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Warm Christmas Day walk / beautiful cacophony / all cultures and faiths!

My haiku about a wonderful Christmas Day…

haikumages

Warm Christmas Day walk / beautiful cacaphony / all cultures, all faiths. // haiku - micropoetry - haikumages

I went walking with my family, for two miles at the beach, on the warmest Christmas Day of our lives so far. We expected a few non-Christians, of course, but were pleasantly surprised by the number and diversity of people and their families, which we encountered on our walk… What I saw inspired me to write the haiku title of this post, and to joyfully, irreverently mangle the Christmas carol “Twelve Days of Christmas” as follows:

On a warm day of Christmas, walking on the beach, there were:

Twelve drivers driving,
Eleven people prattling,
Ten Latins laughing,
Nine children running,
Eight Muslims musing,
Seven Jews a-jogging,
Six Christians chatting,
Five Hindu fam-il-ies,
<pause to take a breath>
Four calling moms,
Three French men,
Two mixed couples,
And a Buddhist in a good mood..!

DISCLAIMER: this re-write of the Christmas classic song verse was done to match the cadence and alliteration…

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Untimely / departures, loved ones / leave too soon.

haikumages

Untimely / departures, loved ones / leave too soon. // haikumages

Twoku: Tragic, untimely / painful, ongoing, sadly / one more leaves too soon.

Yet another young person we knew — a man in his early twenties — left us today.  Yet another body, mind, and spirit broken, another life ruined, ended before its time, by abuse and addiction.  There is already enough death to deal with, without this epidemic bringing it too soon, and too often…

 – the Haikook –

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George Murray / Poet, Word-Lover / and Father.

My latest labor-of-love project – a blog about my father, his poetry, and his other words…

George Murray, Poet

Thanks for stopping by!  This blog is about my dad, and his love of words.

George Murray / poet, word-lover / and father.

He left us in February 2010, but his words, typed and written, live on…

Please come back often, as we post his work, published and unpublished, public and personal, in the days ahead.  Oh, and be sure to Follow, Like, and Subscribe to George Murray, Poet…

We hope you enjoy the words and wordplay of George Murray, on this site!

  – Russ Murray, on behalf of my other two siblings (grown children), and the many grandchildren, etc., of George Murray, Poet…

P.S. Some of you may realize the title of this post is a 3-5-3 haiku (senryu, actually), which I wrote, mindful of my father and all his wordy lessons…that’s why I have a poetry blog of my own at haikumages.com focusing on the short, micro-poetry of haiku & senryu, but inspired by him…

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Celebrate the moms! / children, fathers, husbands say / thanks for mothering.

haikumages

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Science of Happiness? The Secret is Expressing Gratitude!

I found this video on www.UPWORTHY.com – a digest of the best, most inspiring, important and/or interesting news bits, posts, and articles online.  A man named Rafael Casal made the post and commented briefly about the video, which was originally created by “Soul Pancake”, and like Rafael, I got choked up watching it.

This video and its topic have particular significance for me, because I am seen/known as a hyper-optimist, a life-long, dyed-in-the-wool HAPPY guy, who always has a smile on his face!  But, I am NOT always happy – trust me!  So I watched it to see if it really contained the secret to my happiness (and yours)…  It was GREAT!!

So, regardless of your mood or perspective on “happiness” and/or your current location or situation…you need to watch this video as a “feel good” bit of quasi-science, which will (most likely) make you teary-eyed, and is totally worth it.  You will be glad you did, and perhaps inspired to call up someone special and express your gratitude to them…

Cheers!

 – Russ Murray

More early fascination with technology…

I used to love going to where my dad worked. Over 20 years, he moved from clerk to the personnel manager (HR). It was a factory, downtown in my hometown of Ossining, which manufactured medical and industrial devices and they had an electron microscope on premise! It was a technology feast-for-the-senses, for me.

Anyway, here’s a shot of me at 8 years old, wearing my recently purchased Camp Kresge sweatshirt, reaching out to touch technology, with great fascination:

Rusty Murray - Russ Murray - Technology

Rusty – 1969

 

That’s my dad and stepmother on the right, watching me about to touch something I shouldn’t…or maybe I was telling them something I thought about that mess of parts and wires…

– Russ