Prodigy

I look at this painting

It’s neither obvious nor lacking for its own subtle worth

But it kills me

I want to walk up to it and cut out the cloth of its heart,

But I won’t

Something that hides behind or within the force that supports it 

stops me

…. Maybe.

Something in the way it covers over a little dry whiteness of wall

My obvious loss

I could lunge at the cursed thing and tear out my misery

Scream drunken critiques in french and make like I built this artist

Pretend I could even shrug the bail

Tear away the wall then see what is really happening here…

Now…

To me.

After all, 

We’ve already painted the whole damn world

What’s one less?

But a strange and sudden cry comes over me

Death or that point of weakness:

As I was looking,

This ugly little child beside me is standing naked in his stance

I am beautiful and covered up to the nose but

SO unwilling to tear away that wall and yet he hates it all the same and has no qualm about the menace he is openly conducting.

Hates the cause of broccoli too I’m sure.

His gestures are just as obvious as the painting

But I am no longer in the rip of its knife as

This child turns his eyes towards me

And with tongue-exposed reveals that I am even worse than that f*****g art

I am alive and in his way.

 

Reviews

[Brittany Zedalis]

This is jaw-dropping-ly good.

[Perdition]

No worries..I'll pick it up. Thanks and pace yourself. There are those, I have heard, who have fallen off the world trying to read too much of this swirling stuff of gravity and jaws ;) Thanks!..Again~

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

You give me chills...or maybe it's the air, either case, here you are in your head, all life crumbling, fighting, screaming and angry and you see yourself suddenly through the eyes of a child, where problems are simple...where life is simple...where fixing things are simple...and we have done nothing as adults but complicate. We should be angry at ourselves for nothing other than standing in our OWN way with the time spent ripping apart that which is obvious, just to find more...

Bravo, Pelican. I've missed you indeed.

[Perdition]

OMG...Its alive!!!! Hey stranger.....I've missed my reds something fierce. Too many questions and forget the poem...its genius as usual...lol. I see you have''t lost your touch for reviews...spot on as usual. Wow...your not a red anymore. You're AN ACTUAL REAL PIRATE. Was it something I said?? Okay I'll pester you in our un-usual, Hope all is well and Thanks but where did you go ? As if I didn't know-HUGS!!!!

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

Lol I AM red. The dye washed out very quickly, that photo is a month old ;)

Hugs back my dear...and gummy bear kisses :)

[Perdition]

Sure you are...lol. You are a pirate ...exactly how can a Pelican be trusting the word of a Pirate. We have no accord here. MINE!

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

How can a Pirate be trusting of a Pelican? Hmmmmmm...you may have the red ones.

[Perdition]

Cause I just saved your face Oh great redundant one..lol. Did I ever NOT have them? On that you may trust: P

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

I knew it posted twice, I did not need saving. Had I been ashamed of my mistake I would have deleted it myself. Instead, I decided to leave it there because why delete me? Oh great obnoxious one ;)


I missed you so much :)

[Perdition]

Most do...and YOU"RE WELCOME!!!

[Perdition]

Freaking Leos....lol

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

Lol you guys!!


But really, what's more annoying than a taurus mother near a full moon? I rock annoying right now like I wrote it.

[Perdition]

I'm sorry..is that Celtic or something???

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

Not sure, it could be?

[Perdition]

Who rocks annoying more than I..Come on!

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

True. You are pretty annoying ;)

[Perdition]

DOH~!....lol. Okay..cause you beat my typo save I'll give you the Brat award...but I'm definitely in contention.

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

I'll add it to my collection of brat awards. I have many :)

[Perdition]

Really...I got me a garage filled with First Place Pest Trophies myself : P

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

Which could be why we get along so famously :)

[Perdition]

Nah....I'm sticking with that whole your a Pirate / Red Gummy bear thief Theory...Pirate~

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

I did not steal the gummy bears. I own the gummy bears. You stole them as Pelicans do.

[Perdition]

I can't believe I just wrote "your" for you're...On a poetry site... I mean COME ON!

[Perdition]

Spoken like a true Pirate...Pirate

[Perdition]

What the hell does this have to do with reviews btw??

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

What the hell do we ever do that makes sense when we communicate???


Nothing. Nothing, oh...and nothing.

[Perdition]

Well there is....yeah okay.

[Perdition]

Plus it's artificially pumping up the "views".

[Perdition]

Or is it...try it and see if it goes to 213...I DARE YOU!!!!

[Perdition]

Too late...someone beat you to it~

[Perdition]

Sorry...there were technical issues....try posting it again if you wish. Might be Gummy-fied or Pelican stigmas : l

[Jeanmarie Flaherty]

Lmao :) it's the iPhone :)))

[Perdition]

Always all about the YOU isn't it…"I" Phone…as if there WERE such a thing. Well, get with the times Little Miss Deer Kisser…ROTARY RINGS is where it's all at~ How are them deer doing btw. They better still be alive…'except for ole Little Ms.Lady Cupcake….she was never quite right!

[KWP]

this reminds me of the saying 'when the student is ready the teacher will appear' in the case it was the child to paint the picture in the mind to relearn what was already known, just perhaps, like many things within this reality, forgotten...

i like the painting provided within the words in the lead up to the clever crux located at the heart of the whole matter.. i love a poem that gives the reader a chance to think for themselves long after the poem has finished

but what is this ... now it is me ... alive and perhaps in your way ... perhaps i shall make some broccoli soup ..

[Perdition]

Or perhaps kill the married man so I can sleep in a prison bed instead of the street?....I think that yours is the first "crux" I have ever received in a review...Thanks..It was a long awaited treat~

[KWP]

hehe I am not as articulated as you .. much to learn ... such is the life with beginner's eyes .... enjoyed this poem very much xx

[Ars Goetia Poetry]

Written extremely well, impressive work :)

[Perdition]

Thanks....so was the kid! Appreciate the invite as well....looking forward to reading. Happy Fried-Day!

[A. Amos]

Interesting concept and very well penned, I truly enjoyed the read.....

[Perdition]

Thank you for your kind words! Looking forward to reading your poems as well, very soon. Going to probably "Thud" now...THUD! Perdition Out!

[.]

:: i love this piece... i know that i'm relating to it in my own way but i think it's a very rewarding read... i used to be very judgmental... especially about art (poetry, prose, music, cinema et al)... and then one day i realized that the only difference between one work of art and another is how i relate to it... meaning it's a preference issue... someone's favourite colour is yellow and someone else's favourite colour is blue... i don't have to agree with either or even have a favourite colour... if you know what i mean... :: that which looks like art and infuriates me is usually something which is anti freedom or anti human rights... but even that rage is temporary coz i think that a person who is not sensitive to freedom or to the human rights of others is not exactly sane... so why be angry with the insane... haha... :P :: just my thoughts...

[.]

:: oh... well... i am seeing the "child's chi" in the fact that you transcended the urge to protest... perhaps your deeper (read instinctive/intuitive/childlike) understanding of the painter and the world that celebrates such a painter manifested in the absence of a response (read protest) on your part... but it's possible i'm saying this because i like this piece too much and i'm biased... it reminds me of all those times when i've questioned my own evolution without realizing that it's good to question oneself... the purpose of that painting was to trigger this piece... perhaps that is the purpose of the banal and mundane -- to provoke the exceptional... who knows... :: and... you're welcome... :)

[.]

:: just wanted to clarify -- childlike as opposed to childish...

[Perdition]

You REALLY should have seen this painting...A solid black canvas with a white line conforming through the middle with straight lines....appropriate but why was I there without an umbrella ? The whole damn room was dedicated to the same theme and sure It had its own genius but as Sartre said.."genius is what man invents when he is looking for a way out". It was a weird moment that made me realize that it wasn't the painting nor the simple ignorant acceptance of the floor as a floor ..or the hidden hinges on the way out...or even the kid...It was just "lacking" and THAT moment was happening to "me"...."all of us" unresponsive in the catch of even a child's chi....It just seems bizarre that I didn't even sit with my back to it in protest for at least forty months. Thanks~

[Perdition]

Hmm..What truly makes transcendence ? Whitman? The uncommon hour? Morrison? Death by fame in a lie? I don't claim this wisdom only age and the premise as pretense in that I am questioning my automaton. I would say I was more civil in that moment but only on the outside....and now it is on the out. Kid was cute too....probably just had a rash or angry he was being punished over something everyone (as he saw it) should have been doing...lol. Good for him. Thanks again~

[.]

:: you ask all the right questions... imho... :P :: and... you're welcome... again... :)

[Alisa Js]

Hello again across the way,

I wonder sometimes about those in the other realm who stop by and watch us.

Do they see us in the flesh or, are we mere shadows to them as they are sometimes to us. So many accounts of near misses, if such a thing exists and yet, we who are on this side of eternity continue to be perplexed.

Why?

I wonder if it gets easier without these fleshly vehicles we appear to be attached to for a season.

Now, back to your piece. If everything that is has a certain energy to it, that would explain a lot. The one you saw, was he from this time or another? Maybe from the time of the painting, perhaps? I have heard and read that most from the other realm are from the darker regions, which again would explain a lot.

Just some thoughts that rose up as I read through.

Quite interesting....

Stay warm, you!

alisa ;-)

[Perdition]

Thanks! Hmm..dimensions aye. Even as I type this response there is a small but significant faction...I am in a perception of a cold storm and my mind considers this translation. You are reacting to a series of ones and zeroes..On and OFF switches that are predetermined and finite. We don't argue the certainties but rather the uncertainties and I am certain that that boy was me....only without what? Age? Tact? Disciplines??? I was screaming on the inside and he was screaming out in his OWN gallery. Is there really a difference?...I was the zero he was the one. Both of us had issues at that moment.The painting sucked but I am prejudice and settled at my age...albeit young still. He is just getting started. I simply loved that!! You are in the eye of a warmer sort; externally speaking....embrace or attack ! Good thoughts btw~Thanks A.

[Alisa Js]

Ah yes, you are alluding to parallel universes...string theory, etc. endlessly fascinating indeed!

:-)

[Perdition]

No "strings" attached :) Or then again....~

[Alisa Js]

I heard it stated somewhere that with the string theory you could interact with yourself at a different place and time...in a parallel world. I wonder...

[Perdition]

I heard you could make cheese and achieve the elusive "cat's cradle" : P Thanks A. It's a Great ponder for the weekend. I'll have to ask the other side of me about that. Yes I'm being a stinker but you gotta ask....What would you say to yourself if you could...Would you be the same person and therefore achieve only a stifled reflection...What of the Now-ism and Action that wanting fulfillment requires ? Why not its opposition...the wondrous bliss in today and a bratty child? Hugs and a potato gun for the impostor~

[Alisa Js]

Thanks for the question, P...

I wonder what I would say to younger self if I could, I'm wondering if I would listen to my current self, you know what I mean? As a child, did we always listen to the advice of well meaning adult types? And yet, what if that well meaning adult type was the future you?

I had a memory yesterday of my father driving away. On that day, I guess his sister in law and brother were watching us, as we were very young. I don't remember a single conversation I ever had with that aunt or uncle, only torture, sheer emotional torture. Isn't that crazy sad???

Now, I will contemplate what my current self would tell my younger self in that situation and get back to you.

Have a great weekend!

alisa ;-)

[Perdition]

...and there you are.... Don't trust anyone over thirty! In this scenario neither of you are aware of that philosophy and both of you are armed to the teeth with your infinite possibilities so GO yell at the future you "NOT" to touch anything except DO bring me back some cool memorabilia. "Johnny says Relax" T-shirts (???) A full size 'Arkanoid' arcade game...or 'Galaga' machine and one unscratched vinyl Purple Rain-Prince album and the, "seriously and for real original Coke"...stock up on gas and quaaludes!!!... That triangle shaped window that you could adjust and get blown away with in the front seats ! Destroy Verizon and all other phone plans (save the soup can and string) and go bring me back some signed Salinger, he would be a recluse up in New Hampshire then BUT dead now, I believe. Fresh "Cherry Garcia". Go hang out with Kesey for a summer and move to Barcelona and maybe learn you some Spain-Fried-French. In other words OR simply put, Just realize that HERE is where iT be and where you ARE... so LIVE IT and ask yourself seriously (honestly) "Is THIS enough for you ??" If not....go make more and do NOT waste your life in f*****g Lies or wimp out in the lessons or great possibilities in our great and real "SO NOT Copacetic" (The Uncool) ~ciao~

[Perdition]

"...and reality of the SO NOT COPACETIC or The Present Uncool".....never respond after three am when you haven't had any sleep or have no freaking Red Bull Bomb Shots in the house! :)

[Alisa Js]

You are quite the humorous genius... but then again, you certainly wouldn't want to be anything but you!

Considering what you shared and stated, with and without words, I have to agree that everything that has and was helps us to become who we are on this day, a gift.

Our present is where we live and breathe actually, as everything else is either a memory, dream or combination of both.

If I could go back as my current self to visit my former self, or even view the world before I came to be in this manifestation, I wonder how it would alter or change things currently. Ever wonder that?

I do.

Catch up soon.

alisa ;-)

[Alisa Js]

Sending ((((((((hugs)))))))) across the ether...

[Perdition]

Back at yaz, you~