Snapshots

[PrinceMyshkin]

What a frank, masterfully penned, moment of weakness! Cutting contrast between "his" freedom from self-judgment and "your" judgment...
But, if I may, for if not, do not read what follows, - if we have that much energy to hate and to envy, at time, and since energy is neutral and depends on its use, would it not be a good idea to redirect it to build, all of us, true self love and thus no one would have triggers to envy and wish another ill...??? and we would all be immune from judgment... I know it is more complex but let's imagine we really, all of us, love ourselves...

A noble thought, but there are two of us in this dark folie a deux: the person I was speculating about, and I. In reality I know nothing about his interior, his 'true' self, so this "Snapshot" is really little if anything more than a candid photo of my own heart on a particular occasion.

As for loving oneself, I have never understood the meaning of that; nor, I think, do I wish to. There are after all something like 6 billion people who may deserve my love more than I do.

[PrinceMyshkin]

A man was caught this morning
walking a public thoroughfare
without a cell-phone
clapped to his ear
(or anywhere on his person).

He will be charged
with intending to precipitate
an avalanche of silence.

[firefangled]

One of the best of these, I think. Only a small part is due to my dislike of cell phones, the rest is the poetry: "an avalanche of silence" is beautiful.

[blank|verse]

Yeah, this reminds me of the last part of a 1,000-line poem called Killing Time (1999) by the British poet Simon Armitage, which was written to mark the millennium, and is scathing of the modern media.

It ends back in his home village in West Yorkshire where 'last week':

nothing happened at all.
An incident room is being set up at the scene,
and security cameras installed.

A nice observation.

[Bar22do]

There are after all something like 6 billion people who may deserve my love more than I do.

I must disagree, for unless you first find it in and for yourself, those something like 6 billion people might wait forever and in vain for your love (yes, it is a statement, but only to oppose yours: "... deserve my love more that I do").

[qimissung]

I love this. It is brilliant! "was the tune behind the melody..." What a beautiful line. I have seen people like this occasionally, doing their superior dance, and aware even as I dislike thier attitude that mine is also wanting. Bravo, Prince.

“How beautiful I am,” thought the man in the corner
while the air around him grew warmer
and warmer. He was immune
from judgment, was the tune
behind the melody.

I envied and hated him! I wished him ill.
I wished there were someone
who would break his platinum heart
and make him human.

[qimissung]

A man was caught this morning
walking a public thoroughfare
without a cell-phone
clapped to his ear
(or anywhere on his person).

He will be charged
with intending to precipitate
an avalanche of silence.

P.S. I like this one, too.

[kiz_paws]

A man was caught this morning
walking a public thoroughfare
without a cell-phone
clapped to his ear
(or anywhere on his person).

He will be charged
with intending to precipitate
an avalanche of silence.

Dear me, your last three lines were wonderful and told me to read the whole thing over again.

Why, and why do I believe that this man you speak of, was you, dear friend!

Oh that "avalanche of silence" will linger on in my head -- LOVE IT!
~~K♥zzo

[Bar22do]

I do not think I sent you my velvet ribbon for this one:

A man was caught this morning
walking a public thoroughfare
without a cell-phone
clapped to his ear
(or anywhere on his person).

He will be charged
with intending to precipitate
an avalanche of silence.

I do it now, though a little intimidated by this avalanche of silence, so authoritative.
Sometime I feel you steal all the best phrases and idioms... or you just have this sense!
Great.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I do not think I sent you my velvet ribbon for this one:

A man was caught this morning
walking a public thoroughfare
without a cell-phone
clapped to his ear
(or anywhere on his person).

He will be charged
with intending to precipitate
an avalanche of silence.

I do it now, though a little intimidated by this avalanche of silence, so authoritative.
Sometime I feel you steal all the best phrases and idioms... or you just have this sense!
Great.

I think it was the sometimes saucy Bertholt Brecht who said (approximately) that all writers copy. The best of them steal outight. Not that I count myself among the latter.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Dear me, your last three lines were wonderful and told me to read the whole thing over again.

Why, and why do I believe that this man you speak of, was you, dear friend!

Oh that "avalanche of silence" will linger on in my head -- LOVE IT!
~~K♥zzo

Perhaps the greatest (unnoticed) virtue of this snapshot is that it has brought our beloved Kiz Paws back into view!

[kiz_paws]

Awwww

The "Snapshots" section of the Personal Poetry section is a thread that I really enjoy perusing.

There are few people who are able to see things and say what they see is such a short and eloquent manner.

It is also fun to read the impact the snapshots have on the viewing audience, too!

I salute thee, PrinceM!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Muffled against the cold
a man pushes a stroller
in which there is what I take to be
a sweet, three-year old.
I smile at the kid
and get in return
a look that seems to say:

I don’t have to smile back at you
if I don’t feel like it...

[LeDave]

At the hotel restaurant
in Paris
at the table next to me
a couple who've been married
since just before the invention of pain.

He looks past her shoulder
into the middle distance
as if he might find a thought there
somewhere, she
looks down, to the left of him, wondering
where the years have gone.

WOW! This is brilliant, I love it.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Two guys at the café,
Jordan and Marco,
at separate tables.
Marco is popping with energy,
just returned from a visit
to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Jordan appears to be locked
in his own private hell.