Playing with half a deck

Playing with half a deck

A Poem by jacob erin-cilberto

Playing with half a deck

 

 

whose fault is it---really?

we are what we eat,

and sit many adolescent years

at the family table,

the conversation passed along

like the salt

and the last lamb chop

 

we savor the flavor of what we hear---

digest it,

gain the weight of the words

 

and then grow into the body of prejudiced leaning

the old chair is still in the dining room

 

we never discerned how broken the leg was--

never noticed the unused jokers placed

under to balance life---

 

and become a tilted journey of dark spirit

imagining a purge of dessert

to clarify what we don't even realize

we've become.

 

 

erin-cilberto

8/13/17

© 2017 jacob erin-cilberto


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the old chair is still in the dining room

we never discerned how broken the leg was--

Sadly, we look at the world through the narrow tunnelled vision of our conditioning. The minders are always around in the room.

never noticed the unused jokers placed
under to balance life---
This is deep...How blinded, how tricked one is. ..and the final verse is so damning of a limited life of our own making...I wonder if I use even half the deck...

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

thank you for your kind and insightful review, DIVYA...
j.
When someone is not playing with a full deck they will never win at life without cheating destiny.

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

thank you, Dale...
j.
I think ... While watching a national news program and hearing about this or that person being killed. And being 67 it got me to thinking “WHATS NEXT?” After thinking in green for a while I came up with 3 possibilities. None of which may be correct but they are as close as I can come. Here they are. Be afraid, I guess.

1: I was raised catholic so there is that God thing and the Saints, purgatory and all that stuff. Basically it’s “If you do the crime you do the time.” But what goes through the mind of a mouse as it’s flushed down the toilet? If a thing is “living” then does it not have a place in the "this life," or the "last" one or the "next?" Perhaps I should look into Buddhist or worm worship. Which religion is truly correct? Some people may laugh but the snake handlers of U.S. may be correct. Who’s to say? There are hundreds of religions to choose from but only one of me. It doesn’t seem fair somehow.

Or

2: The next “life” isn’t one at all. You think, therefor you just are. We can’t explain it because we can’t think it as we are now. There is no speed of light because there is no light. Here we need light to see a thing but there we don’t “see” we just know a thing. Whatever they are? And the entire universe is no bigger than the point of a pin or a thought. From ameba to human it doesn’t matter. We are the same. What you do here has nothing to do with what you will do there. I once thought of THE NOW. It really doesn’t exist in this life. There is the “before” and the “after” but the smallest time we know of is a PLANTIC time. The time it takes light to cross the nucleus of an atom. Seems pretty small. You could call this an absolute. But in the next “life” there are no absolutes. Like light.

Or

3: There once was (to me) a famous author. He once said “After this life there will be a good long rest and no further activities are scheduled.” That’s it. You’re just dead. No God or next existence. It was nice to be here and even better to be human. But.

Ta-ta and Sayonara.

Now you must choose. 1,2,or 3 Opppsss wrong. It may be none of the above.



Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

i too...67 and raised Catholic....i still have questions about what's next...
could be any on.. read more
Patrick JL

7 Years Ago

:) .........
That old weighty chair, keeps haunting us all and holding us back. I hate it, but the difficult road I've led has at least kept me from representing it. Jacob, how do we break the chair?

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

if i figure it out, i will alert you, William.
j.
How illusion rattles us when reality knocks at the door and you answer "oh.............".

Regards,
Al

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

yes yes yes, Al.
thanks...my friend.
We "gain the weight of the words" we grew up with. Thought-provoking statement. Another brilliant metaphoric poem j. We internalize-"digest" the words and ideas and, unknowingly, they become our substance, our essence, our broken "body" with all the inherited ills-our "half a deck". Truly stunning, mind-blowing, analytical work. I bow, I bow.



Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

thank you for your very kind review, Annette.
j.
I think the American people got the joker in the pack.
But in saying that, we're all to blame. We've become complacent over the breakfast table. In fact, i think we maybe choking on our lunch very shortly.

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

we just may be, Paul...thank you for your insightful words,
j.
Time and again your poetry sings, teachers, guides, hums or inspires.. and that's just for starters. Here your intelligently placed phrases say far more than the eyes see - the words nudge the mind to think carefully- very carefully, start to finish.

It's fine to sit around the table whilst growing up BUT surely it depends on the 'meals' being served. Food for thought, food for the soul; food that inspires good taste and spiritual conscience? Too often engrained hatred poisons because over- seasoned old-timers are blind to history's lessons and consequently, society ends up with not only stomach problems but diseased and distorted beliefs. Sad, sad world that accepts the after-taste of a poor diet.

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

thank you for your insightful and understanding words, em,
j.
emmajoy

7 Years Ago

I feel your post, jacob.. truly do. Why can't we work for a vastly improved future than go on and .. read more
I love the wisdom you have put here. How are you Jacob

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

thank you, Cassie...

doing well, small break about over from summer semester, now rea.. read more
Yes, this certainly happens; there is also constantly lashing ourselves for what others do.
"We" killed no one in the streets of Virginia; "we" wished none of them any harm--despite many of us having grown up in horrible circumstances which, for a time, may have distorted our spirits. Some bend and eventually straighten themselves out; others never completely unbend; a lot simply break.
Your poem is undeniably true, in certain instances. I'm just tired of windbag politicians and a self-righteous media beating us all over the head with your poetic broken chair leg of blame.
"Playing with half a deck" stuns and agitates, but deals from the top.

Posted 7 Years Ago


jacob erin-cilberto

7 Years Ago

thank you for your words of insight.....jimmy,

j.

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Added on August 13, 2017
Last Updated on August 13, 2017

Author

jacob erin-cilberto
jacob erin-cilberto

Carbondale, IL



About
Originally from Bronx, NY, I live in Carbondale, Illinois...teach English at a community college and have been writing and publishing poetry since 1970. I am here to read for inspiration from other po.. more..

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