Love Haiku iv

Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. It consists of three phrases with 17 phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern.

love came to millions

 who found mates on match.com

hey, it sounded good

it worked, so why not?

-----------------------------------------------------

This was what I had planned on posting.

Phooey! I don't even know and am past match.com.

I suppose that with all the previous cavalier and I-don't-care-anymore postings on love, there is still a vestige in me that believes in romance, if only as a nostalgic memory. It is what makes love poignant.

Thus, I end the series with these lines that were recently shared by a dear friend.

You shall not forget, for I am past forgetting

I shall come to you again

With the starlight, and the scent of wild champakas,

And the melody of rain.*

What more is there to say?

I concede.

Love remains.

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* To A Lost One, Angela Manalang-Gloria, Filipino poet

Love Haiku iii

Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. It consists of three phrases with 17 phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern. 

all you need is love

but a little chocolate

will not really hurt.

Wanted!

Have you seen this person?

Notorious for being a fish thief

Wanted in all 50 states of the Union

Be wary.

She is careful to hide her identity.

  

She has even been spotted garbed in a fish costume. What? Is that the dead carcass of the fish she stole that she's wearing?

Note: Beside her is her partner-in-crime. Don't be fooled by those dreamy puppy eyes. She is a thief in her own right - of socks, rocks, and Uno cards.

Sometimes though, this wanted person has taken off her Jackie-O sunglasses to reveal her face.

Alas, but only a partial view.

Who can she be?

Where could she be hiding?

There was a rare sighting of her running down a foggy mountain in New Zealand.

Or was that simply an apparition?

A paparazzi photo has revealed that she could really be a hobbit who lives in a hobbit-hole. Geez, what do we really know about this wanted person?

One time, based on a tip, we followed a trail of chocolate Milano cookies that could possibly lead to her hideaway.

Guess where the yummy brown bits led?

To this person with an unusually small head and giant toes! 

What?! Is she related to Big Foot? The pursuit for this fugitive is getting to be more interesting! 

There are rumors, though, that her Dad is this good-looking fella. Odds are against her, though, for if she ever boards his vehicle, she'll easily be spotted in his solar octane Toyota 4Runner. 

Anyway, today, let's try to find and apprehend the thief, not only to enjoy the $1,000 reward but also to get the chance to say, You're in luck, girl!

If you surrender, your prison sentence will be reprieved because  according to government records, it's your birthday today!

Come out and surrender.

Let's celebrate 11 years!

And remember, no more fish robberies, or you'll immediately be thrown in jail and rot like a fish.

Love Haiku ii

Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. It consists of three phrases with 17 phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern.

you gotta love like

you'll never ever get hurt.

phoey, how that sucks.

Love Haiku i

Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. It consists of three phrases with 17 phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern.

Here are small snapshots in haiku form of my evolving take on love and romance.

i love you so much 

without knowing how or when

or from where or why.

 

The Bourne Legacy

On Location: Manila, Philippines

Quoted lines are from the movie script.

What are movies for if not to have

the good guys triumph over the bad ones? - Margaret Carlson

Deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. It is the official awesome-I-can’t-even-believe-it movie that's hunkier than Matt Damon.

The Bourne Legacy. 

It stars Hurt Locker Macho Man Jeremy Renner as black ops agent Aaron Cross. Have you watched it yet? It was shot on location in Manila.

What do you think?

Aaron had me at, Sh... as he bounds out of the blue onto Bocobo street in Malate, Manila. Alongside is biochemist Marta. They're in the city to buy the blue pills needed for Aaron's intelligence enhancement.

All seems to be quiet except for the rustle of the wind, a plastic cup rattling on the parking lot. But there's a restlessness rippling across like dead leaves on a breeze. Sure enough, you haven’t even buckled your seat belt yet, and the action already starts.

Non-stop.

First, there's the Manila policemen. At their heels besides is the secret intelligence agency. It’s time to run.

Are you ready?

Are you in?

Oh, good. Me, too. I have no idea how much the challenge and hardships will be nor what lies ahead on the road, but I'm in.

Did I just say, What lies ahead on the road? I misspoke. It should have been, What's up above the city rooftops? For that's where Aaron starts running around.

Can you even?

There are mountains you are meant to climb and challenges you are meant to overcome and obstacles you are meant to conquer, but I draw the line on rooftops. 

I yell at him, Marta and I will be down here, but we're with you.

A member of the CIA team is now also in pursuit. He whispers, They can’t get far. If he didn’t viral out, he’s gonna run out of brain. And if he did, then he’s gonna be too sick to move. So we just have to find him fast, and kill him, once and for all.

This is the part where you might get discouraged, partly because of the double gonnas. You might say something like this…..

... ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH.

I know, right?

Don’t lose heart.

Now that we're all back on street level, I'm sure we got this. I know my way around the dusty tracks of the San Andres neighborhood. It is not yet noon, but already the sun is hot. Through here, I instruct Aaron and Marta in a long breath, as we run across broad dirt roads. 

We need to split, Aaron strategizes. And what does he do? He jumps from a footbridge onto the top of a bus on the Pasay-Taft Rotonda. What can I tell you? He's a fearless aerial daredevil.

Later rejoining us, I hear him inhale a stuttering breath. Thai operative Larx-03. Assassin. 

A new threat... when will it end? 

The pursuit continues along Magsaysay Boulevard. Riding a motorcycle, Aaron instructs Marta, his voice dropping, Hang on tight, follow me. Okay? Stay with me. I follow them with my eyes as they ride off inside the Marikina wet market. 

Have you ever been? There are too many people, too many peddlers. The air is hot with stench and crackling with flies and the noise is overwhelming. 

The assassin shoots Aaron, hitting him in the shoulder. Marta says in a hoarse voice, You’ve been shot! (Aside: Obvi.) Pull over! 

The motorcycle skids as it reaches the Navotas fish port. I run fast to their succor. But in true heroic fashion, just before Aaron loses consciousness, he manages to shoot the assassin and knock him off his bike.

Regardless, the latter continues to chase them through a deserted building near the docks. I'm breathlessly following on foot.

And then? It happens. As the assassin gets close to them, Marta kicks LARX-03's bike.

Way to go, girl! As his motorcycle crashes into a pillar, she shoots a triumphant look at Aaron.

All that running, all that shooting is finally over. What else is there to do? 

Ride away to freedom on a boat.

Destination: the white-sand beaches and coral reefs of El Nido in Palawan. (Disclosure: This isn't a sponsored post.)

Aaron is perusing a map and heying her as she sits at his side. (Aside: I'm thinking that this is where I need to leave, but I'm curious. I already know there's a forthcoming romantic angle, and I'd like to see it.)

She heys back at him with a polite nod and asks, Are we lost?

Are you sighing in anticipation? I can mouth the exact words of Aaron's answer, No, I was just looking at our options.

And the heart-melting response from Marta? (Wait for it...) 

Mmm. I was kind of hoping we were lost.

I'm relishing Aaron's delicious smile at her. He rolls up the map, puts it away, and they both gaze at the endless vista of a monotonously blue cloudless sky.

Isn't life just like the movies?

Where you do, or do not. There is no try.

Where you become the dreamers of dreams.

Where what you seek lies in front of you. As does what you fear.

And where adventure beckons.

It's just life and cinema. They will be over before you know it.

THE END
Until next time! For now, the balcony is closed.

The Da Vinci Code

On Location: Louvre, Paris

Quoted lines from the movie script are italicized.

There is a way out of every box, a solution to every puzzle;

It's just a matter of finding it. - Jean-luc Picard

This is the second time that I'm visiting Paris.

I'm at the Louvre.

Originally a palace, it is now one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It doesn’t shout. It simply whispers to you when you enter the room.

At first, I cannot make out any details. It is just a large, dark mass. 

Everything looks perfect.

Every piece is in place.

And then? There in the silence, as I reverently walk behind the Winged Victory, I jump as if someone had told me that the TY Beanie Boos were on sale at JoAnn's.

Seriously?

What in the world?

I spot Mona Lisa looking at me like an old friend. But it's not the mystic smile that's on her lips right now. They are pursed, and there's a horrified look in her eyes. Professor Langdon, renowned Harvard professor of religious symbology and French policewoman Sophie from the movie mystery thriller The Da Vinci Code are there as well. 

I follow their gaze. Sophie's uncle, museum curator Sauniere, has been murdered. His body is covered with symbols written in his own blood. What could be Sauniere's message?

Langdon's ardor to pursue the truth bursts out in an explosive declaration, Tonight, this will be my quest. (Aside: I'm thinking the quest is for the Holy Grail, to which I only have one response.)

What? Again? I thought Indy does that already in The Last Crusade (see two blogs earlier for a refresher). Hmmm... but he lets go. So, let's Proceed. (Spoiler alert: This one has a happily-ever-after.)

Our search begins: first at the vault of a private bank, then at the isolated Templar church in the British countryside. But look who's here? 

No one warns you. You’re just tagging along to figure out the clue from Da Vinci's The Last Supper when Teabing, a noted British Grail historian who himself covets the truth about the Grail, shows up. He's holding Sophie at gunpoint while ordering Langdon to figure out the cryptex's elusive password. 

Good for Langdon. He stays calm. He mutters in a soft voice, You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb. It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb. 

I’m not exactly sure why.

I think it’s as confusing to me as it might be to you that in an unexpected defiant move, Langdon tosses the cryptex straight up toward the dome above. It collides hard with the floor.

Be still, my quickly beating heart. The Grail is gone. Everything destroyed. My shoulders slump and my throat goes dry. 

I close my eyes, but snap them open again as I catch a glimpse of Teabing forcing the cylinder apart, hoping to see history before it dissolves forever. Are you ready for this? 

It is empty except for shards of wet glass. A shocker. No dissolving papyrus. Where... is the map? 

I have the same question myself, but no one makes a sound when in a surprise motion, Langdon carefully extracts a papyrus from his pocket and unrolls it. Teabing's life dream, right in front of him.

Tell me! Teabing demands, but the police hoist and carry him out.

The quest is not over yet. The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits. We hurry across Rue de Rivoli, back in the Louvre. Why?

Because when a solution eludes you.

When you are overthinking Saunière's final clue as to where the Chalice is hidden...

All you have to do is to take a breath, go back, and look at where you started.

Guess where?

Where else but beneath the Louvre. (Aside: I told you. This has a happy ending.)

THE END

Until next time! For now, the balcony is closed.

I sense a nudge on my shoulder. Hubby is prodding me to move on toward the Sully Wing. The Vénus de Milo. It's a must-see.