Gavin Whyte's Blog, page 19

Fallen Ones (Haiku)

Falling leaves in June,

Who have fallen way too soon.

Ignorance prevails.

*

Thanks for reading.

Please be a Superstar by Liking and Following. I aim to update my blog on a daily basis. 

Blessings.

Gavin

 

 

The post Fallen Ones (Haiku) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

Poison (A Poem)

Shadows of non-being,

The addictive past,

Poisons to the present –

But not a present poison.

Volunteering to sip,

The poison that saps life,

Ever so subtly,

And yet not so subtle at all.

A poison with no side-effects,

Other than ignorance,

To a life that’s full with itself.

Coming and going,

Flickering in the light,

Like a non-extinguishable flame,

Burning day and night;

A river forever flowing.

That’s life.

The post Poison (A Poem) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

The Dark Years (100-Word Flash Non-Fiction)

You consider the dark years to be from 17 to 21. You were full of uncertainties, insecurities, self-doubt, angry ambition, and pain.

Demons were created at that age. Perhaps they were born sooner, when you weren’t looking. But the ones you’ve been wrestling with since, you saw them come through the door, hell, you opened the door and invited them in. You told them to get comfortable, make themselves at home. And they did.

And ever since you’ve been waiting for them to leave.

But they won’t, unless you open the door and guide them.

Asking guests to leave is never easy.

*

The post The Dark Years (100-Word Flash Non-Fiction) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

What’s Your Reading Goal for 2018?

2017 was a great reading year for me. I managed to read 85 books. My goal was to reach 70.

To give you an example of what kinds of books I read, here’s 10 of them:

The Uncommon Reader – Alan Bennett
East, West – Salman Rushdie
The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
Sophie’s World – Jostein Gaarder
The Narnia series
What Really Matters – Arthur Kleinman
Life Lessons from Bergson – Michael Foley
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Staring at the Sun – Irvin Yalom
The Road – Cormac McCarthy

My reading goal for 2018 is to first of all get through all the paperbacks I haven’t read. I have a tendency (it’s actually like a disease) to visit second-hand bookshops and walk out with a bag of books and a smile on my face. Fortunately my wife is rather forgiving.

I have specific writing goals this year (which includes writing a novel for a Taiwanese movie director – no small task!) that I didn’t have last year, and so already I know I won’t have as much time to read.

Being the reading geek that I am, I’ve just pulled out all the books I’m to read this year and piled them up next to me, so I can list a few for you here.

Wife: Why can’t you just post a picture of them?

Me: Because I want to list them.

Wife: You’re very strange.

So, ignoring my wife, here goes:

Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Season of Secrets – Sally Nicholls
Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
Formosa Under the Dutch – D.W Campbell
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
Junk – Melvin Burgess

If I can reach 50 books this year, I’ll be a happy camper.

What about you?

What were your reading goals last year? Did you reach them?

What about this year? What do you plan on reading?

May 2018 be a super reading year for you.

Gavin

“Good readers make good leaders” – Jim Rohn

The post What’s Your Reading Goal for 2018? appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

Mr Crab (A Poem)

I should have turned you down because

You made my heart go fluttery.

And every time I went to speak,

My words came out all stuttery.

I never once assumed I’d be

Allergic to a crab,

But on that night, all thanks to you,

I was rushed off in a cab.

*

The post Mr Crab (A Poem) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

Time’s Shadow (100-Word Flash Non-Fiction)

Your grandad died when you were 12. It was the summer holiday, and surprisingly you do remember the sun.

You learned to keep your pain to yourself when you were told not to cry.

You were asked why you were so upset.

You thought the reason was pretty clear.

You asked why he had to die, and were told it was his time. And so you realised we all must have a time that is ours; a time that takes away time; a greedy time that devours itself, that shadows the time we have.

And in that shadow we must live.

*

The post Time’s Shadow (100-Word Flash Non-Fiction) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

Just Like Flowers (A Poem)

They are like flowers,

The way they bend and flow.

In their beauty, too,

They are very much like flowers.

They follow the same moves,

More than fifty of them,

All bending and flowing,

Yet not one is the same,

Like flowers accepting the wind.

You see them in the park,

Morning and evening,

And they stand on patches of grassless ground,

Bending and flowing,

All following one,

Yet all of them different,

Just like flowers.

If you’re listening to the right music,

The sight of them can fill your eyes with tears,

Just like flowers can.

And just like flowers,

They probably have no idea,

How wonderful they look,

Bending and flowing,

Like flowers accepting the wind.

The post Just Like Flowers (A Poem) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

We are Viable (A Limerick)

I guess you could say we are Viable,

If we weren’t we wouldn’t be reliable.

But that we are,

Just look how far

We humans have come, we are pliable.

The Morphing Girl (100-Word Flash-Fiction)

“Mum, do you want to see me turn into a dog?”

“Don’t!” said the girl’s mother.

It was the mother’s desperate and fearful tone that made me look up from my book.

Although it was getting dark, I could see perfectly well, which is why I find what I saw so hard to believe.

The girl morphed into a small dog, similar to a Maltese.

“Please, not here!” cried her mother in a harsh whisper. “Come on!”

The girl morphed back. She saw me looking. She giggled at my open mouth, then ran after her mother.

“He saw me, Mum.”

*

The post The Morphing Girl (100-Word Flash-Fiction) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.

Treat (A Poem)

A Treat is something

You have,

But can be taken away instantly.

A Treat is something

You have,

But you can forget you have it.

A Treat is something

You have,

But can be so simple you overlook it.

A Treat is something

You have,

But its presence you may get used to,

And so become numb to it.

A Treat is something

You have,

But you may forget to be thankful for it.

A Treat is something

You have,

But you may only realise you had it in its absence.

A Treat is something

You have,

But it won’t last forever.

A Treat is something

You were given,

Because you’re you.

A Treat is something

You really do have,

And you don’t need to look too far.

*

The post Treat (A Poem) appeared first on Gavin Whyte.