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Monday, April 26, 2010

They Say, Times 3

I.
They say,
Those who won't learn
the spirally past
are doomed to walk
its re-coiling paths
again, and I can't
argue with precedent.
I can point out,
my present and future
doubts, kneeling
down with guttersnipe
gifts and a candle
lit up to appease
history's stalking ghost.
What I really want
is to snuff it.

II.
They say,
This world's gotta date
marked expiry
and it's all set to go
sour with a big bang
or a small bust
out from the fridge
of twenty-twelve's
wintry chilling.
Lately, there have been
jumbo packs of weirdness
spilling onto
every last shelf,
but things got strange
long before the Mayans
began tying knots.

III.
They say,
you can take the brutish
and dress them up
natty, extolling
their hirsute
vices in basso
profundo voices
till we all queue
back to snatch them.
I've heard the jingle,
but I'm drawn instead
to wisdoms spoken
by officials
not officially
allowed to speak.
Their off-the-record's nice
and scratchy.



It's Day 26 of NaPoWriMo and the prompt from ReadWritePoem is get scrappy, in which we're suppose to revive the corpse of an abandoned poem. I used the fragments from three half-formed ideas to piece together this one.

7 comments:

flaubert said...

Francis,
Love, love the second stanza!
Excellent poem.
Pamela

1965 Footprints said...

I like the language in all 3. Very creative.

Rallentanda said...

I realise I have led a comparatively sheltered life but am wondering what a 'hirsute vice' is?My imagination is running amok.

Francis Scudellari said...

@Pamela You can't go wrong referencing 2012 these days :).

@1965 Thanks, I used pieces from three very distinct poems so I wasn't sure I could tie them together very well.

@Rall I'm of the opinion that anything hairy is a vice unto itself, much like one of Swift's Yahoos.

Unknown said...

We're supposed to host the Olympics in 2012. Is there something I should know, Francis?!

PoeticHeart said...

Fascinating beautiful poetry...and wonderful blog!

Francis Scudellari said...

@Derrick Our doom has been penciled in for Dec. 21, so the London Games should go off without a hitch.

@PH Thanks so much. I very much liked my visit to your site too.