my doggerel (written while depressed)
Did this one today...
LAMENT, MARCH 2023
Stare at the ceiling as the earth whirls blindly in the dark
as you lay there, ears ringing & head pain, as always
as your head hurts, spreading middle girth
Cold inside, halted, without a spark.
The occasional note as your gut slowly drains
from the meal of bolted flour, cheese, olives,
a manmade ration for the bipedal swine herd
Another day ebbs, another evening gains.
Stare at the ceiling as daily you know
Knowing inescapable: you're past the prime
the bald fact, always without tact,
Faded mirror never fails to show.
Staring upward as the ball hurtles in the black
around the hot bright mindless sun,
your stare as unseeing as the rock itself
a captive in a slowly rotting sack.
Feel free to comment, folks. Whaddaya think? I might post more poems here as the inspiration (for lack of a better word) strikes.
It's like that where you are, too?...you must live in the South. I'm in Florida, the appendix of the United States.
Looks good anyway! It's the meaning that is important.@slowdecline48
@bestVase7265 Thanks. Just thought of an improved version!...
This is modern civ:
computerized everything;
silicone bolt-ons.
I think that works better.
Thanks. Am still trying to carry it further... If I can make a more complete version it will go up, though probably not in this thread. It won't be a haiku, I can tell you that much.
untitled
The factory has been running
for too long. The warranty expired
on too many parts that haven't been
replaced, the motors are rusted & tired;
R & D apparently walked off the job.
The casings are of corroded tin.
The CEO & accountant should be fired,
honestly. Quality control was fobbed off
to some corrupt firm in Shenzhen
when the blueprints for the factory
were drawn. This rickety outfit still
churns out product, cleaned every now & then,
but the truth must be stated clearly:
It should all be thrown in the landfill.
Can't quite believe I composed this on my phone...it's not the best tool for doing prose or poetry.
So was this based in something you were actually seeing? @slowdecline48
Interesting, but you definitely don't belong on a landfill. @slowdecline48
An Inner Light
The Plan takes shape,
of a mountain of tasks
necessary to leave the anthill:
I can't stay here until I kick it.
Outlines appear of land...
work...heat, cold, dust, dirt,
the chores of survival until
I have a home. My ticket
to rest, free from rental serfdom.
Dark nights & pain will come;
Episodes will flare & pass.
I can get through the pall
As long as I stay busy,
stick to the plan,
Recall just why I did it all,
And remember what is mine.
Better a stray dog than a caged lion.
Great poem. I love that last line especially. It imagines that doing stuff actually allows you to be the stray dog rather than the captured lion. Your mind is freer when it is occupied by other things that when you are stuck in the depression cage. @slowdecline48
Another haiku:
Time of transition:
Days of busywork, the Net.
Night: my art, hot takes.
@bestVase7265 So far, yes. Merci for asking. Today was wonderful...one of the best days of my life.
New to old to new again
Open the map app, punch in numbers
of places where you've once been.
Wondering what's changed, looking
for continuity, any kind will work
Zoom out, zoom in while the movie
in your mind plays in fast-reverse
Memories few, graying as they fade
into the freezing past of no color
You find each place, & it's changed.
A few are gone; others with new paint,
a couple surnames summon faces
of those surely long dead by now
You find little...a few small traces
of what no one else can see.
Time to close the app.
You can't go home again.
I don't know what to title the above poem. Any suggestions?
Hmmm - Memory Maps or Traveling with My Mind? But I am not particularly good at names.@slowdecline48
@bestVase7265 As long as the title does not have G00gle in it, almost anything will work. Sure I use certain apps like everyone else, but only because they're bundled with my phone & so I can't wipe them out. Google is one of the great evil empires of the Internet/virtual world, IMHO.
I totally agree with the evil nature of the big search engine. They were sued recently because they are such a monopoly. @slowdecline48
A haiku, because laziness:
Back pain lays me down
Not like a lover would do...
Check the vids: YouRube.
Sending peace and a better back. May you be able to get up and walk away from your computer for a bit tomorrow. @slowdecline48
😆 I typed it out on my phone but the sentiment is good, thank you...it's all part of getting older, right?
Yup! I definitely need to walk away from my computer more. My wrists are starting to ache daily. @slowdecline48
When I grow old...
I shall wear the cuffs of my trousers rolled,
Will probably say what's already been told.
Remembering what? Just bought & sold
All to come, when I grow old.
I like it. You can almost feel memories wrapped up in the pants cuffs. @slowdecline48
C-clamp screwed down, torqued
On my head (what it feels like)...
"Chronicville, USA"
@bestVase7265 Thanks...nice thought. Most of it was gone after I woke up. (I did turn to "better living through chemistry")
Sometimes you need to do that. Glad things are a bit better today.@slowdecline48
A political haiku:
This election year,
So much like all the others:
Mountain of bulls***.
This year the load is much higher to the point of being dangerous. @slowdecline48
@bestVase7265 Perhaps it is. We should remember, though...the US has had a few crazy elections in its past. "Social media" (note the quotes) has definitely aggravated the whole political climate. The companies who made & run the platforms are more at fault than anyone/anything else. But remember the 2000 election? We didn't have FB, X/Twatter, Instaspam, etc. & the whole thing was an utter farce...
Point is never expect the candidates, their campaign teams or the news media to go about it with any professionalism or decorum. Because they won't. They can't. 😏
True. There were some *** even in elections in the 1800's. I really like Heather Cox Richardson who posts daily. She is a historian of the Civil War and is always making really interesting comparisons about politics. @slowdecline48
Really...this sounds interesting. Am a history buff myself but my foci are mostly military & religious history of Europe & the Near East, so I don't usually study the Civil War. Will have to check out her stuff. Thanks for the lead!
I am a European historian by training. My PhD was on three families living on the border between Germany and France during the French Revolution. But that was a long time ago... @slowdecline48
So you are a professional, then. Props!
I'm strictly an amateur... Having said that, I must add that in the US the difference between pro historians & geeks isn't what you might expect. I don't know much about modern European academia, but on this side of the pond it's in a sorry state overall. If you've kept up with the news here--especially since 2014--then you already know that. One of the reasons why I'm into this stuff is because most Americans have no sense of history for anywhere other than this nation. *smh*
...it's as if the world didn't exist before 1776 (or 1619, depending on your guiding ideology). 🤦🏼♂️ There are buffs here who know a ton about WW2. Bring up the campaigns of Napoleon, Frederick the Great, or Tamerlane & you'll draw a blank from most of 'em. And that's just us amateurs--we are not the general population. If you talk to the younger people, well...for far too many, the Vietnam conflict is ancient history; our war of independence might as well have never occurred.
Political tribalism & extremism have ruined much of what passes for America's higher learning. Leftist distortions today equal right-wing ones popular in the mid- to late 20th century. For example, the Crusades are nothing but a debating point for the libs here. They're utterly ignorant of the context in which the pope Urban II made his declaration, to say nothing of what the Eastern Roman/Byzantine empire was contending with at the time...
...but I digress. The point is, on this side of the pond there are some subjects you're actually better off learning on your own. Not a nice thing to say about my country, but it's the truth.
