GLEANERS

 In the forest the

sound of a broken

twig

is disconcerting.

On the sidewalks,

on the streets,

in the stadiums,

in the libraries,

our city parks,

in our bathrooms,

the constant buzz

of information

like a battlefield

renders us deaf.

What is the difference

between being unable to hear

because our ears don’t work,

and a confusion of noise

so loud? Gather your

knowledge while ye may;

there will never be enough

while your poets are in

the dark.

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

intriguing to me ... in the qiet forests a snapped twig can mean a meal at hand or the predator alerts the bird ... in the city the din is deafening ... maybe that's why people walk around wrapped in their tunes or whatever ... the difference is enormous .. a genuine hearing loss vs. receptors gone numb .. i don't know about the poets in the dark ... i think they just write about it ;)
E.

[Vol]

Einstein,
The poets do their job in the dark... NOBODY reads poetry anymore and at a time we are needed the most.
Vol

[Einstein Noodle]

i read poetry my friend ;)))))))))))))))))))

[Eilis]

There’s a definite numbness that develops in the face of modern life. It’s not possible to process all the sensory information coming at us at all times. It can make it difficult at times to hold on to what’s important to discern and what ought to be let go to pursue more important things.

The pursuit of knowledge is a privilege I hold close. It’s easy to lose sight of how fortunate we are to have access to so much literature and poetry and information in general. The miracle of mass literacy seems to be becoming less relevant indeed. Hopefully a sense of wonder and responsibility will keep enough engaged to keep the light burning. The juxtaposition of the forest to the techno jungle is great. Brings it all into focus for me.

[Vol]

Eilis,
Here you are again! I am delighted. Thank you! When I was teaching, I'd turn the TV on to Fox news... in the upper left hand corner was a sort of street lamp that turned and on each side there was date or time of something, the host was talking about something, too, the guest was arguing with him, across the bottom was a ribbon spooling by with headlines, and under that was another with the stock market ticker... Then we'd discuss what it was like on the prairie back in 1850 or so, tiny cabin, no neighbors for miles, no news, no music, nothing to read, and buying supplies was sometimes a week's project... We were not built to live in this twenty-first century world... ALL certifiable.
Vol

[redzone]

While the ways we communicate to each other (or not) may have changed over time, the reasons for and the need to communicate remain basically the same -- to educate and or learn about the world around us and how we humans have interacted with the world (meant both in broad strokes, as well as personal). That we3 had developed the technology to reach literally million of people is a good thing. It enables humanity to be more connected. The problem is that technology, like any other field of human endeavor, can become a battleground. A battle for truth, for seeing reality and acting on reality, has always been a battle, and sometimes even wars.

As artists, poets, isn't it our responsibility both as poets and as human beings, to bring 'light' to the 'darkness'? To cut through the babble and in artistic ways (metaphor, for example) tell the truth about all kinds of subjects and beauty, but also shine a 'light' on human possibilities. The type and functioning of society and social norms determine much of how this is done. But then there is the Avante Garde, those who see beyond what is to what we could be. One example of this could be seen in the 60s and 70s where music, art, movies, tv all saw great change in how ideas were communicated. And poetry florished coming from the Beats, etc.

Your poem Vol, in identifying a concern over how technology is deafening our ears, can also be seen as a call to change this "culture" to one of genuine communication.
-Curt

[Vol]

Oh, man, Curt,
I remember some one, an Iraq veteran who said he met people over there who would calmly slit your throat for no other reason than you were not Islamic. There are people in every culture who think like that. My life's experience has been largely free of such prejudices, though there have been times wen I have been attacked at work for something I felt differently about, and a few times socially as well. I learned a long time ago that it is impossible to reason with unreasonable people, and there are plenty of those. Just look at last years campus riots. Americans who would do what Hitler did!
The only thing to do is speak the truth and suffer the consequences for it.
Vol

[redzone]

That last sentence hits the target, to know (find) the truth and speak it. I think there are always consequences to speaking truth, it's why what we say (backed up by our deeds) matters.

Yes, in today's world, there are some who would act in such a manner as the example you gave about slitting throats. And unreasonable people will only learn the hard way. But, and I think it's important to understand this, they are a small minority when compared to humanity as a whole. Most are not religious zealots of one kind or another. It would be a longer discussion relating to the events on college campuses. And yes, there are people who sieg heil to the incoming president, which is also a longer conversation. The question we face is, will the decent people accept a fascist America?

[Vol]

Curt,
I have found a certain comfort in knowing there is a difference between "The masses," and the individual. The more memorable the person I meet, there more they stand out from the crowd, and the less of them that is still stuck there. Those who make the biggest, reddest, most vibrant impression are the least entangled by the group mentality. They tend to either be great heroes or in prison.
Sometimes both... Trump is an obvious example.
Vol

[Poetic Beauty]

The overloading of the constant bombardment from technology and its interface on life.

I don’t have notifications on for the few social media sites I have. I personally can’t take to overly invasive nature that demands constant attention.

[Vol]

PB,
IN 1850 there were settlers living fifty miles from their closest neighbor or town, the only sounds they ever heard, even their own, were from nature. They did not get the news but a few times a year, Well, there WERE the Indians...
Vol

[Poetic Beauty]

Unless you live in a remote area or out in the country that isn’t as possible anymore but I try to limit how much distraction I receive from my phone. Hell I only text my son maybe once or twice a week. I have one person I text almost daily and everyone else is when I think of them or because it’s been awhile.

[Vol]

PB,
What I am saying is we are constantly overwhelmed by the things of modern, tecnological life that there is NO escape. Until the industrial revolution, and really until the 20th century, the only way to go anywhere was to walk, and if town was ten miles down the road, you had all kinds of time for your mind to wander and ask questions, and observe your surroundings. If you look at a cubist Picasso painting, all you see are shapes and colors... He was jus painting what he saw while riding in a car at thirty miles per hour on the first paved roads. It was after that, people dropped the "gingerbread" from those beautiful homes and built cracker boxes instead. We no longer had tome for beauty.
Vol

[Poetic Beauty]

I completely agrees with you. Technology overwhelms us and keeps us from doing other things like reading, writing, gardening or even finding joy in cooking. Life is too fast paced and we need to take time to enjoy the simple things and beauty that is in them

[Vol]

If people could just learn to speak eye to eye, to connect, to LISTEN...
Most of the couples I see have no idea how to make love, they just have sex to pleasure themselves... we have lost all sense of beauty in everything. I cannot even name a single famous artist alive today everyone knows. When I was twenty-one I could name halfa dozen famous novelists, artists, musicians and poets EVERYONE knew... I watched Robert Frost read at JFKs innaugration, when I was 11 and knew who he was... All of western culture is crumbling. You know it's true when the only value anyone knows about Picasso is how much his paintings sell for. Yes I am cynical, but I think I've earned the right.
Vol ;-)

[Poetic Beauty]

I still can on the authors because I’m a reader. But we as a society have lost the art of seeing the beauty around us

[Vol]

PB,
Poets and other liberal arts types can still, but we are as out of fashion as a tuxedo with brown shoes.
Vol

[Poetic Beauty]

I so hope not lol

[Thomas W Case]

Tremendous work, my friend.

[Vol]

Thank you, Thomas!

[andrew mitchell]

Any sound in the forest that resonates a broken twig sound is disconcerting. It’s so obtrusive to the peacefulness a forest brings with the wind, birds singing, insects buzzing and maybe a babbling brook. A broken twig brings danger to mind instinctively brought on by watching too many murder mysteries on Netflix. As for the noise generated in the big smokes one becomes complacent , switches off or accepts it as it is because noise is noise. Great write Vol. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Vol]

Andrew,
It was my main theme for several years, In the woods away from cities and development its every sound is natural and entangles us, in the noisy cities, people cannot even hear themselves think, and everything in their environment is artificial... well except for the rats, mice, mold, and mildew.
Vol

[Lorry]

Well, as someone who lives in a forest, I can confirm that a snapping twig is disconcerting... it usually means Katie is trying to sneak up on me, but not quite as disconcerting as this actual real life story that's been in the news the past few days.
There is a reason why any noise in the woods is often something that makes us very wary and now anytime I hear a twig snap, I will forever think of the following tale of bampottery and pray its just Katie trying to put the fear into me.
Read on please....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvge40jv4gjo

[Vol]

Funny! Well except the one who died... we have bobcats everywhere around here, and a few mountain lions as well, coyotes, too, oh, yeah can't forget the rattlesnakes... Do they know where the Lynx's were from?
Vol

[Lorry]

No. They are working under the assumption that someone with an illegal zoo dumped them when they got too big.
I mean, imagine going for a morning stroll and having one of those cross your path!
I remember a Joe Rogan podcast years ago when he stayed in colarado with him phoning the cops when a mountain lion tried getting into his property. The big macho act crumbled as he was screaming like a little b***h at the incredulity the police didn't napalm the whole forest to catch the monsters and was bewildered at how other people are okay with them.
I think they got hold of his dog and killed it, but the cops just said "well, they are wild animals!"
If they ever cross my path I'll just kneel down and look to the sky in the hope they kill me quick by biting through my neck.
And yeah, you guys are crazy too with your rattlesnakes. Half poison, half baby rattle!
What the funk? Too much scary s**t man!
But I'm a little b***h just like Joe. I freak out if I see a spider's Web! I'll stop killing them when they start paying me rent! 😃

[Vol]

OH, I hope they catch them... They were just too lazy to to do it right..

[Lorry]

Last I heard all four were caught, but my head keeps saying "the four they know of!"
😃