Invictus Armeniaca

this attempt
this invictus challenge
to focus centuries of armenian grief
into what? one poem?

it exists already,
for our Job of a nation
it is part of our hearts, our souls,
etched into our genetic core
and infused in almost every poem
every prayer, sad story, dirge,
and bloody crusted bits of family lore.

this totality, this essence,
of our deep, dark, abiding grief
is focused through a collective lens
to a perfect, intense, white hot spot
where it is alloyed, formed, and forged
to our resilient captaining of
our undying perseverance
our enduring hope and faith

    megha asdoudzo
    der voghormia

    park asdoudzo

march 12, 2023

Asking ChatGPT to "Write a Poem in the style of mdg-poetry.blogspot.com"

ChatGPT:
In the still of the night,
When all is calm and bright,
I sit and ponder in thought,
Of all the lessons I've been taught.

Of love and loss, of pain and gain,
Of laughter, tears, and joys untold,
Of moments fleeting, like drops of rain,
And memories that never grow old.

I muse upon the roads I've walked,
And all the paths that I have strayed,
Of moments where my heart was shocked,
And others where it felt conveyed.

And yet, amidst the twists and turns,
That life has taken me through,
I know that with each rising morn,
A brighter future will ensue.

So I raise my head to the sky,
And whisper a prayer for tomorrow,
For the strength to keep climbing high,
And the grace to weather all sorrow.

For I know that with each passing day,
I'll find the courage to be strong,
And though life may lead me astray,
I'll find my way where I belong.

Cyber Space
February 8, 2023

My Response:
Well... I rarely rhyme so often
Methinks (actually i overthink way too much)
I am less (of course I am less)
Hallmarkish than this

And I have enough of that
Whatyacallit... oh yeah
Ego which tells me I am so
Flipping creative
That now I believe
I am toallly AI-ly
Unpatternably
Unpredictable

Head Space
February 8, 2023

Garden State of Mind

the stillborn poems
all blue veiny in formaldahyde
hideously beatiful and
floating sad in potential
that never was

i should move to jersey
and live not near the hoi
nowhere near the polloi
but by the broken
so comfortable they
don't know, don't care...
hell they might not even
be broken 

or no more damaged goods
than anyone else

lake forest
october 2022

poetry of everyday life

an overwhelmingness with life
but not the things to do, places to go,
not by what i should buy next

overwhelmed by what?
    life?

the people
their very being
their doing and moving about
their sayings and sighs

wondering how they are
soaring and struggling
loving or being shunned
the overwhelming uncommonness
of the poetry of everyday life

overwhelmed by the
neither winter nor spring
equinoxious void between
death and rebirth

march 2022

just maybe

just wandering along
maybe trying to make things
make more sense... maybe

more sense than dogmas
if more sense even matters
in the grand scheme, if there is
even a grand scheme or theme

and, maybe, that's simply ok
maybe that is the final grasp
of the plan, the design, the way,
the path that is so wide
that everyone's following it...

north park
april 2022

the caterpiillar in me

what is it but a dream?
like i drempt i was... what?
a butterfly?  an earthworm?
an octopus? a warlord?
virtuoso something or other?
or am i awake

daydreaming
mittying about
in a stream of
great unconciousness

albany park
april 2022

Places of Power

on that certain stair
of our first house

or
the hallway balcony
of this one

the childhood
front porch in detroit
or the nutmeg wiltonian

places of power
    rejuvenation
    maybe a vortex
to what? dare I say
    wisdom
    higher consciousness
    divine insight
    the mind's eye
    to one's own soul...

so said castenda back
when i thought I wanted to
    to be more spiritual
    and find that mined eye
    to where my soul should be