Fifteen lines

[PrinceMyshkin]

Father, why so far away?
Mother, why so shy?

I want to have one of those chats
we somehow never had.
The weather’s been both good
and bad. Wars are still popping up
like skunkweed everywhere.
The Muddle East’s just that.

But there are other things
we could talk about,
like the mystery of it all.

Father, why so far away?
Mother, why so shy?
When they told you you were dead,
did you fall for that old lie?

[breathtest]

I love the way your titles completely understate the gravity of the poems you write. They have such meaning in them, lamenting little pieces, great to read.

[Bar22do]

Father, why so far away?
Mother, why so shy?

I want to have one of those chats
we somehow never had.
The weather’s been both bad
and good. Wars are still popping up
like skunkweed everywhere.
The Muddle East’s just that.

But there are other things
we could talk about,
like the mystery of it all.

Father, why so far away?
Mother, why so shy?
When they told you you were dead,
did you fall for that old lie?


Well, your friend did, when he obeyed the doctors and died.... I think we ought to plan our birthdays to generate new beginnings rather than be transfixed by the "eye of time" we imagine has power over us....
And yes, so much is often left untold between parents and children... and all we can do is to attempt to speak more with our children and even ask them the questions they might come up with after we are gone...
I do not understand the Muddle East. Is Afghanistan part of it to you? it's central Asia, to me...
I welcome this highly emotional poem by you! it's rare to read your melancholy laid plain before our eyes. Greetings and,
as I imagine,
the best news is your computer got back to life!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Many thanks, breathtest and Bar.

Bar: the Muddle East, I'm afraid, is near and around Rehavia.

[MorpheusSandman]

It's another mini-masterpiece Prince. There's a really conflicting tone to this piece that's at once light and somewhat humorous and yet gravely melancholic at the same time. I really think it's a perfect representation of your personality in how it seems you can be profound through the lightest of means. But yeah, this is a piece of emotional and thematic weight and density that seems to float and effervesce instead of pull the reader down and drown them.

[PrinceMyshkin]

It's another mini-masterpiece Prince. There's a really conflicting tone to this piece that's at once light and somewhat humorous and yet gravely melancholic at the same time. I really think it's a perfect representation of your personality in how it seems you can be profound through the lightest of means. But yeah, this is a piece of emotional and thematic weight and density that seems to float and effervesce instead of pull the reader down and drown them.

Wow! Many, many thanks. I felt that this was the poem I was born to write. And you are evidently the sort of reader for whom I was born to write it.

[ampoule]

and thank you for finally writing it!! ;) Reading it was like smiling through my sadness. My father has been AWOL for almost two years now.

[paperleaves]

Incredibly moving, powerful piece. When you said that this was the piece you were meant to write, I believe this is just one of many that touch us in unspeakable ways--you are meant to write this type of poem, brave and restless, like a troubled mind that cannot sleep, forever challenging us to feel its sorrows!
Thank you!

love
paper

[PrinceMyshkin]

and thank you for finally writing it!! ;) Reading it was like smiling through my sadness. My father has been AWOL for almost two years now.

Thank you. Your "AWOL" is an apt summary of the content of my poem. Do you think, however, that there is a distinction to be made between AWOL and MIA?

[PrinceMyshkin]

Incredibly moving, powerful piece. When you said that this was the piece you were meant to write, I believe this is just one of many that touch us in unspeakable ways--you are meant to write this type of poem, brave and restless, like a troubled mind that cannot sleep, forever challenging us to feel its sorrows!
Thank you!

love
paper

Since you have abundantly shown the power and extent of your imagination, I take it for granted that you can imagine what your response means to me: "brave and restless" - Thank you.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I love the way your titles completely understate the gravity of the poems you write. They have such meaning in them, lamenting little pieces, great to read.

Many thanks, Breathtest. I think I overlooked responding to this when you first posted it.

[AuntShecky]

The "old lie" about death is the basis of most if not all art, literature, and philosophy in human civilization, Prince. When we write or sculpt or draw something, that is ultimately what the subject is ultimately "about", and certainly answers the question of "why" we human beings do what we do. What is especially good about this current piece of yours is that it is a compression of
these notions in 15 breathy lines.

Loved the "muddle" pun as well.

[PrinceMyshkin]

The "old lie" about death is the basis of most if not all art, literature, and philosophy in human civilization, Prince. When we write or sculpt or draw something, that is ultimately what the subject is ultimately "about", and certainly answers the question of "why" we human beings do what we do. What is especially good about this current piece of yours is that it is a compression of
these notions in 15 breathy lines.

Loved the "muddle" pun as well.

Many thanks, dear Aunty - Yes, I guess all our creativity is done in defiance of death or to give the lie to it.