Kurt Brindley's Blog, page 88

Translucent

the sun’s shimmering

casts cold and silent shadows

with its warmth and light

 

 

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: abundance, flowers, haiku, life, light, metaphors, photography, poetry, shadows, spirituality, writing, Yin Yang, 俳句

Looming

dark clouds massive loom

promising a coming doom

pray it passes soon

 

 

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: cityscapes, danger, fear, haiku, landscapes, life, metaphors, photography, poetry, spirituality, storms, writing, 俳句

When Hearts Yearn Home

when dusk draws the dew

when dark rises from the dell

when sad lows linger

 

 

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: family, farms, haiku, home, life, loneliness, love, nature, photography, poetry, separation, writing, 俳句

Upturn Thy Soul

what is it we seek

yea, that cannot once be found

with a soul upturned

 

 

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: abundance, haiku, life, love, metaphors, nature, photography, poetry, soul, spirituality, sunsets, writing, 俳句

Fenc’d no.8

life’s truest restraints

its most true and confining

are those which we think

 

#iamthatiam

 

 

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: #iamthatiam, Fenc'd, fences, freedom, haiku, life, metaphors, philosophy, photography, poetry, spirituality, writing, 俳句

Volume IV Selection for the Indie Author Book Selection & Review

You may have heard that Dr. Wayne Dyer has died.

And you may have seen several of my posts where I discuss how much Dr. Dyer has meant to me over the recent years.

And you may have noticed that I often referred to him, this man who has meant so much to me and whose wisdom and guidance I so heavily relied upon, as the Greatest of Gurus and as my own Personal Pope.

And you may be aware, if you, too, are an admirer of Dr. Dyer, that he did not regard death with fear; instead, he looked at death as an opportunity for our everlasting soul to expand out of and away from this material, finite vessel we call our body, and return to and within the infinite and everlasting Soul of the Single Song (aka, the Universe (uni-verse – get it?)… Or something to that effect.

And you may understand, then, why I am a bit conflicted. One the one hand, I celebrate the release of Dr. Dyer’s Soul back into the infinite wild of its original and natural habitat. While on the other, me being a normal, irrational human being who can’t escape his Ego, ergo, he can’t escape his damning Desire nor his fear of Death, I am very bummed that he is no longer here on Earth, in his aged and deteriorating vessel of the human kind, being all sagacious and wise and a bit more than slightly goofy.

And you may predict, and rightly so, that, because of all this, I would want to try find ways to stay as close to the Essence of Dr. Dyer’s broad and deep Message and Meaning.

And you may realize, had you an opportunity to look over the submissions for this volume of the Indie Author Book Selection & Review, that several of the books are closely aligned to Dr. Dyer’s out there way of thinking.

To be honest, had Dr. Dyer still been with us, I probably would have selected G. N. Boorse’s DON’T TOUCH THE GLASS. Not only do I love the cover and his website and his write-up on the back of the book, I was also ready to read something as edgy and obscure as his book sounds. See, as advertised down below at my #Amreading widget, I #amreading Maupassant’s ALIEN HEARTS. And it’s all about (too much so) love and the psychological implications of infatuation. In other words, I’m having a hard time finishing it. And it was because Boorse’s book seems to be completely opposite from what I am now reading that I was planning on choosing his. That and, to be honest, I was also intending to choose his because, even though I occasionally write it, I rarely read poetry or abstract writing, such as K.D. Rose’s appears to be (it’s all too hard for my feeble mind to grasp), nor do I read, despite my affection for Dr. Dyer, “New Age” (for a lack of a better term) or self-help books, such as Avril Meyler’s appears to be.

But now, as things stand, the kind of books submitted by Meyler and Rose are exactly what I am yearning to read.

And out of the three books (two by Meyler – A MULTIDIMENSIONAL PARADIGM and A NEW HUMAN) and one by Rose – HEAVY BAGS OF SOUL), I am selecting for this volume of the IABS&R A NEW HUMAN because it looks to be the closest in content to what it is I want rattling around my brain right now.

I want to thank so very much all three authors for their submissions. I am very honored and humbled to be in such a position. And just because only one book has been chosen for this exercise of a literary contest of sorts, it doesn’t mean that I won’t read and review the others. I truly intend to do so.

Now, I’m not sure when my review of A NEW HUMAN will be posted – I still have to finish my current read, as hard as that may be, and review it (it was my intention to review it anyway – we’ll see…). Regardless, I will try to get things expedited and completed the best I can.

Again, thank you to G.N. Borse, K.D. Rose, and Avril Meyler.

And thank all of you for allowing me to use this opportunity to express my love and appreciation for the life and work of Dr. Dyer. May he enjoy all the infinite and everlasting heavenly rewards he so greatly deserves.

Peace.

 

 

Filed under: Books Tagged: authors, book reviews, books, death, fiction, Indie Author Book Selection & Review, Indie Authors, non-fiction, poetry, reviews, soul, spirituality, Wayne Dyer, writing

Of Being

the truth of it all

is found in that which is done

all else is just dreams

 

 

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: #iamthatiam, abundance, accomplishments, being, dreams, farms, haiku, hay, labor, life, philosophy, photography, Senryū

Beyond the Fields

  

life beyond the fields

too, has its risings, settings

tho’ absent such sol

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: abundance, haiku, nature, photography, poety, sol, sun, writing

Neil Gaiman Is My Co-Pilot

Okay, I’ve never been one of those hardcore Gaiman fanboys* that you see following him with blind, whole-body, fervor on twitter but I sure do have a whole lot of respect and admiration for what he’s accomplished in his life – and mine. Beginning with The Sandman series oh so long ago, Gaiman seems unable to be unsuccessful at whatever it is he does. Googlify his name and you will find that he has won so many major awards, some of them more than once, that if my mom had seen my face screw up in shock and awe after first seeing the significantly long list she would have warned me immediately that if I keep making that face someday it’s gonna stay that way.

Point being: the dude is pretty awesome.

And we can add one more awesome point to his long list of awesome points: Recently I downloaded the audiobook version of his short fiction collection Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances to one of my favoritest apps, Overdrive. And of course I find that the book is read by none other than The Man himself. And of course I find that I’ll be both god and buddha damned if he also isn’t one of the best god and buddha damned “voice performers” I have ever heard. Sheesh – what a wonderful voice he has to listen to.

 

Anyway…

I mention all of this more than slightly awkward author/guy crush worship thing of mine only because I too am now in the audiobook recording business. For, as I have mentioned here before, I am trying (key word: trying) to record a “performance” of my novel The Sea Trials of an Unfortunate Sailor.

It is very hard, this recording stuff – you know, with the intimidating microphones, and the confusing software, and with the dogs constantly barking in the background…

But the hardest part of all is coming to the realization that I don’t have the greatest of reading voices, especially since the book is narrated from the point of view of an insecure eighteen-year-old whom I would have to guess came late to the puberty game. So me trying to read in a voice that might pass as even barely authentic to the story has been both very hilarious when hearing it during playback and even more discouraging.

So far I have managed to record an introduction to the book, as well as all the novel’s front matter whatnots that include the dedication and acknowledgment (and which have been uploaded to my app). But those I was able to read in my own voice, which may not be the most pleasant to listen to but at least I don’t have to contort my diaphragm around my voice box in order to speak with it.

So yeah, I’m still working on finding (rediscovering?) that insecure eighteen-year-old voice of mine…

It’s a tough gig, but I shan’t give up for I have a sure-fire strategy for voice recording accomplishment and success:

Each time I run into a rough spot while recording I’ll simply stop, take a deep breath, look upward to the sky in humility and veneration and ask to the Literary Gods On High…

What would Jesus Neil do?

 

*non-gender specific

 

 

Filed under: Books Tagged: audiobooks, authors, books, comic books, drawings, fiction, graphic novels, Literary Gods, literature, Neil Gaiman, Overdrive, recording software, short stories, The Sandman

Ain’t That America…

Reporting live from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

 

#gettysburgaddress

 

 

Filed under: Photography Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, Ain't That America, diners, food, Gettysburg, Gettysburg Address, history, Pennsylvania, photography, speeches, travel