Where The Possibilities of Humiliation & Failure are
Ample
it is a dangerous arena, love
an unruly action, to love
a reverie to submit to, to be loved
you sing for them, your lovers
we read to them, our paramours
they trounce us, the Muses
in love’s amphitheater
a procession to up-end all illusions
pageantry of strange beauties
to prepare you for the firing squad
to show you how to dodge the bullets
to set you up to face heart starvation
it is a dangerous arena, love
it is a precarious quandary, love
it is unwarranted mischief, love
love
the place where the promise of
humiliation and failure are ample
exposed hearts be wary, take heed
eager accomplices, become ensnared
in the madness, to endure forever
**
Something more inspired by the one and only Leonard
Cohen. The title of this poem is a
direct quote from the interview he did with Jian Ghomeshi. I stumbled onto it after learning Ghomeshi
will be a headliner for this year’s Word
On The Street book and magazine fair, reading from his critically acclaimed
book, 1982 (which I STILL need a copy of but will wait until August 6th
for the trade paperback edition to come out).
Excited by the news and penciling the date in my calendar so I don’t
miss it, I browsed Jian’s website and found the interview. Mid-way through I started writing this little
poem, another little writing exercise to help keep my head above water. I’m slowly moving back into my prose. I wrote a little more on ‘Large-Hearted’
yesterday. I wasn’t feeling especially
well in the afternoon and started to daydream about being home, curled up and
resting when my lonely brain stumbled on a revelation for the story. It came as a wee flash so I did the
responsible thing; I opened up the document and started typing despite feeling
light-headed and queasy. I was still at
my work desk so I was required to be lucid and awake, keeping busy was the best
way to distract myself from the yuck. I’m
pretty sure that I have completed the framework of the story and found its
ending but I now have the task of fleshing it out and editing before it can be
shared. Watch this space. In the meantime, the poetry is free-flowing. I’ve built up a bit of a reserve now. Most of them still need a bit of work and
will be blogged shortly.
I’m still not feeling one hundred percent myself today
and it’s raining like a bitch outside, it’s been wet all week in fact and there’s
no sign of sun until at least Sunday if we’re lucky. This summer’s weather has been undesirable. Between week long stretches of nothing but
rain that morph into record-breaking heatwave-ish days, it’s been fairly
uncomfortable. When it rains, outdoor
activities are limited and when it’s so hot and humid that you can’t breathe,
outdoor activities are also limited. I
long for a nice stretch of warm, true summer weather, sunshine, a warm breeze
and enjoying it, outdoors. Is that too
much to ask for? If any of you have an
in with Mother Nature, can you see what you can do about my request? I’d be most grateful.
Perhaps I’ll peek more at ‘Large-Hearted’ after this blog
is complete, since it’s fairly quiet on the work front. You watch, I say that now but as soon as I
turn to my pages, it’ll get bonkers busy.
Murphy’s Law.
Enjoy your day.
Pay a kindness forward.
In propinquity,
Nic
