Thursday, March 21, 2019

Poem for poets who wrote a poem on #poetryday


Good lord,
We have a poetry day too
And if my dog made some poo..

We'll toast that moment hard
I'm sure you have a clue
where I'm going with this?
I'd give this day a miss
( with apologies to all
who wrote good stuff today:
this is still a diss)

Relax, sir. Relax, Ma'am.
Just a meaningless rant
on the strange creation
of super meaningful days
that could wither away with
a deep gaze
At them, but still

We simply need the memes
Need that gate-pass
Need that permission slip
Can't celebrate life
without themes.

And here I am,
as I contribute to the banal
As if I'd rather have a root canal
(now that's trite, but just out of spite)
Smirking from my pulpit
at the monkey tribe below
not knowing
that the tribe below
is the schizophrenic version
of my own reflection.
Happy Poetry day, then, everyone.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Story


What's your Story
today, as you stir
What'll make you blur
the bad tidings
Face the music
of another day?

Better make your tale
strong and true
Lord of your manor, are you
or the hapless victim
of a crime
Playing a bit role
An Extra
in your own life?

Whatever it is
sure your story has layers untold
And plays out in technicolor
(well, at least in silver and gold)
Oh wait. I forgot. Today,
you got up on the wrong side
and found no story
that kicked in

Fear crawled up your skin
Without that soothing balm
without that justification
How will you ever
take any action?

With nothing at all in your damn head
you climb down the stairs
You look at others in despair
You find no real people
just ghosts with stories
with their angst and their glories

Just walking around, doing this and that
But when you talk to them
it comes out pat
My life. My relationship.
My money. My bad hip.
So interesting, so tiresome
for sure there's no outcome
For a person without a story
is a story without a person

Friday, March 8, 2019

Outsourced


Ive outsourced
my heart, my mind, my memory,
my life
I'm in too deep
my smartphone's
got me by the jewels

I've outsourced
my past, my future
my present's sutured
up by a distant cloud
apparently there's an app for this
and there's an app for every that.

I've outsourced
my skill, my motivation,
my drive
I'm a happy little piggy
on Netflix and Prime

I've outsourced
every possible way I exist
and yet I do?
Must be something like love
that I can't outdo.

Maybe there's reluctant Hope
that I can't outsource too
And maybe Dreams
although getting someone to work
on my plans will do

Perhaps all the outsourcing
Finally helps me and you
Find a moment that's true
and use currency that's real
About time too?

Friday, March 1, 2019

Errorism

To err is to sin
And to sin is to miss the mark.
Mark these words:
Easy to say
Tough to live by.

For any Errorist.
He'll give it his best
Whatever cause he's fighting for
(and mostly it's a him. Give it a rest)
.
Guess the Errorist must realise
that it's a short life
and a long knife
won't give it any more meaning.

Not stunning as a realisation
People are saying these things
on every TV station.
Me, with no skin in this game
You, I don't know how much flesh
We've both not given much
to any cause we celebrate

Perhaps the Errorist
missed his mark
Ironically, when he ensured that
he nailed his target and made it flat
He made people like us angry
confused, out of their comfort zone
We looked for meaning and found none

Embittered, but without teeth,
We snap and growl with every sound byte
We give pompous advice
and sound real nice
when we make wise statements
about strategy and choice

Tomorrow,
it will be the Kardashians.

And we'll be the Errorists.




Wednesday, February 27, 2019

The Workout

Dawn- hustle, bustle, begin the tussle
Sleep deprived; not worth the hassle?
Au Contraire.

Every effort at the local gym
makes my heart ready and my body limp
with fatigue. Good fatigue,
one might say
( though this is not really going the six pack way)

Fatigue that puts air conditioning in my head
for the day's heat ahead
Drowning out anguish,
kicking anxiety's butt
Slapping self pity's creep
Letting me breathe

Breathe in, go slow
Breathe out, there's the effort
Sometimes, it doesn't hurt as much
sometimes, a bit too much
Doesn't matter
Its not the body I'm healing
It's all in the head

Hustle, bustle, begin the tussle
here we go again
The secret I'm beginning to get:

The pain's really the gain.




Saturday, February 23, 2019

Sobriety


Morning:

It was a meek, milky
blue sky
calling out
to say hi.

Hmm. So so long,
its been
that I saw a streak of white
race across my sight

It was passing jet fuel
posing as cloud
Look at me,
it screamed aloud

I'm going, I'm going
and you ain't with me
I figured that
It must've been some big journey
that a past self had been on
Well, the jet's gone and so has that man.

Noon:

Thought to myself
If it was a Jet
and I didn't see it
Maybe the sky was better
without it?

Sour Grapes always taste better
when they aren't w(h)ine.
Jets without traces
Leave no trace of crime

Evening:

The thought moved me and my day
along with it
till it became quiet night
I looked up for my next no- surprise.

(The city's bright glow
tends to overflow
and filters out factors
like stars and other non-actors)

Night:

Dust settled,the stars came on
with feeble might
wasn't even a fight
with attractive streets
and other pretty sights

But memory took over
and maybe closer
to things still sore.
Of course, it felt much more
As i replaced the sky I was seeing
With the sky I'd seen before

Mesmerised, I wondered
If this is what it is to be sober
Then I'd go beyond October(!)
and look at newer things
with older eyes
and older things
with younger guise.
to be (hopefully) continued...

Friday, April 7, 2017

The Joy of Boredom

Bring me my old self
And some ice-cream, cool drinks and a comic book or two.
 Ok wait don't;
The law of diminishing returns
 has ensured
That the ice-cream is blah.
The lemonade is not worth it
The comics are banal.

Bring me my old self
That was very sorted.
When all I needed was a day's worth of plans and dreams
and the delicious feeling of doing nothing about them.
And feeling better for it.

Bring me my old self
That will talk to my new one
And make him listen.
Listen to the music.
Of cigarettes smoked staring at the night sky
Of fences climbed to get rid of messes
Of motorcycle rides that suddenly got cold
Of stolen times when the heart got bold.

Bring me my old self
get him to slow down enough
To get bored and restless
and see the depth in its dullness.

Bring me my old self
I'll introduce him to my mid life madness
He'll get a kick out of it
and laugh. Of course, with a tinge of sadness.