🐉 Writing Poems on Baby Komodo Dragon Sighting, Dragon Fruit & Life at Sea

Letter 156

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Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋

Greetings from my accommodation for the week in Bali, Indonesia 🏝️

This past week has felt like an absolute dream. I feel so blessed to be bopping around. Every day I feel so alive and ready to take on the adventures ahead. I have a lot more to write about. Specifically on April 29th. That was a date that I will remember for the rest of my life. That reflection is still being written.

For this week, I’ll share eight different poems on my new project of writing 100 poems that has been inspired by the individual I recently met. I’ve added the photo of the week to the top of this email to bring more context. I’m stoked about the serendipity of life that is happening. Puzzle pieces all around me feel like they’re falling into place of different parts of the world that I’ve been ignorant of.

Now, let’s dive into letter 156 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!

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📸 Photo of the Week

Last week a large reason of why I made a spontaneous 26 hour trip to Singapore was to have lunch with Visakan Veerasamy featured above to the right of me. He’s on a mission to build the greatest social graph of friendly, ambitious nerds that the world has ever seen. Over the last couple years he has been one of my favorite people to follow and interact with on Twitter, thus has been shaping many of the ideas that prompt in my walnut. I highly recommend his two books Friend Ambitious Nerd and Introspect.

The founder of writing school, Write of Passage, David Perell says that “Visa is one of the most original people I know. I don’t know what he’s up to. But he’s up to something really special. I can confidently say there’s nobody in the world like Visa. He might be the most prolific person on planet Earth.”

I too can vogue that his mindfulness and intitative to create and take action is outstanding and inspiring. He truly believes in growth, getting to know yourself, and trying 100 things. So in that spirit, he’s inspired me to take my mini project I started of daily poems to go up to 100 into the foreseeable future.

❓Question to think about

What are some poems from reflecting on this past week of travels in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia?

🖊️ Writing

Ever since I left for Asia I’ve added daily poem(s) to my journal entry habit. I’ve been loving it. Below are eight poems. Some have photos. They are all works in progress. I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think :)

Poem (1):

🌏 The Globetrotter Appetizer

Ah
My
First taste
Of travel
I now remember
What I have been missing out on.

Poem (2):

🇸🇬 This is Singapore

Seventeen thousand steps in Singapore
Spacious vibes in a soapy-smelling bathroom
With much needed calming music
at self-check-in border patrol
Curry Laksa at the airport
Not too spicy
Chicken satay on the street
Could eat more.
Navigating the bus to Burgis area
To my non-homey hostel.
Cars zooming by
Fear of J-walking
Or forgetting to forget my gum.
Clean, safe, sanitary
This is Singapore

Poem (3):

🚶‍♀️ Walking pains

Oh
Boy
Blisters
Are bollocks.
Good riddance to you
Lots of walking and wandering
Still to go ahead.
Never stop.
Poor
Feet

Poem (4):

💜 Buah Naga

My tongue is purple from dragonfruit.
I think it’s quite cute
And I definitely hit the loot
Unlike wearing a pantsuit
This intriguing look could electrocute
Your attention far away from a parachute
Even with no symptoms as a subacute
Just because my tongue is purple from a dragon fruit.

Poem (5):

😎 Courage is cool

Courage is cool
And gives me a large grin
on my schmool
Making me happy to begin

Courage is cool
When energy comes from within
Even if I look like a fool
It ends in being a win-win

Courage is cool
With less that might have been
Working like a tool
Learning a lot like Josh Waitzkin.

Courage is cool
Finding direction with a fin
After jumping in the pool
And wishing I had its twin

Courage is cool
And makes others drool
Without it made me like a loser in school
Being envious of other’s fuel
like a shining jewel
that could never get ridicule
Since it will always overrule

Courage is cool.

Poem (6):

⛵︎ Navila

I made it aboard
Time to see the unexplored
Running away from the horde
Which I am so grateful to afford
With the money I stored
To move toward
What makes me floored
And have always adored,
Definitely never ignored
Despite sharks leaving me uninsured.

I love this food smorgasbord
And would never need a bed with a headboard
And yet two naps later while aboard
I feel bliss and not bored?

Poem (7):

🌊 Blissful blue

The
blue
feels
blissfully
Surreal like a dream
That I wake up from soon.
Beauty is boundless
Everywhere,
Just like
At
sea.

Poem (8):

🐉 Baby Komodo Sighting

Shoutout to my friend Allison for capturing this special moment

I
Saw 
A babe
Komodo 
Dragon nestled up
In a tree abandoned alone
Life of a mammal
Is not rough.
Reptiles
Are 
Tough.

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🔍Word to define

Dragon: a mythical monster resembling a giant reptile, sometimes shown as having wings. In European tradition, the dragon is typically fire-breathing and tends to symbolize chaos or evil, whereas in East Asia it is usually a beneficent symbol of fertility, associated with water and the heavens.

• derogatory a fierce and intimidating person (typically used of a woman): the geography teacher was a real dragon.

2 (also flying dragon) is another term for flying lizard.

3 historical (in the 16th and 17th centuries) a short musket carried on the belt of a soldier, especially a mounted infantryman.

• a soldier armed with a short musket carried on the belt. Compare with dragoon.

Etymology

Middle English (also denoting a large serpent): from Old French, via Latin from Greek drakōn ‘serpent’

🌟 Quote to Inspire

"The observant person finds many teachers." – James Clear

🙏 Shoutouts

• To Visa Veersakamy for meeting up with me for lunch, tea, and a stroll

• To my friend Allison Mobley for bringing her beautiful camera and taking many of these pictures

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I appreciate you reading this!

If ideas resonated, I’d love you to leave a comment, reply to this email, or send me a message on Twitter @JenVermet. If you forgot who I am, I welcome you to my online home.

Never stop learning 😁

Mahalo 🌺

Jen

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