Commentary

[LostInTyme]

STREETWISE

misty shadows of faded memories
decaying on the trodden landscape
of the abandoned sidewalk

crushed cigarettes, empty wine bottles
used condoms, spent syringes
and broken dreams

these are the seedy remnants
of lives on the downslide of life

these are the stuff of the unlucky
the people of the night, of the dark times
living in the moment, living for a moment
living for something to ease the pain

a fix, another high, a few dollars
maybe a cup of hot coffee
a hot bath? probably not
a warm bed? probably not
a good meal? probably not
a college degree? probably not
an early death? probably
can this be changed? probably not

does anyone really care? probably not

I offer this sort-of poem of a view of humanity not seen by many, but experienced by many just the same.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I always like a poem that pops up unexpectedly. Gives me hope that people are thinking about things beyond their next Netflix show, and feeling things beyond envy or disgust directed at an instagram post. I like this poem’s probably/probably not juxtaposition.

I’ve been dragging around a copy of “The Portable Romantic Poets” edited by W.H.Auden, since college. Much underlined and flagged.

As the bird trims her to the gale,
I trim myself to the storm of time,
I man the rudder, reef the sail,
Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime:
”Lowly faithful, banish fear,
Right onward drive unharmed;
The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
And every wave is charmed.”
——-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

[GHT]

In: "King Lear," Shakespeare writes:

"Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your loop’d and window’d raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou mayst shake the superflux to them
And show the heavens more just."

During Shakespeare’s own lifetime the condition of the poor was an important issue. An Act of Parliament passed in 1572 when Shakespeare was a child showed the general fear of unrest posed by people on the move.

 

[tonyb]

There once was a man from Nantucket …

 

[LostInTyme]

LIFE

Life, for the super rich
is muchlike a beautiful vase
full with fresh-cut tulips
flown in from Holland.

Life, for the rest,
is an empty, rusting tin
of pork and beans
with flies buzzing around.​