haiku 6 June 2018

Through the boulders’ gap 
Distant stars twinkle brightly 
In Joshua Tree 

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] 

haiku 20 Dec 2017

From a distant star
A fast scout arriving first
Ice and hard-baked gunk

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 6 Oct 2017

Blowing winds fly birds;
Earth, on its hurtling orbits,
Carries man starward

americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan

on creating simplicity

Tackling a complicated task can be hard. How does one know when, where, and how to start? The task at hand could be writing a book, painting a picture, or instituting a good habit and stopping a bad one. This author has been experimenting with breaking down difficult tasks into their composite elements until but simple bits remain, then addressing those bits individually, one at a time.

Few people who write books, for example, sit down and complete the whole thing at one go. Most writers compose one sentence or paragraph at a time, churning out the pages through laborious, daily, methodical, repetitive effort. Faced with the challenge of writing a feature-length, stand-alone piece, this author sat frustrated for weeks until he tried the tactic of breaking down each chapter into an individual file, then each chapter into individual paragraphs (by marking each with an underline). The next step was setting himself deadlines for fleshing out the various paragraphs of a given chapter, whereupon he’d remove the underline markers and click the files closed upon their completion (after copying the newly created content into a master file, of course). This process turned the complex task of writing a new chapter into a series of simple acts, each with its own visible and tactile elements.

This process, he thinks, is scaleable; it applies to most tasks. To tidy up a room, identify the areas within it that need attention, grab broom and dustpan, then focus on one brush-stroke at a time. To fix a flat bicycle tire, assemble the required tools, remove the wheel, then focus on one step of the process at a time. For persons looking to understand more of the reasoning behind this may of approaching complex tasks, please refer to verse 63 of the Tao Te Ching (translated by J. Star), which reads: Step by step the world’s burden is lifted; Piece by piece the world’s treasure is amassed.

americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan

a logo from 2012

on Vader stains

Looking up, just now, I noticed that a board on the roof-mounted window in the western, upper room of this little house's more recent addition is stained with a trapezoidal mark that, if only slightly, resembles the head of Darth Vader (from the film series called Star Wars by Spielberg and Lucas). Then, looking at it more closely, I can make out additional watermarks, on the boards beneath it, that could be mistaken for a body and a flared-out cape, with what could be a type of sword where the right hand would be if this were an actual depiction of a lava-scorched Anakin Skywalker in his life-support suit. Can I now expect acolytes and fans of the Star Wars films to come flocking to my house to see for themselves the likeness of a Sith lord that seems to have appeared as if by magic on the sun-beaten windows of a dilapidated hunting-shack? For years, now, I have made sure to live under the watchful gaze of owls; as birds that represent wise, crafty goddess Athena, I have placed statues or pictures of owls in areas where I frequently live and work, hoping thereby to invoke the blessings, and to curry the favor, of she who once championed such legendary persons as Odysseus, and Hercules. To find suddenly that another god is blessing this humble abode's unused places lifts my heart with song, and puts a smile on my faces.

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