Saturday, November 01, 2008

The Brown Hedged Course

In the spirit, but not the literarily constricting format, of my Saturday sonnets I posted here before, I give you my latest poem. It was inspired by an E.M. Forster short story called "The Other Side of the Hedge". Check that out if you have the time. It's a good one. And it really is SHORT.

The human mind: a mystery itself will never solve
amid the sophistry and horseshit we’re receiving
until we can transcend or spontaneously evolve,
everyone needs something to believe in.

As entertaining as it is to see
a fashionista cite his influences
as amber and fuchsia leaves in gay Paris,
give your head a shake, come to your senses
and you will smell that haute couture is rotten.
Beneath the fashionspeak so droll and funny
is something brightly coloured and partly cotton.
The Emperors’ new clothes are made of money.

At the auction the crowd gasps and hushes.
A hundred forty mil. for some Pollock art.
Not a painting, cloth he used to clean his brushes.
Still in fairness impossible to tell apart.
What Pollock’s life has shown us no one got.
A country’s greatest phony they did anoint.
His tragic life and death just made him hot.
The most priceless Pollock illustration is of my point.

I’ve even heard it said that love,
a prize so pure with value never ending,
was not a jewel sent from heaven above
but from Wall Street to keep consumers spending.
And in the office building at the worksite
we do our duty dispirited and aloof.
And only hope that this rumour isn’t right
keeps us from throwing ourselves off the roof.

This brown-hedged course upon which we are running,
since walking is progressive but it’s slower,
will lead us to our goal with wisdom and cunning,
and when we get there, we’ll just run some more.
But I won’t run with you nor will I even walk.
You go ahead if you want, I’ll be fine.
Someday we’ll meet up again, drink beer and talk.
On a circular course, you can’t leave me behind.

The human mind: a mystery itself will never solve
amid the sophistry and horseshit we’re receiving
until we can transcend or spontaneously evolve,
everyone needs something to believe in.

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