“MOURNING LITERACY”

I just read an entry in my friend Joyce's blog. ( http://chezjlb.wordpress.com/ )

And I wonder all over again if I'm alone in the world?  Me and Joyce, that is...

Here's her blog entry, followed by a piece I wrote in November of 2008.

 

“Litterly”
January 3, 2011

Note to Youngest Niece: It’s “literally.” And that book that you can look up words is a “dictionary.” These college freshmen! What can you do?!

"...is anybody out there?"   - other than Joyce, Pink Floyd, and me?   

“MOURNING LITERACY”  

Snippets of e-mail dance through my head, 

...spell check won’t say “are” is “our” instead.

What is the difference between “than” and “then”?

...does anyone know the meaning of “ken”?

I truly believe in freedom of speech!

...but who can be free when no-one can teach?

Are we content to just say “dumb” is “fine”?

...powerful words, but they are not mine.

I sit alone, mourning Literacy -

And I do not mean ‘a time of day’.

In the evening it’s still that way -

Ignorance bolstered by idiocy.

I’m never going to get a love letter

...that holds a candle – mine were better.

Must I give up on correct punctuation?

...settling instead for crude solicitation?

Words are wings on which thought can take flight;

...isn’t that worth enough to write them “right”?

Rock-n-roll taught us to sing “yeah, yeah, yeah”,

...but not how to spell it, I’m sorry to say.

            I sit alone, mourning Literacy.

            You want to look like an idiot?

            Then just keep on being illiterate!

            Pay no attention to people like me -

            who sit alone, mourning Literacy.

"PAR-FOR-THE-COURSE"

Somtimes it helps to rave.
 ...Don't mind me... no-one else did!


The cat's on the counter drinking my smoothie,
Right from the glass, no less.
There's nothing so odd about seeing it happen;
It's par-for-the-course when you live in a mess.

Ah, the believer
I used to be...
What the hell happened
to her that was me?

For all of my effort it's still a bother -
So ineffective, I.
There's nothing so odd about seeing it happen;
It's par-for-the-course but it still makes me cry.

Ah, the achiever
I used to be...
What the hell happened
to her that was me?

                      ~:~:~
...Just what was the matter when I expected
Someone to share the grief?
I thought my "friends" would return my favors...
Being alone is my only relief.
                      ~:~:~

So much for being a selfless giver -
Backfired right up my a**.
There's nothing so odd about seeing it happen;
It's par-for-the-course if your "friends" are that crass...
It's par for the course when your friends have no class.
                          
...Just what was the matter when I expected
Someone to share the grief?
I thought my "friends" would return my favors...
Being alone is my only relief.
                     
Ah, the believer
I used to be...
What the hell happened
to her that was me?
             


.

"ROADS"

For a while the roads ran parallel,
for a moment, became one;
But the moment passed, as did the while -
each road went on, as mile on mile
their paths no longer reconcile,
their time together done.


Who could say what really happened when,
for a moment, time stood still?
But the moment passed, as did the time
for hearts to sing and minds to rhyme;
and roads, now only rocks and grime,
go on outside our will.

.

"FLIP THE SWITCH"

("I must be somewhere...")

the switch is down the lights are off and there's no face in the darkened mirror, what?
what's going on?
so glad there's no-one here to see so bad when darkness falls in the daylight, what?
what's going on?
Flip the switch!
Flip the switch!
I can't keep disappearing like this!
There's no light
and I can't see -
Flip the switch and I'll be me.

the switch is down the lights are gone and I am nowhere anywhere nearer, what?
what's going on?
so hard to claw back to the top so pardon me i'm drowning in nothing, what?
what's going on?
Flip the switch!
Flip the switch!
I can't keep disappearing like this!
There's no light
and I can't see -
Flip the switch and I'll be me.

("I must be somewhere, you just can't go there,
look, there's a light, oh...
I fell asleep.
I must be dreaming, that's not me screaming,
I lay me down now
my soul to keep...")

And if I die before I wake,
what difference would it make?
Flip the switch!
Flip the switch!
I can't keep disappearing like this!
There's no light
and I can't see -
Flip the switch and I'll be me.

.

"WILDCAT"

                                   
Jodie sometimes talks about the way the cloth of life is made -
Even as we weave the front, the back might be unraveling;
Time is always moving and the light of day is meant to fade –
Even while we’re standing still our life is swiftly traveling.


So I choose to make my own choices; turning from dissenting voices
- never be a puppet that somebody else is posing.
For every freedom I explore, opening another door
- somewhere in another place another door is closing.

                                             ~:~:~:~

          If you try to catch a wildcat and put it in a pen,
          soon the beauty that you saw will disappear – and then
          what is left of all that triggered your desire at first?
          ...Water has no value when you don’t feel any thirst.
                                               ~:~:~:~
 
Jodie sometimes talks about decisions other people make –
whether they make sense or not is not for her to say;
Everyone must for themselves decide which course is best to take –
hoping in the process to improve some future day.


So I choose to make my own choices; turning from dissenting voices
- never be a puppet that somebody else is posing.
For every freedom I explore, opening another door
- somewhere in another place another door is closing.


Time is always moving and the light of day is meant to fade –
even when we’re standing still our life is swiftly traveling;
Jodie sometimes talks about the way the cloth of life is made –
even as we weave the front, the back might be unraveling…

.