If at first…

[Hawkman]

Oh hell, not another death,
for me it comes more frequently than sex.
I spin upon the karmic wheel
while hoping for a better deal
the next time round,
but what do I get?

A busted straight,
a dead man’s hand,
aces on eights, a sure-fire bet
for a bullet in the back,
just before I claim the stack.

It’s not as though I’m really bad
and kill folk out of hand,
or sleep adulterously with wives
of men who work to build their lives.

Do I grind the faces of the poor
into the floor beneath my foot?
Not me, I’d rather eat a bag of soot.

But always just before my break
the cosmic barkeep wipes my slate
and calls me back.

So I turn up at the pearly gates
in sack-cloth, with fresh ashes on my face
and Pete just sighs. Not you again, he says
and shakes his head.

How many times have you been dead
and standing at the door to heaven?
I’m fairly sure it’s more than seven.
Will you never learn?

I’d love to, but I never get the chance
for always, just before the revelation
I’m recalled to join death’s dance.

What is it I’m supposed to know
that will permit my soul to grow
and take its rightful place in paradise?
The answer isn’t given
and unshriven
I’m sent below to try again.

[Wendy M]

Well I guess if I can write like this in 6 months, I will be getting somewhere, I take it you have been writing poetry for a long time?

[Hawkman]

Wendy M: I've been writing, on and off, for 30 years. You should discover your own voice. Don't write like me - one of me is quite enough! :D

Live and be well - H

[Delta40]

This has a witty Ogden Nash feel to it Hawk.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Is this a rhyme-scheme I'm not familiar with - or did you invent the form as well as all the jaunty, witty lines?

[Hawkman]

Thanks Delta, I always liked Nash :D

Hi Prince, I guess it must be a Hawkanelle :)

Thanks to both of you for reading and commenting.

Live and be well - H

[blank|verse]

Oh hell, not another death,
for me it comes more frequently than sex.
These brilliant first two lines are pure Philip Larkin - I'm slightly disappointed the rest of the poem didn't feature dead afternoons in town parks staring at young mothers or whatever!

But on the whole, what a jolly poem about death! :) And I think I can just about forgive this line. Just.

Not me, I’d rather eat a bag of soot.
An enjoyable hawkanelle!

[Hawkman]

Hi b/v. I'm afraid I don't go near town parks unless I'm taking the ferrets for a walk, and then I don't have time to oggle young mothers as I'm too busy trying to prevent the ferrets from latching onto the noses of inquisitive dogs.

Glad you approve of the Hawkanelle though :D Will it catch on, do you think?

Live and be well - H

[qimissung]

Yes, and there is certainly a dearth of jolly poems about death!

[AuntShecky]

A light-hearded verse about a heavy topic: metempsychosis.

Whenever this topic comes up, I always say that I believe in recycling as much as anyone, but reincarnation is carrying it a bit too far!

The form and tone, as a previous commentator said, do bring to mind Ogden Nash (take that as a compliment, Hawk.) I also thought of two lines by Woody Allen, and I'm paraphrasing: "It's not that I'm afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens," and especially the line in Hannah and Her Sisters in which Woody's character alludes to Neitzsche, who said we
were doomed to live the same lives over and over, and adds, "Oh God, I'll have to sit through the Ice Capades again."

[Hawkman]

Thanks qim. Well, it comes to us all and there's not a lot we can do about it. To quote a line from "Gladiator", as spoken by Russel Crowe (purportedly reciting the words of Marcus Aurelius) "Death grins at us all, the only thing you can do is smile back at him."

Auntie: Neitzsche can't really be considered everyone's favourite philosopher. He seems to have said a number of things which lesser mortals used as justification for the most unfriendly of acts... I'm a great believer in the mantra, "Think for yourself". At least this way one has to take responsibility for one's own actions, rather than deligating it to the ideas (good or bad) of dead people. :D

Live long and prosper - H

[firefangled]

Hawenelle...I like it! I enjoyed reading this, Hawk. I'm a firm hoper of reincarnation. I believe in consciousness popping up over the centuries in these small flowers that are us. I for one can't ever remember what I did wrong previously to correct it.

[yuka]

A pleasant walking through a heavy dark forest

[Hawkman]

ff, thanks, and perhaps it's your karma to have been rewarded this time round :D Glad you enjoyed it.

yuka: thank you too.

live long and prosper - H