Playing with half a deck

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

Reviews

[Ayvid N]

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...

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind and insightful review, DIVYA...
j.

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

When someone is not playing with a full deck they will never win at life without cheating destiny.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Dale...
j.

[Patrick JL]

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.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i too...67 and raised Catholic....i still have questions about what's next...
could be any one of the three, guess we will see when we get there.

news is hard to watch these days.

thank you for your words, Patrick...'

j.

[Patrick JL]

:) .........

[William Gardner]

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?

[jacob erin-cilberto]

if i figure it out, i will alert you, William.
j.

[Alfred Kukitz]

How illusion rattles us when reality knocks at the door and you answer "oh.............".

Regards,
Al

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes yes yes, Al.
thanks...my friend.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

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.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind review, Annette.
j.

[Paul Bell]

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.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we just may be, Paul...thank you for your insightful words,
j.

[emmajoy]

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.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

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

[emmajoy]

I feel your post, jacob.. truly do. Why can't we work for a vastly improved future than go on and on in a conspicuously evil past!? Why study History if we ignore so much of its effects on a fleeting Civilisation! .

[Cassie]

I love the wisdom you have put here. How are you Jacob

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Cassie...

doing well, small break about over from summer semester, now ready to start fall...and getting ready for the zoo, carbondale will be because of the eclipse--

j.

[Jimmy Yetts]

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.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

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

j.