11/11/11

[MystyrMystyry]

This is a date that appears only once every century

I suppose you could say that about every other date

Except the 29 February ones obviously

Which do their trick once only every four centuries

Or every thirtysix thousand five hundred days

Multiplied by four

What a strange date

It is interesting to note that very few amazing things were recorded to have happened on this particular date

Maybe today will be different


Or perhaps sometime in the future

The numerals will be excellent


Some call it Corduroy Day (because it looks like corduroy)

And others say it's International Roadies Day



It's just a weird day

[symphony]

I know everyone's talking about the date in facebook and all, but unfortunately I don't see the poetry in this one. I mean, I would've expected to see this post in the General Chat may be, but not in the Poetry section. No offense, Mystyr.

[hillwalker]

The only scrap of poetry in this piece is in the title - it rhymes 3 times.

h

[MystyrMystyry]

Thanks Symphony, but I think you may have missed something, or tried to see something that wasn't there.

Hill got it - what rhymes with eleven except itself? Thus the misfitting rhymes all over the place, and the last two repeat non-rhymes.


I agree it could have been a lot better, but where I live it was a couple of minutes away from 12/11/11 (or 11/12/11), so I whipped it off just before midnight in order to post in time.

[symphony]

But but but... I did not mean I don't see the rhyme in it. I said I don't see the poetry in it. Poetry can be poetry without rhyme or rhythm.

[jajdude]

I'm in China, and we are talking numbers and superstitions. They are just numbers. We can see that. Yet when did the last Summer Olympics begin? That's right. On 8/8 08 at 8:08.

[MystyrMystyry]

The poetry is in the date and the day - the title - the body of the poem is just working out the human need for categorising things numerically, always looking for patterns and rhythms so we can safely proceed forward now that what is known is in its place. Cosmologically it's another beautiful day on Earth - it isn't Friday to the Universe, only Friday to us. Separate the human reliance on numbers and see the chaos for what it is/was - a week with an asteroid passing closer than the moon, a week that had a number of weird things going on like every week does. And I'd arrived at Friday secure in the knowledge that the week was another wonky crash landing I'd managed to survive - but Friday had a special sequence of numerals attached to it. As a day it was actually noteworthy to me for another special reason: I finally got to play Skyrim - but I didn't want to write a poem about that.

Most Fridays follow a certain pattern in moods, which is usually relief and anticipation for the weekend. For me it was total enthusiasm to get home and begin a quest (or ten), and once I'd loaded the game and played for a few hours I thought to myself 'I'm too excited about being excited about Skyrim' - The Elder Scrolls aren't about being excited, they're about relaxing and enjoying a modern artform set in an ancient fantasy past.

Even a google for significant happenings in history didn't yield much: a few wars that were already going on during, a few births, a few deaths, a few marriages, a few scientific discoveries - but essentially just another day, and the fact everyone was talking about it as though it was a bigger topic than the weather sort of got to me.

Twice yesterday it was 11:11:11 and I briefly thought about including that time as well - but then I may have had something to say about what I'd been doing (which was looking at my digital watch as the 'one's aligned for a second - blink and you miss it!

Anyway it was in this odd mood that I wrote the 'poem' - as an expression of the way I was feeling than anything profound about the world and human nature or anything. I didn't feel like trying to be witty or particularly insightful.

And the last line sums it up - it was a weird day for me, maybe not for anyone else - but it's not meant to be about anyone else, though maybe for that reason it is. Maybe everyone is having/had a weird Friday...