Genuine Connection, Cute Squirrels, Linear Illusions, Peanut Butter Squid Tentacles and Good Sleep — A Poetry Collection

KTHT weekly prompt

Monday: I don’t date, I elevate

I don’t date, I elevate, tuning into the passions and interests and genuinely connecting with another one-on-one without hoping, wishing, yearning for a cookie-cutter romance, instead growing together alongside loved ones.

I don’t date, I elevate, pouring forth without keeping track the time and amount paid forward, amplifying without calculating rate of return.

Author’s note: This was such a fun play on words to work with! I’ve faintly heard of this phrase before but don’t truly know what it means. Funnily enough, when I google this phrase, KTHT pubs are top in search engine results, and I’ve always felt like it was cheating to look at others’ responses before coming up with mine.

So I ran with it and here we are — discussing date as in relationships and date as in calendar dates.

Tuesday: Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

I see a scurry, bushes parting just for a moment. a blink.

I see a squirrel, eyes on the prize, celebrating, gnawing in triumph.

Is it only me that finds it weird that squirrely means odd, eccentric, even dubious and questionable, when such a bright-eyed bushy-tailed creature is exactly that — a bundle of joy?

Author’s note: I love squirrels and am grateful they exist where I live ❤

Wednesday: What illusions must I dispel?

I must dispel the illusion of infinite time.

Even in stalled time the world turns about its axis,

the seasons turn, the leaves die, and return.

we are finite, as is the earth.

Author’s note: There’s this Chinese saying that’s 塵歸塵, 土歸土 (ashes to ashes, dust to dust) and this piece really reminded me of that. It reminded me that we have finite resources and finite time — that infinite, linear or exponential growth is an illusion.

Thursday: Unleash your adventurous side

is it a kitchen? or is it a research laboratory? with hypotheses to test, weird cravings to fulfill.

will you be the kind of person who thinks cilantro tastes like soap? or will you be the one who loves ketchup sandwiches or tortilla dipped in peanut butter?

the line between delicious and disgusting can only be drawn after these ingredients dance on your tastebuds.

Author’s note: What a fun prompt! Part of this is inspired by the fact that I just finished Shokugeki no Souma (Food Wars), a food anime where the protagonist is this amazing teen chef but is mischievous and makes these gross concoctions for fun like peanut butter and squid tentacles.

Also thank you to Melanie J. for her tortilla chips in peanut butter because although I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter, I’m not curious and will absolutely dive into the adventure of this combination.

Friday: What unexpressed vision keeps me up at night?

I’d say I sleep like a baby, but that’s not true, I do not sleep for two hours and then cry for another two.

I say with a smug sense of fulfilment that there is nothing that keeps me up at night.

Though my desk is messy (a controlled mess, I insist!) my schedule is neat and tidy, each goal and task neatly folded into its own time.

At night I sleep — by day I live, I thrive.

Author’s note: I often don’t share this side of myself even though it’s such great news to genuinely have a regular, restful sleep schedule. I know a lot of people struggle with sleep and particularly that when struggling with sleep it’s so annoying to hear people talk about good sleep. I generally read the room and don’t force this narrative of “oh, just do X to fix your insomnia” because I’ve been there. I’ve had terrible sleep and it wasn’t a one-trick solution, but months of calibrating, trying, and trying again.

But in a way, I also wanted to share this because so many people struggle with sleep but fall deeper into sleep troubles because they only hear this narrative that people work, work and work more. It creates this unspoken expectation that success is linked with how much sleep you can sacrifice, because no one ever tells an alternative narrative of having a solid sleep schedule and succeeding. It builds up the guilt for resting, which in turn digs a deeper hole into the sleep troubles that impact your quality of work.

It doesn’t keep me up at night, but for many, many, many showers, I have thought about this: how do we step out of this shadow of “no sleep and all work” hustle culture?

Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) wants to thank 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘊. for this amazing set of prompts! Mon/Wed/Fri; Tues/ Thurs; I didn’t end up tackling the weekend prompt but also wanted to link to it!.