Contentment + Year Long Renga Month 4 + Fish Em Out (Photo)

Marcus Aurelius’s 8th Mediatation, ‘Appollonius’ finishes thus; ‘And to have learned how to accept favors from friends without losing your self-respect or appearing ungrateful’. This is a new form of poetry for me. Its partly based on a chanso and partly based on a form that Gini blogged on Disability Arts Online a while ago. ... Contentment + Year Long Renga Month 4 + Fish Em Out (Photo)

May 6, 2026 - 10:40

Contentment + Year Long Renga Month 4 + Fish Em Out (Photo)

Marcus Aurelius’s 8^th Mediatation, ‘Appollonius’ finishes thus; ‘And to have learned how to accept favors from friends without losing your self-respect or appearing ungrateful’. This is a new form of poetry for me. Its partly based on a chanso and partly based on a form that Gini blogged on Disability Arts Online a while ago. Chansos are given with love. My love to Gini and to Disability Arts Online. Soft lip kisses on the cheeks fellahs.

Contentment

Having put out a post asking for positive words
I became embarrassed and anxious to find friends both
real, and from social media connection only, thought
I might have been asking for a testimonial
or a pick me up on the basis of feeling sad

Once upon a time and for very many years this
would have caused a rueful apolexy in me
the modesty some people were crediting me with,
my humble bum reality, my shyness, my lack
of willingness to accept their thanks or favour

Would overwhelm me but not this moment, not this time
for I am showing that I can learn and move on like
I have required in my life’s work to wish them the same
motivation to enable empowerment, growth
and development in a future of better times

So, to demonstrate my learning my subtle progress
I posted a second post offering sincere thanks
and an explanation that wanted positive words
were in fact for an arts project I was working on
I then offered more thanks for the words that kept coming

And I accepted the gifts that were gladly given
and sat with the kind words to make my preferred choices
rattling through the sent texts these good friends responded with
I found myself leaning towards life, community
and I realised that was what I wanted and had

Because of that and because of them I found something
else and decided to call this poem contentment

11^th December 2020
Richard Downes
(From the Meditations series)

write a daily short poem as a diary of the changed world; gradually the narrative arc of your dailies will record how you adjusted to the new reality. Compose a year renga, a linked poem, using the traditional Japanese renga form

Month 4

Through grey day windows
In a white hospital ward
Wounded cry freedom

Wounded cry freedom
Under these grey drizzling skies
Shelter defines men

Shelter defines men
The snug bedridden walkers
Listen for footsteps

Listen for footsteps
From the long dark corridor
Doctors are coming

Doctors are coming
Rehabilitation plans
In their white pockets

In their white pockets
A scalpel dripping bright red
Into white tissues

Into white tissues
We deposit our sneezes
During pandemics

During pandemics
People run around selfish
Love is important

Love is important
Guiding us through the darkness
Turn your love light on

Turn your love light on
Let it shine, shine forever
Freeing you and me

Freeing you and me
From spirits in the darkness
Holding us tightly

Holding us tightly
These feelings we often have
For one another

For one another
Shared care and anxiety
Fear holds us together

Fear holds us together
Suspended on slender string
Over the cliff edge