The Way of Things

This is a very old piece that I just realized I forgot to put back on here after the mass deletion.

 

 

 

The Way of Things

 

 

 

Sitting in
An isolated room
With the scream of insanity
Put on his tongue,
Knowing the knowledge
That put him there.
A twinkle in the eye,
Backed by an intelligent mind
With a warped sense
Of humor.
But,
It is the way of things.

 

Standing on
A lonely street corner
Holding onto a lifeless
Cat.
Tears flow into the
Sidewalk of frustration.
Little blue eyes
Covered with long, blonde hair
Gaze into the
Carbon Monoxide
World.
But,
It is the way of things.

 

Thrown into
A cold, dark alley,
Left there to
Pass away into
Nothingness.
The dulled, silent eyes
Slowly closing
About this world
He believed in.
But,
It is the way of things.

 

Running across
A cool, clean field of
The forest floor.
Chasing after
The elusive rainbow.
With the wink
Of an eye
She has caught
The colored ribbon,
Proving there is
Gold in the magnitude
And massiveness of
Blackness.
And that,
Is the way of things.

 

 

Legion

(circa 1985)

Author's Note

Wrote this around the end of my senior year in high school or shortly after I graduated can't remember. I was 17 or 18 at the time. Not one of my favorites, but it is being posted anyway.

Reviews

[Helen Woodward]

Terrific piece of prose, ruthlessly honest and painful...thank you for ending on a high note! It is the way of things and I don't think many people have thought about the way to change things.
Writing a piece of this standard is brilliant considering the age your were when it was penned.
Kudos from me...
Helen :-)

[Plexiglass]

I like this poem and i like a lot of things about it. I like the progression, the small insight to the events of a single character and the repetition of the title in the poem itself. I thought it was very well done. I think the final stanza is the strongest if only for the fact I was ready for another depressing stanza and it was anything but and therefore it surprised me. Good work.

[O!]

Is the way of things.....

ive been asking myself too many questions today and this answer fits completely!!

ty....sigh....now i can go on....sigh...

is the way of things.........SIGH

x,
O!

[LSS]

James,
You should reanalyze your own work. Obviously your talent goes way back. Sometimes if we wait too long, we come full circle and are able to see that we had it right in the beginning. Don't get too far away from what was good in your earlier work. Its freshness and simplicity is accurate. Your later work is great, but you started with talent.
Lar

[Pink Poison]

Wow! I love it...these lines especially:

Proving there is
Gold in the magnitude
And massiveness of
Blackness.
And that,
Is the way of things.

It is sad but it IS the way of things. Well said and well written.

[thecoolone52]

i liked the last stanza i was like this is gona b a downer and then you turned it around........ very unqiue i enjoyed it nice work

[Gandré]

This was soo beautiful, such wisdom..sitting in an isolated room full of knowledge. How often we think this! And being surrounded with stupidity and ignorance. How can it be.... second stanza, this affirms your rare talent to create drama without drama and this made our sense come alive! "The dulled, silent eyes / Slowly closing / About this world / He believed in. " -----this were my favorite lines. So mercilessly true! You can unravel an extraordinary mystery of my world of paradoxes...where i am still living in. How many of us get lost? Fantastic my friend. Happy I can read you.

[Edmond Dantes]

friggin' sweet! & of course, that is the way of things! "Holding onto a lifeless
Cat." wow- & i like how you took it back to the forest floor. --thanks for sharing

[Dani California]

With the wink
Of an eye
"She has caught
The colored ribbon,
Proving there is
Gold in the magnitude
And massiveness of
Blackness.
And that,
Is the way of things."

Amen!

I love how this piece transitions from hopelessness to hope.
Wonderfully done and the repetiveness of "it is the way of things" adds to its impact.
Also, changing it a bit to add more power to the positive in the last stanza is simply brilliant.

This is a fantastic piece... ! And you wrote this when? Wow!

Excellent... !

[Kena Dawn Augustine]

Pretty strong piece for being in high school. A very deep piece, and speaks to the soul. it had a unique touch to it, and I loved your choice of words, and how you chose to convey them.

good job.

kena

[Hotel Mornings]

I like that there seems to be a thought out structure to this poem (or a fluke??)...something I definitely lack. You use imagery really well, my heart fell a little more with every new image, ha. Your last image was really strong, really helped to solidify the sense of acceptance of yeah, it is the way of things. I like your writing.