Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Elites stir up the howling storm
amidst mellow middling calm
as their interest in us lukewarm
causes them not slightest qualm
Drawn in to empire’s slipstream
amidst paralyzing suction
Another gut-wrenching scheme
inescapable the ruction
As long as the elites aspire
us common people shall expire
The celeb culture vicarious
we imitate in limp ballet
as our own talents but scarious
we ape in mawkish cabaret
A hapless homily
but no anomaly
Kunde jag blott fått ändå
bo kvar i mitt Livs Höst
hade gärna fått pågå
skulle varit sån tröst!
Blev rynklig nu som korinter
en maskros bland hyacinter:
Insnöad i Livets Vinter
nu hjälper inga finter
Jag dillar, irrar å slinter
i ålderns labyrinter
Men enär som ung jag var redan svagt insatt
märks ingen större skillnad nu i hur tafatt
Did I at Poetdunk learn verse?
At no university
but since child enjoyed verses terse
which Mom found perversity
Am, it seems, an autodidact
lost in our culture’s group think
Who knows, perhaps to counteract
consumer culture’s hoodwink?
Hence never enrolled in class
just tapping my inner sass
+)
-Podunk = any small and insignificant town
-Poetdunk U = (taking license) any liberal arts college in such town
En främling i naturen
bortvillad i skogen
Hans längtan helst framburen
till ljusen på krogen
Så låt det Vilda leva i frid
Stadsbon har ej hjärta eller tid!
With their careers at stake
our ‘leaders’ lie & fake
Feeling all entitled
why would they concede?
The elite unbridled
in atrocious deed
They’re hawking ‘give & take’
means ‘they take, we give’
Gladly devour our cake
grimly combative
When faced with our demands
they wave, smile & shake hands
On noticing a herd of cows grazing on the edge of a shallow lake:
A herd of brown cows grazing
on grass by the water
short-cut future they’re facing
for goodness sake: Slaughter!
In the now’ heroically
as they’re living on the edge
Noses to ground stoically
while astutely skirting sedge
Let’s be courageous in the now
having a field day like a cow!
+)
-cow-ardly = here: the ways of cows, incl their courage & rectitude, which prominently lacking in the humans who exploit them.
Att kura i feghet
inför naturens grymhet
mänsklighetens glupskhet
vårt eget hjärtas bryskhet
Irra otåliga på genvägar
i stället för att finna utvägar
Från gråblek misantropi
bråk & kakofoni
fullständig idioti
ber jag nu: Sätt mej fri!
Om inte varit så livsoerfaren
hade jag inte slösat tid i baren
On days sloshing way below the brim
am mired in torpid emptiness
Just hobbling along aging’s path dim
cobbled with paltry pettiness
Then scope blows in by writing verse:
Found humor in what had seemed curse!
Finding humor in what I curse.
On leaving our homestead in Anten, Sweden, inspired by Joyce’s eyes moistening over:
Parting’s cool morning thronging
with borders to be crossed
Unrequited her longing
ailed in lingering lost
The old farm an indelible part
lodged lovingly in her tender heart