~*~
Just some nonsense; I'm afraid I have a case of ghost fatigue...
Ghost Fatigue
I'm sick of these ghosts
wasting my time,
dust of dead roses
in each ululant whine,
their covert self absorption
their bleached back-turned eyes,
that creaking persistence
presenting the past
so sauced with regret
it's better to fast;
faces set tight in
flash-frozen reproach;
love can't save a drowning man
who won't grab the rope.
~April 2018
Image: Lace and Ghosts, 1856, Victor Hugo Public domain.
Factoid: "Victor Hugo produced more than 4000 drawings. Originally pursued as a casual hobby, drawing became more important to Hugo shortly before his exile, when he made the decision to stop writing in order to devote himself to politics. Drawing became his exclusive creative outlet during the period 1848–1851. Hugo worked only on paper, and on a small scale; usually in dark brown or black pen-and-ink wash, sometimes with touches of white, and rarely with color." ~wikiart.org
silly and yet, of course, wise.
ReplyDeletewhereas mine is mostly just silly
baretoes.
Hope you kick the ass of this weekend, Hedge ~
Same to you M--and thanks for gracing it with one of your perfectly honed 55's.
DeleteA drowning man who won't grab a rope is already a ghost, you think? And their breakfast is the memory of mud and blood and stone. I love the way you paint their petulance, their "creaking persistence/ presenting the past / so sauced with regret / it's better to fast ..." Might just be a fling of pisswort into the mouth of the cenotaph, but it did shut 'em up, hilariously for me. Enough boot to keister a kick-ass-weekend. Keep the faith, and thanks Hedge --
ReplyDeleteMy 55: https://blueoran.wordpress.com/2018/04/20/suburbia/
Glad it brought a smile, B. Yeah, I get tired of whining, and if you choose to eat mud and blood instead of Cheerios, you have to realize others will not be impressed by your social skills. Thanks for playing yourself, and sorry to be such a bad reader this week--the back has me drugged out, but when my head clears I hope to make up for it.
DeleteWow, that last couplet is a real kicker! Here is my 55: https://othermary.wordpress.com/2018/04/20/18/
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this, as always, I wish you a kick-ass weekend!
It's my pleasure Mary,(especially when I read poems like yours) and so glad you could play this week.
DeleteWhat a surprising thing, ghosts wasting one's time. One thinks of ghosts as distressing, or terrifying, or unsettling, but not tiresome--until you thought of and wrote that excellent pair of lines. I also really love "sauced with regret." Away, whiny ghosts who don't want solutions! This is a selective Coast Guard, ya gotta wanna be saved. Happy 55 day, BFF.
ReplyDeleteForgot to say I never knew that about Hugo.
ReplyDeleteHere's my foolery:
http://fireblossom-wordgarden.blogspot.com/2018/04/sunset-on-cul-de-sac.html
Me either--I was surprised when I ran across the pic, and thought maybe it was a mistake, but no. I cackled like Margaret Hamilton reading yours--Galen would have rolled.
DeleteLove that closing couplet. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteLove (like not drowning) is an active thing. Salvation is not the slow-hearted (no offense to the meek... well, maybe just a tiny bit of offense). It's just that I can't stop thinking of the wonders we could achieve if we always kept in mind the importance of saving ourselves and then spreading the yum... Heck, we might even be able to climb up that rope and then use it to gag the ululant whiners (the phrase "ululant whine" is too fantastic not to repeat in some way). All right, I'll stop preaching. I should probably not read the news as soon as I get out of bed. It's just not healthy these days...
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, here is my bit of "Hammer Headology":
http://magalyguerrero.com/hammer-headology/
Couldn't agree more, Magaly. The news has no easily available antidote other than resistance and screeching cuss words. Thanks so much for your generous reading, and for playing this week.
Deletedust of dead roses
ReplyDeletein each ululant whine,
now there is a word, I'm grateful for your choice in the revival - long lost to my ears, but speaks so damn perfectly.
as for your "nonsense"? gah - hardly. Still, in your ghosted drugged state (I hope you feel better soon Hedge, back pain sucks big hairy donkey d*cks) there is such a clarity, a biting clarity that speaks of the haunting, of some ghosts, that literally and figuratively, just beg for an ass-kicking. Of course, they have other ideas. Each word phrase is just saucy and caustic, and maybe that's the key to banishing them altogether - resilience - of one's recipe and choosing.
Hope you have a kick ass weekend.
Thanks Pat...I don't write fluently when I am on these meds...I always seem to fall back on the nursery rhyme rhyme scheme, which of course was the one I first wrote "poetry" in back in my larval form...reversion but hopefully not perversion. ;) I appreciate the kind words, and sympathy, and also thanks for playing.
Deletethanks for hosting Hedge ~
ReplyDeleteand here's my 55 for this week, hope it's palatable enough
http://papertiger88.blogspot.ca/2018/04/play-outside.html
You deliver your lines with the precision of a knife stabbing the flesh.. You may think this a bad thing, but I don't like poetry quite so much any other way. I felt this to the core.
ReplyDeleteMy Views of the Battlefield continue with Part V - Antietam - by far the hardest section, knowing my audience will be far more knowledgeable of the facts than I. But I hope I did the day justice in my own way.
http://kerryoconnorsother.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/views-of-battlefield-part-v.html
I doubt your audience is any more knowledgeable, because we tend to forget and ignore our history here--this is the land without a past in many ways...a fine 55 Kerry, one that shows all too clearly how past is prologue to future, and how we find ourselves in our current polarized situation.
DeleteGoodness, I was visited by ghosts also. My ghost reflections aren't as wonderfully poetic as yours. Those last lines are powerful truth. Here is my 55. https://blackinkhowl.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-valley-of-eye-shadow.html
ReplyDeleteI loved yours--the pic(and title) were just perfect and had me snorfling. Thanks for reading and writing this week, Susie.You always keep it real.
DeleteBeing the night dweller that I am I once was familiar with ghosts. I slew them with coffee and changed circadian rhythms. No 55 this week but rather an Earth Day offering.
ReplyDeleteBe Well Joy and all 55ers.
Thanks Mark--I'll be by as soon as I can to see what you have found to say about Earth Day--on the way out the door atm and closing the 55 for this week.
DeleteThe 55 is closed for this week. Thanks to all who added their bit to the pile, and many thanks to all for the kind comments. See you next week.
ReplyDelete