Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh

Tag: essay

  • prompt 118 on my quote

    Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?

    Many a quote I admire, but a quote I treasure is from the Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila that I cherish in my heart’s chamber and fresco in my soul’s palace.

    “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing. God is unchanging. Patience gains everything. God alone is sufficient.” Even if my faith in God might have led me astray in the course of existential life, the comfort that nothing will destroy me because there is always hope, even in the darkest night of the soul. Just as cloudy skies will become apparent and show the gorgeous azure firmament, what seems to be endless hardships will have an end, and they will stay not too long. Dum Spiro, dum spero. (While I live, there’s hope.)

    So, whenever I feel like reaching the bottomless abyss or being lost in a maze with no existence, I recollect this simple yet powerful prayer to bask in the sun of hope.

  • prompt 116 on beautiful stranger

    Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.

    No, it’s not Madonna’s kind of Beautiful Stranger, but the one whose act of kindness flows from all her deeds and demeanor expressed to the other stranger.

    Back in the days when I worked full-time and studied full-time at college, my purse was often thin, which Benjamin Franklin would have disapproved as a sign of excessive spending. I had to sacrifice two meals a day and leisure to make a living as the family’s eldest child. One day I got on the bus to school, but it was too late to realize that I was short of money. I was embarrased to be a public display of poverty, so I was about to got off the bus crestfallen and misrable. The fact about me is that I am tranparant of my feelings and emotions, which are blatantly shown on my face.

    Then, a beautiful lady resembling one of those figures in the ancient Greek urns offered me help. With a gracious smile, she paid it forward with her money, and I could ride the bus to my classes. She sat next to me and started chatting with me. It dawned on me that she was an exchange college student from Greece and would return to her country soon. I thanked her, and she said she had been in my shoes before. We parted with smiles and hearts that are universal in all humankind.

    John Milton in Paradise Lost describes, “Those graceful acts, those thousand decencies, that daily flow from all her words and actions.” Hence, my beautiful stranger.

  • prompt 115 on my positive change

    Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

    Recently, I have established a habit of going to a coffee shop after work instead of going directly home.

    They say when you return from a funeral, you should not go straight home but have some time at a crowded place so the soul of the dead or another spiteful spirit will come and follow you home. Whether or not it is legitimately true, there is a point in doing so as a ritual of getting rid of negative influences from outside to home. In like manner, I have begun spending time at coffee shops, preferably and usually at a nearby Starbucks, after work. I sit there alone. Yet, I am also surrounded by people who are also alone. It gives me a sense of belonging and comfort. I read and write with iced tea, which is refreshingly relaxing.

    After a purification ritual for about an hour, I return home, where my cats, Toro and Camille, are waiting. They are only pleased to see me because it’s their dinner time, but whatever the reason, it feels good to be greeted and missed.

  • ptompt 113 on morning rituals

    What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

    The mornings are the busiest time in my daily life. It starts with fresh drops of liquid eye lubricant, followed by a simple morning prayer devoid of meaningless mechanical abracadabra. I am unsure if my letter of wish is delivered, but I think it is because otherwise, the whole world seems apocalyptically hopeless and lifeless.

    Then my eyes meet the eyes of my cats, Toro and Camille. I say, “Good morning,” and, “Let’s have a great day!” After that, each of them does his morning rituals: Toro goes out to the living room, and Camille wants to eat breakfast. Boy, is he a voracious eater! Although he is agile and lithe, Camille eats at least five times daily, contrary to Toro, who prefers snacks. I wish I could be like Camille, but then that’s Camile, and I am this.

    While my cats are doing their rituals, I clean their toilets and make sure the litter is fresh and ample. After that I begin my toiletries and dressing up. The last ritual is to make iced Americano and pour it into my favorite Starbucks tumbler that keeps iced coffee until I return home in the evening.

    Sometimes, I wish my morning to be more relaxed so I can start my work day more fresh and have time to ease my nerves. But what I am always amazed after I wake up in the morning is I am still alive. Otherwise, I may miss all these morning rituals.

  • prompt 100

    Daily writing prompt
    Write about your dream home.
    View all responses

    I prefer the sea to the mountains. The sea opens my heart to infinite possibilities, imbued with mysterious hopes and yearnings. Accordingly, my dream home is an apartment with a view of the sea, preferably the Mediterranean Sea, whose image is always the Sun, the Azure Skies, and the vibrant ambiance that speaks PLESANTNESS.

    I will decorate my balcony with pretty flowers and a table with a parasol to have breakfast or read books with a glass of iced coffee. My bedroom will also view the ocean from the sizeable sun-filled window. I prefer one bedroom, which is large enough to be both a home office and a bedroom. Of course, there will be plenty of space for my cats, Toro and Camille. Because of my fur babies, I dream of my dream apartment where they can roam around, run around, and play around.

    There are lovely apartments with such ocean views here in Southern California, but they don’t have the same ambiance as their counterparts on the Amalfi Coast. Something about that place captures my heart, so it will be my dream to live there in my dream home with my cats. That will be lovely.

  • prompt 99

    Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

    Scene from The Sylvanians

    I should have gone to bed after a long day at the doctor’s office and a trip to the pharmacy to pick up my medication. But today’s prompt question is too inviting to decline.

    I used to write weekly episodes of “The Sylvanians” with the pictures I took to illustrate each episode before my brother left us for his life abroad with all the yokes of filial duties thrown at me. I still have the Sylvanian figures and the miniature items used as pictorial illustrations for my episodic writing. By the way, the German Romantic composer Wagner, also Hitler’s favorite composer epitomizing the greatness of the Germanic/Aryan race, used to wear costumes or grand wardrobes as a visual aid to provoke his musical muse.

    The stories evolve around Sally

    But that was the time when my mother did not need medical/psychological attention daily. That was when I used to work in a boutique law firm with no office politics among staff. Now that I work with and among people who are as philistine as the inhabitants of Earth after the end of the world, my energy is nearly exhausted at the end of a day’s work. Yes, I must gird up the loins of my spirit to push myself to take pen to paper. Still, I am neither a zealous would-be writer who wants to wow the world, nor am I a demimonde of the intellectual elite nor a fabulous amateur writer who wants to exhibit a perfect command of English.

    Roger out. From Mars to Earth. Good night. 🌙