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Restraint chimeric

Have words become just something we say

subject to rash off-key abuse?
Just dumped in to the impatient fray
like ever-so-smooth TV news?

Trying express ourselves clearly
seems taxing work, so we balk
rings socially too austerely
Try listen? We’d rather talk!

What if blabber became the umbrage
while restraint conversation’s glue
in enjoyment of graceful language
shared beyond a literate few?

But as for that prospect chimeric
we’re subjected to ‘reporting’
which the blabbermouths find mesmeric
too often outright transporting

+)
‘reporting’ = unsolicited droning on about one’s own mundane doings

 

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LAidback no longer

Expect a sunburnt smile
with white teeth gleaming
in any market isle
in trendy streaming

Spouting catchy metaphors
in tilting lilting idiom
Driving cool wheeled dinosaurs
in bumper to bumper ‘freedom’

Headed for the erstwhile Golden West
on to land abundantly blessed
in irresistibly upbeat quest
Too late, turned crowded, worn out, stressed

In unrelenting motion
have been pumping most of its oil
polluting air & ocean
depleted the bountiful soil

Time to wake up from faded dreams:
It’s getting ever hotter
fires blaze on hills & in ravines
rivers, lakes drained of water

We’re culprits of reckless squander
stared down by unblinking drought
Wake up from fantasy’s wonder:
Face it. No way, none but out

Days gone when LAid back seemed easy
brimming with optimism breezy

+)
LAid back = laid back as in LA

edited 10/14/23 1345

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Jolting those numb nerve endings

Beguiled the restive mill malltitudes
unbeknownst fumbling for meaning
chasing acquisitive magnitudes
harshly gleaning, overweening

Fleetingly on cloud nine
their eyes glowering
mining for gold online
those crisp screens scouring

Soon enough fizzles their proclivity
into poor paralyzed passivity

+)
malltitudes = (by license) the thronging multitudes at malls

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Unrestrained to be entertained?

People wobbly, down weighted
munching on escapist diet
bodily temples sated
stuffed they’re suffering disquiet

Out on shopping paths cutthroat
for latest jolt quick fix
while can’t be bothered to vote
no time for politics

Shall they ever see themselves
as with manners oafish?
Unwittingly pushy elves
so utterly foolish

To instant gratification
they feel divinely ordained
In inane alienation
must always be entertained

What do folks so disconnected
think if they hear climate ‘change’?
Might their response be expected:
‘No exchange policy? Strange!’

These are observations not lies
watched most of them with my own eyes

+)
-elves = here: ace consumers, living out their acquisitive dreams, their pointed elf ears (antennas actually) honing in on best deals on the most popular items

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Those topangued not so easily harangued

Southern California:

One seeming seamless mall
with roars ‘cariphonia’
and merchandising gall

Of this consists its essence:
Ever fleeting new thrills!
Where to escape its presence?
High up in dusty hills!

The clear-eyed who wisely topangued
won’t so easily be harangued

+)
-‘cariphonia’ = the sound of cars in heavy traffic
-topangued = to move up in the hills of Topanga, away from LA

 

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Hey, Thucydides, that was then. This is now and how!

“Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.”
-Thucydides (c.460 B.C.– c.400 B.C.)

If restraint implies ‘voluntary’ restraint would we these days recognize something so over the top quaint?

Yes, in Antiquity
but regarded now
as mere obliquity
Here is why & how:

Today’s absence of restraint
sustains mindless shopping
above all for more war paint
unjust wars not stopping

Fans fiery fire
absent qualms
by our Empire
dropping bombs

While voices of restraint
raised rarely, echo faint

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Best be aware that li

Beware of ads offering ‘free’ gifts
by busty ‘babes’ with rosy cheeks
Beware too that those composing gifs
might be high-tech chattering geeks

Beware of the neighbor’s dog
as well as of all rifts
Beware of much too strong grog
and those drunks draining fifths

Best always to stay aware
that Human Life doesn’t play fair

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Palate & profit ahead of people & planet

In this verse speaks a ‘victim’ of the suggestion, found outrageous, that she turn vegan to mitigate and delay the impending climate collapse:

Why must I be wary?
Who says I can’t eat
either eggs or dairy
chicken, pork or meat?

My palate shall come first
must taste delicious
Though my ‘for profit’ thirst
as well ambitious!

Never mind what I like eating
won’t the planet keep rotating?