At Hawthorne's Hearth: A Bonfire of Vanity

Nate the great told many a horrific short story,
this particular one though, not as gory.

'Twas about a great bonfire of his own vanity,
in a tale he ignited with damned Infernal humanity.

The time and place, were are told, both shrouded in haze,
and specifically irrelevant for recounting this great blaze.

So, a weary traveler espies, this intense glowing light,
and is drawn to it, like a moth, blind to personable fright.

Haze of dust and soot circle the pit of this mad pyro place.
Heaps piling up all that remains is a cremated odorous trace.

The materials we collect, amass and one stashes
for later, for greed not need, is reduced to mere ashes.

Both receipts of binding debts and bombast assets-
Both conceits of boastful pride and bashful regrets-

An inquisitive observer, a ticking watch-man,
A weaver of words, the nightmares of Nathan,

Who dreamt of books burning,
seeking his own with yearning.

Everything and All goes on to the raging pyre!
Cauterizing people from their acquired mire!

Stoking and invoking 'The Fire Sermon',
Recalling amnesia through an act of arson,

Smelting the ore of material need,
Any need reduced to basic greed.

This episodic dream penned as Hawthorne's parable,
A rhapsodic rant, worthy of Kant, was truly not so terrible.

With a glimmer of phosphoric radiance,
Reason, Philanthropy, Philosophic brilliance.

And any little idiosyncratic whim Nathaniel should desire,
Nonchalantly gets thrown into the 'Earths Holocaustic' bonfire.



Image of painting by Peder Severin Krøyer [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. "Midsummer Eve, Bonfire on Skagen's Beach" (1906).

Are we speaking the same language?

Haiku VII

What's a meta for?

To build a bridge with nouns like

imagine this thing...

Image of painting by László Mednyánszky (1852-1919), "Forest Creek with a Bridge" [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

I say, Play the Day Away

A kite in free flight, making that happy-flappy sound;

a whirling troop of hula hoops that circle all around,

It's always great to skate, throwing tangerine peels on the ground,

fun races to run around and secret places that will never be found,

all safely hidden in plain sight, just right in the bright outside.

Your nifty Nintendo’s and Hot Cheetos and Spicy Nacho Doritos-

Why the Fi? There’s Stations to Play, I know

X marks the box and aliens to blow-

up a tree? But, you remind me, you have the Wii

to play all sorts of sports and even ski,

right at your fingertips just look at those effortless flips.

Outside where rainbows and sneezes,

show-up, grow-up and blow-up when each randomly pleases.

There's no lags or glitches nor zombies or witches,

no reset, high-score, joysticks, toggles nor switches.

The outdoors is always booted up with no boring buffering,

freezing or crashing, while you sit inside impatiently suffering.

Kids these days.  You should know that just outside that door,

there’s bonus maps, booby traps and endless upgrades galore.

Free tokens and , you can break and re-make all the rules.

Not those old silly dumb games found in schools, how lame!

Make-believe turning fairies into toads, or some girly game

wait-was that inside out, outside in-, err, I will re-begin.

This place you will see, is rated "E", that means Everyone.

Crack open the window, amazed you will be at the fun!

No two times played, no two quests are ever the same.

Every single day you can play, its level you'll never be able to beat,

especially digitally planted behind electronics on your seat.

There’s no need to pout when the electricity’s out,

if you venture outside you’ll find out,

no worries about rolling black-outs of doubt,

the greatest games you’ve never even heard about.


Image By Tangthm (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Oct. 2010.

"Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks"--Chaucer (c.1343-1400)

Haiku VIII

A cup of JOY spills-

drips over the chalice rim

eternal Spring flows

Image of painting Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933), "The cup of knowledge, 1905" [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Duodecimo

I know.

I'm doing it all wrong.

I've likely been doing it wrong

all along.

Then I thought-

could wrong be taught?

Say an Oxymoron

a concept fell up on

Invented by those trustworthy scholars

Juxtaposed and presented by those high collars

A comic tragedy

of innocent dichotomy

Common sense

Present tense

Paradoxical Freedom Requires

Dutiful Experienced Amateurs

Mandatory Volunteerism

Conservative Liberalism

recurrent apathetic desires

passion retardant fires

and necessary luxuries

the minorities priorities

Rightly so

to show

your Blind Faith

In Truth, Things we made up called “words"

honestly are the durned purtiest things I've ever heard.

By Fragonard, Blind Man's Bluff" [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

A Spring in my step

Did you see how big the sky was today?
I took particular notice of her limber stretch
and wide grin
Happy and Light in forever blue

I happened by chance to be in a hurry
funny how these things grab you just then
On my way to Nowhere
more important than here

I'm not sure if I should guess
you have these strange long moments too
The air smells like hot Youth
and bottomless Freedom

The tempestuous whisper taps you on the shoulder
a sultry breeze murmurs something in your ear
about having fun
Shhh, your Time is not yet done

Like lust its so hard to refuse
a harmless offer to dance on air
or drown every pore
wrapped in blankets of flowing atmosphere

A smile sneaks up on your face hoping
you don't notice first or ruin it with thinking
Let it Ride at Full Speed Ahead
ringing and singing Hells Bells

I am suddenly parched
by this urge, or maybe a growth spurt
rapid blossoming
Now I understand wildflowers

There is no rhyme
or reason
just appreciating time
noticing I changed with the Season.


Image By Robbins, Ellen, 1828-1905 (artist); L. Prang & Co. (publisher) (Flickr: Wild Flowers No. 2) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Vice versa

Some people say
as the crow flies
to the point, to put it in a direct way
without circular lies

Some such phrases
do not translate
in juxtaposed places
that relate only to the date

Used for reference
time and setting
using inference
for aiding and abetting

By and by
hook and crook
we try and try
to avoid similarities look

Strange as it may sound
replacing new from the old
from Latin I have found
is really the same story told

Used to placate relate and abbreviate
temporal occurrences
another way to plainly state
'panem et circenses'

Things we need to live
laced in lovely distraction
so we can forgive
and forget any minor infraction

Of Justice laced with wheat
the generous goddess of grains Annona
who would never cheat
using her bountiful plains of flora and fauna

Bread and circuses, a tactic to please
what about the Futuere
it's simpler to just appease
with an act, circus, or some such affair

Part of the freakshow or third act
The ringmaster still rules
Bread and circuses from adage to fact
All of us once clowns graduating to fools

And two thousand years later
this archaic Latin term
is apropos even greater
as our society does affirm

You reap what you sow
When in Rome
as the saying does go
There's no place like home

Where two kinds of bribes work best
Games and aesthetics, beauties and the beast
Rule the roost, broody at best, squatting on my chest
For me, these loaves and lullabies sate and soothe me least.

"The human soul needs actual beauty more than bread."
-D.H. Lawerence

First image of painting by Alexander von Wagner (1838-1919), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. "In the Circus Maximus in Rome".

Second Photo Image By Carpenter (Sergeant), No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. "Animals at War, 1945, Kiri and Many, circus elephants, help clear bomb damage during war in Hamburg".