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Saturday, June 1, 2013

TENEMENT WORLD





Poets and lovers
what did we learn
in rooms filled with smoke
inside
this ugly tenement of a world?

Raging against heaven
why do we exist
and
can any singular purpose
be pursued
when all about is duality?

Trying to rewind time
return to Sherwood
or the old woman
who lived in a shoe
where the sounds of
grunting and moaning
could be heard at all times
of the day and night
as her laces came undone

Boning our brains out
with assumed names
under an ashamed moon
your eggs unprotected
and my brain fried

(You're catching on
to how it works--
let's spend some time
with grandma Esperanza)

These masters
these devils

The desperate wannabes
at the karaoke bar

All is self-interest
just as I told you
by the riverbank
when we were seventeen
revealing too much
of a universe
already transparent
to my eyes

giving too much away
spoiling the game

And yet we play on
looking at the world
through rose wine-
colored glasses
raising them high
one more time
just to honor a memory
not totally forgotten


23 comments:

  1. the fairy tales are gone, once the scales fall from the eyes...its all self interest is def a sad commentary of our age...

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    1. good to see you tonight sir...and to revisit...to keep playing...here's to hoping those memories dont fade completely...nor our purpose get so muddled we cant verse it....clink

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  2. WOW! One of your best, Timo. I can see the youth at seventeen, already somewhat disillusioned. Oh that old woman in the shoe, she made me smile (and has obviously had a lot more fun than I have!)The juxtaposition of the past and the present, so much less golden than our dreams. I love the honoring of a "memory not completely faded." Absolutely fantastic writing!

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  3. love this one, Tim. somehow it seems like it could be sung by Jonathan Richman.

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  4. ... the next mouse is just around the corner ... catch it ...

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  5. BRIAN: How true.

    SHERRY: Yeah, but the old woman in a shoe had all those kids--so when the fun is done, comes the drudgery and the crazy making!

    MARIAN: I see what you mean--LOL

    CAT: Are you suggesting I should chase a little tail?

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  6. Hi Tim ~~ It's too early for my brain get too deep here. Next toughest to tenement living is rooming house digs. For my Army security clearance I could not fit all of the places I had lived since leaving home on one sheet of paper.

    The poor woman in the shoe. Her "laces came undone" as easily as if they were fastened with velcro.
    ..

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  7. Yes yes...cool... and somehow the train of thoughts match the very underlying thoughts on which I wrote today.... thanks for the visit...

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  8. JIM: They certainly did...thanks for the visit!

    SREEJA: Yes, I noticed that too...great minds think alike!

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  9. keeping
    to the old saw,
    my self rule of morals,
    each hallowed purpose, rule and aim,
    condemned.

    __The kept memories of proper civility... can be the source of a law suit today, In God we trust; The Pledge of Allegiance; Truth?
    __Sometimes... 'tis best I remain hidden. _m

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  10. I am very partial to poems which question the poetic process and purpose. This is top drawer stuff!

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  11. MAGYAR: Thanks, my friend. You ain't hidden, but you are deep!

    KERRY: Much appreciated. Always more questions than answers, don't you think?

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  12. The last four stanzas just picked up pace and rock and rolled! Wow.

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  13. Love asking why we poets do what we do....yet when it all comes down to it we continue doing it. :)

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  14. MARGARET: Thank you so much, dahlink!

    SUSIE: Here's lookin' at you, kid.

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  15. Timoteo, I try to keep those fairy tales alive in my heart, but sometimes the world is so damned harsh and people so damned brash, it is hard to do. Excellent write.

    Pamela

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  16. I wonder if poets are born that way--I know that good psychotherapists are---and maybe there is a relationship between poetry and therapy--I don't know why I am thinking that after reading this--needed therapy at 17--maybe still--just trying to make sense of stuff--loved, loved this!

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  17. PAMELA: You have maintained that sense of innocence in your heart, and that is lovely.

    AUDREY: Thanks for your take on this...yes, maybe a relationship between poets and therapists, or in some cases, maybe there should be!

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  18. Timoteo, you listed just about every person I steer clear of, without listing a single politician, BRAVO!

    It's true, this rant. "This ugly tenement of a world." And yet I maintain there is more beauty than ugliness - not diminishing your thoughts at all. Ugliness of the kind you describe deserves to have a strong light on it. It's all about being AWARE, right?

    Thanks for a thought-provoking write, Timo. Amy

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  19. Ah, but those memories keep us young...

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  20. AMY: Thanks so much for that.Yes,of course, in a world of duality, we could not have ugliness without beauty...the saving grace of being here.

    M.J. : Yep, jest sittin' on the back porch spittin' watermelon seeds at the chickens and thinkin' 'bout those old memories.

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  21. Been there, seen that and avoided buying the t-shirt. What an engaging poem written in a way that we each relate even though we have different experiences.

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  22. I enjoyed this howling rant, watching dreams just melt into blended concoctions of deniability!
    "And yet we play on
    for old times sake
    just to honor a memory
    not completely faded" !!!!!!! Excellent write !!!

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