Category Archives: self-development

December 20, 2022 · 1:48 pm

To Unfold – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“Change and growth is so painful. But it’s so necessary for us to evolve.” Sarah McLachlan

To Unfold

People talk about revolution all the time
as if they mean change,
but revolution only means to be constantly
turning, constantly folding back to a past,
some golden age, good times, all those
flawed memories of an edenic paradise
as paradigm. 

Revolving is about going 
round and round and round. 
Some think that that is the change,
but it is ever the same,
whereas to evolve is to unfold,
a mighty leap forward from past
beginnings, moving into  a
relative unknown,
towards transformation.




Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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February 3, 2022 · 11:11 pm

Even When – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Linda is hosting Open Link Night, where we are invited to post a poem of our own choosing.

dVerse Poets – OLN – Smile

Image: found at letterpile.com

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” May Sarton

Even When

The diversity of my parts are not the sum of me,
but merely the complexity of possibilities,
I am not my body's disparate functionality
divorced nor captive to its parts dogmatised
by loud voices from the past as if they are flags
of virtue, I am not an acronym to be sung as a 
standard, never a diagnosis or an expectation to
be pinned, roled, or approved as part of some
myopic, narrow definition; I am not that, I am
myself as I find myself at any given moment, even
when I am a stranger to myself.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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December 30, 2021 · 12:05 am

Turning South – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: Looking south-east out over the Blackwood River beyond to the Southern Ocean, dawn.

“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” Abraham Maslow

Turning South

No more the pursuit of truth without context,
this great, long trudge of meaning making has 
seduced us to a constant suspicion of even 
ourselves, surrendering our spines to the ghouls
who would render us as glue in their pursuit of
harnessing our paranoid trust for their endeavours.

East and west I trudged and wrangled, my pack 
becoming an unbearable burden which I left by the
road at the point where I turned south for a change,
there it is cooler, lighter, quieter, and the sun 
gilds all my laden clouds.


Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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October 2, 2021 · 2:50 pm

The Real Adventure – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: chelmercanaltrust.co.uk

“Getting into and out of a coracle is the trickiest part ….” The Coracle Society

The Real Adventure

When the sea is grey and the skies dark,
the smallest of boats require courage,
not so much for the wind or waves,
nor letting go of that precious shore,
not even for the unknown horizon, no,
courage for our discoveries along the way,
our inner navigation by trial and error,
the loss of compass, disdain for the map,
without courage there is only ever a 
turning back.


Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

Note: Coracle or Currach was common to Wales, Ireland and Scotland and parts of England. Similar vessels are found in Iraq, India, North America .... The coracle as known in the UK and Ireland were generally made of willow or ash woven as a simple frame and covered with hide, modern versions include fibreglass.

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July 7, 2021 · 3:26 pm

Forming – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: looking eastwards to the ridge, Mundy Regional Park.

“You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction.” Edward De Bono

Forming

It caught me by surprise,
whipping dust across my face,
forcing me to blink, once, twice,
icy winter wind racing onwards,
oblivious to my discomfort,
changing, then changing again,
crossing over me in spontaneous 
whirls, ruffling my feathers, so
to speak, introducing  the tiniest 
thought, a fleeting beginning,
a niggling doubt that, somehow,
I had stayed on this path too
long, and though I couldn't 
quite see it, there was, forming 
in my mind, another way.


Copyright 2021 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

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July 16, 2020 · 2:16 pm

Simple – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: moonworkshome.com

“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” Sigmund Freud

Simple

What can be said,
things left undone,
the gutters banked up,
gum leaves aplenty,
winter rains bowing 
the ceiling with
weighty water,
troubling my mind,
a simple reminder
that life is indeed
just like that, and
the vulnerability of
unblocking best
precedes a downpour.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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July 9, 2020 · 1:41 pm

Are You Ready? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: dreamstime.com ‘Crossing the Rubicon’

“The die is cast.” Julius Caesar (quoting Menander)

Are You Ready? 

Every crisis is a crossroad,
a creative rubicon,
unequivocal its path,
where bridges catch fire
and values are deadweights
ready to drown should you
linger in the comfort of your 
resistance construed as
maturity, or some point of 
arrival approved by elders,
that needs to be shifted,
not just for yourself, but
for the good of all.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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June 19, 2020 · 2:09 pm

This Moment – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Frank at dVerse is hosting Meet The Bar and has invited us to write a poem in the vogue of ‘imagism’ (e.g. Pound, Williams and etc.). dVerse Poets

Photo: pixabay.com

“Our world is at the crossroads.” LL COOL J

This Moment

This moment is the moment,
and nothing of surprise,
to be in this space,
this place we dread,
its tensioned uncertainty,
this moment of burdens
unreleased and pressing
on conscience everywhere,
this moment of crossroads
an eon chancing change
after many trials,
this moment in my eye is
a twinkling of goodness,
the moment of all moments,
is this moment now.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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June 17, 2020 · 1:08 pm

The Sheer Exhaustion – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Anmol at dVerse has invited us to write a poem about Pride – LGBQTI. dVerse Poets

Photo: http://www.noircity.com Still from the series Babylon Berlin set during the heady days of the Weimar Republic, showing Severija Janusauskaite playing the cabaret artist Svetlana Sorokina. The series acknowledges the tension of the hedonism bewteen the wars, but also that the Republic acknowledged equality between men and women and sought to diminish traditional gendered roles.

“I feel like my body is in a waiting room.” Aimee Herman

The Sheer Exhaustion

The sheer exhaustion of externalities
enshrined in binary kitsch,
a black and white vaudeville,
pastiche of indoctrination,
a schema for knowing precisely 
where to park your genitals
and how to deport them,
cover them, name them
as if they were you,
betraying the fluid heart
and a free mind,
erasing true self,
denying the verb to be
in favour of determination
and benchmarked judgements
of approval.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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May 18, 2020 · 3:42 pm

Another Way – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Homemade-Biodiesel jpg

Photo: motherearthnews.com  “Mr. Welty producing homemade biodiesel”

 

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”  Socrates

Another Way

Are you not in the least curious
even a tiny bit?
That there is another way instead
of this long fall into deep forgetfulness
to a prison not made of stone,
imprisoned, within our selves
where the memory of other lives
is eclipsed by the drama
of shame, of wanting, of striving,
over the simplicity of
bread, shirt, and roof,
wherein lies the escape.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

 

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