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.
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"
Sending peace. @slowdecline48
@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.
Totally agree with you on every level there. The lack of knowledge is pretty shocking both about the rest of the world and about the US itself. Teaching at lower levels is pretty poor and is basically teaching to a test that doesn't interest students.
I teach it at the collegiate level. Sometimes I get quite discouraged. But I don't think that my students are necessarily anti-history entirely. They do have the capacity to learn and be fascinated by it. But you have to start with real basics.@slowdecline48
@bestVase7265 I just realized I went on a rant the last time I was here. Sorry about that...will try not to do it again.
No need to apologize. Rants are good things most of the time. @slowdecline48
All activities
Ground down to a dead blind halt.
This carcass be d∆mned.
Another haiku:
Useless, worthless meat
in wrinkling bag, with thin bones:
Chemically "conscious".
@slowdecline48
I liked it really. Can i say I felt my self there somewhere...floating...ANYHOW, YOU HAVE A GREAT STYLE!😇
@wIthpeACE Thanks much! The ego strokes are wonderful... But seriously, I am not a professional poet. Never been published nor paid. But then, I never tried to be. 😆
@slowdecline48
HAHA! thanks. Hey, why not u try, u know writing more. TBH if we met irl then i guess i would have asked for an autograph XD. [Maybe i am your new fan! Who knows?]
Untitled
Lying down sideways, hunched forward
To fit in the office chair, legs bent on the crate
Feels like below you is nothing but air...
When the sleep fairy comes with her baseball bat
Swinging like a girl on a carnival date
Uncomfortable position but you don't care
A feeling of dazed loftiness, of great height,
Of being a modern version of Simeon the Stylite
In the cold darkness, floating dust inside
Wouldn't mind being found there, all dried
And shriveled like a prune no one ate
...until you wake up, sore & hungry as f**k.
Sending peace. It does sound painful. @slowdecline48
@bestVase7265 Actually it wasn't that bad overall...until I got up. 😒
Ain't it strange how in certain circumstances, leaving your head on an armrest can do the trick.
It is always hard when you don't entirely realize how bad things will be if you change position. But yo can't stay in one spot forever either.
I hope that today was better. @slowdecline48
As a matter of fact, it was. Today I had a minor triumph (it's in the journal). Hope you're feeling good tonight.
That's great! Any triumph is worth celebrating. @slowdecline48
Would like to escape
The ache, dizziness, ringing--
Where doesn't matter.
Definitely feeling this one myself. @slowdecline48
@slowdecline48 That sounds rough, I can relate. Been feeling like that a lot lately, the stress makes it worse. I hope that there's better days that follow for you. Once you're feeling that way, sometimes it's hard to really...escape that despair feeling. I've been taking one day at a time and I guess going with the flow until I'm able to change certain factors soon -- which will make the pain more bearable in a mental sense moreso than physical...
...yes, lately I've been in the old morbid mindset...
True, but your dreams aren't reality either. Even when you were younger and moved better, things weren't perfect.
But sending you less pain for tomorrow. @slowdecline48
@bestVase7265 Good points there.
Yours is the best kind of answer: it doesn't sacrifice the truth for consolation.
Maybe because I am getting older and can feel it too. @slowdecline48