Poetry Day #25
The prompt for today is a struggle, it tells us to use a long poem by James Schuyler as a guidepost – you can find that poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/32568/hymn-to-life it is incredibly long and if read aloud takes 34 minutes assuming you are reading at the appropriate tempo, and I have no idea what that is. Then we got a ton of instructions on how to write poetry by Hoa Nguyen. Here are some but not all of said instructions:
*Bring your perspectives and verbs back to present tense
*Seek the “unforced flow of words”
*Introduce things you might normally deem incidental
*Include quoted speech
*Build your lines with associative accumulation
*Include 4 colors
*Animate the landscapr
*Use a noun as a verb
*Ask a question
It keeps going on and on – I don’t even know what some of it means
We are to “free write” for 20 minutes and incorporate this laundry list of things. I will in fact free write for 20 minutes, like Schuyler, I will start each line with a capital letter, and I may try to work in four colors. The rest is a total crapshoot.
Haiku
Ask me to free write
View the inside of my brain
Try not to show fear
Set The Timer For Twenty
Typically when I wake up, I lay there and
Ponder a wild list of things.
Whatever runs through my mind is fair game.
One morning this week it was about a dream
I had where tiny elephants, newborn baby elephants
To be exact were dressed in adorable hand knitted
Sweaters and were frolicking about the yard. I was
So excited to see them, and could not wait to show
My sister, niece and wife, but sadly I woke up before
I was able to present my new found pets.
My next thought was, what if I had not woken up at all?
Morbid, to be sure, but it is good to ponder your own
Mortality on occasion, and then make sure you are
Prepared for it. What would happen? I guess people would be sad, some perhaps distraught for a short amount of time, some would not notice at all, and in later months ask “Oh when did that happen?” People
Would say things like “What a wonderful person she was” or “I never liked that bitch anyway”. There would be cards and flowers for my wife and immediate family, and in the days of COVID-19 there would be no service,
So I hope they would wait and hold some sort of Celebration at a later date, and let some people get up And speak. I hope they ask clever and witty people, you Should laugh and cry at death. It is the healthy thing to Do. You should also maybe drink too much for a few Days to numb the pain and some days you should just
Wallow around in it, until you get bored with that.
As I always do I checked the pandemic numbers to see
How many have been diagnosed with our new disease, how many countries has it hit, how many have died,
And then the stats for the United States, and my home
State of Illinois where my sister is a medical professional, and I look at California where my brother is also an essential worker. I don’t really call it praying,
But I say a little something in my head in hopes of
Protecting them from this new nemesis.
Unfortunately that brings me to our president, notice I Did not capitalize that – I never will while trump is in
Office, that is how little I respect him.
His recent idiocy will likely lead to some of his more
Devote followers killing themselves by drinking
Cleaning supplies to clean their lungs. He denies it now
Of course, that is his way. It is not a way of redemption,
Or true leadership, but really to put it quite simply,
Just the way an asshole behaves.
Am I really against a political cleansing of sorts, where
These brainless dopes that live and die by what
The donald says are removed from existence because They listened to him? I am not sure at all that that
Would make me sad. I am an odd mix of incredibly
Callous, and a huge softy, crying at all the new
Coronavirus commercials telling us to stay safe, and
All of the pet commercials, and many movie trailers,
I can literally cry at about anything to do with animals,
And also babies, but not so much with some adults.
Sometimes less is more, and I believe that with some
Of humanity too. I own my cruel thoughts and my ability
To be so mean and unfeeling. We all need to own
Everything we do and say and feel and act on. It is the
Right way to exist in this world.
There is good coming from this, pollution is down,
People are reconnecting in deeper and more
Meaningful ways, people are learning new technology
In an effort to stay connected. If you are swimming
Around in the shallow end of the pool, where I
Sometimes like to stay, you would be tickled pink
With yourself for figuring out how to become a
Potato on a zoom meeting, or a matzo ball. I
Just so happened to matzo ball my wife and myself on
One family call, it was funny – but not as funny as the
Potato, yet at least not creepy, like last night when I
Turned myself into my male twin, and my brother
Was staring back at me. I didn’t realize how much alike
We look! We have the same hands, and same giant
Calves, and apparently the same faces. So I learned
Something there. It was nice to see some of my
Family – I do miss some people, but not all.
I am looking forward to things like new patio furniture, This has brought out a nesting response in me, and I
Have to admit that I really sort of enjoy it.
I think the timer must surely be ready to go off
And save me or anyone else that braved this pile
Of gibberish from having to go on. Even my parrot
Has tucked her head under her wing in hopes that
The prattle of the keyboard will cease. I like this,
I was built for free writing, and I own it.