Bad Poetry Thursday (200)

200 posts, can you believe it?

Upon the Dawning of the Time of Your Life
by Schuyler

When a milestone is reached
it means a thousand different things
to different people
it's a time for celebration
it's a marker of acheivement
it's the mark of someone with way too much time
To me it's just a symbol
of some forgotten notion
of a time when life was simpler
and we didn't have to
juggle chainsaws
while riding unicycles through a
flaming ring of fire
on a taut and thin high wire.
You start to think that when it's over
when the milestones are miles behind
and you're waist deep in mud
and trapped between two fallen trees
that fell in front and back while you were sleeping
that maybe now would be a good time to have
a chainsaw
and a fire at least could keep you warm.

Two Hundred Words of Bad Poetry

Hmm. I'm liking this idea of writing bad poems of nonsense with an arbitrarily decided number of words. I think it could work. Next, I'll arbitrarily decide the structure that the poem must fit. Wow, I love writing bad poetry. It doesn't even have to make sense. Actually, I think it's better when it doesn't.



The Absence of Fire
by SJSTL


When a synapse fires in the morning
Does it make a sound
Like a pop or like a thud
Or is it something that we as robots
Aren’t supposed to worry about
Okay then, just let me find my socks
Amidst the tangled thoughts of the masses

At a time when everyone else
Would never speak a line out of turn
Some idiot wandered
Over to the smoothie machine
And threw up
All over it

Man, I really wanted a smoothie today
I guess that an
Italian Soda With Whipped Cream
Will suffice
Hold the fire, and don’t forget the ice

This is the way the world ends
Not getting what you want
And settling for something
Similar but not quite the same

And now this lovesong is stuck in my head
I think all things to all people
Is nothing at all to anyone

What a weird day to notice for the first time
That one leg is shorter than the other

A large bird just landed on my window sill, dead.

Or maybe it was a vision
A prophetic vision of death and life
All wrapped up in a total wash
Of the windows
Of an office building

A Tale of Two Fourths (or one half?)

Monday was my first Fourth of July in Washington, DC. We went downtown in the evening in order to watch the fireworks from the roof of my office building. In all, it was a pretty spectacular display, though it was shorter than I expected. I mean, Disneyland has a fireworks show like that every night.

For the two years prior to this, we spent the 4th in Moses Lake, WA and watched the fireworks show there. The following is a comparison of the two.


Setting
Washington: We watched the fireworks from the roof of my 12-story building. We had a panoramic view of the mall, including the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Washington Monument. Plus, there was a constant stream of aircraft flying into Reagan Airport across the river, which made for an interesting juxtaposition with the fireworks.

Moses Lake: We watched the fireworks from a park “downtown” and sat at the edge of the lake. In the distance, we could see several houses on the other side of the lake, and if we stood up, I think we could see the Safeway.

Advantage: Washington


Pre-fireworks Action
Washington: A concert featuring Gloria Estefan, The Beach Boys, and Kimberly Locke, 500,000 people milling around, and trash everywhere.

Moses Lake: Nothing.

Advantage: Moses Lake (no Gloria Estefan)


Quality of Fireworks
Washington: A good 20 minutes of high-flying, loud, colorful fireworks with a few smiley face fireworks thrown in for good measure.

Moses Lake: About 10 minutes of decent fireworks, though many didn’t go off as planned and some of the private fireworks were better.

Advantage: Washington (by a lot)


Post-fireworks action
Washington: Nothing much, really. Just lots and lots of pedestrians (mainly tourists) wandering around looking lost. And only two arrests for minor charges? Only two? C’mon people, we can do better than that!

Moses Lake: Several raging brushfires caused by malfunctioning fireworks.

Advantage: Moses Lake, definitely.


Intangibles
Washington: Nation’s Capital, lots of restaurants, a great subway system, people are unfriendly, too many clueless tourists.

Moses Lake: Moses Lake sucks.

Winner: WASHINGTON!!!