Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Of rosy hued vigor drained
off course veered, dropped anchor
‘Just’ causes no longer feigned
subsided rush, rancor
Hearing himself he cringes
pompous in the arcane
Laboring on the fringes
struggling with the mundane
No longer plagued in the throes
of fables lastly shorn
About nothing much he crows
gray, worn – but not forlorn
She left ’Solidarity Among Workers’
of Russian People generous and tough
joined here ‘Me-First Apolitical Shirkers’
eager devour abundant, gleaming stuff
Yana’s road steep, long & hard
on feet, bags & credit card
Ever since setting that noble goal
of Costcoite she’s persisted
been excelling in her newfound role
quick, astute, shrewd & tightfisted
+)
-Costcoite: an ace category shopper at Costco
-Muscovite = in this case our neighbor Yana, formerly of Moscow, where her giggles still echoe in its abandoned streets
We’re jumping into the fray
to injure, use up, jaw
As dawns yet another day
we elbow, step on, claw
One more eight billion people raid
bodies bouncing, minds racing
joy, beauty & sanity fade
never mind what we’re facing:
Species die, forests crumble
all brought down way too fast
Glaciers melt, earthquakes rumble
How long can humans last?
Even so we claim this assault
(as we primp for each next day)
is “no way our doing or fault
so let’s get back in the fray!”
+)
-eight billion = here: the planet’s approx human population
Drilling by heedless fracking
oil is pumped emetic
keeps refineries cracking
in a race frenetic
Now, not until 2030
spills and plastic clog our gills
Earth’s water supply fouled dirty
leaves us sipping noxious spills
Now, not only by 2080
in climate catastrophe rife
comeuppance merciless & weighty
Humans left to horrific strife
Unreflective on how affronts amass:
Hubristic Humanity so crass
keeps making the inappropriate pass
Mother Earth is a virtuous lass
+)
-2030 = read: twentythirty
Fumbling yet another glass
over hors d’oeuvre platter
spouting platitudes in mass
Spare me such void natter!
Such vain, self absorbed rattle
in verbiage feckless
midst milling about cattle
dressed in tie & necklace
Voices shrill, blaring
breathlessly ‘reporting’
onslaught unsparing
conversation-thwarting
How did we turn admass?
Why so untoward
when a subject impasse
brings silence awkward?
Time’s up, we may leave
just smile & swoon
Hardly cause to grieve
bye, until soon!
+)
-‘reporting’ = here: boorishly droning on about one’s own most mundane doings
In 2012 Mitt Romney received strong applause when he said: “President Obama promises to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise is … to help you and your family!”
Delegates went ecstatic
Thinking gelatinous
Attitude fringe fanatic
Logic calamitous
“Slowing ocean rise, no!
Me & us now, yes!
Go Mitch go, way to go!
He’s our guy, God bless!”
Rising heat & ocean?
Just slab on more lotion!
Agony fills our bones
while minds racing, our guts churn
like crawling on coarse stones
For change our heavy hearts yearn
Social bonds no longer prized
irreparably frayed
Everything commoditized
trust & manners decayed
In Empire’s Wars & Celeb Cultures
self-entitlement’s fierce fangs bared
turning us into whiny vultures
Only poverty deeply shared
Little of wisdom debated
or of shared humanity
Neighborhoods fearfully gated
in self absorbed vanity
while people down on their luck
CEOs ‘make’ untold millions
while others squeeze a last buck
Once solidarity discarded
those in need shall be derided
as irresponsibly retarded
their gripes dismissed as misguided
Integrity by now denuded
to slick pretense we got inured
How did we become so deluded
from justice so easily lured?
Offer:
“I can either give you, no strings attached, lots of cash and introductions to interesting, fun and beautiful people. Or arrange for some thugs to drag you behind the nearest building and beat you with a steel pipe!”
Response:
“I need some more information. What kind of a steel pipe?”
Hoping against hope: Save my poor ear
not another repetition!
For who among us do care to hear
such runaway feeble fission?
Garrulity gone meteoric
in hapless nation dysphoric
while the gushing foamy rhetoric
soars in distortions historic
Brash opinions know not stage fright
or usefulness of sound bite
in election spectacle’s blight
accentuates all what’s trite
Those who opine show no contrition
for their spewing words pernicious
or for the lack of inhibition
on narrow paths injudicious
edited 12/04/21 1635