Sunday, August 09, 2015

810 - Future Imperfect

Illustration: Banksy

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #211) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

plaster, chill, rattle, drum, recede, scry,
thread, web, know, sin, cry, creek



Future Imperfect.

I
The old lady sits at a baize-covered table
To scry, to ply the art of the ball and Tarot;
What she sees chills her old bones
And, muttering, she hopes it is not so.

II
The village has an idiot, old mad Tony,
Who delights in low grade baloney,
Always rattling the spear
Of racism and fear,
A story that’s self-serving but phoney.

III
You can plaster cracks
You can draw together stray threads,
But the faults remain.

IV
The old lady put away her cards
Covered her ball with a sheet
She knew that what she had seen was a sin:
To demonise, to imprison and mistreat.

V
Leaders should attend—
The drums of decent people
Echo through the house.

VI
The lies continue
They do not cease
They do not recede
They build upon each other
A progression
A Web
Of deceit
One upon another
As if the new one 
Will distract us from the old

VII
They are cogs in a corporate machine
Who worships their money and Queen,
We are lead up a creek
Where humanity is bleak
And paddles seldom are seen.

VIII
The old lady stood and departed her tent
What she had seen compelled her to cry.
She could see that the story was horrid
But had no way to fathom out why.

IX
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes.
- Les Miserables 
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Sections I-VIII
© J Cosmo Newbery 2015
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20 comments:

  1. enchanting, luv the rthymn and the rhymes
    have a good Sunday JC

    much love..

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  2. A really delightful and wonderful piece, well done. Greetings!

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  3. The way the greed and fear combine to create the worst in human beings.. A very nice combination of forms in this set.

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  4. A clever and erudite poem - makes me think that knowing what is to come may not be the gift or answer we desire...

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  5. all's well that ends well...

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  6. A smashing offering Cosmo, limericks and all.

    Hank

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  7. I LOVE this! Smiles. Spoken well and truly.

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  8. I love how much you managed to put in this and how each of could relate to it in some small part.

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  9. it is with caution hope and anticipation when i look into the eyes of who will lead us into hope.

    gracias

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  10. Yes, it can be a curse to know too much. The Tarot is a wonderful tool however.

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  11. A wonderful story.....and you were able to use all the words! Yea!

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  12. Cos, I could hear the drums beating, even before the Les Miserables quote! Your start was so small and personal, and then it builds, as it must, to the question of the greater good, the collective voice. What that old woman saw in the ball... it must have been rather trumpish. Angry and divisive. WOW. You, Bjorn, and Hank all blew my socks off today! Amy

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  13. This made my day! What a pleasure to read!!

    Here is my poem:

    ​stinging the sin

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  14. An interesting story put together here. Just enough to want more yet know it isn't needed.

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  15. Very good poem -Yes she saw the future and it wasn't the greatest. But luckily nothing is set in stone until the next day is born.

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  16. I love those words from Les Miserables! I wonder do you know that I am on old lady who has for many years read Tarot and crystal ball at Sunday Markets? But I don't need my tools and my psychic abilities to agree with you about the village idiot, and fathom some of the whys (fear, greed, duplicity, wilful blindness ...)

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  17. Nicely done ... what a great write here and lovely weave of forms ... epic! Bastet

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  18. This is absolutely brilliantly written, and this is my favorite:
    "You can plaster cracks
    You can draw together stray threads,
    But the faults remain."

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