green spaces of a public park with people walking their dogs Green grass and trees lining a rivulet green sward wit spring flowers coming up and childrens slides in the distance
November 20, 2025 at 12:32 PM