Hi everyone, here is a small little video that kind of birthed itself:) TJ’s Pet is a marvelous and colorful virtual creature created by Thoth Jantzen in Second Life I have had two for many years, gifted to me by TJ himself twirling and cavorting over and under a virtual bay, on my land, LINC Island in Second Life. Yesterday I was watching them from underwater and wow what a view!! I knew I had to try and capture what I was seeing. The music was born from observing them and the narration too:) The pier flowers were gifted to me by James Ottobre. I hope you will watch it in 4K and Enjoy! Likes & comments on YouTube always welcome too:)
“Riding Away” Dale Innis on Midjourney AI Art
Please Press Play to hear my interpretation(with my own music) of this amazing poem!!
A little short background on this poem. I was reading Tracy Abell’s Blog and I came across this post,Day 261: it’s all connected, we’re all connected
I read this poem and wow!…I just felt so much, so quickly..all I could do was sigh and stay mute.
I knew I wanted to record it. I hope InshAllah, I have done it justice.
Below the poem, I will tell you a bit more about this prolific and internationally honored Palestinian poet.
The Prison Cell
by Mahmoud Darwish (Translated by Ben Bennani)
It is possible . . .
It is possible at least sometimes . . .
It is possible especially now
To ride a horse
Inside a prison cell
And run away . . .
It is possible for prison walls
To disappear,
For the cell to become a distant land
Without frontiers:
What did you do with the walls?
I gave them back to the rocks.
And what did you do with the ceiling?
I turned it into a saddle.
And your chain?
I turned it into a pencil.
The prison guard got angry.
He put an end to the dialogue.
He said he didn’t care for poetry,
And bolted the door of my cell.
He came back to see me
In the morning.
He shouted at me:
Where did all this water come from?
I brought it from the Nile.
And the trees?
From the orchards of Damascus.
And the music?
From my heartbeat.
The prison guard got mad. He put an end to my dialogue. He said he didn’t like my poetry, And bolted the door of my cell.
But he returned in the evening:
Where did this moon come from?
From the nights of Baghdad.
And the wine?
From the vineyards of Algiers.
And this freedom?
From the chain you tied me with last night.
The prison guard grew so sad . . .
He begged me to give him back
His freedom.
In 1988, Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declaration for the creation of a State of Palestine. Darwish won numerous awards for his works. In his poetic works, Darwish explored Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile.[2][3] He has been described as incarnating and reflecting “the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry.”[4] He also served as an editor for several literary magazines in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Darwish wrote in Arabic, and also spoke English, French, and Hebrew.
It’s Here!! It’s Ready!! It’s Finally Finished. This is my labor of love in 4K and a full 12 min 47 seconds, but just get cozy, play it on a big screen, make some popcorn and enjoy my short film:) or long machinima. This movie started as a Garage Band song I composed over a month ago and grew into a “movie soundtrack” and well..soundtracks need a movie to go with it….and so this film was born:) I could have not done this without the help and love of my Fish Sissies, Suzanne Moomintoog & DzinWiz Babii!! My Pisces Sisters (Fish Sissies) of 16 years in Second Life gave me the green light and their total commitment to my project. We laughed through our shoots and even this stressed Director had a great time. Dale Innis supplied the scripts that made us move and many of the background images that I warped and manipulated to make them, something new:) Some of the most spectacular imagery were actually photo gifts given to me by my dear friend James Ottóbre in California..who has a very large, unique and mind-blowing garden, and these were unaltered pictures of his flowers waving in the background. Thanks to all the actors, to Luna Branwen and Joey Starchild who are so ready (and always have been) to raise their hand when I needed them:) I hope you will take the time to watch it all (all almost 13 minutes and more important, I hope you are entertained. I am just so thankful I could take this idea from conception to reality. I am 77 and still one of my biggest thrills is making virtual machinimas,,,something I learned in the last 15 years. I am grateful for my health, for my life and for my wonderful friendships with those who have enjoyed what I do in the past. I thank the WordPress Community for their amazing support too:) Likes and Comments on YouTube are always welcome!! Turn it up..Dance to the credits:) Watch in 4K:):) Love, Karima ❤️
Hi everyone,
I’m sharing with you a 1 minute teaser of the big project I have been working on the past few weeks.
I’m ready to stir up a some early interest as I hope to finish it soon:)
I hope this little teaser peeks your curiosity!!!
Please turn volume up and HD and Enjoy!!
This is the title of my next video production with my Pisces Sisters, Diz & Suze. These sisters:) See video
Dale as always supplying invaluable AI Art & scripts to make things move:):) This has become a bit of a one-woman show and the last three weeks I have been setting up scenes, writing the soundtrack (it has 6 different pieces of music), doing lighting, writing out the narration and many practice filming sessions before we actually do film with my sisters next Saturday, June 8th..and then the editing begins.. It’s a true labor of love 🙂
Sooooo..I have been and will be a bit scarce here on WP. I will still try to take out time to read but the next thing I post, Inshallah will be this finished 7 minute surreal video:):)
My health is holding, so I am making” hay while the sun shines” as we say in the old days.
Cousin Dan & I in Costa Rica 2017 at The Westin Hotel Guanacaste
Please Play My Spoken Word to my original Music, written for my Cousin Dan
Cousin Dan
Someone I love is dying he wants to die, at 94 he’s just so tired of living.
He’s the older brother I never had in my life my beloved first cousin who knew me since I was born.
A master of languages he spoke seven and even today fluently three or four.
I call him every week and he tells me one of these calls he will not answer. And when we say goodbye I say I will call you next week, he tells me, “Oh sweetheart you better try!”
He says, they say he has a few months left I say, no one really knows… He says, “ Ah but I want to go, I can no longer see, Life holds nothing more for me” I say, “ Ok..then I want that for you too.” But I will miss him more than wordscan tell him… and he knows that’s true.
Karima Hoisan (aka Donna Leviash) May, 17th 2024 Costa Rica
*Footnote: Dan is my father’s nephew. He has made me proud, all my life, that I share our Ukranian blood and when I learned 2 more languages (Spanish & Arabic) He started calling me “A Super Leviash”:)Which he still does to this day:) *A past post I wrote about him last year with many early pictures:) https://karimahoisan.com/2023/04/09/our-fading-historian/
Hi everyone, I wanted to share my Amazon Review about Joni’s book and encourage those of you who have not bought a copy yet, to do so. The picture above was taken in my living room the day it arrived! I was so excited, I got comfy and read it for hours…until I finished it. I will share with you what I said on Amazon and hope you find it inspiring to pick up a copy and if you already have one, I hope you will enjoy it.
I bought Joni Karen Caggiano’s very impressive book,” One Petal at a Time” and when it arrived, found myself devouring it all, from cover to cover in one sitting.
I couldn’t put it down.
I am going to use Joni’s own words here to describe the over-all feelings I first felt when I began to dive into her real life horror story of a small child surviving alone in a household where chronic alcoholism changed her parents into drunken incoherent robots, right before her eyes,
In her poem, “Where Are You God?” she says,
“mom and dad swapped for robots
years of terror melding together
like a warm plastic puzzle
mom’s time spent cooking gone
morning’s breath was blood drippings
instead of bacon fat cooking
I can feel God
yet I also feel my anger and wonder why
must you leave me here, JUST let me die”
This wish to die in a small child can only hint at what her daily life had been, and she says in the beginning of the book,
“Brick House is frightening with monsters and notes of the dead who skulk. Like an embracing vine covering my tiny body, I am the voice of fear enclosed in nature’s dress.”
As it turned out, this daily-abused child was never abandoned by God. God showed her, her protection and her escape through the amazing awareness of all the Nature around her.
In every poem, I was struck with how this child was so joined to Nature, she wore it as her shield. It saved her sanity. She saw the angels watching over her and she created tea parties with the fairies who joined her in the woods, She built a cathedral in her mind of the blooms, the birds, even counting the dots of the ladybugs.
Her suffering opened her senses and Nature was her soothing balm, it was her curing ointment for every welt and scar.
“March Day
lady bugs let
two twin crickets
play connect the dots
on their beauty spots “
Under the Khaki Tent
“survived the agony of living this boozy ballet
in that house of crazy
I spent every moment I could to fly away
in the woods till the line of
right and wrong grew hazy
Something Missing
“robots drink and often stink
one day my parents will be back
love, food and caring I will no longer lack.”
It is journey from abuse and horror to compassion and forgiveness and I will let her tell her own story, like she told it to me, in every page I read of “One Petal at a Time.
Pick up a copy and get comfortable. Through poetry and prose Joni has a very worthwhile and ultimately uplifting real life tale to tell.
Sit and read and listen to her.
The black & white paintings” of the renowned artist, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, that adorn her cover and begin each new part of her book, are beautiful.
I highly recommend, “One Petal At a Time” It is a roller coaster of emotions, tears to joy, but it is an amazing testimony to survival of the human spirit and the curative powers of her belief in God and Nature.
PS. My credit card lives in the USA (hehe) but I live in Costa Rica:)
Please Listen to my poem recited to my own electronic music. If you want to read along, I will put the words below, but this is a piece made to be listened to and not just read. You can also DANCE to it:)
Swimming at The Very Edge of Night
Swimming at the very edge of night it’s my thing I do in the half-light. I’m in the pool almost every day at 5pm
the frogs are starting their serenade the temperature drops & it looks like rain.
But who can stop me? This addiction keeps me alive… Keeps me fit and it keeps me energized. Any hour is good to swim in the day when the sun rays are safely tucked away. Locked in a trance in this watery prism, it’s about losing myself to the hypnotic rhythm.
And the pool pool pool is the deepest shade of blue blue blue. Oh yes even without the sun it shines with an inner light and I repeat and repeat “Alhamdulillah Thank you for my Life!!”
My heart is in the zone it pounds to this beat oh man it feels so good feels so cool & sweet,
And the pool pool pool is the deepest shade of blue blue blue and the frogs coax me to theline I count my strokes & then their croaks It’s dark but it shines with an inner light and I repeat and repeat “Alhamdulillah Thank you for my Life!!
Frogs are pairing up and trying to find a mate Sun is under the horizon and its getting real late Just ten more laps to get to the line but I’m going to finish, oh yeah, right on time
* * * * * * * * *
Swimming at the very edge of night It’s my thing I do in the half-light I’m in the pool at 5pm the frogs are starting their serenade the temperature drops it looks like rain,
But who can stop me? This addiction keeps me alive keeps me fit and it keeps me energized. Any hour is good to swim in the day whenthe sun rays are tucked away locked in a trance in this watery prism its just about losing myself to the rhythm.
And the pool pool pool is the deepest shade of blue blue blue Oh yes even without the sun it shines with an inner light and I repeat and repeat “Alhamdulillah Thank you for my Life!!
My heart is in the zone it pounds to this beat
oh man it feels so good It feels so cool & sweet
And the pool pool pool is the deepest shade of blue blue blue and the frogs coax me to the finish line I count my strokes & then their croaks it’s dark but it shines with an inner light and I repeat and repeat “Alhamdulillah Thank you for my Life!!
Frogs are pairing up and trying to find a mate Sun is under the horizon It’s getting real late just ten more laps to get to the finish line and it looks like I’m going to finish right on time.
Karima Hoisan May 11, 2024 Costa Rica
*Footnote: Because of my recent autoimmune diagnosis, I can no longer get sun on my skin. I must use a long suit, like a snorkeling suit and swim close to sunset.
Please Press Play to Hear My Spoken Word To My Original Music
I’m Alive!!
Is there anything else more precious that we have, than life itself..? We can smile at trees salute the neighbors save the bees and declare for the world to see
“I am alive..I’m still alive, I’m so alive!!”
In our moments of darkness, hope starts to flee but when you are dead, there is nothing to hope for… but if we stay alive .. all the doors of possibilities open wide.
Stand in an open field and shout it out, dance with the wind, “I am alive..I’m still alive, I’m so alive!!”
If you have walked away from an accident, or a surgery, or a snake bite or a fall off your mountain bike, side swiped by a taxi, broken bones will heal, but the fact your’re alive is all that counts…Yell it to the sky “I’m alive, I’m still alive…I’m so alive
Grab that pony on the merry go round..and go around again
Look at me “I’m here I’m still alive!!”
The tears of thankfulness fall down my face; on this merry go around, I know my place and when it pulls me back from the abyss, I never think twice, I come out with this:
Nothing else more precious than Life itself, shout it out while you can“
I am alive..I’m still alive, I’m so alive!!’
When you wake up in the morning and you just turned ninety-five…a lifetime of thankfulness and you open your eyes and sing out… don’t be shy it’s what its all about..I’m here on a brand new day
“I’m alive!! I’m still alive!!”
Karima Hoisan May 9, 2024 Costa Rica
*Footnote: The music spawned this poem..It’s very happy music (even surprised me) If you can’t hear it for some reason, here is a link that should work, to stream it or download it online
( https://filedn.com/l7Df4R6F1DTBv0B99l7YP6L/I’m%20Alive%20WP.mp3 )
Digital Rabbit Hole 