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ilinkcs.bsky.social
ilinkcs
@ilinkcs.bsky.social
38 followers 37 following 310 posts
itinerant autodidact seeking the truth stumbling into what obscures it
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ilinkcs.bsky.social
intend
intention
thanks,
don't mention

...
#poem #micropoem #inkMine #sixword #intend #prompt #weeklyprompt
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Fridays are doggerel days

Mexican fan palm sneaking up on me
but I’ve seen this playbook before!

(don’t you love that late evening rosiness on the clouds?)

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #doggerel
#mexicanpalm #doggerelday
Poem: sneaky mrs palm tree Mexican fan palm behind my green tree plotting to seed thinks I can't see I know you mrs palm I know your bad deeds I'll find all your offspring migrating to me paired with a Mexican palm in the neighbor's garden, lurking behind my nondescript greenie, behind them a late afternoon sun is reflecting off Eastern clouds seen through trees in an urban setting This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 14, 2025 at 11:06 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
on my mind today
…
is the loaded emotional weight we carry when taking everything said and done like an arrow into our own hearts.

A form of self-loathing
born sometimes from fear of detachment
jealousy
or similar embedded #trauma

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem
#self-loathing #detachment
#emotionalweight
Poem: emotional arrowing ... when everything you say (& hear) is centered on yourself (my dear) reflect upon the misery emotional toil & hissery competing in your head This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 14, 2025 at 6:46 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
I'm sat in the late afternoon under a canopy of bushes in Greenacres Park, Birdhaven, looking East The low sun behind picks out #cumulusclouds, dark #Highveld #thunderclouds threaten from the right.
The cooling #evening settles my mind.

#park #reflecting
A city park with wide green sward. A distant figure dressed in blue makes her way through the park on the right. Fluffy, soaring cumulus clouds in the sky with dark grey rain clouds moving in from the right; separated from the park scene by low hanging leaves foregrounded and distant trees backgrounded. Green grass stretches towards the trees.
November 13, 2025 at 5:58 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Nature’s cycle of life
encapsulated in Jhator
Tibetan sky burial
a ceremony
returning humanity
yielding human life to Gaia

Our precious resources
not burned
not interred
returned

balance through transformation
not sacrifice

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku
#jhator #tibet #gaia #nature #blackeagles
In Tibetan culture, offering human remains to vultures is a Buddhist ritual of impermanence, compassion, & rebirth, symbolizing a return to nature & release of the soul. Makatsa & Mahlori have been at Walter Sisulu National Park since 2020. Their nest is near a waterfall over a ridge. Makatsa is returning in June 2023 to her mate standing guard over their chick, their 4th in four years. They're the only known pairing of Black Eagles in an urban environment. Poem: life surrendering to life life yields life in struggle she wings her way back to the nest precious prey in talon's grip paired with a Verreaux's Eagle returning to the nest with prey in her talons. [Derek Keats-Johannesburg, South Africa licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Verreaux%27s_Eagle._Black_Eagle,_Aquila_verreauxii,_at_Walter_Sisulu_National_Botanical_Garden,_Gauteng,_South_Africa_(19613704431).jpg] This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 12, 2025 at 5:38 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
What's on my mind tonight
is Deborah Posel
& her book
"Darker Shade of Pale"
who was at Love Books
this evening
to launch it to the world
courtesy of her publisher,
Wits University Press

ALT=deets
#poem #haiku #jewish #immigrant #books #WitsPress
Deborah's a sociologist, articulate, considerate, open about her research & her family and has a way of shifting between narrative and hard, sometimes uncomfortable facts. She spoke to the two central narrative arcs while weaving in a number of other interesting side bars - unpicked what it is to be an immigrant coming to a new culture, faced with issues of fitting into a new society with a different regulatory framework and language; - wove in the story of her dad's life as a Russian Jew who rebuilt his life in South Africa; running alongside the issues facing 2nd & 3rd generations, & the often apocryphal myths written about their experiences. The book is both a very personal biography of a loved one and an examination of the social parameters that the life played out in. A thoroughly worthwhile evening, my only disappointment - that I didn't have the time to get a signed copy. An unsigned one will have to do. This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 11, 2025 at 10:17 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Everyday Things:
#Bach - Second #Cello Suite BWV 1008
by Derek Gripper

He plays the text of Soetsu Yanagi's "The Beauty of Everyday Things," an ode to the #crafts of #Japan and the beauty of things made by the skilled and practiced hand.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JBL...

#DerekGripper #SoetsuYanagi
Derek Gripper: J.S. Bach Prelude BWV 1008 (Second Cello Suite)
YouTube video by New Sounds
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:57 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
The Vamp's hearty seduction broth
served with a smirk in her little red skirt

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #inkMine #prompt
#single #vamp #nöugat #hearty #abundant #stickler
Poem: The Vamp's hearty seduction broth From my abundant herb garden I crush gingko & Maca & Tribulus terrestris (exactly 10 grams am a stickler for that the need is erotic not sloppy & fat!) add a single thin slice of ginseng nöugat exactly 1 cup of maiden's breast milk freshly expressed (not pumped to the fridge) mix to a paste let none go to waste! add chartreuse 2 tots & keep at low heat serve with a smirk in my little red skirt paired with a portion of the sculpture “Psyche Revived by Cupids Kiss” by Italian artist Antonio Canova first commissioned in 1787 by Colonel John Campbel, presently housed in the Michelangelo gallery at the Louvre in Paris. Use is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license – see https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0_Psych%C3%A9_ranim%C3%A9e_par_le_baiser_de_l%27Amour_-_Canova_-_Louvre_1.JPG Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 10, 2025 at 9:41 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Fiona Ramsay
being Fiona Ramsay
being Marianne Faithfull
saying
So Long Marianne
at the POPArt Theatre in Parkwood

I had the reward that I hoped for

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku
#mariannefaithfull @popartjhb #poparttheatre #fionaRamsay #popmusic #show
Poem:Fiona being Marianne So long Marianne I've been Faithfull to your music all these long years paired with a photo taken in November 2025 of an empty chair awaiting the artist, Fiona Ramsay, for her hour long tribute to Marianne Faithfull Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11) Poem:Fiona being Marianne So long Marianne I've been Faithfull to your music all these long years paired with a photo taken in November 2025 of the artist, Fiona Ramsay, in her hour long tribute to Marianne Faithfull Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Evening descends
in shades of red
voices are silenced
soon
only the crickets will speak

… weekend PROMPT – RED

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #prompt #red #inkmine
#tararokpa #grootmarico #meditation #retreat
Poem: Evening Shades of red sky bled an evening red quiet pause on darkening earth cricket chorus await their call paired with a photo taken in August 2023 as the yellow sun bleeds into suspended African dust the diffracted light shimmers into shades of red This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 7, 2025 at 10:21 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Geography in life and National Parks

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #vss365 #geography #prompt
Poem: geography where are we? I trace my finger along a line not from where we stepped out but where we were when the battery died from there to the speculative here. the geography of the park laid bare on an old route map. I think I think were here but can't be sure. We sit and look out across the valley and realize how we got here is no longer important. We can't go back the sun has moved too far there's no longer time for that. What's important is where we go from here. And I realize for the first time for the first time with clarity there is no going back. paired with a photo from November 2005, about 5:30 in the evening. This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 7, 2025 at 11:23 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Weariness

bone-deep
muscle-aching
emotionally numbing
eyelid heavy
a tiredness so deep
sleep itself cannot cure

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #tanka
#weariness #tiredness #numbing #sleep
Poem: weary bone deep & muscle ache tiring wordless weariness eyelids drooping wearily a head touches a pillow wearily lifts in the morning paired with a photo taken in June 2024 of a mother reading text on the gallery wall of Zeitz MOCAA, while her child rests on the floor behind her This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 6, 2025 at 11:14 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
State Capture.

Imraan Christiaan's murals along Constitution Hill come apart exposing the cement & brick &decay below and text highlighting the cognitive dissonance of taxes vs services

A lesson for the US, maybe?

#constitution #corruption #
Imraan Christiaan's murals along Constitution Hill come apart exposing the cement & brick &decay below and text highlighting the cognitive dissonance of taxes vs services
November 6, 2025 at 5:07 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
That moment to reflect before moving on

The artwork “The End is the Beginning” has someone at the point of transitioning:
Entering the new, a new, as yet untouched by their own true natures or past endeavors.

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism
#habits #truth #transitions #artwork
A transition point in work, relationship, etc is an inflection point in our lives My stoic practice here has been to ponder: - Past successes & failures aren't necessarily transferable/appropriate - I know the seeds of failure are in the flower of success - Reflect, evaluate, record before moving on Every great General kept a campaign journal for this very reason Poem Title: new beginnings, old habits sweeping the old away every new beginning feels bright until your truth is tested paired with the haiku's inspiration ~ a clip of mixed media artwork "The End is the Beginning" by Blessing Blaai (©2025) exhibited @RMB Latitudes Art Fair, Jhb May 2025. A solitary person in deep black stands beside a street or walkway, angular buildings in bright colors, paper squares rather than clouds give a sense of clutter & isolation. Behind is the tailings of an immediate past, to the fore the waiting new. The figure is pausing before crossing over This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 5, 2025 at 6:47 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
The dreaded four words that always causes chaos

Let's Open the Relationship.
(it’s already open, this is just a ticket to ride)

inkmine weekly words prompt,

ALT=deets & image attribution
#poetry #poem #tanka #inkMine
#ambient, #illustrious, #curtain #encourage, #across, #rainbows
Poem: Let's Open the Relationship encouraged novelty anew don't it make her rainbows blue ditched – for someone true draw an illustrious curtain across ambient temperature now lost paired with a mural by Richard Scott snapped in July 2019 in the enclosed piazza at the Woodstock Exchange in Cape Town. Image is of a multitude of young women in skimpy bathing wear, each figure in bright colours, no features shown, costumes outlined only, posed somewhat provocatively. Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original mural on public display, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 3, 2025 at 10:27 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
weekly word challenge: harrow (Oct 31, 2025)

A harrow is a mechanical hoe,
(no, not that kind!)
a farrow is a litter of pigs
a barrow is a mound of earth & stones
raised over a grave

ALT=deets & attribution
#poetry #poem #tanka
#prompt #inkmine #harrow #barrow #farrow
Tanka poem: harrow, not barrow nor farrow The London Borough of Harrow has a school without farrow or barrow the privilege of entitled prigs they’ll never see a littered harrow nor dig a grave nor raise a barrow paired with an engraving drawn by Isaac Cruikshank, engraved by B. Reading titled “Group of pupils of the Harrow School” c. 1795. In the background is the school building, in the foreground scholars playing racquets. the engraving is sepiad to give it an aged look. Artwork for contemplation only; a low res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, displayed under the Creative Commons CC0 License; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HarrowOldPrint.JPG#filelinks This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 3, 2025 at 6:34 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
girls, just tell us what's on your mind.
Calibrating emotional weight & translating back to the message is…
We’re going to screw it up.
Really.
Mental fog doesn’t begin to describe it.
Unfair #emotional weight is a no-no.
Run Forrest, run

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #artwork #art #mentalfog
Poem: emotional cues masculine blues give me something to choose options calm us faster'n clues emotional cues masculine blues paired with a portion of an artwork from the ©Standard Bank Collection displayed in the Commissioner Street Project Offices. I snapped this pic, but the provenance was not included. The signature appears to be J Martons. To reproduce, permission from the Standard Bank Art Gallery in Simmonds Street must be sought. This is a low resolution copy of the original artwork and is unsuitable for commercial use This image ©ilinkcs (2025/11)
November 3, 2025 at 6:35 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
On my mind tonight
an hour before #Halloween midnight

for all the girls who slowed down
to take a look at me

Linda Ronstadt's backing band in '77
(The Eagles)
Taking it Easy
& remembering

you may lose
or you may win
but we will never be here again
~Take it Easy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KQK...
Eagles - Take It Easy (Live at Capital Centre, March 1977)
YouTube video by Apo458
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:03 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
Unexpected Consequences . . .

in spite of good intentions
a simple clear solution
destroy
and then demolish
an unexpected monster
stepped into the waiting void

#poem #poetry
#inkmine #solution #destroy #demolish #void #monster
October 31, 2025 at 8:21 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
weekly tanka poetry challenge
October 30, 2025
prompt: curse

I've been looking for words to give this pic & then the tanka challenge presented itself, and it all fell nicely into place.

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #curse
#tanka #TankaThursday #TankaPoem #micropoetry
Tanka Poem: A new sunrise rubbing his weary eyes strangling the curse the empty lies gaslit & manipulated the phoenix within explodes in fire shattering the ashes, a new sunrise paired with a photo of a dust storm on the Kenyan steppe taken in December 2005, back-dropped by a blazing sun over the dark brown plain. In the foreground a magnificent Baobab, in the background you can make out thorn trees. This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10), photo ©2005/12, dm @ilinkcs on BlueSky, X.com & Instagram for usage rights from owner. All rights reserved
October 30, 2025 at 9:37 PM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
What I'm thinking about today:
self harm (undue)

Being mean /spiteful /nasty– for whatever reason –because you avoid a deeper issue within, knowing full well it creates guilt & self loathing

Persisting despite being a grownup person.

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #selfharm #undue #loathing #truth
a poem about the destructive habit of causing harm through selfish or mean motives, knowingly, while it fuels guilt an self loathing. this image ©ilinkcs (2025/10) poem: self harm (undue) unforgivable this thing that you do causing harm you know will accrue in spite of your own better judgement knowing its true knowing the harm that seeps into you leaving you trapped with an unforgivable truth you're building a pattern that harms your self-worth
October 30, 2025 at 6:02 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
How you spend your time,
that shapes you.
Like all investments,
it compounds.

Invest your life in people who value it
else you’ll forget what it means to be valued.

What is your life accreting to?

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism
#life #value #time
How you spend your time shapes you. Like all investments it compounds. The sum of that is your lived life. Invest your life in people who value it otherwise you’ll forget what it means to be valued Life's uncertain, anything can & does happen, be clear also about what you do not want, & set personal boundaries to keep bad things away. We are the mirror of the 5 people closest to us in any ongoing circumstance. Those 5 people are the drift that pull up your anchor. Poem: Give your life its just reward good things grow slowly a daily investment yields time's rewards trees, children, life, & love paired with a photo taken in Pinelands in Cape Town in May 2019. Two children play in a park while their parents keep a watchful eye in close enough proximity for them to explore safely A family investing its time will yield its results over time. Happiness, value, growth & a grounded sense of purpose. And that’s the point. This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10)
October 29, 2025 at 4:52 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
My duvet is in an open relationship with the me and the Sofa
It’s not working for her . . .

#duvet #bed #sofa #openrelationship
ALT=deets
pic of a bed, soft toys on piled pillows and a bedside table This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10)
October 28, 2025 at 5:34 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
my therapist's truth:

Came to realize over time

"You're here not to fix the things that are broken, but to make yourself a better, more capable person"

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #stoic #stoicism
#therapy #angst #fear #choices #reclaim #embrace
Choose the path to improvement, and the repair finds its own way of making good: not by undoing and remaking, but by stoically taking personal ownership, by sharing transparently the journey, and changing life’s course through actions, not words. "Beware of emotional blindness spiraling in your head: the first place where your truth is hidden is within your conscious self." Image of a haiku and a free verse poem both on the themes of therapy as a process of becoming a better person, not of understanding & fixing angst. This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10) haiku: my therapist’s truth went wrapped in angst & fear no fixes - be a better more capable person the therapist made it clear poem: Before unraveling the past make safe the path before you align your words & actions be confident that your choices align with who you’d be we cannot change what’s been only reclaim & embrace what it means
October 27, 2025 at 7:12 AM
ilinkcs.bsky.social
THE DEMON’S EYES

eyebrows rise as demon smiles
smirk ensnares generational lies
sighing souls descend

ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #demon #inkmine #soul
Weekend Prompt: DEMON use any form of the prompt word in a SIXWORD, TENWORD, TANKA or HAIKU please credit art & photos combo prompts welcome post with hashtag #inkMine --- Poem Title: the demon’s eyes eyebrows rise as demon smiles smirk ensnares generational lies sighing souls descend paired with a photo I took in august 2019 of a ceramic vase from the “Ceramics Now” exhibition at the Everard Read Lower Gallery in the Circa building. It is likely a Lucinda Mudge work, title unknown The photo caught the face of a women looking upwards at a shadowy figure with a concerned look on her face. The image is in dark shades of green and purple-grey, the urn is dark umber with Gold inscriptions including the lettering “Ha Ha Ha” above descending lightning bolts. This image ©ilinkcs (2025/10)
October 24, 2025 at 8:21 PM