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On Time Off Time, painting by Dorothea Tanning

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This draft was written in the time a cup of tea stayed warm and until the washing machine (on a short cycle) stopped. When not really thinking at all :)

Nothing burns, it just suspends, lacking symmetry at opposite ends. Arrested motion, drawing attention, important details, I forget to mention. As we focus in or focus out, tell time to stop, neglect the count. Lose the sun in shadowed plane; that frame of blue is lost again. Uncertainties, alofting drift, thoughts escape before the sift. Sand remains unstable floor, as pervasive truth exists no more. Though everything contains an eye, I cover mine, as I face the sky. Relax into a thinking state, absolved of worry regarding fate. A wisp is all I really am, a single strand aware of program. Inhaler of dust with honesty exhaled, or vice versa until answers unveiled. Perhaps I should seek to resist, to escape the confines, try to exist. Yet gallows is all that I can see ~ we can leave, but we're never free.

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David Kavanagh

Date: 3/14/2025 4:22:00 PM

Another indecipherable piece deciphered by Dilly Dally, with a great poem to boot, (thoughts escape before the sift) is exactly where one’s mind needs to be at, in the surrealist world (a single strand aware of the program) but an integral part nonetheless; How does it all fit together? you’re telling us even though you don’t know, except you do, when not really thinking at all and writing a poem, is indeed the only time you’re actually free! Time off is time on, A revelation! Cheers David

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/15/2025 12:17:00 AM

Flow state has been super accessible recently and I'm not sure if it's the 'it' or just the place to question from. Bringing things back from there is a little trickier though. Maybe I need a gap year in Tibet? Lol. Thank you for your wisdom (unravelling a riddle and re-expressing it riddly haha). I think you hold knowledge that slips through my fingers so I'm glad we had this chat :) haha!

I Am Anaya

Date: 3/14/2025 11:34:00 AM

What imperial musings (tastes) while washing clothes, dishes.. in minutes. You can rest assured that I certainly don't think you are behind a puter 24 hrs a day! I must say I love visiting "Dilly's Art Gallery". Your focus stood steady on the time off and time on theme. This painting a skeletal edifice, complex, raw.

I Am Anaya
Date: 3/14/2025 3:17:00 PM

Haha

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/14/2025 3:07:00 PM

I'm honest as the day is long, me switching on a washing machine is less believable than my globe trotting haha

I Am Anaya
Date: 3/14/2025 2:36:00 PM

Bon chance, no, bon voyage! Dilly happy for you. Right? I felt a little skeptical when a fellow poet said they where somewhere away, but I'm not hunting 'em down. "Who cares!" Le Caberet this came up...when I posted... Lol.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/14/2025 2:13:00 PM

Think I call David's words more of inspiration that filtered through haha. It's easier to write with zero pressure than to sit down and try to write something brilliant. Exciting news just in, I'm going to Paris next Saturday :) could be lies but it's not. You're right, I value integrity highly.

I Am Anaya
Date: 3/14/2025 12:53:00 PM

In a virtual environment your word is your bond. I honor your integrity. I'm taken aback by how quickly you think while juggling household tasks as you compose, amazing! Even without David's manipulation.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/14/2025 12:46:00 PM

Cheers to leather haha - mostly faux of course. I'm not sure I bother putting my adventures into my poems and I don't write poems whilst on adventures :)

I Am Anaya
Date: 3/14/2025 12:20:00 PM

Haha, right? Women do everything! I don't underestimate any of the women here who are still active. I think you have a fascinating lifestyle, and I already knew it! We should lift one another not stifle our creativity! Here's to leather!

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/14/2025 12:09:00 PM

I've walked the dog, done an hour work out at the gym, went shopping and for lunch with a friend (proud owner of some new palazzo jeans and a maxi leather skirt - to add to my collection of maxi leather skirts), made a curry, ate it all, arranged a night out for later this month, chatted to friends on email and WhatsApp and bought some tonic in case I fancy a gin later. Think maybe two of my poems were done on a computer, it's not my preferred writing tool. Glad you like my art choices. I think this one bounced a little off David's comment on yesterday's poem. I often love the titles as much as the paintings x

Lin Lane

Date: 3/14/2025 6:32:00 AM

Never resist the free flow of your thoughts, especially when they end up in verses like these. At the end, I had the image of Hotel California. "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave."

Lin Lane
Date: 3/14/2025 8:35:00 AM

There's a measure of serendipity if you're able to post... post haste lol. I never take a week between posting and writing, but sometimes let it sit for a while before reading it again. My lifestyle is such that I have time to do that.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 3/14/2025 8:10:00 AM

When I reread it I realised that, I decided me and Don Henley perhaps just might be on the same wavelength and left it in :) thanks for your kind words Lin. I often wonder how much difference there is between a 30 minute poem and one that takes a week. I'll probably never know as usually mine all fly out quickly and I post them before I go off them :)