Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Who would unprompted share
one’s fact-grounded opinions
let heart & mind laid bare
to cliché-spouting minions?
Would that not be to squander
what is for each quintessential
in a frivolous yonder
tangential to life essential?
Unless someone appears sincerely to ask
might we not prefer in a limelight to bask
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?
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
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
Items now in vogue
on screens gleaming
may just turn out rogue
scamming, scheming
But surely we have a choice
faced with a claim hollow
to trust our own quiet voice
not just blink & swallow?
First checking proven facts had once merit
while now vendor’s own sales pitch we parrot!
When a car drives by
‘Diminutive Doggie’
gives instant chase. Why?
Due to thinking foggy
Feels compelled to chase
she runs off & away
with more grit than grace
looks not much like ballet
While chases with plenty pluck
stirring up dusty buzz
still hasn’t caught a car or truck
And if she ever does:
here we pose a stupendous stumper
would she lick or bite the rear bumper?
Amidst proficiency flagging
easy slide in to anxiety
that shall blindly keep on nagging
in profligacy & piety
But able to write
albeit found as trite
blessed daily rite
Don’t worry won’t recite
while I’ve no urge to abscond
to write righteous rhymes Beyond
Armored in dress-for-success clothes
limbering our lashing tongue
cleansed out our bargain-sniffing nose:
Ready reach for the next rung!
Sharpened our elbows
we’re ready to impose
If need be bulldoze
in order to foreclose
Brashly we sally, again, out the door
as clueless as ever of what’s in store
I regularly pedal up a steep, narrow, winding, two-way, two-lane road occasionally ‘causing’ drivers to wait due to oncoming traffic before passing me. Judging from some cars ‘riding my rear fender’ & the rare occasional driver’s remark or gesture perhaps I’m viewed by some drivers as an annoying traffic impediment? Others may perhaps be capable of ‘feeling my pain’ (here in aging legs & lungs), while by most ignored? So goes our human experience at large.
One irate driver yelling
“You’re obstructing traffic!”
on mission Cyclist Quelling
then adds gesture graphic
While another in civil quirk
rather cheers my modest pace
by affably calling “Good work!”
with welcomed patience & grace
Thus the human clash goes
between those empathetic
and those in restless throes
sounding off homiletic
Of course up to anyone exposed
to try act safely & stay composed
“To really understand something is to be liberated from it. Humanity’s greatest ally is the self-educated individual, who has read, understood, delays their gratification, and walks around with their eyes wide open.” ― Ross Ashcroft, Renegade Inc
It got out of hand
got us captivated
if we’d understand
we’d be liberated
But such a detachment (by other word)
can’t happen while we stampede in the herd