Horripilation - a poem

[Image description: looking upwards through a transparent umbrella to view multiple raindrops.

Photo ©️ & courtesy @paubearman on Instagram.]

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horripilation

a wonderful

if infrequent

horripilant event

a mild evening

a light rain falling

shooting-stars

visible momentarily

passing through

the amber glow

of street-lighting

raindrops tickle

on exposed flesh

a cool breeze

tousling my hair

though

not worrying

how I appear

a sweet, earthy scent

exudes from nature’s pores

penetrates

my nostrils

and stimulates

my olfactory sense

a total

sensual

experience

my id and ego

are in accord

just for once

my physiology

responds

messages

are dispatched

rapidly

breathing deepens

contraction

of cutaneous muscles

erection

of hairs on my skin

temporary pimples

spread like a rash

goose-flesh

and in turn

this arouses

a further reaction

another deep inhalation

then a shiver

takes root in my chest

sending its tendrils

to my neck

and chills

down my spine

all the way to my coccyx

the ignition

to a body-wide

explosion

of pleasurable

sensation

such

horripilation

*

A Spanish-language translation of this updated poem will hopefully follow shortly!

 

What do Instagram Faves Reveal?

 

Due to health-issues, for most of 2024 thus far I have been mainly avoiding the majority of my social-media. However, looking at images on Instagram (IG) is mostly innocuous and does not generally cause me anxiety nor stress.

I wondered what my favourited (in IG-jargon ‘saved’ images) might say about me. The reader can come to their own conclusions. However, below the screenshots of all my favourited images from 1st January to 31st March I have attempted a very light-touch analysis for anyone interested.

For myself, it helped me reälise that these past few months have not been all doom-and-gloom, but pockets of stimulation and interest.

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So what themes appear? I have attempted to group labels under general terms. These are then listed alphabetically.

Arts:

Aboriginal Art, Art, Artworks, Cinema, Collage, Colours, Dance, Elias Alpha, Illustration, Landscapes, Literature, Mosaïc, Music, Oriental Art, Painting, Photography, Portraiture, Sculpture, Tattooing, Textile Art, Tristor Blue, Western Art.

Attire:

Clothes, Fashion, Garments, Sex-Clothing, Underwear.

Beliefs:

Christianity, Humanism, Jesus, Religion, Spirituality.

Books:

Bibliophilia, Comics, Harry Potter, Le Petit Prince, Libraries, Literature, Reading, The Little Prince, Webcomics.

Buildings:

Architecture, Colour, Décor, Design, Furniture, Homes, Kitchen Design, Rooms, Ruins, Svenskt Tenn™️, Urban Landscapes.

Emotions:

Affection, Affinities, Comedy, Encouragement, Humour, Interactions, Laughs, Motivational Messages, Relationships, Smiles, Tenderness.

Entertainment:

Games, Jigsaws, Lego™️, Television.

Food:

Baking, Cakes, Cheese, Cooking, Cuisine, Drinks, Eateries, Eating, Fish, Gastronomy, Pizza, Prawns, Prosecco, Recipes, Restaurants, Salmon, Seafood, Sushi, Wine.

Health:

Covid, Disabilities, Health, Health-Issues, Chronic-Illness, Health-Messages, Ill-Health, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

Language:

English, Etymology, Foreign Languages, Languages, French, German, Spanish, Words.

Mythology:

Angels, Demons, Dragons, Elves, Fauns, Chinese Dragons, Chinese New Year, Saint George, Saint Michael, Unicorns, Vampires, Wood-Dragons, Year of the Dragon, Year of the Wood-Dragon, Zodiacs.

Nature:

Animals:

Bears, Birds, Cats, Feathers, Foxes, Greyhounds, Owls, Sea-Life, Tigers, Wolves;

Plants:

Floristry, Flowers, Fruit, Gardens, Garden-Design, Garden-Landscapes, Nature, Skyscapes, Trees, Vegetables, Waterways, Weather, Woodlands.

Occasions:

Chinese New Year, Palentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Year of the Dragon, Year of the Wood-Dragon.

Politics:

Advocacy, Political Messages.

Sexuality:

Bears, Beards, Bellies, Bodies, Body-Imagery, Breasts, Chests, Daddies, Erotica, Gingers, Hirsuteness, Homoëroticism, Homosexuality, Jockstraps, Kinks, Kissing, Leather, LGBTQIA, Masculinity, Men, Moustaches, Rubber, Sapiosexuality, Sex, Sex-Clothing, Queerness, Underwear, Wimmin/Women.

Travel:

Andalusia, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, England, Finland, France, Japan, Leeds, Locality, London, Manchester, South Africa, Spain, Trains, USA.

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In conclusion, my life seems to have been much fuller than I had reälised. I am so glad I made the effort to review my first quarter of the year. I feel far more positive about my life than I did prior to this endeavour.