It may seem like a benign word
But it isn’t
Everything about this word is wrong
It’s a complete mess of a word
Its pronunciation has nothing to do with its spelling
Take the first C
It makes an S sound
Now take the second C
It makes a K sound
Why would someone do that?
Why would anybody use the same letter
To make two different sounds in the same word?
I strongly believe that this word was created
By the native speakers
To make life difficult for others
And have a derisive laugh along the way
The italian, portuguese and spanish word for it has two Cs too (circo)
And, you guessed it, both sound different
The dutch and latin use the same word as English does
At least the french have the decency
To use only one C in the word (cirque)
While the german word (zirkus)
And the norwegian word (sirkus) contain no C
And is pronounced just the way it is spelt
Is it any wonder that when my life is frenetic
Disorganised, messy, disturbing,
Farcical and comical
With just the right amount of chaos
Suitable for public entertainment
I refer to it as a …
Month: June 2024
When She Steps In Through The Door
Without her around
The house is grim, dark and lonely
Completely silent save for only
The heavy breaths emanating from my chest
It’s like the cold hands of sorrow
With no choice but to borrow
Desolation on some wicked curse’s behest
Have come to settle in this nest
When she steps in through the door
A surge of light carrying madness
Bursts and drives away the sadness
Filling the house with smiles, laughter and song
What was once a haunted dome
Has transformed into a lovely home
With flowers of joy planted where they belong
Nothing then could ever go wrong
When You Realise Your Mortality
When we realise that we
Have little time left on this planet
We drop whatever we were doing
And begin to do the things
That mean the most to us
We take up old hobbies
We dig up buried passions
We unlock the hidden dreams
We start living
But we always knew that life is brief
That our hearts beat for nothing more
Than a cameo
In this supposedly eternal cycle
From adolescence
We are aware of Death
And her ghastly inescapable odour
Yet we go on breathing as if
We are going to be here forever
We take minutes and hours for granted
Days go by
Years pass us
And none of that time is utilised
In doing what makes us happy
When the health breaks down
When coughing becomes second nature
When aches and sprains are allowed to reside in your body rent-free
That’s when we understand life’s worth
But usually it is too late by then
The vitality has faded
The lungs are clogged
The heart pumps inefficiently
Our illusion of youth shatters
Our veins map our history on our skins
Our throat is full of regrets
That is why I wrote this poem
To remind myself of my mortality
To remind myself that I could live differently
That I could be happier and healthier
If I took a little time out every day
To live
I would feel alive
I am going to print this poem
Make multiple copies of it
And pin it everywhere around the house
If it helps me save even a minute of my life
Then this poem has done its job
That is why I published this poem here
To remind you that Death
Is probably around the corner
Waiting to strike you with her cold hands
No, don’t be scared
It’s okay to feel grim at first
It’s okay if you hate me for it
It’s okay
It really is
Use that energy to climb out of the dark cave
And step into the light
You will be blinded at first
But soon you will begin to see the beauty
Dazzling at every blink; so
Break the shackles of your soul
And live
Love Is A Cat
Frank Solanki 