Rewards

“Enlightenment” by Vladislav Tchevtchenko

 

history is rich

with contention for laurels

the race to the swift

the spoils to the victor

success to the persistent

 

 

From my books Ephemera and Riverthink

Shadowlands

“Across the Shadowlands” by Steve Heyen

erroneous ethics

cause ugly collisions

of principled minds

too many homemade

moralities vying for

popular primacy

hatred and scorn

awful byproducts

choking the peace

killing chances for

calm coexistence

man plunged into

deadfall from grace

aspirations confined

to the shadowlands

underside of heaven

Bicameral Hostility

“Abstract Brain” by Adrian Nadeau

two brains may be
one brain too many
this constant contention
between left and right
takes a toll on the soul
each intelligent hemisphere
curbed and curtailed
by antagonist tendencies

forensics in combat with faith
language vying with music
calculus clashing with concepts
cold logic against intuition
well-reasoned analysis
fights well-imagined hypothesis
science a truculent foe
in the face of philosophy

thanks be to God for the poet
that singular lifeform
uniquely equipped
to collaborate truce
to bring synthesis from the division
and make of the mind
one astonishing whole
worth much more than its halves

Whither

“War and Peace”
Painting by Lamis Dachwali
From pixels.com

hawk and dove
locked in plummeting spiral
trees hold their breath

Rewards

“Life Satisfaction”
Painting by Vladislav Tchevtchenko

history is rich
with contention for laurels
the race to the swift
the spoils to the victor
success to the persistent