Through a Macro

Macro lens caught sight of the unseen
Ant colony under a rock. Nurses frantic,
Carried pupae. Ran towards nowhere.
Soldiers confused by the stampede.

Leafhoppers on chokeberry leaves.
Harvestmen or daddy long legs,
Damselflies, woodlice, slugs,
Wolf spider spinnerets with sacs,
A brown widow and its latest catch,
An exoskeleton stuck like a patch.

Ants searching for nectar in withered peonies,
Lady beetles playing hide and seek in junipers,
A yellowjacket devouring a damselfly,
A bean leaf beetle contemplating on a pod.

Dandelion seeds stuck on chokeberries
Spider webs secured in sticky, folded leaves,
Abundant with unfortunate, trapped insects.
An ill-fated ant stuck on paint still wet.

Seed pods of poppies and fireweed,
Cinquefoil pistil and stamens --
Thumbelina’s lovely universe.
MLJ/16082025/MacroLensInTheBackyard

    

Prayer

 Each day seems to bring more news of the horrors of war around the world.  

We continue to pray for the people of Ukraine and we lift to God the horror of the war in Israel and Gaza.

We pray for innocent lives destroyed and lives changed forever by the violence and we share the International Prayer for Peace. 

PRAYER

On Forgiveness

Life is too short and shorter still

When our hearts with hatred filled

Instead of forgiveness. MLJ2025

WWW

Early 90s: Dial-up internet, noisy modems, purring like cats racing to make a connection in an ever-increasing traffic like Manila’s. Learning the protocols on email and chat programs, and browsing the World Wide Web by carefully typing in website addresses or URLs. Any mistake in capitalization or punctuation would result in painful retyping. Until there was cut, copy and paste. Until there was hypertext and you just had to click on the link. Now with AI, the internet knows what you’re thinking, what you need or want, what you desire… and feeds you with it. Buy now, it says. Would you click, consume and digest, or exercise judgment and free will as a rational animal? (Let’s leave this for another blog.)

At Far Eastern University – East Asia Institute of Computer Information Technology (FEU-EACIT), our students were asked to simulate an IT seminar-workshop for the public. They were to do research and try new word/data processors and programs for anti-virus, educational games, animation, auto computing, and design for their respective oral presentations. Albeit with fear and/or excitement, these future IT professionals took on the challenge, hating/loving their teacher in the process, and came out the other side beaming with pride in their accomplishments and stronger friendship. Now they’ve come far and away the best in their chosen fields, and nothing makes a teacher retire with the happiest of hearts. Even without the internet! MLJ/09082025/FUE-EACITSimulation1990s