… but will we lead a worthwhile life?
If we want to get along
mouth only the mundane
and if we want to belong
stray not in the arcane!
Let others spout their opinion
and just pretend to listen
Act the sycophantic minion
smile, best if our eyes glisten
Avoid these words to get along:
‘ascetic’ & ‘poetic’
Apply in order to belong:
‘athletic’ & ‘cosmetic’
Voice only the prosaic
like ‘we get warm by burning coal’
avoid ‘photovoltaic’
Above all do not bare our soul!
Thus we’ll evade some risk & strife
but will we lead a worthwhile life?
Hur än svag hans rytmkänsla
En sån figur
oböjlig
en sån filur
omöjlig
Omedgörlig
utan rättkänsla
otillbörlig
saknar skamkänsla
Hur än svag hans rytmkänsla
svagare hans erkänsla
Gråa gryningar gråtmilda
Att ha varit alkoholist
tack å lov länge sedan
Förnedrande förtvivlat trist
känner alltjämt av svedan
Plågas alltjämt sinnet
i uttröttad lekamen
Gnager grymt på minnet
kuggad på livstentamen
Alltför många år blev förspillda
i gråa gryningar gråtmilda
When the ego struts tall, the greater its fall
Posting on Internet’s boulder
our stale jokes from hapless heart
while little we care to shoulder
is neither kind, brave or smart
All wrapped around our own
with the ego puffed up tall
nonsense filling our phone
outrageous our naive gall
Oblivious & headstrong
quite heedless of our affliction
merely keeps muddling headlong
largely by lack of conviction
By all means, if we must, act the wag
but please, spare us being such a drag!
A mindless barter
People already hapless
buy phones ever smarter
which turns them ever sapless
What a mindless barter!
Never learnt to navigate
so by voice command dialing
let GPS cogitate
On-screen found oh-so beguiling!
Never mind that crisp phones resplendent
make humans ever more dependent …
He’s always the victim, says they tricked him
While spared Life’s worst bludgeons
our decrepit curmudgeon
one of many gudgeons
drowning himself in dudgeon
Claims others kick & trick him
he’s ends up the poor victim!
If at times duplicitous
he would loudly lament
Seldom seen solicitous
or rarely heard repent
Little thought to others given
been unable to discern
how self-occupied and driven
for others lacking concern
Oblivious in his own smugness
blames others for his lack of snugness
Leave Topanga!
This verse was first written in 2018 for my son Matt, who was then living through droughts & wildfires in Topanga, amidst the marked decline of the United States. In 2020 Matt moved to Sweden, where his father is from.
Trust in your guts & brains
take your leave from Topanga
find a ‘sane’ place with rains
but don’t retrace to Tonga
as The Islands getting hotter
long since Garden of Eden
not long until under water
While you’re welcome in Sweden
Faint prescience is all it takes
plus aptitude for a new language
So why wait to pull up the stakes
why wallow in anomie anguish?
+)
-Tonga = a South Pacific island nation, to where Matt’s great grandparents emigrated (from Sweden before WW1 and where his grandfather spent his childhood
-Topanga, CA = just outside Los Angeles
Threadbare the gleam of the American Dream, turning nightmare
While the rich get wealthier
with tax breaks, bailed outright even
they get so being stealthier
entitlement they believe in
While the permanent underclass
has throughout history been struggling
this poor willfully ignored mass
needs for its daily needs be juggling
Still: Beyond roof over heads & food on their tables
rich & poor alike indulge sports & celeb fables
We uniquely deserve a handout!
We do deserve a handout
our plight of course sui generis
Awaiting our next bailout
so make it quick & generous!
As we’re selling lipstick
we implore & ask
as we all have a shtick:
Please, don’t wear a mask!
Or wear one of see-through type plastic
would support our business fantastic!
+)
-bailout = Covid 19 $$ compensation
-sui generis = unique; not like anyone or anything else