"There's not much doubt in any of our minds that no complete idea springs fully formed from our brow,
needing only a handshake and a signature on the contract to send it off into the world to make twenty-five billion dollars.
The germ of the idea grows slowly..." - Walt Kelly

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Discussions

Gone is the need
for patience. 
Now, he can simply 
wear the suit 
and walk in screaming - 
that usually leads 
the whole room 
to a satisfying uproar, 
and then he can sit back 
and wait 
for the high walls 
of propriety 
to crumble like shattered glass. 
Job done. 

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Hierarchy

Another weekly work, this one sneaking in just under the wire. 
_________________________________________________

At last, 
we've built
a sturdy foundation
on the bones and dust
of nothing but
a thousand years
of someone else's
progress. 
Now, 
pomp and ceremony
akin to celebration,
brandishing hellfire,
lauding
the most vicious 
enthusiasts' work
and children ascending
as angels - 
but is it divine?
A thousand eyes, wings,
and a reach long enough
to touch men's souls? 
The knowledge of things
previously unknown, 
riches forbidden
to the lessors?
We thought not - 
and yet, here,
with sarcastic flourish, 
we are. 

Destinations

Starting a new project with friends - writing one piece per week based on a shared theme/prompt. 

This one is late, and feels unfinished, but also feels sort of complete. Not sure where to take it from here, so this is how it stands. 
_________________________________________________

The car rattled and made a sudden heaving motion - worse than before - and driver gifted passenger another repentant smile. 

"She's never let me down before," driver said, giving the well-dusted dashboard a somewhat less than inspired pat. The gesture was akin to a professional sport coaches' reassurances that his star player was definitely, totally, assuredly, no-way-no-how, not in the middle of a slump. 

Passenger sighed and made no effort to hide a heavy mixture of doubt and annoyance. 

It may not have been so disconcerting were they traveling on a more well used roadway. This one - never mind being surrounded by a forest so foreboding it would have given Bigfoot second thoughts - had apparently been forgotten, a theory well-supported by faded paint lines and a slalom of axle-bending potholes. 

Despite the vehicle's age, driver managed to navigate these obstacles well enough to keep the voyage in progress, but passenger feared that if they were ever forced to stop, forward momentum would never be regained. 

"I suppose this is a bad time to remind you that I said we should have taken the other exit," passenger said. 

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Baby steps

And now, a poem for Day 28 of NaPoWriMo. Today's prompt is to write a "concrete" poem - one that is written so that the lines take the shape of the topic of the poem, or mimic it in some way. 
_________________________________________________

First
it took an
age, or perhaps
more than one - in any
case it was quite a long time. 

Then, 
it was fast, 
critics might say
too fast, even, but that
is the curse of modern amenities.

Finally,
it was most
sudden indeed, 
like losing focus mid-
motion and tumbling
                                off the
                                        next-to-
                                               last step. 

Dust yourself off, check in, 
no grave injuries incurred. 
But then, one would surely
be forced to concede how
akin it truly is to falling.