Humanity

“A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read.”

(With thanks to Sir Terry Pratchett)

Art is ephemeral
It is in the mind of the beholder;

It is balance, it is asymmetry.

Art is finely crafted,
it is roughly hewn.

Art is fleeting, art is permanent;
it is brightly coloured or darkling greys.

Art is bold crescendos.

It is minor chords,
it is minstrel’s lute.

It is Rhapsody in Blue.

Art is soaring spires,
it is a cottage in a glen.

Art is couplets, it is pirouettes,

It is soliloquies

It is rap.

Art is neatly worded on an ink stained page.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 11 February 2017

Gathering

(Dedicated to Carrie Newcomer for her golden voice and her luminous words)

Inspire me in hope and ground me in Light.

Strengthen my resolve, and help cushion my falls.

Fill up the emptiness with wind chimes, bird trills, and the melodies of lapping waves;

Honeyed echoes of ambient sound…words of gladness and delight.

Fill me with calm, lift me with peace; teach me to guide each soul through the search.

We’ve all had losses at our tables, it is hard to gather ‘round.

But when hope guides the search, sometimes there is a hidden joy that can be found.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 25 November 2016

Observations on a Stroller with Pup

"and they call it Puppy Love"

(with thanks to Paul Anka) 

Puppies and toddlers observe the world with fascination,
viewing through, eyes, ears, and noses never ending arrays of distraction and delight.

Toddlers and puppies run and play until exhausted,
beg to be picked up and carried, then sleep deeply for hours atwitch with each dream.

Puppies and children call out for attention,
whining and barking, and bawling for Mum they demand to be petted, talked to, and fed.

Toddlers and puppies hear what they wish to,
using limited language to ignore what they’re told and charmingly get what they want.

Canines and young children are easily distracted
by things that move and bright colours, all smells, all voices, stuffed toys, and warm hands.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

©14 November 2016

The Last Time

“Well I told you once, and I told you twice but you never listen to my advice.”
(With thanks to Sir Michael Jagger and Keith Richards)


I have Republican friends. I expect them to vote Republican, even regarding issues they are against, and for people with whom they don’t always agree. I can understand that and although it disheartens me I am not shocked by their actions, but they still remain my friends.

I thought I had friends that were Democrats, but they became obsessed with conspiracies, with illusion, with fantasy. These people decided to pull the country down around our heads to make a point, thinking that out of destruction and flames a phoenix would arise and bring about a New World. 

Well, they got their wish, a brand spanking New World Order, the flames have been lit but there will be no phoenix out of the ashes; the hatchling is instead a dragon of desecration, of dissent, of hatred, misogyny, manipulation, and contempt for everything that they claim to stand for. Instead of “Of the People, By the People, and For the People” their determination to stick to their delusions have brought us “To the People, and Screw the People” with each and every Third Party vote, Write-in vote, and boycotting the vote. 

Now the American people will get what they apparently deserve, the utter end of the “Dream”, the end of “Greatness”, the contempt of the world with the exception of Russia, North Korea, and China, the losses of every gain made in the last eight years; every platform for which their political messiah stood has no chance of being enacted. Their hallucination has become our national nightmare. 

Those true believers are no longer friends of mine and I despair at what will come, but look with perverse delight at their eventual realisation that their obstinate votes against the ‘System” brought us chaos, anarchy, and apocalypse. I blame them, and I blame their arrogant knight in grizzled armour for striking the flame; I hope they’re all pleased with themselves.

9 November 2016
Ronda R. Scott-Marak

Some People

“Some People think they’re always right, others are quiet and uptight”

(With thanks to Julian Casablancas)

Some people project their worst behaviours and thoughts onto others.

They react to slights that were never considered, to attacks that didn’t exist.

Some people take every other person’s words and deeds as personal affronts and accusations.

They see fingers pointing at them; hear allegations when no blame was attached.

Some people see the worst in other people because they see the worst in themselves even if they can never admit it.

They perceive questions as attacks due to unacknowledged feelings of guilt.

Some people cover pain, and discontent with anger using incivility as armour.

They can never see their own unhappiness is the result of their self-imposed isolation
but they are certain to impose it on everyone else.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 27 October 2016

Harmonic Resonance

"They say that all good things 
must come to an end..."
"Wish you didn't have to go"
(With decades of thanks to 
Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde)

Sounds… scattered vibrations, 
calming influences, soaring,
synchronised melodic splendour; 
dulcet chords in minor and major scale soothing hearts by way of pricked ears.

Alignment of merged voices in counterpoint,
together and separate, 
united richness of timbre and tone; 
forlorn or joyful, bluesy or folky, with opinion, or humour through their music… we muse.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 20 October 2016

Constricted

If you're lost you can look and you will find me...
(With thanks to Cyndi Lauper)

Knots in my muscles,

Knots in my gut,
Snarling, entangling, entrapping my thoughts;
knotty problems a’twist in my mind.

Struggling with Angels, wrestling Demons,
Struggling ‘gainst conflict, with myself as the foe;
endlessly fighting my body, my instincts,
trying to unravel double knots in my brain.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak 

© 18 October 2016