Down Payment on a Mortgage

Down Payment on a Mortgage

 

 

 

insanity is moving into a new house

the moving van is tilted at an odd angle

the furniture is glazed with deceit

the crazy couch rolls off the truck

 

a rocking chair brain back and forth

back and forth

through the windowed eyes

clarity is a blurred wig

 

and inside, we really don't want to know

what goes on,

we'd rather fences were built 

high enough, the house would be camouflaged

 

because barbed wire

is the tongue of the inhabitant

 

we are already bleeding

from the transition

and the neighborhood 

is losing its value

 

the price of real-estate

plummeting

like a blind faith

facing the truth

 

that has repainted itself

an off-white color

and we are wondering

"are those strands real

or are they Memorex?"

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

1/13/17

Reviews

[B]

Some places are worth the money they are placed in
Others are a depiction of an Alice in wonderland
Makes me think about the concept of a home
A place to grow and rest
Seldom does it get taken up for what it's worth
A sanctity of utter solitude within and without

As always your words speak more than what they give out for .......

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you so much for your kind review, SoloSolace,

j.

[barleygirl]

Beautifully acerbic commentary on the new wacky inhabitants of the people's house. I especially love the first stanza craziness so well shown in details. So many sharply-stated yet camouflaged daggers thru-out . . . I wouldn't want to be sliced & diced by your amazing wordplay! *ouch!* I'd tell you how much I agree, but I'm trying to avoid despair lately.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review...and i really appreciate how you look at things, barleygirl.

j.

[redzone]

if I didn't know better Jacob I would think Stephen King has been taking your college course and is influencing your writing...

loved those last lines cause I think everything you describe is live once and then Memorex repeating on an endless repeat... at least this is my brain on that rocking chair... man it sucks to get old....

your metaphors are never camouflaged or fenced in Jacob...

redzone

[jacob erin-cilberto]

now there we go...Stephen for pres. ....good idea...

thank you, Curt.

j.

[redzone]

much more saner than what ever it is we got... didn't Stephen write a book about a fascist america?? Dead Zone?? Under the Dome??? Or was it Salem's Lot?? Imagine real life being uglier, creepier, more insane than one of his books....

And Jacob please do not go sitting in that rocking chair... ;0)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i believe Under the Dome would fit that...

Dead Zone was about Johnny Smith...the one who could foresee things that were going to happen...Christopher Walken played him in the movie version...my least favorite King book, but favorite movie made from his books...

it would be saner...he's already going to take his first weekend off...

[Papaya]

great metaphors for the depreciating assets such as mind and body that we live in.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i like that...always enjoy your insights...thank you, ana...

j.

[Papaya]

and I always enjoying your poems :)
you're welcome

[Lyn Anderson]

Wow. This one sums up what so many are feeling. Fear, and so much uncertainty over the future to which we are all now committed.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, KL...we'll just have to wait and see.

j.

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

So sadly, we are at fault. We are not a great nation.we are a bunch of selfl righteous, spoiled, haters. We don't unite, respect, or even communicate to endure normal struggles that arrive. We were not created for eternal peace but if it is what we seek then we must do the work. We don't! We continue to make bad decisions and be ruled by bad decision makers. It is an epic memory loop that we refuse to let go of. We must blame ourselves. I love your recordings here. I think you are a great reporter/aka poet!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, we must do the work...we must.

thank you for your words, Queenie.

j.

[Rosalind Gale]

Silly me - I did not make the Trump connection at first! I was thinking all along it was simply a poem about moving house. The poem works both ways, in my head. The curiosity of the watcher as new people move in, the judgment, and the worry - then who knows what comes later? I suppose one must wait and see as to the future under the Trump administration. One small irony, perhaps, that I discussed with my history students last semester: In 1776 Americans fought against rich men with power telling them what to do. In 2017 we install rich men with power who are going to tell us what to do. A gold-plated cabinet - a new royal family. As Eugene O'Neill once remarked "there is no present or future, only the past happening over and over again - now."

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i am glad you saw another way to look at it...i try for enough ambiguity to let the reader take his or her own journey...

thank you, Rosalind.

j.

[Rosalind Gale]

You are very welcome -
-x-

[emmajoy]

'we are already bleeding - from the transition -
and the neighborhood - is losing its value

the price of real-estate p - lummeting like a blind faith - facing the truth'

A near-enough diplomatic assessment, written honestly and not from behind a theatrical facade. Hope the next four years are the same!

Guess as is often said in the Media.. amongst the hysterical and derisive commens - we can only see what mayhem or merriment is caused.

Truly, with hand on heart, I wish my buddies and all, the very best for their future. We'll be watching and praying ...

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your sentiments, emma...we can only hope---for some sanity...

j.

[Valentine]

A rocking chair brain? The way the motor mouth works I am beginning to wonder if he even has one. All we can do is wait and see, Valentine

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, it's a wait and see, for sure...and a few prayers along the way..

thank you, Kathie

[Lydia Shutter]

That Memorex line really brings me back. Young ones will not understand. I know many are in mourning because the inauguration is this Friday. I guess I am an optimist. I feel things will truly improve and in a year or two we will be happy there is a President Trump. Lydi**

[jacob erin-cilberto]

appreciate your response to this poem, Lydi.
can't come near sharing your optimism, however...

j.