Silence is a killer
picking off the fruit
then choking out the limb
Like a dead weathervane I can't say when
or even speak the obvious
once the storms and floods have come
I'm waiting for you to scream
the water's rising
and I have the patience of saints
that'll see the inside job done
that does us all in by our own hands.
The silence I struggle with the most is the silence of no response...of ghosting....of wishing to know what another thinks or feels but being cut off from that. I think about how different that silence is from that of a boardwalk on a hot summer day that weaves through headlands on the edge of a continent at a time of day when neither breeze nor bird nor insect speaks. That kind of silence is a blessing.
Hope you don't mind if I borrow my comment and go edit it into a poem.
elPintor
Mon 29th Jul 2019 18:51
Thanks, Jason--glad it struck a chord with you, and I appreciate your well-considered response.
Rachel )
Picking off the fruit then choking out the limb. Descriptive perfection of the muffling silence that lives on one side of the coin, and on the other the pensive, patient expectant silence of those listening for a pin drop or the penny to fall.
I don't think there's ever been a time that we were good or bad, but there might come a time where we are collectively and individually intelligent enough to recognise each for what it is.
True, things are more convoluted now but then for me, the silence is where I'd consider the facts and decide on a way forward.
And edits are overrated, too many is like too much salt in the soup added pinch by pinch.
Real thought provoker Rachel, loved it.
J. x
elPintor
Mon 29th Jul 2019 08:44
A good songwriter can say more in a few lines than I could in thousands...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qmMlC6Xe8I&list=PLNe0lktuHfEp0NprGiWIx2vY6mv3qYkCh&index=12
elPintor
Mon 29th Jul 2019 08:12
Thanks, David and Martin, for your thoughtful comments.
There are a lot of "dead and wounded" in my past, David. But, I agree--the only way to go is forward. C'est la vie.
About the press, I'm pretty disgusted too. The sort of cherry-picking you describe, Martin, is so divisive. Our emotions are purposefully manipulated by "reporting" that continually insults our intelligence by appealing to the lowest common denominator--essentially saying that we can't be trusted to decide for ourselves given objective information.
I stopped watching and disengaged from the American political system long ago--I choose instead to try to re-orient my perspective through history with the hope that I won't be fooled so easily regarding the present.
Good day to all,
Rachel
Even the title of this piece is thought provoking. I like your emphasis on the silence . It can be a killer depending on which way you may consider it. For some people the silence can be so unbearable even for a few moments. For others long periods of silence are sheer bliss. I personally vacillate between the two points.
I get exhausted with the continuous and sometimes endless babble that come out of some individuals as well as groups of individuals and or institutions or dare I say it government bodies who will speak endless amount of drivel in specially coded soundbites to attract news hungry press in this wonderful information age in which we currently live. Truth is a double edged sword in which we only ever here what is considered to be the worst or best according to somebody's opinion. All of which draws in the very voyeuristic tendencies of the voyeur.
all of which puts me in mind of Orwell's ministry of truth and newspeak.
But suffice to say and excellent poem Rachel
Thanks for posting
elPintor
Fri 26th Jul 2019 07:51
Good morning, all,
Great comments and food for thought, thank you...
Just for clarification, I tried to write this from the perspective of Silence, as an entity in and of itself--it isn't personal ) Furthermore, as with every coin there is another side and Silence is invaluable when Speaking doesn't know itself.
Is there cosmic karma? I don't know much about the idea of karma. And, though I find the idea interesting, I know only a little about the implications of the Aquarian Age and can't possibly articulate my personal ideas in any cohesive manner. I will say that I believe we are able to witness current events in ways that have never before been possible. And, that we are each bearers of the effects of what we experience--whether directly or indirectly--to the collective.
To simplify my meaning...
Say that I am witness to a crime which causes detriment to a fellow individual. I do not engage in the act of the crime itself nor do I act to prevent it--that is, I experience the crime indirectly.
Depending on my own nature, the nature of the crime, the identity of its victim(s), its perpetrator(s), etc., I could experience any number of psychological effects as a result. And--because I am able to relive the moment of my witness through my thoughts--the crime itself becomes a facilitator of sorts for my future learning.
Before I go any deeper...
Most all of us, here, are products of an education system which indoctrinated in us Industrial Age values. We are conditioned to react to alarms and to behave in ways that do not sever the organizational threads that bind us together. We are even conditioned to learn by set formulas. Those formulae have dictated how textbooks, curricula, even our public libraries, have been designed so that education could be standardized and made quantifiable.
However, our Industrial Age education system has left many of us wanting in critical skills, such as evaluation and analyzation, that allow us to recognize and interpret what we experience through information. By its sheer nature, the Information Age demands a shift in thinking. As individuals, our worlds have suddenly become very large--like it or not. And, if life is our classroom, it is likely the future will be a bit more difficult for those who demand to be continually spoonfed by a system that exists only to ensure that its students never surpass its teachers.
I don't want to be preachy--I'm only one little person--and, I do believe that the collective will eventually catch up to itself by evolving and more effectively harnessing the cognitive tools necessary to accommodating these shifts. Hell, I'll even go so far as to say I'm downright hopeful (sometimes).
Thanks for your comments. I hope I'm at least somewhat clear )
Off to work with me...
Rachel
Is there cosmic karma Rachel? There appears to be certain phases of consciousness where lessons have to be learned (for example the thirties when so much conflict was triggered. I think we all share the spoils and the trials of humanity in equal measure to our " civilized" veneer . Social media is like the Aquarian age coming to roost, and we are using it here. That would not have been so freely available even in my parents' time.
Your thoughtful worrying poem is really a fine piece of reaching out, and I hope and trust you are doing OK.
Ray
A very thoughtful poem. Thanks for sharing.
Binte
Devon Brock
Wed 24th Jul 2019 23:57
That is a great tune I haven't heard in years. Yes, culpability is a hard pill to swallow. It is often that I can only sigh and resign myself to the harm that I've caused, both in the personal and environmental spheres. On another note, I don't think that there was ever a time when we were "good". Not that I do not have hope, mind you. But hope, like faith, requires a leap from truth, which often involves an undeserved absolution.
D
elPintor
Wed 24th Jul 2019 23:35
Thanks, Devon. Just feeling like a bit of a ramble.
Before I saw your comment, I was just thinking...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mf-BIZumaA
I don't believe that history will look back on us, here, in the Information Age, quite as kindly as those that came before us--it may be that with knowledge, there is culpability.
Devon Brock
Wed 24th Jul 2019 23:29
This is a great poem. This can take on both a personal and societal reading. Personally, I would forego any edits, for what that's worth, it just packs a punch and I can read the exhaustion in it. Thanks for taking the time to put this one down.
D
elPintor
Wed 24th Jul 2019 23:20
Was there ever a time when we were good?
And, are we really worse now?
Or, does it all just seem so much more convoluted than before because we don't understand the emerging facts of our pasts?
Forgive me for foregoing more edits on this one--I just don't have the energy )
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elPintor
Sat 3rd Aug 2019 11:11
A very succinct comment, Adam--you gave me quite a bit to contemplate.
Rachel
PS
There is no new thing under the sun, as it's said--so, re the comment, please do. I would be happy to see it in a piece of poetry )