AI & Other Unconscious Pretenders

Humans rely more than ever on AI for information and help with a myriad of routine tasks. But it's a weird symbiotic relationship because AI gleans its data from human activity on the web, dipping even into the pool of casual bloggers. I've noticed an unusual uptick in my traffic and suspect it is more from AI bots scraping my data (and maybe yours, too) than random people searching the Internet. Bots have an insatiable appetite, aptly addressed in an article (hopefully written by a human) HERE. The fact that we incidentally feed a beast that learns from us was of no consequence to the squirrel, however, on a blue sky day when I met real and fake creatures along my way, inspiring my poem below. You might also enjoy reading AI's beautifully and instantly crafted response (bottom of post) when I asked it to compare itself to humans.

   

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH, and Saturday's Critters. Also shared with dVerse Poets.

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C. You can link to my B.C. Fairies page HERE.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

Angels & Demons

Looking for blue to peek through the hazy skies lately. Along my way I've been thinking about the Ukrainian girl who traveled to America for safety and ended up dead due to a stranger's violent psychotic act. Angels sent her from her homeland believing in safer outcomes but something demonic found her regardless. And tragically no angels helped the mother calling/pleading for help for her mentally ill son before he became a killer. I have no explanation why bad things happen to innocent people, just a poem that ponders the coexistence of good and evil, each causing random ripple effects from which we cannot detach.

   

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters. 

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

Read more

The Proposal

Friends with cameras in hand gleefully hid behind shrubbery and trees to record the proposal happening at the beach. I do not know the couple and simply stumbled upon the momentous event, though I wished them well on their journey together. The scene full of hope was ideal inspiration for the “tell us something good” prompt from Poets and Storytellers United, resulting in a few words by me, aka Penelope.

As I walked further along, I saw a couple of crows scouring for food. These creatures are known for being family oriented and quite chatty, although their cawing "tweets" can be unpleasant to the human ear and their faces appear quite angry. But who can say if in their world, these two are the romance of the season like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. We share the same Earth with all creatures but live on different planets.

In my world right now, the sky is a dusky smokey smudge as I scan for rain clouds ...

and, in his world, the beagle sniffs for love notes written in the dusty sand.

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters. 

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

Read more

Artistic Impressions & The Buzz Around Broligarchy

The beach artist reminded me of my Penelope Puddle character, maybe because of her cute hat and the creative carefree vibes she was giving out. Artists do love to come to Crescent Beach for inspiration, especially when weather is warm and people-friendly.

Most were busy sailing, swimming or playing in the sand, drawn to the water on a day when even flowers exuded sunshine. My mind, however, was buzzing around the word broligarchy,  combining "bro" and "oligarchy" to define a small group of mostly men in the tech industry who seek to rule the world. This prompt by Poets and Storytellers United inspired my few lines below:

Their wealth builds like webs upon strands

Broligarchy's grip entwining all of mankind

Eyes on the stars, nouveau rulers of masses

Storm roars in and the sticky weave crashes

At the canvas of our planet sailing the cosmic sea and surrounded by unpredictability, the beach I visited is a lovely work of art that could do with some rain clouds painted into the sky by Mother Nature. Yet the hottest temperature in Canada this summer has not been near me but rather in Lytton, B.C. at 41.3 Celsius. In 2021, Lytton broke a record at 49.6 Celsius, an unlivable 121 Degrees Fahrenheit. Powerful as some are, life, along with its human inventions, is a fragile gift no matter what our status.

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH, and Saturday's Critters.

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C. You can link to my B.C. Fairies page HERE.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

Hold Onto The Light

Read more

Strange Ballet

After summer's heat, I will feel relief at autumn's cooler breath coming. The anticipation has me thinking about all the transformations streaming through the seasons, seen to unseen and far too tiny to be visible by the naked eye or microscope. Hidden within the showiness of life, propelling every process and physical law, energy's molecular motion never stops. The unyielding movement that persists amidst the flow of human perceptions and e-motions ran through my thoughts during a recent walk, resulting in a few photos and a poem.

   

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH, and Saturday's Critters.

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C. You can link to my B.C. Fairies page HERE.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

HOLD ON TO THE LIGHT

Read more

The Inner Soar

Summer scenes and my daughter's fairy art remind me it's time to soar whether it's a bird about to fly, a bud about to bloom, a kite about to catch a gust of wind or a life that wants to unfurl. All this, much like a baby's first steps, requires an innate hope in possibilities that can get lost along the way, inspiring my take on the "important steps" prompt by Poets and Storytellers United and the first line of an Emily Dickinson poem.

If hope is a feather, despair is the gale that

flings the thing into sorrow's well where its

quill is a sword that pierces the soul and joy

is a forgotten, ensnared and tuneless chord 

Yet often when thrust into darkness, the mind

in defeat seeks a leap, plucking out the sting to

reclaim the inner flight, it finds the first step in

rising back up is to let in a single gust of light 

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH, and Saturday's Critters.

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C. You can link to my B.C. Fairies page HERE.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

Read more