Hurricane Lamp Belong Jesus Christ Gone Bugger-Off

[Hawkman]

The world is grey, perpetual twilight
is what passes here for day.
The sun would rather stay in bed
beneath the blanket clouds
than show his face and grace
the world with beaming smiles.

The moon may gaze benignly
on some foreign shore
and doubtless, stars are shining
in antipodean skies
but here, we get by without their help.
Cowering like beaten whelps,
those of us who can,
Toil in shops.

Mostly though,
with winter sales in full swing,
we stand damp-footed on the chilly concrete flags,
press our noses to the glass
like urchins peering at gilded privilege,
and strain our ears to catch
those words of wisdom
spilled when money talks.

Back home, the opiate of daytime-telly
waits to fill our bellies
with the dross of Simon Cowell,
as would-be failed celebrities compete
for approbation or derisive howls.

Bring me sunshine,
not the might of Rome
with it’s cold-turkey diet
of bread and circuses…

[hillwalker]

Wow... seasonal affective disorder never sounded so good (I mean bad good).

Love the title btw - pidgin English?

H

[Hawkman]

Thanks hill, and yes it is pidgin, although I believe technically it's pidgin for "Eclipse", but it felt right :D

Live and be well - H

[PrinceMyshkin]

The title assuredly promised something different and indeed the poem lacks some of your usual attention to form and meter, but you are every bit as good in this more vernacular voice than in any of your other more elegiac poems.

And the (belated) best of the holiday season...

[WolfLarsen]

Throw form and especially meter in the garbage. Decent poem. Great title! I think the title shows that you are capable of something far more creative.

[AuntShecky]

The title is enlightening, but to paraphrase the expression from Jerry Maguire, you had me at "antipodean."

My favorite line is "urchins peering at the gilded privileged," but I love it all.

[Hawkman]

Prince: Thanks for reading and finding it pleasing. Thanks also for your felicitous holiday wishes :)

Wolf: Form and metre have their place in the pantheon of poetry, so forgive me if I don't discard them completely. Nevertheless, I am grateful for your edifying comment.

Auntie: I'm delighted that you found "antipodean" enjoyable :D I'm glad you liked my urchins too, although they are not so much peering at the priviledged, but rather the gilded trappings of priviledge. Contracted slightly, It was an attempt to convey the yellow of tungsten lighting in posh shops when viewed from the semi-darkness of outside.

Anyway, I'm immensely pleased you liked the poem. Thanks for reading.

Live and be well - H

[Jack of Hearts]

Get this man some vitamin D!







J

[Hawkman]

I'll settle for some sunshine and a bag of money, thanks :D

H

[Jerrybaldy]

One of my favourite Hawkman productions, full of wonderful lines,
S3 was particularly stuffed with brilliant imagery and observation. I am still confused by the title, you have had me googling pidgin English and all sorts :) I can see the eclipse definition you mentioned... I googled the whole title and I was directed to..............your poem above Ha Ha.
cheers
JerryB

[Haunted]

Like Jerry the title had my head spinning in all directions. Couldn't put it next to the poem without knowing it's pidgin for eclipse. But why pidgin? Winter is tough enough, Hawk has to throw us yet another curve. Other than that, the poem echos my winter doldrums and for that, cold-turkey diet doesn't cut it, I'm going cold turkey on the whole winter thing.

[Lokasenna]

To join the recurring theme, the title drew me in... and I'm glad it did! This is an excellent poem. The second stanza, in particular, seems very powerful to me.

[osho]

This myth mixed recipe is irresistible and I like it for I have read a poem I call a poem

[Hawkman]

JB, Haunted, Loki & Osho, thank you all for reading and not being too put off by the title - lol I mean, why not pidgin? I'd love to have a go at writing poetry in pidgin :D

Really appreciate your appreciation, so thanks again.

Live and be well - H

[Buh4Bee]

There are some really great lines in here, but I particularly enjoyed the cynicism of the third stanza.

[kensington]

I like the poem. Lately, I've thought of how a life of toiling in a shop would be.





Cowering like beaten whelps,
those of us who can,
Toil in shops.

[Hawkman]

B4B: Thanks for reading and enjoying. :)

kensington: Yes, it must be an awful life as a retail assistant, slaving for a pittance and selling things you can't afford to buy yourself to grumpy and ungrateful punters, who apparently don't have to work because they spend their days shopping and flaunting their wealth :D

Live long and prosper - H

[kensington]

B4B: Thanks for reading and enjoying. :)

kensington: Yes, it must be an awful life as a retail assistant, slaving for a pittance and selling things you can't afford to buy yourself to grumpy and ungrateful punters, who apparently don't have to work because they spend their days shopping and flaunting their wealth :D

Live long and prosper - H

True, I worked in a store for a little while, over a holiday season. What's worse than the wealthy is those who flaunt their welfare benefits, women who have two carts of stuff that totals $400, and they have 6 small, raggedy children and brag to you that they are single, full-time moms. Then there are the shoplifters, and the people who insist that an item is 75% off, when the item isn't on special offer. And then these customers go to the manager and claim that the cashier is unfriendly, and in my case, the manager was promising many of the customers that I'd be fired as soon as the Christmas season was over. It was depressing, and I only did it for a few months.

[Jassy Melson]

I ignore any "poem" with the words Jesus Christ in the title.

[Hawkman]

kensington: It's even worse when you work in a gun shop. There you are minding your own business arming the masses when some bloke comes in and gives you a list of requisites which would be enough to pay for your retirement and then he caps it of with,
"...phased plasma rifle in the 40 Watt range,"
and you say,
"Hey, just what you see pal."
And then the bugger shoots you. Who'd work in retail? :D

Jassy: Thank God for that!

Live and be well - H

[aliengirl]

Glad that I got to read it before the thread was pushed to the second page. Such a longish title is not your common style and that's what made me curious like others. And I was in for a surprise. Again like others I too loved these lines-

"we stand damp-footed on the chilly concrete flags,
press our noses to the glass
like urchins peering at gilded privilege,
and strain our ears to catch
those words of wisdom
spilled when money talks."

[Hawkman]

Hi Ripley, thanks for dropping by to cast an eye upon these words. Glad you found them to your taste, for now it seems, I did not waste my time in penning them. ;)

Live and be well - H

[WolfLarsen]

I can't help but repeat once again that I absolutely love the title of this piece. I mean it's a good poem, but I just absolutely love the title of this poem!

0h by the Way, did I mention that I absolutely love the title of this poem?!

Well, just to be clear let me repeat that I absolutely absolutely completely love the title of this poem! It's so bleeping creative!

[Hawkman]

So you liked the title then. Maybe you should move to Papua New Guinea ;)

H

[Hawkman]

Bump :D

[tailor STATELY]

Must have been on one of my hiatuses when this first came out, and almost missed it this last... so glad you bumped :) Enjoyed.

Since I googled the title much after everyone else I got this hit: (Twitter Mar 20, 2015 "'Kerosene lamp bilong Jesus gone bugger-up' - a solar eclipse described by a member of the Koorie people of New South Wales."... delightful !!!

Ah, so good to see familiar faces from this old thread.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor