Re: Decimal Currency,,,

On May 14, 9:51 am, OB <nevilemo...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On May 14, 8:29 am, baloney <k...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





On May 14, 6:16 am, "David" <gosn...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

"George Dance" <georgedanc...@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1179062926.143371.264830@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On May 12, 12:28 pm, baloney <k...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On May 12, 10:49 am, George Dance <georgedanc...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

On May 10, 10:10 pm, "David" <gosn...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Was a time we had no sense-
waltsed off to town to spend our pay
when we played there all of the day;
we counted our change in shillings and pence
went to the shops at their expense
weighing our money ten bob to the quid
wary the thought of what was hid
wrangling the bets we knew the score
which were doubled as we knew before-
watching the arms of a squid.

Watching the arms of a squid, we did,
While drinking our beer and smoking our smoke,
cuddling a lass [or] cracking a joke,
each of us trying to outyell and outbid,
a cocky, braggart kid.
Now after the squid, the smoke, and the beers,
While we stay home and the cash disappears,
Oh, God, I wish [that] I had no sense,
That I still counted by shillings and pence,
Not days and months and years.

I count not days nor months nor years
but minutes, seconds, bits of those.
Yet when I don my faded clothes
with twice patched knees and mended tears,
I feel the decades, and my fears
of wasted time rise in my mind.
Second thoughts are seldom kind;
I would have, should have, could have done
but didn't. This is hardly fun,
but damn, these are the sighs that bind.

But, damn! Those are the sighs that bind:
"So many things I meant to do
but didn't - " "So, why didn't you?"
"I didn't think of it; my mind
was ambling several steps behind"
"Hmm, just like now: From what you say,
your mind's still back in yesterday."
The inner dialogue plays through
as I change clothes, don something new
and throw some faded rags away.

You can kill the fatted cabbage
'til the cows come home, bolting
in a summer not quite done; re-
grets, ruminations, dreams...desire
drove me to this place that drove
me home, home to, well, home....

I am not blind, have no hell...
no minion, no ammunition,
no more absolution, no hope
that hope might once arrive.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

No hope that hope might once arrive,
my dreams get lost in bubbled soap
so slippery I learn to cope
without their help. If I survive,
it's only just; I do not thrive.
This cabbage soup is thin and weak.
I do not thrive; I only speak,
so softly, about whining things.
In my mind, the dead bird sings
and all things lost pass from its beak.

This is a cut above - too good to get lost in a frothy thread. Stick
it on the site.

"Whining" looks a bit out of place from here - defensive self-
deprecation in a context that doesn't need that.

The last two lines (presumably an Angelou allusion) are keepers.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the comments. By site, do you mean my obscure poetry
vanity webpage?

Let's change (whining) to (empty) or (fading). Either of those should
work better. Maybe Peter will add his comments. Has he been to busy
chasing kooks to play with us, or do you think he's been up to
something productive for a change? I'm hoping the later.

Self deprecation is my stock in trade; I was raised on east coast
neuroticism.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Decimal Currency,,,
    ... That I still counted by shillings and pence, ... of wasted time rise in my mind. ... and all things lost pass from its beak. ...
    (rec.arts.poems)
  • Re: Decimal Currency,,,
    ... That I still counted by shillings and pence, ... of wasted time rise in my mind. ... and all things lost pass from its beak. ...
    (rec.arts.poems)
  • Re: Decimal Currency,,,
    ... That I still counted by shillings and pence, ... of wasted time rise in my mind. ... and all things lost pass from its beak. ...
    (rec.arts.poems)
  • Re: Decimal Currency,,,
    ... That I still counted by shillings and pence, ... of wasted time rise in my mind. ... and all things lost pass from its beak. ...
    (rec.arts.poems)
  • Re: Decimal Currency,,,
    ... That I still counted by shillings and pence, ... of wasted time rise in my mind. ... and all things lost pass from its beak. ...
    (rec.arts.poems)