‘Discipline’ – so many angles and views about the meaning of this word. Used as noun or a verb, seen as help or a hindrance, recognised as for its strength or vulnerability.
That’s what is so wonderful about riding the wave of a word for the week, and feeling and sensing where it takes you. A lot of ‘peeling the onion’ to find what’s at the core.
Once again, there’s always new learning. This week we discovered a little more about people’s lives, feelings and experiences. What a privilege to connect in this way.
While we didn’t get to connect this week due to – well the stars didn’t align for many of us – it’s nice we can most certainly feel the magic of the words coming together as we read them here.
Discipline; Where does the word take you? What jumps out, that you’d like to explore or write about?
We hope you enjoy these expressions around the word ‘discipline’.
Feel free to share, comment below, or join in each week.
Next week’s word is ‘native’.
Hope to see you there.
The first stroke
Of the painful strap
Came from a memory
That is not a fact
It was a dreamt fear
Based on what
It could have been
The truth? It’s not a strap
The cane was real enough
One look at my palms
My punishment was clear
Clearly seen on my hands
Where the whelps appeared
It’s hard to believe
The cause of my pain
Came from schoolboy banter
On a St Patricks day parade
In the town of Wangaratta
A boarding school I had chosen
Influenced by my brothers views
A choice I would conclude
As the moment of my innocence
Was torn to threads by discipline
A twelve year old free spirit
Failing to fit in
Dormitories filled with strangers
Showering wearing bathers
Each day rules to obey
Responding to the sound of bells
When to wake and when to bed
When to eat and next class to attend
Rituals day and night
Day on day, week on weeks
No love no hugs
No favourite treats
The cane and I became friends
My rebellious years had begun
Never forgetting what was done
PJRÂ Â Â Â 1.05.2023
The babies awake
Yet mums wait…
Stretching out the time of feeds
Is better, so the experts believe
Now back to bed
On their backs now instead
Safety concerns inbred
Now creating odd shaped heads
Now you can listen out for the cry
Low medium or high
You can learn about their needs
More quickly, at speed
Now it’s ‘tummy time’
5 minutes a day
Strengthening arms and neck
Is the suggested way
Now the move on to solid foods
Start with fruit and veg
White then coloured
Before offering eggs
Read a story each day
If you can,
Let them turn the pages
With their own hands
Use toys that are fluffy
Crackling and fuzzy
To improve their senses
For future adventures
And learn to swim
baby classes full to the brim
‘Every week is best’
Now that puts parents to the test!
With schedules so tight
It doesn’t feel right
To be dictated by the clock
Is it time to take stock?
To feel more free
To flow and just be
Not so rigid that young
Did that roll off my tongue?
Yes, cos now there’s even more!
Early learning classes in store
Packed and off with a case
Kids seem to be in the chase
To achieve
What parents believe
Is the way to learn
But are we able to discern?
Is this discipline of life
That is becoming so rife
A sign that we have lost the way
To naturally discover and play
TLaB
I’ve never thought I would study music one day.
But if I could turn back the clock to choose again,
music is the only answer instead of going mainstream at school.
I know I might not get any support and needed a lot of self-talk.
Because in my country, China,
studying music means I am not a good student,
which can also indicate I am not smart.
It also suggests I will be less likely to have an easy life,
due to the competition, I will face in a densely populated country.
But I can’t ignore:
I love to sing at any time anywhere since I was a child,
I enjoy listening back to my singing recordings very much,
When I couldn’t get up at 6 on a winter morning,
as soon as my mum turned on the TV to my favourite music channel,
I then jumped out of my bed straight away.
If these signs are still not strong enough,Â
what about one fact?
I spend over 10 years after school realising,Â
music is always the home that I naturally choose to return to.Â
XQZÂ 1st May 2023