Thursday, January 17, 2013

FORGOTTEN MEMORIES


I awakened one morning
forgetting the future
remembering the past
where everything was smeared

there was the dingy beer parlour
where everyone drank by themselves
wept because they forgot their memory
drank because beer replaced money

there was the misplaced priorities
mixed with bizarre value judgements
silenced by knowing the futility of all
strangled by the opportunities lost

there was the sad death of becoming a poet
dictated by drinking of the punditocracy
creating art without understanding it
cursed by the absurdity in the average drunk

sitting by a window in the corner
where words could fill my empty glass
dying for a beer
a skid road poet waiting to be published

5 comments:

Jules said...

Drunk on words...
This piece though almost reminds me of the places where soldiers of older eras would meet - the social halls dark with wood panels, where wives preferred not to go. And yet these were the only places that the true stories could be hashed out - because there wasn't any redeeming poetry for the hell and war they'd been through.

Thanks for visiting my piece. I've got a few dark ones up my sleeve but I generally don't post them. Best they don't see light of day. I liked your piece there were several couplets that I really liked the last two lines of the second and third stanzas.

Denise Janikowski-Krewal said...

I enjoyed reading this. "creating art without understanding it" and "where words could fill my empty glass" are just two of my favorite lines.

barbara said...

Now, that's a familiar joint.

Glad to see you, Wayne. Been a while.

Anonymous said...

I come from a place where poetry is not a topic for polite or acceptable conversation. Admitting to the writing of it is perhaps akin to all out lunacy, or a cause for immediate silencing. In that sense, your poem makes perfect sense to me because it would be better to be drunk. But, I have always been an individual drunk on words. I find a great deal to like in this poem, and more to admire.

Elizabeth
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/

my heart's love songs said...

powerful imagery, Wayne. the next to the last stanza blew me away!

great take on the prompt!