April Poem-A-Day 20: Noam Titus Dawson

Noam Titus Dawson

You're out on the streets drunk
and pulling around a shopping cart.
Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,
Here grow no damned drugs, here are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep…
I don't think anything could be further from the truth.

Unless you've had your heart set on watching Dumbo.

"Tough love" is just the right phrase:
love for the rich and privileged,
tough for everyone else.

And I have been
your sidekick,
your confidant,
your other half
for so long and
that's how our relationship works.

If you quietly accept and go along
no matter what your feelings are,
ultimately you internalize what you're saying,
because it's too hard to believe one thing
and say another.
Because I can not understand
why anyone would choose that kind of life.

I'll find a day to massacre them all,
And raze their faction and their family…

Their moral values are very explicit:
shine the boots of the rich and the powerful,
kick everybody else in the face,
and let your grandchildren pay for it.

You are definitely a mystery.
All this verbal sparring…
is getting a little dangerous.
So we should just go on a date
before someone gets hurt.

Because let me tell you,
they may all live in fear of you,
but I don't.

© 2009, php

The above is not written by me. I merely assembled it. It's a mashup of quotes from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, Noam Chomsky, and the TV show Dawson's Creek. I drew from the above linked Wikiquote pages the phrases I thought interesting and arranged them with a few line breaks here and there.

I see why people like doing mashups: it requires remarkably little creative talent or inspiration. It's kind of fun though.

April Poem-A-Day 14: The tally complete, her hair down

The tally complete, her hair down,
She sails no more upon life’s river.

No longer shall she long for love,
Or pine for peace within her head.

These human worries of the flesh,
Now dwell in silence unbroken.

When last seen wandering the shore,
Her smile was radiant and bright.
Her demeanor of calm surety
Spoke of deep contentment and right
Alignment with life’s told purpose,
Little showing her want for more.

Weep not for her, shed no hot tears:
Her sleep is well-deserved and blessed.

© 2009, php

Originally I was going to attempt a speed-written poem, starting with random quote. The following quote came up:

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Shakespeare, Cymbeline, IV.ii.258

The quote reminded me of Ophelia from Hamlet and I immediately discarded the whole speed aspect to focus on the Shakespearean poetic form and style. I didn't end up with perfect execution of the style but it does have some of the flavor of the language and phrasing. Sort of. I'm not much of a classical formalist when it comes to poetry and it shows in the few almost afterthought rhymes. What do you expect? I spent all of 30 minutes on it.