Tuesday, March 5, 2019
FADED HIPSTER
The train leaves
the years recede
all your dolls
are packed away
An old girlfriend
(collected abstract art--
an amazing piece)
a beach hotel
your last resort
Faded hipsters
will always dig
Steely Dan
but the world
is a piano
out of tune
To wit:
Inca
Oshichi
Monopoly
Nanashi No Gombe
Puff
Ra
And you hear the cries
of brooding lumberjacks
with axes to grind
drunkards and gluttons
groping and grabbing
until the bitter end
my friend
And you love
the precision of
numbers
the only things
that will never leave you
but merely accrue
until you're down
for the count
A hand reaches out
for something or
someone
grasping thin air
the room runs out of
oxygen
and the world
is a snuffed candle
Happy birthday!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis is a brilliant piece. Really phenomenal and gratifying work. If I weren't so cold and lazy, I would stand up and clap.
ReplyDeleteFine, fine piece. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you so much. Stay warm under that blanket!
DeleteYes, Sir. Doing it now.
DeleteUntil the bitter end, indeed. Sigh. Happy Birthday, Timo, if indeed it is your day. May there be cake!
ReplyDeleteMy birthday is about a month away, but close enough to be ruminating on it--lol
DeleteThe world is a piano out of tune ... ah yes.. seems like that at times! I sure hope it will be better in the coming years 💖
ReplyDeleteFor you I know it will be, Sanaa!
DeleteI like the world--in all its doom(ness)--continues to evolve. Not for the better, all right. Still, to be a piano (even if imperfect) and a candle (even if not burning *now*) isn't half bad. Maybe we'll tune it. And then, we'll find a match.
ReplyDeleteMagaly--you are brave...you are strong...and come what may, we will deal with it. Love your work!
DeleteFaded hipster LOL...I remember Steely Dan! Do you remember that intro on 'Do It Again" from the album " Cheap Thrills ? Great stuff ( hope I'm sounding faded hip here : )
ReplyDeleteBrings back memories of fun and exciting times for me. ( Sigh)
Of course I remember...I have the Steely Dan Greatest Hits Collection! I know you are hip, but faded...I doubt it!
DeleteThe happy birthday part stunned me. I love the world is a piano out of tune...up to us to tune it and play?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Colleen! We gotta play, even if it's out of tune, eh?
DeleteThis is a tour de force piece, and engaging to read. I am a once-faded, now just fading hippy, translucent, close to invisible - and I LOVE STEELY DAN! Brilliant music by musicians who can actually play the hell out of their instruments - and write inteligent music. I also really like this poem. And Happy Birthday to you! Also, who is to be sure the end is bitter? I am hoping mine is quick and sweet.
ReplyDeleteMy birthday is coming up in April, but thanks for the advance well wishes! Yes, Steely Dan is THE MAN! Your last sentence reminds me of the movie "The Quick And The Dead"--ha ha. Birthday's are to be avoided, but there's only one way to do that--not a good alternative. Thanks so much for checking in!
DeleteI like how your poem begins with the train leaving, Tim, an ending and a beginning. I still enjoy Steely Dan and love the lines:
ReplyDelete‘…the world
is a piano
out of tune’
which remind me of the piano in ‘Ricky Don’t Lose that Number’.
I also love the ‘brooding lumberjacks with axes to grind’ and the echo-rhyme in ‘until the bitter end my friend’. And then I realised that you’ve been playing with Steely Dan songs when I read ‘until you're down for the count’ (Countdown to Ecstasy’) Genius!
You are sharp as a thumb tack I just sat on, Kim! Thanks for your lovely comment!
DeleteOh, there's a lot out of tune these days. I'm getting too old to play in that band.
ReplyDeleteYeah...better to just watch the crazy parade from the sidelines!
DeleteMaybe all that remains is to wait... after all we know it will come
ReplyDelete"the world is a piano out of tune" … I hate those days, but love that phrase.
ReplyDeleteNice description of the world as an out of tune piano.
ReplyDelete"And you love
ReplyDeletethe precision of
numbers
the only things
that will never leave you"
heart-wrenching
But when we think about it, numbers are the only thing...the numbers attached to our physical presence that define us in so many ways to the rest of the world (unfortunately). Thanks for dropping by.
Delete