Poem: Mucho Mucus

Poem created in response to Robert Lee Brewer’s Wednesday Poetry Prompt 219, 15 May 2013.  Topic: on the run

 

(form: shadorma)

Mucho Mucus

On the run

and flowing freely,

the shnoz is

drip dripping

post nasal annoyance. Snot

overproduction.

 

“You don’t have a soul” – An excerpt from “A Canticle for Leibowitz”

Published in 1959, A Canticle for Leibowitz is the story of post-apocalyptic society being reborn by the research and dedication of The Church.  In the third “act”, man has again built nuclear weapons…and used them.  The scene that spawned this quote is a conversation between the Abbot of a remote Abbey and a doctor who is asking to treat patients in the Abbey’s courtyard.

“You don’t have a soul, Doctor.  You are a soul.  You have a body, temporarily.”

Food for thought.

Are we eternal souls who inhabit mortal husks briefly or are we , as more people think, humans who have souls?  It’s a bit of the chicken and egg conundrum, isn’t it?  The answer can really only be known by someone who recalls a past life or is omniscient enough to know how it all works.  If we are eternal souls, how are the bodies we inhabit chosen and why don’t we, as a rule, recall previous lives.  Maybe our souls are eternal and we only inhabit a body once or every now and then.  Maybe it’s not an endless cycle of death and rebirth.

Or, maybe there isn’t really a soul at all.  Maybe we’re just here until our meat suit expires.

“Listen, are we helpless?” – An excerpt from “A Canticle for Leibowitz”

Published in 1959, A Canticle for Leibowitz is the story of post-apocalyptic society being reborn by the research and dedication of The Church.  In the third “act”, man has again built nuclear weapons and is on the brink of another apocalypse when the following passage takes place.

“Listen, are we helpless?  Are we doomed to do it again and again and again?  Have we no choice but to play the Phoenix, in an unending sequence of rise and fall?  Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Rome, the Empire of Charlemagne and the Turk.  Ground to dust and plowed with it.  Spain, France, Britain, America-burned into the oblivion of the centuries.  And again and again and again.”

Are we helpless to stop repeating history?  I don’t think so. We may be apathetic enough to let history repeat itself, but we’re not helpless.  Certainly, when one looks at our society’s moral decline, our vanity and false pride, the sense of entitlement our youth now have, and the growing dependency on our government that’s run by disingenuous, hypocritical career politicians, it’s really more of a question of how long until America is “burned into the oblivion of the centuries.”  As an American, though, I have to have hope that we’ll somehow pull our collective head out of our ass and fix things.

 

Poem: The Last Mile

Poem created in response to Robert Lee Brewer’s Wednesday Poetry Prompt 216, 27 March 2013.  Topic: a last something

 

(form: shadorma)

The Last Mile

We reflect

on times more merry,

of friendships

and hardships,

when someone whose life we’ve shared

has walked their last mile.

Poem: Finished, Yet Not

Poem created in response to Robert Lee Brewer’s 2013 April PAD Challenge: Day 30, 30 Apr 2013, topic:  finished poem and/or never finished poem

 

(form: Fibonacci)

Finished, Yet Not

When
one
puts words
to page, the
flow may be a wee
trickle or a mighty gusher.
It may take minutes or days, or longer still, before
the author is happy enough
to share the work, while
knowing it’s
never
quite
done.

Poem: Perfectly Cast as Wife, Mother

Poem created in response to Robert Lee Brewer’s 2013 April PAD Challenge: Day 26, 26 Apr 2013, topic:  casting

(form: shadorma)

Perfectly Cast as Wife, Mother

Fifteen years
ago I thought you

were perfect

as my wife,

but you’re even better in

your role as mother.

Poem: The Daily Commute

Poem created in response to Robert Lee Brewer’s 2013 April PAD Challenge: Day 24, 24 Apr 2013, topic:  auto

(form: shadorma)

The Daily Commute

Jackwagons

to the left of me

Jackwagons

to the right

When cars have autopilot

will it be better?