Billiard balls randomly bouncing around? I think not. I think waves are not particles and I think thought - consciousness - is but waves crashing against each other on this interstellar ocean. Organs, organelles, cells, molecules, elements, atoms, quarks. But keep slicing and dicing. Eventually the circles become dots and the dots become lines.

Perhaps the tapestry of spacetime - time, really - is indeed a tapestry, woven time and time again by this very fabric. Maybe there is just Time, Time is omnipotent, therefore there is just You - and You are omnipotent. Magic is just using your instrument in the right way. Spells are sounds.

In this kosmic symphony, life is what you make it.

My country is on fire

It’s burning from the inside out

Hate and division are eating it alive

My city is on fire

People are screaming for help

People are screaming for justice

Peace for justice

My country is on fire

It is being ravaged by hate

It is being crushed by cruelty

My city is on fire

One of my homes is burning

People are hurting

People are screaming

People need and want justice

It’s time

It’s way past time

We are all one

We are human

My country is on fire

I feel helpless watching

I want to do something

It’s time for change

The same thing won’t work

Words aren’t enough

Actions matter

We need to understand

We need compassion and empathy

We all want and need the same thing

My country is on fire

Katrina was born into a rich family. She was a pretty, beautiful and sweet girl. Her body was quite delicate as she was born very early. She was cared for very well. When her mother’s disease took a big toll on her when Katrina was very young, she was at the verge of death and had to eat at least 10 types of medicine. Two months later, the medicine did not work and eventually she died.

Her father fell into deep depression and could not bear it anymore so he decided to put her up for adoption. He did not even pay the fees and could not afford the house. He got retrenched from his job which was well-paying. As a matter of fact, he could not even afford a meal at any hawker centre. He sold the house and the car, in order to afford his needs, at the time.

Luckily, an elegant looking lady had a liking toward Katrina as she was pretty. The lady’s family was also rich, like her biological family. She decided to take Katrina home when she was older, like when she was 6. The orphanage was still taking care of her while the family was considering. Katrina was not religious, and was born into a family with no religion, and she was not interested.

The lady decided to take her in, with the condition that she stayed isolated till she was 18. Only during meals and exhibitions will she leave the room while the rest of the family enjoyed life outdoors everyday, and she treated Katrina like she was a maiden in rich clothes. She got her first phone, which was a IPhone 11 Max Pro. It could take perfect pictures and edit them with the latest software in a computer, which Mrs. Inrea decided to buy for her too.

Mrs. Inrea was pretty evil too, at times. She once robbed all of Katrina’s belongings, excluding the phone and the computer. The books, the spare food, the teddy bear that reminded her of Mother, even the last things that remained precious to her, like the pendant. Not fun, she thought. When she was able to get one breath, she was relieved that she was not isolated forever. In the end , she returned it all when her husband told her to.

There was also once, she took a bag of peanuts and passed it to her as a snack. She told her that it was ‘freshly picked’ from the garden. She appreciated the deed. However, when Katrina ate one peanut, she passed out on the ground. “Are you okay?” She asked with a little “concern” and a little evil grin on her face. She woke up with nothing in her mind. The doctors told her she just had a severe allergy reaction. She also had an anaphylactic shock. Katrina overheard it and had gone a little crazy. She only remembered she had packed a bag and it was on her back the whole time. It was still on her back, thank goodness.

She took the phone out and took selfies and posted it on Instagram. Katrina met Prince Vincento and started following him, and he followed her. She always posted some pictures of going to a beach, a luxury hotel or places of beholding nature. The pictures were also very ladylike. They started chatting and eventually met up in a Zoom meeting. They chatted as if they were on a real date.

Katrina stayed optimistic every day as she waited for the day of release to come. The day arrived and she was allowed to leave for good. That day she took her belongings and left to find a job. By the time she was released, she started 2 businesses, which was what to fall back on when in times of need. She eventually found a job as a writer and started writing. Never did she regret any part of her life. Till this day, she still lives her life optimistically.

“Optimism is the key to life and do not regret life’s bad decisions by you; live life to the fullest.” She says, to motivate herself and the world.

Ever since, she has been living a good life, with a child and a dog.

soft, here between innocence and insanity

hush

quiet, where the tables are

turning but the clocks are still ticking.

the grating gears forever shifting remind you of the cries

lost in the madness. where did it all go?

the love? the simplicity?

hush.

I sit in a lockdown located thousands of miles away from my home country because of the Coronavirus. I live in Marrakech, Morocco with my husband. Besides day to day living, I think. Usually late at night. Sometimes the demons come, other times I think about life, priorities and the future. I wonder what things will be like when this ends. When will it end and how long will the lockdown last. I doubt life will return as it used to be. The world will need to construct a new normal.

I have been inside over three weeks now with my husband. We have worked out a routine for ourselves. What’s strange about it is the time inside has almost become normal. The outside world seems like something far away. The time before the Coronavirus seems years ago now. So much has changed from my daily life. Everyone’s life. A new normal is being created.

I used to try and go out every morning as part of a regular routine. I would stop by a cafe for coffee before running my errands. Usually I would try to write as I am a poet and writer before returning home. The walk was also part of an exercise regimen for me. Now all that has changed. I have had to find other ways to write, and my coffee is at home.

Our lockdown started on March 20th. It’s supposed to end on April 20th, but that will depend on the current situation. We are averaging a little under 100 cases each day. We are now required to wear masks outside and only one person per family can go out unless there’s a dire need. In those cases, my husband must take me as he is the only one with a signed permission form. While I understand these enforced limits, it feels strange to me. It’s never happened to me before in my lifetime. It’s an uneasy feeling to not be able to come and go.

I am grateful to the country for taking the necessary steps it did so quickly. Instead of waiting for the cases to grow, the lockdown was imposed when there were only 63 cases. Morocco also closed all borders and stopped air travel. Shortly after that, inter country and inter city travel was also stopped. A curfew is also in place starting at 6pm. Hopefully these moves will help to contain the virus so it doesn’t spiral out of control like in my own country, the United States.

Each day around 6pm, we turn on the local news to see the new number of cases along with any new announcements that may come. The expat group of which I am a member puts out a morning news update which is very helpful.

It has been strange for me to watch what is happening in my own country from afar. Seeing cities where I lived and still consider home like New York is heartbreaking. Watching the suffering around the world is sometimes more than I can bear.There are times it is so painful to watch the news that I can’t. I keep hoping that the virus will start to slow down and eventually leave. The only real recourse we have for now is social distancing until treatments and a vaccine are discovered. It’s not like the movies where a cure is found at the last minute saving the world. Unfortunately the real world isn’t like that.

As I sit paused, like the rest of the world, in between my schedule of chores and activities, I continue to reflect on the current state of affairs. Mother Nature seems to have been given a break from humanity. Oceans are cleaner, there’s less pollution, animals are going into spaces they never did. The planet may end up in far better shape from this pause and the lockdowns around the world. One thing the virus did do was to force us to rapidly change. These changes have shown what happens when less people work outside their home, or drive, or when industry is slowed. We were able to change very quickly out of necessity.

People are reacting and reaching out online. Concerts and classes are available and things are being done now that were only thought about before. Children are going to school online. Universities have converted to an online schedule. Musicians and singers are providing concerts while being physically separated. The world has slowed down. What was important before, may not be now. Priorities are shifting.

In some places at night, people open their windows or stand on their balconies to applaud the health care workers and others that are risking their lives to support society. They are the new warriors and heroes. Teachers have taken on a new value as parents have to provide the main schooling at home. Firemen, police, grocery store workers and so many other first line workers are the true champions in the world. Science is heralded where people listen and wait for advice and the day when a vaccine is announced.

I wonder what will be important when this is over. What will really matter? Will our priorities change? Everywhere there are acts of kindness every day. People are reaching out to help and comfort in any way they can. There’s less hate and division. We are all affected, there’s no safe corner. All of humanity has been touched by this virus.

Perhaps there will be less focus on material things, and a greater focus on the spirit. Leaders are being seen for what they really are. No cloak and mirrors. New leaders are being identified and coming forward. There’s less tolerance for political games. People want the truth.

Tomorrow is Easter, a huge holiday for part of the world. Recently the Pope asked for all wars to stop, and for all people to come together as one.

Tomorrow night I think I will light a candle and pray not for myself but for the world. I will pray that this ends soon, and we heal. That we can move forward to our future. Together.

when you

shut your mind’s eye,

close your mind’s ear,

relax your mind’s skin,

hold your mind’s tongue,

and stop your mind’s nose,

the ripples in your mind’s pond will cease,

and

you will realize

the pond

is an infinitely deep,

infinitely vast

ocean

of

pure

consciousness,

and every subsequent ripple

will be

a tsunami

of

delicacy

and

delight

I write to ignite frightened minds and remind them of the might they might be inclined to find inside the confines of life interwined with divine vibes and sublime rhymes propeling lives to rise and thrive. I write because words are magic and sentences are spells, and the thought of underutilizing ourselves is tragic so I feel frantic to go savage and ring some chilling bells. I write because letters are elements, words are molecules, and paragraphs are the means to create worlds forming books upon shelves. I write because I can.

Understand?

I dreamt a dream within a dream and found myself with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander, Pythagoras, and Musk. We were gathered around the table in Pythagoras’ home, laughing, drinking, talking. Pythagoras raised his goblet for another toast.

“Fellow seekers, we are most fortunate on this most auspicious night to enjoy the benefaction of Mr. Elon Musk’s most convenient time machine!”

“Here, here!” we all cried.

“Plato,” he continued, “we are grateful for your work, The Republic, for its dedication to blueprinting an ideal society. Socrates, we are grateful for your inspiration. Aristotle, we are grateful for your legacy, and Alexander, for your execution. Musk, we are most grateful for your invention! Let us take this opportunity to explore and inscribe the ideal society, with Master Musk’s input adamantly considered.”

Everyone took another sip, and looked back at Pythagoras.

“Musk, my friend...”

“Yes, Master.”

“Given your understanding of Plato’s Republic, in conjunction with your understanding of our world several thousand years from this moment, what would you advise we do?”

Musk smiled, and proceeded to speak.