Celebrating my Father ? - Entry to the @hurlamideh poetry contest

(Image source Self portrait from 2008)

How am I to celebrate you
Find words to elevate you

you are but ghost spun from little girl dreams
you are but bitter pill swallowed, half a stitch in a seam

In the mirror your eyes they live in my face
but you never had time so you were replaced

One says with 15 you have the features you’re blessed with
with 50 your mug is as life it has sketched it

I must say that with mine I did fare quite well
Yours did not age kindly you mask lost it’s spell

A con man, a thief, a drunk and a brute
and yet full of talents and intellect too

9 children, 4 women you failed all but the last
the rest of us damaged inconvenient brats

And yet as you buried your kindest of wives
you finally stood up and did what is right

For this I respect you, lay rest to the past
transformed for the youngest now hero at last

(Image credit Dave Renike and a portrait of the fair jubilee made by myself turned into this here universal truth meme)

(Image source Self portrait from 2015)

Bio:

One has called me many things some good some bad, I might be some of these things, all or none. In the end it is irrelevant as your perception of me will change depending on the expectations I might or might not fulfil. The us that we are is an accumulation of puzzle pieces curated through experiences, perception and ever transforming viewpoints depending how new data received colours the stream.

ultimately I am work in progress enfolding before the eyes of the world around me but also shaping and being shaped by it in kind. I was born 1968 in a solar system with nine planets and now live in one with 8 without changing location. So fickle is the human way of classifying things as well as ever changing.

I sing, compose, write and paint. I am Vegan, an environmentalist, human and animal rights advocate and also religiously worship pie! As somewhat of a hermit you can find me lurking in the shadows or under your bed. Yes I am most likely mad as a hatter and often socially awkward - I am here for the pot brownies and the souls I shall collect for my kitchen cabinet.
I have a longstanding love affair with Science and my interests are obsessively varied ranging from the arts, cooking and crafting to couchsurfing, dance and martial arts.

What else to know about me I run a small animal sanctuary with mostly senior animals. My soul as dark as the ink it bleeds on paper or transforms into pixels on a screen.

I am battling a progressive debilitating congenital Illness that is slowly taking chunks of me but I refuse to let it define me or break me. My childhood was troubled and at some points very dark. I have travelled and explored this planet I call home and was privy to awe striking life changing beauty of our habitat but also unfathomable horrors often constructed by the hands of humankind. I believe that everyone of us has the ability to grow and rise from the confinements of our societal norms, education levels and past but also am pragmatic enough to know that most rather suffer in the chains they know then find freedom in the unknown or uncomfortable.

I also believe that we humans as dominant species have a duty as stewards of this planet and should strive as individuals to leave it in better shape then we found it when we arrived. To use a Christian analogy (although I am more of an agnostic practising pagan traditions) I am my brothers/sisters keeper. All life is connected and no man, woman, animal or child should ever have to face homelessness, hunger, illness or violence. We have an obligation to help and protect the innocent, if we refuse we cannot call ourself civilised. Sadly many humans do not care about anything outside of themselves and/or their nuclear family and because of that we have become a blithe to the Earth and all other inhabitants we share her with. Still giving up is not an option to quote the movie Galaxy Quest “Never give up never surrender !”

I have been writing since I was 12 where I left short poems on walls -everywhere. My first poem on paper was written when I was about 15, my second when I was 21 , from then it just wouldn't stop... For me, poetry is a compulsion and one of the seven plagues I am afflicted with > JK ;) or maybe not …

If anyone would like to support me on Patreon all funds go to my mini Animal Sanctuary