The Old Taurus Still Runs

Potluck, or empty belly, every day

wolf of ambition however

unlikely -- Sisyphus

bundles up the bedeviled satchel

and scurries off into the daily dew

of sun-starved hollyhocks headed underground --

 

Hades uptown locomote to Tartarus.

Drawn to the myth, like moths,

to the celestial tombs, they circle

the dioscuric temples, like so many

white-knuckled supplicants

to the roulette revolution’s fateful spin

 

of rags for riches -- the sweet-soured dreams

of a seat at the table once

Plutus opens his grubbing window.

The continuous commitment to chase

of diminishing returns, the unyielding clock

of temptations brief reprieve,

 

their only purpose under heavens

to an otherwise meaningless existence.

They know the game’s been rigged, preloaded --

Dolos and Apate’s Janus-faced gift

to grifting progeny’s quenchless thirst for unearned

dividends of the common man’s blood sweated toil.

 

Yet what other course is there to follow?

For the slow-jargoning man the wheel

only steers one way. Life’s course

is the inevitable drift along the sticks and

stones of a barren, washed out river.

Potluck, or empty belly, every day.

Ken e Bujold

 

Reviews

[Lorry]

This made much more sense on rereading Ken, thanks to an online dictionary, where I had to look up tartutus and supplicants definitions to see that this is perhaps not as first thought, a hellish nightmare scribbled 'pon waking, but a rather clever myth like recreation of what life and living feels like for more than many in the age of today.
When I first read this, I couldn't help but hear it in a type of acting "luvvie" voice, but if you knew who Brian Blessed was, then I'm sure you will agree that his type of voice gives it the correct "quaking boom" of gravitas that it deserves, which would no doubt lead to it being banned from spoken word, for fear of the geriatric populations demise from fear! 😊

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks Lorry. glad you enjoyed. the old greek myths seem to be rising up in my mind a lot at the moment.

[D. Mansfield]

I enjoyed the poem, thank you for all your wonderful writeng

[Ken e Bujold]

thank you for kindness of reading D

[W. Barrett Munn]

Did you take a bleak pill today or are you a closeted nihilist? The wording again is fabulous but the message is grim, though accurate.

Winston

[Ken e Bujold]

grim? me? no!
didn't end up where i expected. nor was the journey straight. opening 3 lines from another poem that i had actually finished, but reading over didn't really find moved me. But I loved the Sisyphus metaphor. And i had notes of the other gods laying out on desk, and they sort of had a moment of intercourse, and by the end of the day's session, this was the result. the line i like the most, pure inspiration of the moment is the slow-jargoning man steers one way.

Ken

[W. Barrett Munn]

I’ve now read this numerous times and my conclusion is your favorite line is also mine AND that should be the final line.
What think thee of that?

[Ken e Bujold]

it may well be. thought of it as well. leaving for sing for a month sunday eve. plan is to take about 60 pages of what i feel is ready for a new collection and do some deep thinking and edits on them, this is one of the cuts.

[W. Barrett Munn]

That is definitely the right end. It clicks the door softly shut and leaves the reader standing there and filling in the rest in his head.