Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Since been blessed to know stillness
are we not now sensing squarely
as agonizing ‘shrillness’
even when dough rises barely?
Clasped in stillness each moment
entirely abounds
ethereal bestowment
eternally astounds
Though clear-cut answers may prove chimeric
resting in stillness is found mesmeric
Opposite people attract
and if titillation
they may end up tightly packed
Bring on captivation!
While those birds of a feather
flock together tamely
those odd ones gladly tether
pressed together gamely
It shall majorly matter
among life’s klutzy clatter
What’s our species doing here
and ‘here’ is now ‘being where’?
While our human brain humongous
now scattered on screens shiny
(devices which grow like fungus)
our intellect stuck tiny
Critical thinking frail
Listening response deadpan
Suggestions captious, stale
Shortened our attention span:
“What again was the question,
did you ask: Where’s the restroom?”
+)
captious = tending to raise petty objections
Written originally just after the 2016 Trump & Pence election:
A Nation deeply embroiled
directionless & despoiled
Prez-elect narcissistic:
a bully chauvinistic
His VP pietistic:
prim, clean cut, jingoistic
In tawdry turmoil
they’re each other’s foil
In historic campaign brashest
nation’s figurehead now vile gargoyle
premonition neo-fascist
to which in cowardice we recoil
Entering frayed fantasy
we’re dragged into anomie!
+)
-anomie = a state characterized by a breakdown or absence of social norms and values
-foil = a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast (although how could it work in this case?)
-gargoyle = an ornament consisting of a grotesquely carved figure of a person (though here perhaps a carved figure of a grotesque person?)
Bakom ratten i vår körfil
alltför lätt att förtvivlas
inför Livets nästa örfil
nått som ej bör betvivlas
Inte kan det väl passa
för nån gammal stofil
att hålla på å svassa
fast helt ‘mobilsenil’?
Minsann tid att sej skärpa
Hög tid sluta kackla
till sist nått vettigt värpa
Så ta sats, glidtackla!
Bättre välan försöka deltaga
än att bara lipa å beklaga!
Rusa ej på dotcom
färdas varken för sakta
eller alltför bråttom!
Köp måttligt, undvik trakta
Jo, så kan beskrivas ‘lagom’
men syns mest rena larvet
så vi flesta slösar tvärtom
vettigare tiders arv
Om nån ej vill ha för mycket
så kanske hjälpsamt liksom
att vi tar det större stycket
så de kan leva lagom!
Eftersom ju rena godtycket
blir oftast ‘lagom’ för lite
för oss blir ingenting för mycket
tillkännager vi vid vite:
Att ‘överflöd’ löper sitt ärevarv
i detta vårt glänsande tidevarv
Common sense loses all traction
in ever contagious anomie
Hearts losing courage for action
in free fall from erstwhile apogee
Our faux free-willed self-containment
shall assure the same result
of our chasing entertainment
an indulgence we exult
as well acting out blindly
in feckless ways unkindly
Aren’t words just something we utter
so no cause to get uptight?
As something we just let flutter
no need for feeling contrite?
Take care to avoid some subjects
while be up on latest trends
Lay off our usual suspects
who talk Tesla but drive Benz
Above all don’t appall them all
by acting the rumpled sleuth
who with hapless self-righteous gall
goes out looking for The Truth!
Beware that if we bring up facts
bystanders shall forthwith make tracks!
+)
-facts = caution: factual evidence, unless disregarded, may stop us from doing what we want
Voluble words shall lack poise
leave little trace, fade as noise
Words may strain as if in shrunk costumes
when trying leap high in ballet
While aggrieved faces express volumes
of what purloined words can’t convey
Words may sparkle while their essence
get lost midair in senescence
Below blown sea fowl
ship with ardor
tossed in storm’s howl
steers for harbor
Of shelter beseeching
to dock in snug port
though shore leave but fleeting
if crew doesn’t comport
So here’s your lonely life, sailor!
The open ocean: Your jailer!