Monday, January 20, 2025
ESSAY - EPIPHANY, OR THE AHA MOMENT!
One of the more common attitudes that I encountered was, "I never realized this was so complicated..."
Or, "So THAT'S why you do that!"
Of course as a truck driving instructor, another common attitude was, "Those people in the little cars are crazy, and I used to drive like that..."
I guess the key point is "ignorance". Now, ignorance, unless intentional, is not a sin. It just means that, for some reason, you just don't "know".
Maybe you haven't had a chance to learn, maybe there was no reason to learn, or opportunity.
And yet, up until the epiphany of enlightenment of my instruction, they were certain they were "right"... even though "wrong".
Well, maybe not even "wrong", just the information perhaps did not apply to their life's needs, decisions, or purposes.
You usually don't know you're lacking something until you've had it and THEN lose it. So, if you didn't know the knowledge existed, or that it might do you some good to have it, why should you feel any lack in your life for not having it?
I guess my point is, I've stepped into many situations in my 75 years, and still do from time to time, where I suddenly realize that I have just learned something that I've lived three-quarters of a century without knowing... and suddenly something made sense, and I realized that something had been missing.
Epiphany.
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Labels: donovan baldwin, enlightenment, epiphany, essay
Sunday, January 19, 2025
POEM IN HONOR OF EDGAR ALLAN POE'S BIRTHDAY, WRITER'S BLOCK - A PARODY OF THE RAVEN
I await a visitation
By a guest named, "Inspiration".
Sequestered in my smoke-filled den
Prepared to quickly let him in,
If he should visit me again.
As minutes crawl and hours fly,
Without his having yet stopped by,
I remind myself that I...
On many a long and barren night
Swore I'd give in without a fight
And "Nevermore!" attempt to write.
Yet, here I sit, awake once more,
As so many nights before,
Mind a blank, eyes red and sore.
Perhaps he needs this indication
Of my unceasing dedication,
To this, my chosen avocation.
In truth, I think it's in his head
To come when most of night has fled,
And I've given up and gone to bed.
8/28/83
**Published in The Advocate, 1993**
Labels: donovan baldwin, Edgar Allan Poe, poem, poetry, The Raven
Saturday, January 18, 2025
POEM - WE CANNOT FIND THE SINGER
We've searched and all agree.
He's gone, his cloak on river bank
His lyre beside a tree."
One by one they nodded, said,
"His recent songs were sad,
But once they kept us dancing,
Full of life, so warm and glad."
They never knew the sorrow,
That the singer bore within,
The sad dreams that beset him,
Not betrayed by happy grin.
Year by year the darkness grew
His Muse dimmed and went away,
Light and color faded slowly
'Til he only saw in gray.
Still he sang for other's gladness,
As his happiness grew dim,
Hastened by the knowledge,
That no one sang for him.
Then came the day the singer
No longer could be found,
Just his lyre beside a tree,
His coat upon the ground.
If you enjoy a singer's song,
Accept it and be glad.
Just remember that the singer's heart,
Might within be dark and sad.
One thing that may give happiness,
To a soul that's growing dim,
Is knowing that somewhere someone,
May sing a song for him.
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Labels: donovan baldwin, poem, poetry, sadness, singer
Friday, January 17, 2025
POEM - WHERE HAVE YOU BURIED THE POET?
 |
| Painting: All Souls’ Day: Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and Franz Skarbina |
Asked the lady solemn and grave.
"Madam, we're sad to tell you,
There wasn't that much to save.
"
"Where have you buried the poet,
Where does his headstone stand?"
"Madam, we're sorry to tell you,
He's not buried in holy land"
"Where have you buried the poet,
Serene valley or pleasant hill?"
"Madam, we don't remember him,
Since his pen's been so cold and still."
"Where have you buried the poet,
His bones, where are they interred?"
"Madam, all that remained was a box
Of his papers with every word."
"Where have you buried the poet?
I've come far to honor his name."
"Madam, we've all forgotten,
And there's only ourselves to blame."
= = = = = = =
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Thursday, January 16, 2025
ESSAY - ARE YOU A WRITER? DO YOU FEEL THIS WAY?
If I keep typing, something of value will come out.
Seriously, baseball players are considered great hitters if they get hits about 30% of their times at bat.
Writers take heed.
Also, I don't "expect" to get rich from writing. I do it because I have to.
I have never been paid a penny for anything I have written, although I HAVE been "paid" in copies of publications in which my poems appeared, I don't count manuals and reports written as part of a (ick) job for which I received a paycheck.
I write because I have to.
If I miss a day, sometimes an hour, I begin to feel myself somehow a failure.
It's funny, the "quality" of what I write seldom affects how I feel about my "writing". I might look down on a given piece, or feel that I'm in a bit of a rut, or, missed the mark, but, when I look back over time, I'm happiest that I kept writing.
Are you a writer?
Here's a test.
Did you write something today?
Yesterday?
Going to write tomorrow?
Two out of three makes it an 80% chance, give or take an error factor of 20, that you are.
Write on!!!
Labels: donovan baldwin, poems, poetry, writer, writing
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
POEM - HISTORY AND FUTURE
Two different questions,
Yet, two sides of one coin,
Perhaps, for,
So much of existence,
Must,
For we humans,
Be explained...
In its origins and antecedents,
Which change with new knowledge.
And our never-ending
Predictions and expectations.
Labels: donovan baldwin, human psychology, poem, poetry
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
POEM - AS IF THE MOON WERE WINE
Watched bright hours passing by
The floating of the cotton clouds
Upon the bright blue sky.
Came the night my love appeared
And with silver she did shine,
I sipped love from her tender cup,
As if the moon were wine.
Labels: donovan baldwin, moon, poem, poetry, wine
ESSAY - EDWARD LYNCH MY ANCESTOR? I THINK NOT.
Here's ONE reason I don't get my news from social media...Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Signer Of The Declaration
Of Independence.
"John Thomas Edward Lynch, Jr, Capt signer of Declaration of Independence, Delegate to Continental Congress 1776 Capt in First South Carolina Regiment"
And, they have gone on to show him married to a lady named Margaret Allison and, with her, the father of several children.
Problem is, that Lynch, specifically, Thomas Lynch, Jr., who was the ONLY Lynch to sign the Declaration of Independence, died childless. He AND his wife, Elizabeth Shubrick, NOT Ms. Allison, were lost at sea... a couple of years BEFORE their supposed progeny could have been conceived... much less born.
Now, the historical data is there for ANYBODY to read. The logic and math is simple enough for ANYBODY to figure out... yet...
Many people are not only proudly proclaiming this patently incorrect data as proof of their esteemed ancestry, BUT, since they are on Ancestry.com, PAYING for the privilege, AND, in the meantime, failing to find out who their ancestors REALLY are.
My ancestor is named Edward Lynch (I think), and I don't know a whole lot about him yet, except that HE seems to have been married to Margaret Allison. But, something I DO know is that while he did NOT sign the Declaration of Independence, he, and his family DID help build America, and I'm good with that.
Labels: ancestry, donovan baldwin, edward lynch, genealogy, signer of the declaration of independence
