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Rules

Posted January 15th, 2013 by SoulPoet31

I am trapped here as
Society crushes me
laughing like thunder.

But I have wings to
sweep these rules into the night
Laughing like soft rains

Huh?

On January 16th, 2013 C.J.Ryall says:

Interesting haiku ... except that its syllable count is 5-5-5 instead of 5-7-5. But what intrigues me more than that is the meaning of this poem. What rules? Are you a 'shade of black' because you are angry? Your mood is evil? LOL. I think perhaps that 'haiku' might have been the wrong format for this piece of poetry, as more information is needed for the reader to understand your feelings and/or message. This is not a criticism mind you, just friendly advice. Also, personally, I'm curious to know more about what vexes thee. Heh. Wishing you well. Regards,

Chris

Rushed artist

On January 16th, 2013 SoulPoet31 says:

I'm not surprised I messed up the form as I was being yelled at from the
other room to come eat my supper. lol
I kind of rewrote it,taking your suggestions to heart. I aggreed with you,
and am glad you commented so I could better myself.
The second haiku I added is only there because quite strangely the computer said
my blog entry was too short,it had to be more than 10 words. But I have eleven
in the first haiku,so I was confused. So I just wrote another one.lol

I was in an eveil mood when I wrote the original one you commented on.
I'm just mad about the whole college thing. I think it's a scam to get our
money so we can have a piece of paper that says we're not a loser. And I'm
not good at making speeches, and I started speech class and made a fool of
myself because we were asked to introduce ourselves. I started rambling about
who knows what and then said I wanted to go to Scotland in a Scottish accent,
and people laughed at me.lol. But now that I think about it, I might have laughed too
if I was in their shoes. I'm just praying I'll get over my nerves and just learn to be
calm and controlled and so I don't freak people out. Oh and I have to buy a 200 dollar math book for school
and I hate math,so that vexes me as well. The whole scam thing. I just wish life were simpler, and I could
live off the land and be a hermit in the woods and read and write poetry all day with the Lord.lol, I'm too old
fashioned for my own good. But the Lord is helping me cope with the rules of society.
"If you always face the sun, you will never see the shadow." -Helen Keller. So I'm trying to keep my heart
facing the Lord more, and that relaxes me because then I realize how small my problems are when
compared with te whole of humanity. I thank God for the wisdom he gives me. Even though the inisght into
this world is sad,it can also help me not take my problems so seriously.
God Bless.
Abigail Joy

The Rat Race

On January 17th, 2013 C.J.Ryall says:

The 'rat race' is such a cheesy cliche` to describe the time pressures of life, but I like it, because there are so many 'rats' out there! LOL. I was sorry to read about the kids laughing at you (are you sure they weren't laughing 'with' you?) with regard to the Scottish joke you made. But you know, I bet half of them wouldn't have the courage to use humor in a public speaking activity. Good on you for using humor - so many people try to bore us to death with a dry display of their 'intelligence' that a bit of humor is always needed to lighten things up. Heh. I'm sure there were some in the audience who mentally noted how brave that was of you - so many young people lack confidence in a public arena.

I know what you're going through, having studied 'education' in my teaching degree at university. The first thing the lecturers and tutors tried to do is to get us used to public speaking, and dealing with the horror of having to stand in front of one's peers (or strangers) and give a speech. It worked - after three years of that, we were used to speaking in public and in classrooms by the time we graduated.

After 20 years of teaching, it no longer worries me, but my nerves were challenged all over again having to do public speaking in another language here in Japan. Every year teachers are introduced to all the parents of students and the PTA in the school gymnasium - over 600 people usually. Far out! Ha ha. But I got used to that, too, eventually. And I also got used to kids (and sometimes parents) laughing at my mistakes in Japanese, or my accent, etc. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

And yes, modern education seems like more of a business or industry than an educational institution designed to give students the skills they need for their career. And society has responded by making it necessary for many jobs to require a degree when it wasn't previously needed. It's a vicious cycle. I agree that some aspects of education are way overpriced, and it's not a nice way to start out in life when one leaves college with massive debts to pay off. It's a ridiculous situation really.

But getting back to the rat race - it is extremely difficult to 'get in the zone' or mood when being rushed. Writing poetry, for me at least, is impossible if I am thinking about the time or some matter that I need to attend to. Like you, and many others, I wish that life were simpler and that I could just be a hermit in the woods and write novels and poetry everyday. I'm almost there! My wife and I live in a quiet, tiny traditional village in the mountains in a rural area of Japan. That's almost as good! :-D

Despite the pressures on you, you still seem to produce wonderful poetry, and I like how you have edited and/or modified this one. Well done. And I think you're very wise with regard to giving your troubles to the Lord, and reminding yourself of sayings like the one you quoted from Helen Keller. Good on you. It puts things in perspective, and calms one down. Sorry that this response has been so long. Wishing you all the very best in your studies. God bless.

Chris

It's okay

On January 17th, 2013 SoulPoet31 says:

It's okay, I'm an English major, so that was more like a paragraph compared to what I'm used to reading. Thank you for sharing your experience. I can't imagine having to learn Japanese and then have to speak in front of tons of people with it. You're very brave. Just curious, what made you move out to Japan? You've probably already told me, but I have a bad memory.

It is strange that I'm nervous to speak in front of people because I'm an actress. But when I'm on stage, I'm somebody else,in costume, in a different time with different thoughts,and usually a different accent.lol So I'm trying to figure out why I'm so nervous to act as myself. Maybe because I have to write my own script,and if it doesn't go well with the audience, it's my fault. lol,idk.

I like the term rat race as well, and I never thought about how people are rats! lol. Also, one of my favorite movies is Rat Race. It's just hilarious.

Even if they were laughing at me, I'm over it now, because I have tons of friends at college that love me for who I am. AS one of my closest friends told me, those girls that laughed just aren't on my level of awesome yet. lol,that made me feel better,as anyone would on being called awesome.

Thanks for your kind words! I'm glad you liked my new poem! It was thanks to you I had the perspective that it needed changed!
As a song by Sheryl Crow goes, "Some change,change, will do you good." And indeed, it did my poem a lot of good.=]

As always, God Bless

Abigail Joy

A Level of Awesome

On January 18th, 2013 C.J.Ryall says:

Dear Abigail,

I love the level of awesome you're on! Like you, I was also an actor (in high school - won best performance award), and I understand exactly what you mean about not being as scared on stage as you are when engaging in public speaking. When we are acting, we are not ourselves, but the character whose role we are performing, and that's the difference. When we are giving a speech, it's just us out there, naked so to speak, with no costume or 'role' to hide behind. Our words are not lines in a play, but our own, and that takes a lot of self-confidence and courage. It does not surprise me at all to read that you have many friends who love you for who you are, not in the slightest. You're awesome! :-D

You asked why I moved to Japan. Well, when I was a kid, I watched Japanese anime on Saturday mornings on TV. You may not know them as they are very old: Astroboy (aka Atom Boy), Marine Boy, Speed Racer, Kimba the White Lion, and so on. So I was fascinated with Japan from a young age. In high school I saw 'samurai' movies, and was hooked. I majored in Japanese Language in my teaching degree and became a Japanese Language teacher. But I wanted to experience Japan for myself, so I went there, and fell in love with this wild and wonderful culture, with all their marvelous customs, their food, their green tea, their nature (Fuji-san, pine forests, snow fields, tea fields, rice fields, rivers), their martial arts, etc. My wife and I trained in Karate here. I tried returning to Australia, but both my wife and I missed Japan too much and returned - 3 times! LOL. I guess we're stuck here. Ha ha.

Your poem rocks after the changes you made. It rings like a bell now - great write.

Take care and God bless

Chris :-)

Jealous...

On January 19th, 2013 SoulPoet31 says:

Okay, now i understand how you got hooked. I think I would love to live there as well,in the country,that is. Their cities seem to be very big and busy,I would get lost. But it would be cool to see everyone about their lives. I recently discovered that in Asian countries, they have green tea flavored ice cream,kit kats and lots of other things! I was jealous, because I love green tea, and we don't have those things. And the organic green tea bags we buy are expensive,where as you probably get them cheap, idk.

I got a few best performance awards as well! My favorite role was playing Dolly Tate in Annie Get your Gun musical. That's when I had a solo and had to overcome my fear of singing in front of people,but turns out I was a good singer as soon as I got into my role(because Dolly is very confident).lol

I took tae quondo when I was younger, and loved it! I loved breaking boards different ways at the end of class. My dad wants to be a karate teacher.
I love samarai movies too(The last Samarai is my fav)
That's awesome how you guys moved finally to Japan! For some reason, I thought your wife was Japanese before,but now I think I was wrong. That's so cool you can speak it fluently. Have you ever wrote poems in Japanese?That'd be challenging..well maybe not for you.lol

Green Tea

On January 21st, 2013 C.J.Ryall says:

Hi Abigail,

I must admit, I found the cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya) exciting in many ways, but the pace was too fast, and it was easy to be swept along in a sea of people. As Mandy and I got older, we kept on getting better opportunities in the more rural areas of Japan. We discovered that the countryside is much more traditional, and hence one gets to see the 'real Japan' more often. Some of our best experiences here (and friendships) have been in the countryside.

Yes, we have green tea ice cream, green tea kit kats (weird at first), green tea muffins, and so on. LOL. Mandy and I love green tea, and its health properties, and we are very lucky as it is indeed very cheap here. Occasionally we get fresh green tea as a gift from neighbors or friends. Mandy participates in her school's annual 'tea-picking' event, and brings home a newly hand-picked bag of green tea that lasts several weeks.

I would have loved to have seen you in Annie Get Your Gun! Ha ha. I bet you were great. Wow - I'm impressed that you had to sing a solo - well done! Good on you :-D

I've fought competitors (in martial arts tournaments) that do Tae Kwan Do, and they are always extremely good at high kicks, and difficult to defend against. I lost to a guy who did Kung Fu though. Heh. I hope your Dad gets to fulfill his wish of being a Karate teacher. I imagine he has a black belt then.

Yes, I love samurai movies as well, including The Last Samurai, but my favorites are the Japanese films (usually in black and white) by the very famous, late director, Kurosawa Akira. He made such classics as Shichi-Nin no Samurai (The Seven Samurai), Sanjuro, Yojimbo and so on. His movies often mirror the westerns made by Sergio Leone, as they were both best friends, and came up with the plots together, one with guns, one with swords. You can see these Samurai films in America (with English subtitles).

Mandy is Australian, and moved to Japan one year before me. She lived in Kyoto, and when I was at university in Tokyo, she moved to Osaka. I moved in with her a year later. Together we have participated in tea ceremonies, have seen baseball games and Sumo wrestling live, climbed Mt Fuji, trained in Karate, stayed in traditional ryokan (inns) in Okinawa, Hiroshima, Gifu, Shizuoka, Nara, Kyoto and so on. We have had a real adventure over here, and just love it so much. I taught Japanese in high school before coming to Japan (the 2nd time), and Mandy (who is more fluent than I am) worked in a Japanese business on the Gold Coast.

I have written poems in Japanese, but they're not very good. Hehehe. Here's one as an example, a haiku:

夏の紅葉　　　　　　　　　Natsu no Kouyou (Summer's changing leaves)
熱の中では　　　　　　　　Netsu no naka de wa (Amidst the summer heat)
愛の将来が　　　　　　　　Ai no shorai ga (There is love's future)

The green leaves of summer here begin to change before the autumn season, but it is also very hot at that time, and there are many romances in summer due to the long holidays from university and school. Lots of lovers return to college in September as a 'couple'. Heh. That's what I was trying to reflect in this poem. I hope the Japanese came through okay.

Have a great week. Warmest regards,

Chris :-)

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